A Systematic Approach to Higher-Order Parabolic Propagation in a Weakly Range-Dependent Duct

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gragg, Robert F

2005-01-01

Energy-conserving transformations are exploited to split a monochromatic field in a weakly inhomogeneous waveguide into a pair of components that undergo uncoupled parabolic propagation in opposite...

Constrained Deep Weak Supervision for Histopathology Image Segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Zhipeng; Huang, Xingyi; Chang, Eric I-Chao; Xu, Yan

2017-11-01

In this paper, we develop a new weakly supervised learning algorithm to learn to segment cancerous regions in histopathology images. This paper is under a multiple instance learning (MIL) framework with a new formulation, deep weak supervision (DWS); we also propose an effective way to introduce constraints to our neural networks to assist the learning process. The contributions of our algorithm are threefold: 1) we build an end-to-end learning system that segments cancerous regions with fully convolutional networks (FCNs) in which image-to-image weakly-supervised learning is performed; 2) we develop a DWS formulation to exploit multi-scale learning under weak supervision within FCNs; and 3) constraints about positive instances are introduced in our approach to effectively explore additional weakly supervised information that is easy to obtain and enjoy a significant boost to the learning process. The proposed algorithm, abbreviated as DWS-MIL, is easy to implement and can be trained efficiently. Our system demonstrates the state-of-the-art results on large-scale histopathology image data sets and can be applied to various applications in medical imaging beyond histopathology images, such as MRI, CT, and ultrasound images.

Learning from Weak and Noisy Labels for Semantic Segmentation

KAUST Repository

Lu, Zhiwu

2016-04-08

A weakly supervised semantic segmentation (WSSS) method aims to learn a segmentation model from weak (image-level) as opposed to strong (pixel-level) labels. By avoiding the tedious pixel-level annotation process, it can exploit the unlimited supply of user-tagged images from media-sharing sites such as Flickr for large scale applications. However, these ‘free’ tags/labels are often noisy and few existing works address the problem of learning with both weak and noisy labels. In this work, we cast the WSSS problem into a label noise reduction problem. Specifically, after segmenting each image into a set of superpixels, the weak and potentially noisy image-level labels are propagated to the superpixel level resulting in highly noisy labels; the key to semantic segmentation is thus to identify and correct the superpixel noisy labels. To this end, a novel L1-optimisation based sparse learning model is formulated to directly and explicitly detect noisy labels. To solve the L1-optimisation problem, we further develop an efficient learning algorithm by introducing an intermediate labelling variable. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets show that our method yields state-of-the-art results given noise-free labels, whilst significantly outperforming the existing methods when the weak labels are also noisy.

Learning from Weak and Noisy Labels for Semantic Segmentation

KAUST Repository

Lu, Zhiwu; Fu, Zhenyong; Xiang, Tao; Han, Peng; Wang, Liwei; Gao, Xin

2016-01-01

A weakly supervised semantic segmentation (WSSS) method aims to learn a segmentation model from weak (image-level) as opposed to strong (pixel-level) labels. By avoiding the tedious pixel-level annotation process, it can exploit the unlimited supply of user-tagged images from media-sharing sites such as Flickr for large scale applications. However, these ‘free’ tags/labels are often noisy and few existing works address the problem of learning with both weak and noisy labels. In this work, we cast the WSSS problem into a label noise reduction problem. Specifically, after segmenting each image into a set of superpixels, the weak and potentially noisy image-level labels are propagated to the superpixel level resulting in highly noisy labels; the key to semantic segmentation is thus to identify and correct the superpixel noisy labels. To this end, a novel L1-optimisation based sparse learning model is formulated to directly and explicitly detect noisy labels. To solve the L1-optimisation problem, we further develop an efficient learning algorithm by introducing an intermediate labelling variable. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets show that our method yields state-of-the-art results given noise-free labels, whilst significantly outperforming the existing methods when the weak labels are also noisy.

Line identification studies using traditional techniques and wavelength coincidence statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cowley, C.R.; Adelman, S.J.

1990-01-01

Traditional line identification techniques result in the assignment of individual lines to an atomic or ionic species. These methods may be supplemented by wavelength coincidence statistics (WCS). The strength and weakness of these methods are discussed using spectra of a number of normal and peculiar B and A stars that have been studied independently by both methods. The present results support the overall findings of some earlier studies. WCS would be most useful in a first survey, before traditional methods have been applied. WCS can quickly make a global search for all species and in this way may enable identifications of an unexpected spectrum that could easily be omitted entirely from a traditional study. This is illustrated by O I. WCS is a subject to well known weakness of any statistical technique, for example, a predictable number of spurious results are to be expected. The danger of small number statistics are illustrated. WCS is at its best relative to traditional methods in finding a line-rich atomic species that is only weakly present in a complicated stellar spectrum

Consensual exploitation : the moral wrong in exploitation and legal restrictions on consensual exploitative transactions

OpenAIRE

van der Neut, Wendy

2014-01-01

This thesis is about so-­‐called consensual exploitative transactions: transactions to which all parties agree voluntarily, and which are beneficial for all parties, but which are still widely considered exploitative, and for that reason legally restricted in many countries. The thesis asks two main questions: 1. What is wrong with consensual exploitation? 2.What implications does the answer to this question have for the legal restriction of consensual transactions ...

Exploiting Redundancy in an OFDM SDR Receiver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomas Palenik

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Common OFDM system contains redundancy necessary to mitigate interblock interference and allows computationally effective single-tap frequency domain equalization in receiver. Assuming the system implements an outer error correcting code and channel state information is available in the receiver, we show that it is possible to understand the cyclic prefix insertion as a weak inner ECC encoding and exploit the introduced redundancy to slightly improve error performance of such a system. In this paper, an easy way to implement modification to an existing SDR OFDM receiver is presented. This modification enables the utilization of prefix redundancy, while preserving full compatibility with existing OFDM-based communication standards.

The Exploitation of the Traditional Component in Restructuring Modern Food Offer in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena Bobe

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Food and eating habits, together with adjacent agricultural activities have had and an important role in the development of modern society and the individual itself. Besides its nutritional role, food has become a main socio-cultural determinant, food consumption patterns being influenced, on one hand, by psycho-sensory and quality characteristics of the food product and, on the other hand, by the physiological state of the consumer and its main determinants: traditions, religion and culture. These elements, together with economic considerations have a significant share in shaping the modern eating habits. In this context, the present paper aims to identify and analyze the main capitalization methods of the food’s traditional potential in reshaping the modern food offer, starting with a literature review and continuing with an exploratory analyze of the traditional food sector in Romania. Considering the main directions outlined by literature, this article tries to identify a set of specific features of the traditional food sector in Romania both in terms of producer and consumer perspectives. In this regard, an interview and an exploratory based questionnaire study were conducted. Having as a starting point the wide variety of Romanian food resources, this study aims to highlight how culinary customs have been modeled throughout history in order to establish eating patterns as an assessment method based on the impact of technological progress on the future alimentation.

EXPLOITATION OF GLASS SAND ON THE OPEN PIT »VRTLINSKA« (MOSLAVINA, CROATIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slavko Vujec

1994-12-01

Full Text Available The exploitation of glass sand in Slavonia and Moslavina has a long tradition. The open-pit »Vrtlinska« is-accordirtg to its dimensions and production capacity the biggest one in this regions. Exploitation reserves within this open pit amount about 1 000 000 t glass sand of a very good quality, and the production capacity is 200 000 t yearly according to real needs during design and opening the pit, i. e. before the war. This article discusses geological and geomechanical characteristics of the deposit, as well as the exploitation process, which is considerably matching natural characteristics of the deposit. A more detailed description is given of the planned exploitation phase I above groundwater level which is carried out according to discontinuous system. For the exploitation of the depth part under groundwater level in the phase II, the necessity of further examination of hydrogeological characteristics of the deposit is presented, in order to acquire necessary information on groundwater regime and drainage conditions. Such knowledge will influence the choice of the most appropriate solutions in the exploitation of the depth part of the deposit.

Exploitation of natural resources and conflict in Colombia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Eduardo Sandoval

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Colombia has increasingly been specializing in the extraction of mineral and energy resources such as gold, coal, oil and ferronickel. These activities, in the context of state weakness, have engendered conflicts of different dimensions. This paper proposes an indicator of conflict related to mineral exploitation that classifies five dimensions of conflict: social, economic, cultural, political and environmental. The aggregate indicator shows that murders, displacement of Afrodescendent populations, flooding, pollution, fires, infant mortality, coca crops and sexual offenses are highly and positively correlated with the number of conflicts.

Applications of Laminar Weak-Link Mechanisms for Ultraprecision Synchrotron Radiation Instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shu, D.; Toellner, T. S.; Alp, E. E.; Maser, J.; Ilavsky, J.; Shastri, S. D.; Lee, P. L.; Narayanan, S.; Long, G. G.

2007-01-01

Unlike traditional kinematic flexure mechanisms, laminar overconstrained weak-link mechanisms provide much higher structure stiffness and stability. Using a laminar structure configured and manufactured by chemical etching and lithography techniques, we are able to design and build linear and rotary weak-link mechanisms with ultrahigh positioning sensitivity and stability for synchrotron radiation applications. Applications of laminar rotary weak-link mechanism include: high-energy-resolution monochromators for inelastic x-ray scattering and x-ray analyzers for ultra-small-angle scattering and powder-diffraction experiments. Applications of laminar linear weak-link mechanism include high-stiffness piezo-driven stages with subnanometer resolution for an x-ray microscope. In this paper, we summarize the recent designs and applications of the laminar weak-link mechanisms at the Advanced Photon Source

Interrogation of weak Bragg grating sensors based on dual-wavelength differential detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Rui; Xia, Li

2016-11-15

It is shown that for weak Bragg gratings the logarithmic ratio of reflected intensities at any two wavelengths within the spectrum follows a linear relationship with the Bragg wavelength shift, with a slope proportional to their wavelength spacing. This finding is exploited to develop a flexible, efficient, and cheap interrogation solution of weak fiber Bragg grating (FBGs), especially ultra-short FBGs, in distributed sensing based on dual-wavelength differential detection. The concept is experimentally studied in both single and distributed sensing systems with ultra-short FBG sensors. The work may form the basis of new and promising FBG interrogation techniques based on detecting discrete rather than continuous spectra.

Sherlockology and Galactica.tv: Fan sites as gifts or exploited labor?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bertha Chin

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Current scholarship on fandom has been preoccupied with examining the changing relationship between media industry professionals and fans. Media producers, celebrities, and industry insiders are increasingly establishing contact with fans, bypassing traditional media entertainment outlets to provide them with information directly. This contact is facilitated by social media networks. Fans serve as grassroots campaigners, promoters, and sometimes even public relations officers, acting as liaisons between media producers, celebrities, or industry insiders and fandom in general. In doing so, they take on roles traditionally fulfilled by professional PR and marketing personnel, and they do it for free, resulting in accusations that they are being exploited for their labor. However, fans do not necessarily view themselves as being exploited. We need to consider the possibility that they may regard their contributions as a service—or gift—to fandom. In examining the roles played by two popular fan sites, Sherlockology and Galactica.tv, I propose to examine how fan labor may be considered an act of gift giving in fandom.

The Ethics of Exploitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul McLaughlin

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Philosophical inquiry into exploitation has two major deficiencies to date: it assumes that exploitation is wrong by definition; and it pays too much attention to the Marxian account of exploitation. Two senses of exploitation should be distinguished: the ‘moral’ or pejorative sense and the ‘non-moral’ or ‘non-prejudicial’ sense. By demonstrating the conceptual inadequacy of exploitation as defined in the first sense, and by defining exploitation adequately in the latter sense, we seek to demonstrate the moral complexity of exploitation. We contend, moreover, that moral evaluation of exploitation is only possible once we abandon a strictly Marxian framework and attempt, in the long run, to develop an integral ethic along Godwinian lines.

Modular overconstrained weak-link mechanism for ultraprecision motion control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shu Deming; Toellner, Thomas S.; Alp, Esen E.

2001-01-01

We have designed and constructed a novel miniature overconstrained weak-link mechanism that will allow positioning of two crystals with better than 50 nrad angular resolution and nanometer linear driving sensitivity. The precision and stability of this structure allow the user to align or adjust an assembly of crystals to achieve the same performance as does a single channel-cut crystal, so we call it an ''artificial channel-cut crystal.'' Unlike the traditional kinematic linear spring mechanisms, the overconstrained weak-link mechanism provides much higher structure stiffness and stability. Using a laminar structure configured and manufactured by chemical etching and lithography techniques, we are able to design and build a planar-shape, high stiffness, high precision weak-link mechanism. In this paper, we present recent developments for the overconstrained weak-link mechanism. Applications of this new technique to synchrotron radiation instrumentation are also discussed

Potentially exploitable supercritical geothermal resources in the ductile crust

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Noriaki; Numakura, Tatsuya; Sakaguchi, Kiyotoshi; Saishu, Hanae; Okamoto, Atsushi; Ingebritsen, Steven E.; Tsuchiya, Noriyoshi

2017-01-01

The hypothesis that the brittle–ductile transition (BDT) drastically reduces permeability implies that potentially exploitable geothermal resources (permeability >10−16 m2) consisting of supercritical water could occur only in rocks with unusually high transition temperatures such as basalt. However, tensile fracturing is possible even in ductile rocks, and some permeability–depth relations proposed for the continental crust show no drastic permeability reduction at the BDT. Here we present experimental results suggesting that the BDT is not the first-order control on rock permeability, and that potentially exploitable resources may occur in rocks with much lower BDT temperatures, such as the granitic rocks that comprise the bulk of the continental crust. We find that permeability behaviour for fractured granite samples at 350–500 °C under effective confining stress is characterized by a transition from a weakly stress-dependent and reversible behaviour to a strongly stress-dependent and irreversible behaviour at a specific, temperature-dependent effective confining stress level. This transition is induced by onset of plastic normal deformation of the fracture surface (elastic–plastic transition) and, importantly, causes no ‘jump’ in the permeability. Empirical equations for this permeability behaviour suggest that potentially exploitable resources exceeding 450 °C may form at depths of 2–6 km even in the nominally ductile crust.

Ultrasonic imaging of material flaws exploiting multipath information

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Xizhong; Zhang, Yimin D.; Demirli, Ramazan; Amin, Moeness G.

2011-05-01

In this paper, we consider ultrasonic imaging for the visualization of flaws in a material. Ultrasonic imaging is a powerful nondestructive testing (NDT) tool which assesses material conditions via the detection, localization, and classification of flaws inside a structure. Multipath exploitations provide extended virtual array apertures and, in turn, enhance imaging capability beyond the limitation of traditional multisensor approaches. We utilize reflections of ultrasonic signals which occur when encountering different media and interior discontinuities. The waveforms observed at the physical as well as virtual sensors yield additional measurements corresponding to different aspect angles. Exploitation of multipath information addresses unique issues observed in ultrasonic imaging. (1) Utilization of physical and virtual sensors significantly extends the array aperture for image enhancement. (2) Multipath signals extend the angle of view of the narrow beamwidth of the ultrasound transducers, allowing improved visibility and array design flexibility. (3) Ultrasonic signals experience difficulty in penetrating a flaw, thus the aspect angle of the observation is limited unless access to other sides is available. The significant extension of the aperture makes it possible to yield flaw observation from multiple aspect angles. We show that data fusion of physical and virtual sensor data significantly improves the detection and localization performance. The effectiveness of the proposed multipath exploitation approach is demonstrated through experimental studies.

Thermodynamic identities and particle number fluctuations in weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Illuminati, Fabrizio [Institut fuer Physik, Universitaet Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, D-14415, Potsdam (Germany); Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Salerno, and INFM, Unita di Salerno, I-84081 Baronissi SA (Italy); Navez, Patrick [Institut fuer Physik, Universitaet Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, D-14415, Potsdam (Germany); Institute of Materials Science, Demokritos NCSR, POB 60228, 15310 Athens (Greece); Wilkens, Martin [Institut fuer Physik, Universitaet Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, D-14415, Potsdam (Germany)

1999-08-14

We derive exact thermodynamic identities relating the average number of condensed atoms and the root-mean-square fluctuations determined in different statistical ensembles for the weakly interacting Bose gas confined in a box. This is achieved by introducing the concept of auxiliary partition functions for model Hamiltonians that do conserve the total number of particles. Exploiting such thermodynamic identities, we provide the first, completely analytical prediction of the microcanonical particle number fluctuations in the weakly interacting Bose gas. Such fluctuations, as a function of the volume V of the box are found to behave normally, in contrast with the anomalous scaling behaviour V{sup 4/3} of the fluctuations in the ideal Bose gas. (author). Letter-to-the-editor.

How Less Alienation Creates More Exploitation? Audience Labour on Social Network Sites.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eran Fisher

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The notion of audience labour has been an important contribution to Marxist political economy of the media. It revised the traditional political economy analysis, which focused on media ownership, by suggesting that media was also a site of production, constituting particular relations of production. Such analysis highlighted the active role of audience in the creation of media value as both commodities and workers, thus pointing to audience exploitation. Recently, in light of paradigmatic transformations in the media environment – particularly the emergence of Web 2.0 and social network sites – there has been a renewed interest in such analysis, and a reexamination of audience exploitation. Focusing on Facebook as a case-study, this article examines audience labour on social network sites along two Marxist themes – exploitation and alienation. It argues for a historical shift in the link between exploitation and alienation of audience labour, concurrent with the shift from mass media to social media. In the mass media, the capacity for exploitation of audience labour was quite limited while the alienation that such work created was high. In contrast, social media allows for the expansion and intensification of exploitation. Simultaneously, audience labour on social media – because it involves communication and sociability – also ameliorates alienation by allowing self-expression, authenticity, and relations with others. Moreover, the article argues that the political economy of social network sites is founded on a dialectical link between exploitation and alienation: in order to be de-alienated, Facebook users must communicate and socialize, thus exacerbating their exploitation. And vice-versa, in order for Facebook to exploit the work of its users, it must contribute to their de-alienation.

Reconstructing weak values without weak measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johansen, Lars M.

2007-01-01

I propose a scheme for reconstructing the weak value of an observable without the need for weak measurements. The post-selection in weak measurements is replaced by an initial projector measurement. The observable can be measured using any form of interaction, including projective measurements. The reconstruction is effected by measuring the change in the expectation value of the observable due to the projector measurement. The weak value may take nonclassical values if the projector measurement disturbs the expectation value of the observable

Weak signal detection: A discrete window of opportunity for achieving 'Vision 90:90:90'?

Science.gov (United States)

Burman, Christopher J; Aphane, Marota; Delobelle, Peter

2016-01-01

UNAIDS' Vision 90:90:90 is a call to 'end AIDS'. Developing predictive foresight of the unpredictable changes that this journey will entail could contribute to the ambition of 'ending AIDS'. There are few opportunities for managing unpredictable changes. We introduce 'weak signal detection' as a potential opportunity to fill this void. Combining futures and complexity theory, we reflect on two pilot case studies that involved the Archetype Extraction technique and the SenseMaker(®) Collector(™) tool. Both the piloted techniques have the potentials to surface weak signals--but there is room for improvement. A management response to a complex weak signal requires pattern management, rather than an exclusive focus on behaviour management. Weak signal detection is a window of opportunity to improve resilience to unpredictable changes in the HIV/AIDS landscape that can both reduce the risk that emerges from the changes and increase the visibility of opportunities to exploit the unpredictable changes that could contribute to 'ending AIDS'.

Universal prescriptivism: traditional moral decision-making theory revisited.

Science.gov (United States)

Crigger, N J

1994-09-01

Universal prescriptivism is a recently developed moral decision-making theory that combines utilitarian and Kantian theories with two levels of moral thinking. A combined approach offers a creative solution to the weaknesses inherent in traditional moral theories. The paper describes the theory and discusses important implications for nursing education, practical ethical decision-making, and research. The relationship of an ethical theory of caring to traditional moral theory is discussed.

Activity-based exploitation of Full Motion Video (FMV)

Science.gov (United States)

Kant, Shashi

2012-06-01

Video has been a game-changer in how US forces are able to find, track and defeat its adversaries. With millions of minutes of video being generated from an increasing number of sensor platforms, the DOD has stated that the rapid increase in video is overwhelming their analysts. The manpower required to view and garner useable information from the flood of video is unaffordable, especially in light of current fiscal restraints. "Search" within full-motion video has traditionally relied on human tagging of content, and video metadata, to provision filtering and locate segments of interest, in the context of analyst query. Our approach utilizes a novel machine-vision based approach to index FMV, using object recognition & tracking, events and activities detection. This approach enables FMV exploitation in real-time, as well as a forensic look-back within archives. This approach can help get the most information out of video sensor collection, help focus the attention of overburdened analysts form connections in activity over time and conserve national fiscal resources in exploiting FMV.

Weak Business Culture as an Antecedent of Economic Crisis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sigurjonsson, Throstur Olaf; Vaiman, Vlad; Davídsson, Páll Ásgeir

2011-01-01

The authors of this article contend that traditional corruption, which was largely blamed for the current situation in the Icelandic economy, was perhaps not the most fundamental reason for the ensuing crisis. The weak business culture and a symbiosis of business and politics have actually allowed......, prior to making any sort of investment decisions in that country....

Communication: A Jastrow factor coupled cluster theory for weak and strong electron correlation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neuscamman, Eric

2013-01-01

We present a Jastrow-factor-inspired variant of coupled cluster theory that accurately describes both weak and strong electron correlation. Compatibility with quantum Monte Carlo allows for variational energy evaluations and an antisymmetric geminal power reference, two features not present in traditional coupled cluster that facilitate a nearly exact description of the strong electron correlations in minimal-basis N 2 bond breaking. In double-ζ treatments of the HF and H 2 O bond dissociations, where both weak and strong correlations are important, this polynomial cost method proves more accurate than either traditional coupled cluster or complete active space perturbation theory. These preliminary successes suggest a deep connection between the ways in which cluster operators and Jastrow factors encode correlation

Hacking the art of exploitation

CERN Document Server

Erickson, Jon

2003-01-01

A comprehensive introduction to the techniques of exploitation and creative problem-solving methods commonly referred to as "hacking," Hacking: The Art of Exploitation is for both technical and non-technical people who are interested in computer security. It shows how hackers exploit programs and write exploits, instead of just how to run other people's exploits. Unlike many so-called hacking books, this book explains the technical aspects of hacking, including stack based overflows, heap based overflows, string exploits, return-into-libc, shellcode, and cryptographic attacks on 802.11b.

Exploitation of Labour and Exploitation of Commodities: a “New Interpretation”

OpenAIRE

Veneziani, Roberto; Yoshihara, Naoki

2011-01-01

In the standard Okishio-Morishima approach, the existence of profits is proved to be equivalent to the exploitation of labour. Yet, it can also be proved that the existence of profits is equivalent to the ‘exploitation’ of any good. Labour and commodity exploitation are just different numerical representations of the productiveness of the economy. This paper presents an alternative approach to exploitation theory which is related to the New Interpretation (Duménil 1980; Foley 1982). In this a...

Applying traditional signal processing techniques to social media exploitation for situational understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Abdelzaher, Tarek; Roy, Heather; Wang, Shiguang; Giridhar, Prasanna; Al Amin, Md. Tanvir; Bowman, Elizabeth K.; Kolodny, Michael A.

2016-05-01

Signal processing techniques such as filtering, detection, estimation and frequency domain analysis have long been applied to extract information from noisy sensor data. This paper describes the exploitation of these signal processing techniques to extract information from social networks, such as Twitter and Instagram. Specifically, we view social networks as noisy sensors that report events in the physical world. We then present a data processing stack for detection, localization, tracking, and veracity analysis of reported events using social network data. We show using a controlled experiment that the behavior of social sources as information relays varies dramatically depending on context. In benign contexts, there is general agreement on events, whereas in conflict scenarios, a significant amount of collective filtering is introduced by conflicted groups, creating a large data distortion. We describe signal processing techniques that mitigate such distortion, resulting in meaningful approximations of actual ground truth, given noisy reported observations. Finally, we briefly present an implementation of the aforementioned social network data processing stack in a sensor network analysis toolkit, called Apollo. Experiences with Apollo show that our techniques are successful at identifying and tracking credible events in the physical world.

Exploitation and disadvantage

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ferguson, B.

2016-01-01

According to some accounts of exploitation, most notably Ruth Sample's (2003) degradation-based account and Robert Goodin's (1987) vulnerability-based account, exploitation occurs when an advantaged party fails to constrain their advantage in light of another's disadvantage, regardless of the cause

Characteristics of thermal-mineral waters in Backa region (Vojvodina) and their exploitation in spa tourism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kosic, Kristina; Pivac, Tatjana; Romelic, Jovan; Lazic, Lazar; Stojanovic, Vladimir [Faculty of Science, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad (RS)

2011-01-15

Hydropower, biomass, biogas, biofuels, wind power, solar energy and geothermal energy are the major resources to provide Backa region with most of its. Backa extends between 45 16' and 46 22' of the northern latitude and 18 36' and 20 37' of the eastern longitude. It occupies the north-eastern part of Vojvodina, i.e. the most north-western part of the Republic of Serbia. That is historical-geographic territory bordered on the Danube on its western and eastern side, the Tisa on its eastern side and with the state border towards Hungary on the north. In this paper, the focus will be on renewable sources, specifically geothermal energy in Backa region. The paper analyzes the characteristics of thermal-mineral waters in Backa, the condition and possibilities of their exploitation in spa tourism, and in other economic branches. The tradition of thermo-mineral waters exploitation in spas and public baths is rather long. Today, this type of thermo-mineral waters exploitation in Backa is the widest spread. Permanent, i.e. continuous exploiters of thermal-mineral waters in Backa are primarily balneal-rehabilitation centres and exploiters using the water for technological purposes. (author)

On Roof Geometry for Urban Wind Energy Exploitation in High-Rise Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Toja-Silva

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The European program HORIZON2020 aims to have 20% of electricity produced by renewable sources. The building sector represents 40% of the European Union energy consumption. Reducing energy consumption in buildings is therefore a priority for energy efficiency. The present investigation explores the most adequate roof shapes compatible with the placement of different types of small wind energy generators on high-rise buildings for urban wind energy exploitation. The wind flow around traditional state-of-the-art roof shapes is considered. In addition, the influence of the roof edge on the wind flow on high-rise buildings is analyzed. These geometries are investigated, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and the turbulence intensity threshold for horizontal axis wind turbines is considered. The most adequate shapes for wind energy exploitation are identified, studying vertical profiles of velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence intensity. Curved shapes are the most interesting building roof shapes from the wind energy exploitation point of view, leading to the highest speed-up and the lowest turbulence intensity.

Importance of weak minerals on earthquake mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneki, S.; Hirono, T.

2017-12-01

The role of weak minerals such as smectite and talc on earthquake mechanics is one of the important issues, and has been debated for recent several decades. Traditionally weak minerals in fault have been reported to weaken fault strength causing from its low frictional resistance. Furthermore, velocity-strengthening behavior of such weak mineral (talc) is considered to responsible for fault creep (aseismic slip) in the San Andreas fault. In contrast, recent studies reported that large amount of weak smectite in the Japan Trench could facilitate gigantic seismic slip during the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake. To investigate the role of weak minerals on rupture propagation process and magnitude of slip, we focus on the frictional properties of carbonaceous materials (CMs), which is the representative weak materials widely distributed in and around the convergent boundaries. Field observation and geochemical analyses revealed that graphitized CMs-layer is distributed along the slip surface of a fossil plate-subduction fault. Laboratory friction experiments demonstrated that pure quartz, bulk mixtures with bituminous coal (1 wt.%), and quartz with layered coal samples exhibited almost similar frictional properties (initial, yield, and dynamic friction). However, mixtures of quartz (99 wt.%) and layered graphite (1 wt.%) showed significantly lower initial and yield friction coefficient (0.31 and 0.50, respectively). Furthermore, the stress ratio S, defined as (yield stress-initial stress)/(initial stress-dynamic stress), increased in layered graphite samples (1.97) compared to quartz samples (0.14). Similar trend was observed in smectite-rich fault gouge. By referring the reported results of dynamic rupture propagation simulation using S ratio of 1.4 (typical value for the Japan Trench) and 2.0 (this study), we confirmed that higher S ratio results in smaller slip distance by approximately 20 %. On the basis of these results, we could conclude that weak minerals have lower

Learning Metasploit exploitation and development

CERN Document Server

Balapure, Aditya

2013-01-01

A practical, hands-on tutorial with step-by-step instructions. The book will follow a smooth and easy-to-follow tutorial approach, covering the essentials and then showing the readers how to write more sophisticated exploits.This book targets exploit developers, vulnerability analysts and researchers, network administrators, and ethical hackers looking to gain advanced knowledge in exploitation development and identifying vulnerabilities. The primary goal is to take readers wishing to get into more advanced exploitation discovery and reaching the next level.Prior experience exploiting basic st

Anthropology of sexual exploitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lalić Velibor

2009-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the authors observe sexual exploitation from an anthropological perspective. They analyze the rational, ethical, emotional and mythological dimensions of human sexuality. Consequently, after setting the phenomenon in a social and historical context, sexual exploitation is closely observed in the contemporary age. Based on thoughts of relevant thinkers, they make the conclusion that the elimination of sexual exploitation is not an utterly legal issue, but political and economical issues as well. Namely, legal norms are not sufficient to overcome sexual exploitation, but, political and economical relationships in contemporary societies, which will be based on sincere equal opportunities must be established.

The environmental impacts of foamed concrete production and exploitation

Science.gov (United States)

Namsone, E.; Korjakins, A.; Sahmenko, G.; Sinka, M.

2017-10-01

This paper presents a study focusing on the environmental impacts of foamed concrete production and exploitation. CO2 emissions are very important factor for describing durability and sustainability of any building material and its life cycle. The building sector is one of the largest energy-consuming sectors in the world. In this study CO2 emissions are evaluated with regard to three types of energy resources (gas, coal and eco-friendly fuel). The related savings on raw materials are up to 120 t of water per 1000 t of traditionally mixed foamed concrete and up to 350 t of sand per 1000 t of foamed concrete produced with intensive mixing technology. In addition, total reduction of CO2 emissions (up to 60 t per 1000 m3 of material) and total energy saving from introduction of foamed concrete production (depending on the type of fuel) were calculated. In order to analyze the conditions of exploitation, both thermal conductivity and thickness of wall was determined. All obtained and calculated results were compared to those of the commercially produced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Exploitability Assessment with TEASER

Science.gov (United States)

2017-05-01

for architectural neutral taint analysis on top of LLVM and QEMU. POC Proof of Concept : Demonstration of an exploit on a program . vii RCE Remote Code...bug with a Proof of Concept (POC), or input to a program demonstrating the ability to use a bug to exploit the application, to demonstrate the...often leads to either computationally difficult constraint solving problems or taint explosion. Given the computational difficulty of exploit

Two questions about surrogacy and exploitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wertheimer, Alan

1992-01-01

In this article I will consider two related questions about surrogacy and exploitation: (1) Is surrogacy exploitative? (2) If surrogacy is exploitative, what is the moral force of this exploitation? Briefly stated, I shall argue that whether surrogacy is exploitative depends on whether exploitation must be harmful to the exploited party or whether (as I think) there can be mutually advantageous exploitation. It also depends on some facts about surrogacy about which we have little reliable evidence and on our philosophical view on what counts as a harm to the surrogate. Our answer to the second question will turn in part on the account of exploitation we invoke in answering the first question and in part on the way in which we resolve some other questions about the justification of state interference. I shall suggest, however, that if surrogacy is a form of voluntary and mutually advantageous exploitation, then there is a strong presumption that surrogacy contracts should be permitted and even enforceable, although that presumption may be overridden on other grounds.

How Less Alienation Creates More Exploitation? Audience Labour on Social Network Sites.

OpenAIRE

Eran Fisher

2012-01-01

Abstract: The notion of audience labour has been an important contribution to Marxist political economy of the media. It revised the traditional political economy analysis, which focused on media ownership, by suggesting that media was also a site of production, constituting particular relations of production. Such analysis highlighted the active role of audience in the creation of media value as both commodities and workers, thus pointing to audience exploitation. Recently, in light of parad...

ANALYSIS OF ANDROID VULNERABILITIES AND MODERN EXPLOITATION TECHNIQUES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Himanshu Shewale

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Android is an operating system based on the Linux kernel. It is the most widely used and popular operating system among Smartphones and portable devices. Its programmable and open nature attracts attackers to take undue advantage. Android platform allows developers to freely access and modify source code. But at the same time it increases the security issue. A user is likely to download and install malicious applications written by software hackers. This paper focuses on understanding and analyzing the vulnerabilities present in android platform. In this paper firstly we study the android architecture; analyze the existing threats and security weaknesses. Then we identify various exploit mitigation techniques to mitigate known vulnerabilities. A detailed analysis will help us to identify the existing loopholes and it will give strategic direction to make android operating system more secure.

Weak measurements and quantum weak values for NOON states

Science.gov (United States)

Rosales-Zárate, L.; Opanchuk, B.; Reid, M. D.

2018-03-01

Quantum weak values arise when the mean outcome of a weak measurement made on certain preselected and postselected quantum systems goes beyond the eigenvalue range for a quantum observable. Here, we propose how to determine quantum weak values for superpositions of states with a macroscopically or mesoscopically distinct mode number, that might be realized as two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate or photonic NOON states. Specifically, we give a model for a weak measurement of the Schwinger spin of a two-mode NOON state, for arbitrary N . The weak measurement arises from a nondestructive measurement of the two-mode occupation number difference, which for atomic NOON states might be realized via phase contrast imaging and the ac Stark effect using an optical meter prepared in a coherent state. The meter-system coupling results in an entangled cat-state. By subsequently evolving the system under the action of a nonlinear Josephson Hamiltonian, we show how postselection leads to quantum weak values, for arbitrary N . Since the weak measurement can be shown to be minimally invasive, the weak values provide a useful strategy for a Leggett-Garg test of N -scopic realism.

Exploit Kit traffic analysis

OpenAIRE

Καπίρης, Σταμάτης; Kapiris, Stamatis

2017-01-01

Exploit kits have become one of the most widespread and destructive threat that Internet users face on a daily basis. Since the first actor, which has been categorized as exploit kit, namely MPack, appeared in 2006, we have seen a new era on exploit kit variants compromising popular websites, infecting hosts and delivering destructive malware, following an exponentially evolvement to date. With the growing threat landscape, large enterprises to domestic networks, have starte...

A Weak Solution of a Stochastic Nonlinear Problem

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M. L. Hadji

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We consider a problem modeling a porous medium with a random perturbation. This model occurs in many applications such as biology, medical sciences, oil exploitation, and chemical engineering. Many authors focused their study mostly on the deterministic case. The more classical one was due to Biot in the 50s, where he suggested to ignore everything that happens at the microscopic level, to apply the principles of the continuum mechanics at the macroscopic level. Here we consider a stochastic problem, that is, a problem with a random perturbation. First we prove a result on the existence and uniqueness of the solution, by making use of the weak formulation. Furthermore, we use a numerical scheme based on finite differences to present numerical results.

Cyber Child Sexual Exploitation dalam Perspektif Perlindungan atas Kejahatan Siber

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Go Lisanawati

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Perkembangan teknologi, yang diwujudkan dengan adanya inovasi berupa Internet, yang semakin pesat menempatkan semua pihak berada pada sebuah posisi yang rentan. Kerentanan tersebut dapat berupa tereksploitasinya orang menjadi korban maupun pelaku kejahatan. Teknologi menjadi pedang bermata dua dengan segala kelebihan dan eksplorasi serta eksploitasi atas kelemahan atas pemanfaatan teknologi tersebut oleh orang-orang yang tidak bertanggungjawab. Pada posisi yang sama, anak menjadi korban yang sangat potensial atas penyalahgunaan teknologi, khususnya atas eksploitasi seksual yang dapat meliputi pornografi anak, perdagangan anak, dan child sex tourism. Indonesia memang telah memiliki berbagai perangkat aturan hukum yang dipergunakan untuk memberikan perlindungan kepada anak, termasuk juga di dalamnya adalah perangkat hukum di bidang telematika. Namun demikian belum semua perangkat hukum tersebut dapat dipergunakan secara maksimal untuk mewujudkan perlindungan hukum bagi anak. The rapid development of technology through Internet nowadays has been put all parties in the vulnerable position. The vulnerable form which may appear is the possibility of the exploited parties to be victims and/or the offender of crime. Technology itself brings not only advancement but also the weaknesses which may be explored and exploited by the irresponsible people by doing such a crime. In the same position, children are potentially to be the very vulnerable victims of the misuse of the technology, especially sexual exploitation which including child pornography, child trafficking, and also child sex tourism. Indonesia is already having such kind of law to give protection to children, including also the law related to telematics matter. But not each law could maximize yet implemented to give the law protection for child.

Facilities upgrade for natural forces: traditional vs. realistic approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terkun, V.

1985-01-01

The traditional method utilized for upgrading existing buildings and equipment involves the following steps: performs structural study using finite element analysis and some in situ testing; compare predicted member forces/stresses to material code allowables; determine strengthening schemes for those structural members judged to be weak; estimate cost for required upgrades. This approach will result in structural modifications that are not only conservative but very expensive as well. The realistic structural evaluation approach uses traditional data to predict structural weaknesses as a final step. Next, using considerable information now available for buildings and equipment exposed to natural hazards, engineering judgments about structures being evaluated can be made with a great deal of confidence. This approach does not eliminate conservatism entirely, but it does reduce it to a reasonable and realistic level. As a result, the upgrade cost goes down without compromising the low risk necessary for vital facilities

Student perceptions of digital versus traditional slide use in undergraduate education.

Science.gov (United States)

Solberg, Brooke L

2012-01-01

Digitized slides provide a number of intriguing benefits for educators. Before their implementation, however, educators should consider student opinion related to their use. This mixed-methods study directly compared Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) student perceptions of learning experiences in both digital and traditional slide laboratory settings. Results suggested that the majority of students preferred learning with digital slides, and numerous reasons for this preference were identified. Survey responses indicated that students using digital slides tended to view their performances, instructor feedback, and their learning environment more positively than students using traditional slides. Apprehensions about digital slide use were also detected from students preferring traditional slides. These findings provide a guide on how best to exploit both digital and traditional slides in an educational setting.

Possibilities of collecting evidences about crime act of sexual exploitation in human beings

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Mijalković Saša

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Collecting evidences about organized crime act of sexual exploitation in human begins often is very difficult because of high level of organization, secrecy ant precaution taken during committing prostitution, pornography, sex tourism and human trafficking. On the other side, high illegal profit enable criminals to engage "expensive" and experienced lawyers, whose often make values and reliability of collected evidences questionable, appealing to irregularities during police collecting procedure. Among traditional criminalities methods and proofing activities, in the study, modern tendencies in special investigative measures and techniques are considered. After that, there is pointing at specificity, meaning and value of material tracks and objects, which are essential for proofing crime act or perpetrator’s guiltiness. On the end, there is pointing at importance of victims’ cooperation in collecting evidences about their sexual exploitation.

A new measure of interpersonal exploitativeness

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Amy B. Brunell

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Measures of exploitativeness evidence problems with validity and reliability. The present set of studies assessed a new measure (the Interpersonal Exploitativeness Scale that defines exploitativeness in terms of reciprocity. In Studies 1 and 2, 33 items were administered to participants. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated that a single factor consisting of six items adequately assess interpersonal exploitativeness. Study 3 results revealed that the Interpersonal Exploitativeness Scale was positively associated with normal narcissism, pathological narcissism, psychological entitlement, and negative reciprocity and negatively correlated with positive reciprocity. In Study 4, participants competed in a commons dilemma. Those who scored higher on the Interpersonal Exploitativeness Scale were more likely to harvest a greater share of resources over time, even while controlling for other relevant variables, such as entitlement. Together, these studies show the Interpersonal Exploitativeness Scale to be a valid and reliable measure of interpersonal exploitativeness. The authors discuss the implications of these studies.

Demystifying traditional herbal medicine with modern approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Fu-Shuang; Weng, Jing-Ke

2017-07-31

Plants have long been recognized for their therapeutic properties. For centuries, indigenous cultures around the world have used traditional herbal medicine to treat a myriad of maladies. By contrast, the rise of the modern pharmaceutical industry in the past century has been based on exploiting individual active compounds with precise modes of action. This surge has yielded highly effective drugs that are widely used in the clinic, including many plant natural products and analogues derived from these products, but has fallen short of delivering effective cures for complex human diseases with complicated causes, such as cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders and degenerative diseases. While the plant kingdom continues to serve as an important source for chemical entities supporting drug discovery, the rich traditions of herbal medicine developed by trial and error on human subjects over thousands of years contain invaluable biomedical information just waiting to be uncovered using modern scientific approaches. Here we provide an evolutionary and historical perspective on why plants are of particular significance as medicines for humans. We highlight several plant natural products that are either in the clinic or currently under active research and clinical development, with particular emphasis on their mechanisms of action. Recent efforts in developing modern multi-herb prescriptions through rigorous molecular-level investigations and standardized clinical trials are also discussed. Emerging technologies, such as genomics and synthetic biology, are enabling new ways for discovering and utilizing the medicinal properties of plants. We are entering an exciting era where the ancient wisdom distilled into the world's traditional herbal medicines can be reinterpreted and exploited through the lens of modern science.

Traditional African economies in conflict with western capitalism

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C.M. Pauw

1996-04-01

Full Text Available Traditional Mrican economies� in conflict with western capitalism Some of� the fundamental differences between two� economic systems which, by� and large,� have� come� into� conflict with� one another� in Africa south� of the� Sahara� are� analised,� i e� traditional African� economies� and western, capitalist oriented� economies.� The� dire� economic� conditions prevailing� in Africa are the result,� to a� large extent,� of� a� long history of� exploitation and economic� disempowerment particularly� by� western� powers.� Not� all� the strategies and programs to� counter this poverty are equally appropriate or acceptable.� In� the� meantime� a� unique� coping� mechanism� is� developing, particularly within African Independent Churches which may provide some answers.

The genus Sida L. - A traditional medicine: Its ethnopharmacological, phytochemical and pharmacological data for commercial exploitation in herbal drugs industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Dinda, Biswanath; Das, Niranjan; Dinda, Subhajit; Dinda, Manikarna; SilSarma, Indrajit

2015-12-24

Sida L. (Malvaceae) has been used for centuries in traditional medicines in different countries for the prevention and treatment of different diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, gastrointestinal and urinary infections, malarial and other fevers, childbirth and miscarriage problems, skin ailments, cardiac and neural problems, asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory problems, weight loss aid, rheumatic and other inflammations, tuberculosis, etc. To assess the scientific evidence for therapeutic potential of Sida L. and to identify the gaps of future research needs. The available information on the ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of Sida species was collected via a library and electronic searches in SciFinder, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar for the period, 1933-2015. A variety of ethnomedicinal uses of Sida species have been found in India, China, Afrian and American countries. Phytochemical investigation of this genus has resulted in identification of about 142 chemical constituents, among which alkaloids, flavonoids and ecdysteroids are the predominant groups. The crude extracts and isolates have exhibited a wide spectrum of in vitro and in vivo pharmacological effects involving antimicrobial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, abortifacient, neuroprotective, cardiovascular and cardioprotective, antimalarial, antitubercular, antidiabetic and antiobesity, antioxidant and nephroprotective activities among others. Ethnopharmacological preparations containing Sida species as an ingredient in India, African and American countries possess good efficacy in health disorders. From the toxicity perspective, only three Sida species have been assessed and found safe for oral use in rats. Pharmacological results supported some of the uses of Sida species in the traditional medicine. Alkaloids, flavonoids, other phenolics and ecdysteroids were perhaps responsible for the activities of extracts of the plants of this genus. No clinical study

Self-Similarity Based Corresponding-Point Extraction from Weakly Textured Stereo Pairs

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Min Mao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available For the areas of low textured in image pairs, there is nearly no point that can be detected by traditional methods. The information in these areas will not be extracted by classical interest-point detectors. In this paper, a novel weakly textured point detection method is presented. The points with weakly textured characteristic are detected by the symmetry concept. The proposed approach considers the gray variability of the weakly textured local regions. The detection mechanism can be separated into three steps: region-similarity computation, candidate point searching, and refinement of weakly textured point set. The mechanism of radius scale selection and texture strength conception are used in the second step and the third step, respectively. The matching algorithm based on sparse representation (SRM is used for matching the detected points in different images. The results obtained on image sets with different objects show high robustness of the method to background and intraclass variations as well as to different photometric and geometric transformations; the points detected by this method are also the complement of points detected by classical detectors from the literature. And we also verify the efficacy of SRM by comparing with classical algorithms under the occlusion and corruption situations for matching the weakly textured points. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed weakly textured point detection algorithm.

EXPLOITATION OF GRANITE BOULDER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Cotman

1994-12-01

Full Text Available The processes of forming, petrography, features, properties and exploitation of granite boulders are described. The directional drilling and black powder blasting is the succesful method in exploitation of granite boulders (boulder technology (the paper is published in Croatian.

Exploiting the Dynamics of Soft Materials for Machine Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakajima, Kohei; Hauser, Helmut; Li, Tao; Pfeifer, Rolf

2018-06-01

Soft materials are increasingly utilized for various purposes in many engineering applications. These materials have been shown to perform a number of functions that were previously difficult to implement using rigid materials. Here, we argue that the diverse dynamics generated by actuating soft materials can be effectively used for machine learning purposes. This is demonstrated using a soft silicone arm through a technique of multiplexing, which enables the rich transient dynamics of the soft materials to be fully exploited as a computational resource. The computational performance of the soft silicone arm is examined through two standard benchmark tasks. Results show that the soft arm compares well to or even outperforms conventional machine learning techniques under multiple conditions. We then demonstrate that this system can be used for the sensory time series prediction problem for the soft arm itself, which suggests its immediate applicability to a real-world machine learning problem. Our approach, on the one hand, represents a radical departure from traditional computational methods, whereas on the other hand, it fits nicely into a more general perspective of computation by way of exploiting the properties of physical materials in the real world.

Self-report measure of financial exploitation of older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Conrad, Kendon J; Iris, Madelyn; Ridings, John W; Langley, Kate; Wilber, Kathleen H

2010-12-01

this study was designed to improve the measurement of financial exploitation (FE) by testing psychometric properties of the older adult financial exploitation measure (OAFEM), a client self-report instrument. rasch item response theory and traditional validation approaches were used. Questionnaires were administered by 22 adult protective services investigators from 7 agencies in Illinois to 227 substantiated abuse clients. Analyses included tests for dimensionality, model fit, and additional construct validation. Results from the OAFEM were also compared with the substantiation decision of abuse and with investigators' assessments of FE using a staff report version. Hypotheses were generated to test hypothesized relationships. the OAFEM, including the original 79-, 54-, and 30-item measures, met stringent Rasch analysis fit and unidimensionality criteria and had high internal consistency and item reliability. The validation results were supportive, while leading to reconsideration of aspects of the hypothesized theoretical hierarchy. Thresholds were suggested to demonstrate levels of severity. the measure is now available to aid in the assessment of FE of older adults by both clinicians and researchers. Theoretical refinements developed using the empirically generated item hierarchy may help to improve assessment and intervention.

Broadband Microwave Wireless Power Transfer for Weak-Signal and Multipath Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Barton, Richard J.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we study the potential benefits of using relatively broadband wireless power transmission WPT strategies in both weak-signal and multipath environments where traditional narrowband strategies can be very inefficient. The paper is primarily a theoretical and analytical treatment of the problem that attempts to derive results that are widely applicable to many different WPT applications, including space solar power SSP.

SWOT analysis and revelation in traditional Chinese medicine internationalization.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Haitao; Huang, Wenlong; Ma, Jimei; Liu, Li

2018-01-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is currently the best-preserved and most influential traditional medical system with the largest number of users worldwide. In recent years, the trend of TCM adoption has increased greatly, but the process of TCM internationalization has suffered from a series of setbacks for both internal and external reasons. Thus, the process of TCM internationalization faces formidable challenges, although it also has favourable opportunities. Using SWOT analysis, this paper investigates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for TCM. These findings can serve as references for TCM enterprises with global ambitions.

Exploiting VM/XA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boeheim, C.

1990-03-01

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center has recently completed a conversion to IBM's VM/XA SP Release 2 operating system. The primary physics application had been constrained by the previous 16 megabyte memory limit. Work is underway to enable this application to exploit the new features of VM/XA. This paper presents a brief tutorial on how to convert an application to exploit VM/XA and discusses some of the SLAC experiences in doing so. 13 figs

Weak interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogava, S.; Savada, S.; Nakagava, M.

1983-01-01

The problem of the use of weak interaction laws to study models of elementary particles is discussed. The most typical examples of weak interaction is beta-decay of nucleons and muons. Beta-interaction is presented by quark currents in the form of universal interaction of the V-A type. Universality of weak interactions is well confirmed using as examples e- and μ-channels of pion decay. Hypothesis on partial preservation of axial current is applicable to the analysis of processes with pion participation. In the framework of the model with four flavours lepton decays of hadrons are considered. Weak interaction without lepton participation are also considered. Properties of neutral currents are described briefly

Weakly clopen functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Son, Mi Jung; Park, Jin Han; Lim, Ki Moon

2007-01-01

We introduce a new class of functions called weakly clopen function which includes the class of almost clopen functions due to Ekici [Ekici E. Generalization of perfectly continuous, regular set-connected and clopen functions. Acta Math Hungar 2005;107:193-206] and is included in the class of weakly continuous functions due to Levine [Levine N. A decomposition of continuity in topological spaces. Am Math Mon 1961;68:44-6]. Some characterizations and several properties concerning weakly clopenness are obtained. Furthermore, relationships among weak clopenness, almost clopenness, clopenness and weak continuity are investigated

The economics of exploiting gas hydrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Döpke, Lena-Katharina; Requate, Till

2014-01-01

We investigate the optimal exploitation of methane hydrates, a recent discovery of methane resources under the sea floor, mainly located along the continental margins. Combustion of methane (releasing CO2) and leakage through blow-outs (releasing CH4) contribute to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. A second externality arises since removing solid gas hydrates from the sea bottom destabilizes continental margins and thus increases the risk of marine earthquakes. We show that in such a model three regimes can occur: i) resource exploitation will be stopped in finite time, and some of the resource will stay in situ, ii) the resource will be used up completely in finite time, and iii) the resource will be exhausted in infinite time. We also show how to internalize the externalities by policy instruments. - Highlights: • We set up a model of optimal has hydrate exploitation • We incorporate to types of damages: contribution to global warming and geo-hazards • We characterize optimal exploitation paths and study decentralization with an exploitation tax. • Three regimes can occur: • i) exploitation in finite time and some of the stock remaining in situ, • ii) exploitation in finite time and the resource will be exhausted, • iii) exploitation and exhaustion in infinite time

FSH: fast spaced seed hashing exploiting adjacent hashes.

Science.gov (United States)

Girotto, Samuele; Comin, Matteo; Pizzi, Cinzia

2018-01-01

Patterns with wildcards in specified positions, namely spaced seeds , are increasingly used instead of k -mers in many bioinformatics applications that require indexing, querying and rapid similarity search, as they can provide better sensitivity. Many of these applications require to compute the hashing of each position in the input sequences with respect to the given spaced seed, or to multiple spaced seeds. While the hashing of k -mers can be rapidly computed by exploiting the large overlap between consecutive k -mers, spaced seeds hashing is usually computed from scratch for each position in the input sequence, thus resulting in slower processing. The method proposed in this paper, fast spaced-seed hashing (FSH), exploits the similarity of the hash values of spaced seeds computed at adjacent positions in the input sequence. In our experiments we compute the hash for each positions of metagenomics reads from several datasets, with respect to different spaced seeds. We also propose a generalized version of the algorithm for the simultaneous computation of multiple spaced seeds hashing. In the experiments, our algorithm can compute the hashing values of spaced seeds with a speedup, with respect to the traditional approach, between 1.6[Formula: see text] to 5.3[Formula: see text], depending on the structure of the spaced seed. Spaced seed hashing is a routine task for several bioinformatics application. FSH allows to perform this task efficiently and raise the question of whether other hashing can be exploited to further improve the speed up. This has the potential of major impact in the field, making spaced seed applications not only accurate, but also faster and more efficient. The software FSH is freely available for academic use at: https://bitbucket.org/samu661/fsh/overview.

The use of vascular plants as traditional boat raw material by Yachai tribe in Mappi Regency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

YOHANES YOSEPH RAHAWARIN

2005-07-01

Full Text Available This research is executed aim to know the plant species and the way of exploiting permanent wood upon which traditional boat making by Yachai tribe in Mappi regency. The Method that used in this research is descriptive method with the structural semi interview technique and direct perception in field. Result of research indicate that the tribe Yachai exploit the plant species have permanent wood upon which traditional boat as much 26 species from 14 family. There are 8 wood species which is often used for the body of boat and also own the good quality according to Yachai tribe, that is Atam (Scihizomeria serrata Hochr, Batki (Adinandra forbesii Baker. F, Chomach (Gordonia papuana Kobuski, Rupke (Tristania sp., Bao (Dillenia papuana artelli, Top (Buchanania macrocarpa Laut, Mitbo (Cordia Dichtoma Forst., and Yunun (Camnosperma brevipetiolata Volkens. While to part of oar exploit 2 wood species that is Bach (Buchanania Arborescens.Bi and Tup (Litsea ampala Merr. Yachai Tribe recognized 3 boat model owning different size measure and function, that is Junun Ramchai, Junun Pochoi and Junun Toch.

ROUNDTABLE - SESSION 2 EXPLOITATION, CONSERVATION AND LEGISLATION

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EDSMAN L.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The link between socioeconomics and conservation and the role of legislation in conservation work was discussed in the group with participants from nine European countries. Interest and knowledge among the general public, stakeholders and managers is the key to successful conservation of native crayfish species. Exploitation and conservation do not necessarily exclude each other. A controlled fishery, where it can be sustained, may be an essential tool for conservation by increasing the general awareness and involving more people in the task of protecting the native crayfish species. This strategy is mainly possible for the noble crayfish in the northern part of its distribution, where strong traditions connected to crayfish also exist. A balance between utilisation and overexploitation has to be found and local guidelines for sustainable exploitation produced. Media, the Internet and educational material aimed at schools and stakeholders are excellent ways of reaching a wide audience with information. Universal objectives, rules and regulations at the European level are desirable and the noble crayfish and the stone crayfish should be included in Annex II of the Habitat Directive. Based on this framework detailed regulations are best worked out at the national level, considering the specific crayfish situation in the country. Information about the legislation, the purpose of the legislation and the consequences when not obeying it should be distributed. Stricter regulation of the trade with live alien crayfish is vital because of the associated risk of introducing new diseases and species.

Weak value controversy

Science.gov (United States)

Vaidman, L.

2017-10-01

Recent controversy regarding the meaning and usefulness of weak values is reviewed. It is argued that in spite of recent statistical arguments by Ferrie and Combes, experiments with anomalous weak values provide useful amplification techniques for precision measurements of small effects in many realistic situations. The statistical nature of weak values is questioned. Although measuring weak values requires an ensemble, it is argued that the weak value, similarly to an eigenvalue, is a property of a single pre- and post-selected quantum system. This article is part of the themed issue `Second quantum revolution: foundational questions'.

Fast-Acquisition/Weak-Signal-Tracking GPS Receiver for HEO

Science.gov (United States)

Wintemitz, Luke; Boegner, Greg; Sirotzky, Steve

2004-01-01

A report discusses the technical background and design of the Navigator Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver -- . a radiation-hardened receiver intended for use aboard spacecraft. Navigator is capable of weak signal acquisition and tracking as well as much faster acquisition of strong or weak signals with no a priori knowledge or external aiding. Weak-signal acquisition and tracking enables GPS use in high Earth orbits (HEO), and fast acquisition allows for the receiver to remain without power until needed in any orbit. Signal acquisition and signal tracking are, respectively, the processes of finding and demodulating a signal. Acquisition is the more computationally difficult process. Previous GPS receivers employ the method of sequentially searching the two-dimensional signal parameter space (code phase and Doppler). Navigator exploits properties of the Fourier transform in a massively parallel search for the GPS signal. This method results in far faster acquisition times [in the lab, 12 GPS satellites have been acquired with no a priori knowledge in a Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) scenario in less than one second]. Modeling has shown that Navigator will be capable of acquiring signals down to 25 dB-Hz, appropriate for HEO missions. Navigator is built using the radiation-hardened ColdFire microprocessor and housing the most computationally intense functions in dedicated field-programmable gate arrays. The high performance of the algorithm and of the receiver as a whole are made possible by optimizing computational efficiency and carefully weighing tradeoffs among the sampling rate, data format, and data-path bit width.

Exploitation in International Paid Surrogacy Arrangements

OpenAIRE

Wilkinson, Stephen

2015-01-01

Abstract Many critics have suggested that international paid surrogacy is exploitative. Taking such concerns as its starting point, this article asks: (1) how defensible is the claim that international paid surrogacy is exploitative and what could be done to make it less exploitative? (2) In the light of the answer to (1), how strong is the case for prohibiting it? Exploitation could in principle be dealt with by improving surrogates' pay and conditions. However, doing so may exacerbate probl...

Profits and Exploitation: A Reappraisal

OpenAIRE

Yoshihara, Naoki; Veneziani, Roberto

2011-01-01

This paper provides a mathematical analysis of the Marxian theory of the exploitation of labour in general equilibrium models. The two main definitions of Marxian exploitation in the literature, proposed by Morishima (1974) and Roemer (1982), respectively, are analysed in the context of general convex economies. It is shown that, contrary to the received view, in general these definitions do not preserve the so-called Fundamental Marxian Theorem (FMT), which states that the exploitation of la...

[Archaeology and criminology--Strengths and weaknesses of interdisciplinary cooperation].

Science.gov (United States)

Bachhiesl, Christian

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary cooperation of archaeology and criminology is often focussed on the scientific methods applied in both fields of knowledge. In combination with the humanistic methods traditionally used in archaeology, the finding of facts can be enormously increased and the subsequent hermeneutic deduction of human behaviour in the past can take place on a more solid basis. Thus, interdisciplinary cooperation offers direct and indirect advantages. But it can also cause epistemological problems, if the weaknesses and limits of one method are to be corrected by applying methods used in other disciplines. This may result in the application of methods unsuitable for the problem to be investigated so that, in a way, the methodological and epistemological weaknesses of two disciplines potentiate each other. An example of this effect is the quantification of qualia. These epistemological reflections are compared with the interdisciplinary approach using the concrete case of the "Eulau Crime Scene".

Weak Acid Ionization Constants and the Determination of Weak Acid-Weak Base Reaction Equilibrium Constants in the General Chemistry Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Nyasulu, Frazier; McMills, Lauren; Barlag, Rebecca

2013-01-01

A laboratory to determine the equilibrium constants of weak acid negative weak base reactions is described. The equilibrium constants of component reactions when multiplied together equal the numerical value of the equilibrium constant of the summative reaction. The component reactions are weak acid ionization reactions, weak base hydrolysis…

Toward justice and social transformation? Appealing to the tradition against the tradition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piet J. Naude

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This article starts with a brief statement on the well-known contradictory nature of the Reformed tradition in South Africa, defending injustice and struggling for justice in the name of the same tradition. By following the work of Reformed systematic theologian D.J. Smit, it argues that the justice-affirming potential of the Reformed tradition is a hermeneutical task built on three specific re-interpretations: (1 the reinterpretation of Scripture from the perspective of the weak, the poor and the oppressed (against a hermeneutic of creation orders and God-willed division of people (2 a rereading of John Calvin to affirm the dignity and freedom of all humans (against the grain of neo-Calvinist interpretations (3 a rereading of Karl Barth with a focus on God’s inclusive grace, Christian confessions and the nature of the Christian life (against the limitation of his influence because of his perceived actualistic view on Scripture or unscientific, foundational methodology. The article closes with a brief look into the agenda for social transformation faced by us in the second decade of the 21st century, and under what conditions the  Reformed faith will be able to make an enduring contribution to public life in (South Africa.

Redefining Exploitation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agarwala, Rina

2016-01-01

This article examines how self-employed workers are organizing in the garments and waste collection industries in India. Although the question of who is profiting from self-employed workers’ labor is complex, the cases outlined in this paper highlight telling instances of how some self......-employed workers are organizing as workers. They are fighting labor exploitation by redefining the concept to include additional exploitation axes (from the state and middle class) and forms (including sexual). In doing so, they are redefining potential solutions, including identities and material benefits, to fit...... their unique needs. By expanding the category of “workers” beyond those defined by a narrow focus on a standard employer-employee relationship, these movements are also fighting exclusion from earlier labor protections by increasing the number of entitled beneficiaries. These struggles provide an important...

Diazotisation of Weakly Basic Aromatic and Heterocyclic Amines in Strongly Acid Media

Science.gov (United States)

Godovikova, Tamara I.; Rakitin, Oleg A.; Khmel'nitskii, Lenor I.

1983-05-01

The review is devoted to the diazotisation of weakly basic aromatic amines. The methods of synthesis of diazonium salts based on these amines by non-traditional methods are examined. Data on the mechanism of the diazotisation reaction in strongly acid media are surveyed. Reactions of diazonium salts leading to the synthesis of new compounds are presented. The bibliography includes 75 references.

The Problem of Weak Governments and Weak Societies in Eastern Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko Grdešić

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This paper argues that, for Eastern Europe, the simultaneous presence of weak governments and weak societies is a crucial obstacle which must be faced by analysts and reformers. The understanding of other normatively significant processes will be deficient without a consciousness-raising deliberation on this problem and its implications. This paper seeks to articulate the “relational” approach to state and society. In addition, the paper lays out a typology of possible patterns of relationship between state and society, dependent on whether the state is weak or strong and whether society is weak or strong. Comparative data are presented in order to provide an empirical support for the theses. Finally, the paper outlines two reform approaches which could enable breaking the vicious circle emerging in the context of weak governments and weak societies.

Electro-weak theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deshpande, N.G.

1980-01-01

By electro-weak theory is meant the unified field theory that describes both weak and electro-magnetic interactions. The development of a unified electro-weak theory is certainly the most dramatic achievement in theoretical physics to occur in the second half of this century. It puts weak interactions on the same sound theoretical footing as quantum elecrodynamics. Many theorists have contributed to this development, which culminated in the works of Glashow, Weinberg and Salam, who were jointly awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics. Some of the important ideas that contributed to this development are the theory of beta decay formulated by Fermi, Parity violation suggested by Lee and Yang, and incorporated into immensely successful V-A theory of weak interactions by Sudarshan and Marshak. At the same time ideas of gauge invariance were applied to weak interaction by Schwinger, Bludman and Glashow. Weinberg and Salam then went one step further and wrote a theory that is renormalizable, i.e., all higher order corrections are finite, no mean feat for a quantum field theory. The theory had to await the development of the quark model of hadrons for its completion. A description of the electro-weak theory is given

Weak decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wojcicki, S.

1978-11-01

Lectures are given on weak decays from a phenomenological point of view, emphasizing new results and ideas and the relation of recent results to the new standard theoretical model. The general framework within which the weak decay is viewed and relevant fundamental questions, weak decays of noncharmed hadrons, decays of muons and the tau, and the decays of charmed particles are covered. Limitation is made to the discussion of those topics that either have received recent experimental attention or are relevant to the new physics. (JFP) 178 references

Weak pion production off the nucleon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez, E.; Nieves, J.; Valverde, M.

2007-01-01

We develop a model for the weak pion production off the nucleon, which besides the delta pole mechanism [weak excitation of the Δ(1232) resonance and its subsequent decay into Nπ], includes also some background terms required by chiral symmetry. We refit the C 5 A (q 2 ) form factor to the flux-averaged ν μ p→μ - pπ + ANL q 2 -differential cross section data, finding a substantially smaller contribution of the delta pole mechanism than traditionally assumed in the literature. Within this scheme, we calculate several differential and integrated cross sections, including pion angular distributions, induced by neutrinos and antineutrinos and driven both by charged and neutral currents. In all cases we find that the background terms produce quite significant effects, and that they lead to an overall improved description of the data, as compared to the case where only the delta pole mechanism is considered. We also show that the interference between the delta pole and the background terms produces parity-violating contributions to the pion angular differential cross section, which are intimately linked to T-odd correlations in the contraction between the leptonic and hadronic tensors. However, these latter correlations do not imply a genuine violation of time-reversal invariance because of the existence of strong final state interaction effects

Weak currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leite Lopes, J.

1976-01-01

A survey of the fundamental ideas on weak currents such as CVC and PCAC and a presentation of the Cabibbo current and the neutral weak currents according to the Salam-Weinberg model and the Glashow-Iliopoulos-Miami model are given [fr

Proceedings of Summer Institute on Particle Physics: the weak interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mosher, A.

1981-01-01

The SLAC Summer Institute on Particle Physics held its eighth session on July 28-August 8, 1980, and the focus of the meeting was The Weak Interaction. Following the now traditional format, the first seven days of the Institute were spent with the mornings given to pedagogic lectures on the experimental and theoretical foundations of the topic. This year included a very stimulating and successful series on the physics of particle detectors. In the afternoons were seminars on the various experimental tools being designed or constructed to further probe the Weak Interaction, followed by lively discussion of the morning's lectures. Again, following the usual format, the school led into a three-day topical conference at which the most recent theoretical and experimental results were presented and discussed. Abstracts of twenty-seven items from the Institute were prepared separately for the data base

Homological properties of modules with finite weak injective and weak flat dimensions

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Tiwei

2017-01-01

In this paper, we define a class of relative derived functors in terms of left or right weak flat resolutions to compute the weak flat dimension of modules. Moreover, we investigate two classes of modules larger than that of weak injective and weak flat modules, study the existence of covers and preenvelopes, and give some applications.

Electrooxidative Ruthenium-Catalyzed C-H/O-H Annulation by Weak O-Coordination.

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Youai; Tian, Cong; Massignan, Leonardo; Rogge, Torben; Ackermann, Lutz

2018-05-14

Electrocatalysis has been identified as a powerful strategy for organometallic catalysis, and yet electrocatalytic C-H activation is restricted to strongly N-coordinating directing groups. The first example of electrocatalytic C-H activation by weak O-coordination is presented, in which a versatile ruthenium(II) carboxylate catalyst enables electrooxidative C-H/O-H functionalization for alkyne annulations in the absence of metal oxidants; thereby exploiting sustainable electricity as the sole oxidant. Mechanistic insights provide strong support for a facile organometallic C-H ruthenation and an effective electrochemical reoxidation of the key ruthenium(0) intermediate. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Exploration, Exploitation, and Organizational Coordination Mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvio Popadiuk

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical relationship among exploration, exploitation, and organizational coordination mechanisms, classified as the centralization of decision-making, formalization, and connectedness. In order to analyze the findings of this survey, we used two techniques: Principal Component Analysis (PCA and Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM. Our analysis was supported by 249 answers from managers of companies located in Brazil (convenience sampling. Contrary to expectations, centralization and exploitation were negatively associated. Our data supports the research hypothesis that formalization is positively associated with exploitation. Although the relationship between formalization and exploration were significant, the result is contrary to the research hypothesis that we made. The relationships among connectedness and exploitation, and connectedness and exploration were both positive and significant. This relationship means that the more connectedness increases, the higher the likelihood of exploitation and exploration.

Feedback control using only quantum back-action

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobs, Kurt

2010-01-01

The traditional approach to feedback control is to apply deterministic forces to a system by modifying the Hamiltonian. Here we show that finite-dimensional quantum systems can be controlled purely by exploiting the random quantum back-action of a continuous weak measurement. We demonstrate that, quite remarkably, the quantum back-action of such an adaptive measurement is just as effective at controlling quantum systems as traditional feedback.

Attending Weak Signals: The Prevention of Work-related Illnesses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roy Liff

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This article examines the characteristics of communication among managers, human resource (HR experts, and occupational health care specialists, as they deal with such informal information as weak signals in the prevention of work-related illnesses, using a theoretical framework in which the prevention of work-related illness is analogous to theory on crisis management. This is a qualitative study in which individual and focus-group interviews were conducted in a Swedish context with occupational health care specialists, managers, and HR experts. The results suggest that organizational solutions have failed and continue to fail at controlling workers’ health problems, although the main difficulty is not in identifying the ‘right’ individually oriented weak signals. Rather, it is upper management’s reliance on formal information (e.g., statistics and surveys – because of the difficulty in supplementing it with informal information (e.g., rumors and gossip – that makes it difficult to improve traditional health and safety work

Beneath Still Waters - Multistage Aquatic Exploitation of Euryale ferox (Salisb. during the Acheulian

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naama Goren-Inbar1

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Remains of the highly nutritious aquatic plant Fox nut – Euryale ferox Salisb. (Nymphaeaceae – were found at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. Here, we present new evidence for complex cognitive strategies of hominins as seen in their exploitation of E. ferox nuts. We draw on excavated data and on parallels observed in traditional collecting and processing practices from Bihar, India. We suggest that during the early Middle Pleistocene, hominins implemented multistage procedures comprising underwater gathering and subsequent processing (drying, roasting and popping of E. ferox nuts. Hierarchical processing strategies are observed in the Acheulian lithic reduction sequences and butchering of game at this and other sites, but are poorly understood as regards the exploitation of aquatic plant resources. We highlight the ability of Acheulian hominins to resolve issues related to underwater gathering of E. ferox nuts during the plant's life cycle and to adopt strategies to enhance their nutritive value.

Omnidirectional Harvesting of Weak Light Using a Graphene Quantum Dot-Modified Organic/Silicon Hybrid Device

KAUST Repository

Tsai, Meng-Lin

2017-04-21

Despite great improvements in traditional inorganic photodetectors and photovoltaics, more progress is needed in the detection/collection of light at low-level conditions. Traditional photodetectors tend to suffer from high noise when operated at room temperature; therefore, these devices require additional cooling systems to detect weak or dim light. Conventional solar cells also face the challenge of poor light-harvesting capabilities in hazy or cloudy weather. The real world features such varying levels of light, which makes it important to develop strategies that allow optical devices to function when conditions are less than optimal. In this work, we report an organic/inorganic hybrid device that consists of graphene quantum dot-modified poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrenesulfonate spin-coated on Si for the detection/harvest of weak light. The hybrid configuration provides the device with high responsivity and detectability, omnidirectional light trapping, and fast operation speed. To demonstrate the potential of this hybrid device in real world applications, we measured near-infrared light scattered through human tissue to demonstrate noninvasive oximetric photodetection as well as characterized the device\\'s photovoltaic properties in outdoor (i.e., weather-dependent) and indoor weak light conditions. This organic/inorganic device configuration demonstrates a promising strategy for developing future high-performance low-light compatible photodetectors and photovoltaics.

Business continuity 2014: From traditional to integrated Business Continuity Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Ee, Henry

As global change continues to generate new challenges and potential threats to businesses, traditional business continuity management (BCM) slowly reveals its limitations and weak points to ensuring 'business resiliency' today. Consequently, BCM professionals also face the challenge of re-evaluating traditional concepts and introducing new strategies and industry best practices. This paper points to why traditional BCM is no longer sufficient in terms of enabling businesses to survive in today's high-risk environment. It also looks into some of the misconceptions about BCM and other stumbling blocks to establishing effective BCM today. Most importantly, however, this paper provides tips based on the Business Continuity Institute's (BCI) Good Practices Guideline (GPG) and the latest international BCM standard ISO 22301 on how to overcome the issues and challenges presented.

A Sparsity-Promoted Method Based on Majorization-Minimization for Weak Fault Feature Enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Bangyue; Hao, Yansong; Wang, Huaqing; Song, Liuyang; Tang, Gang; Yuan, Hongfang

2018-03-28

Fault transient impulses induced by faulty components in rotating machinery usually contain substantial interference. Fault features are comparatively weak in the initial fault stage, which renders fault diagnosis more difficult. In this case, a sparse representation method based on the Majorzation-Minimization (MM) algorithm is proposed to enhance weak fault features and extract the features from strong background noise. However, the traditional MM algorithm suffers from two issues, which are the choice of sparse basis and complicated calculations. To address these challenges, a modified MM algorithm is proposed in which a sparse optimization objective function is designed firstly. Inspired by the Basis Pursuit (BP) model, the optimization function integrates an impulsive feature-preserving factor and a penalty function factor. Second, a modified Majorization iterative method is applied to address the convex optimization problem of the designed function. A series of sparse coefficients can be achieved through iterating, which only contain transient components. It is noteworthy that there is no need to select the sparse basis in the proposed iterative method because it is fixed as a unit matrix. Then the reconstruction step is omitted, which can significantly increase detection efficiency. Eventually, envelope analysis of the sparse coefficients is performed to extract weak fault features. Simulated and experimental signals including bearings and gearboxes are employed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, comparisons are made to prove that the proposed method outperforms the traditional MM algorithm in terms of detection results and efficiency.

Analysis on digital management of uranium geological archives and its second exploitation and utilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kong Hui

2009-01-01

The enormous data and examples show that the second exploitation and utilization of geological archives information are important and necessary for geological prospecting. The author deeply studies and analyzes the information service system for uranium geology, it is believed that the traditional management mode of geological archives must be transformed into modernized service mode. The way of how to expand, apply and improve the 'management and analytical system for uranium resources information' is discussed for implementing geo-informational construction. (authors)

Exploitation of heterogeneous resources for ATLAS Computing

CERN Document Server

Chudoba, Jiri; The ATLAS collaboration

2018-01-01

LHC experiments require significant computational resources for Monte Carlo simulations and real data processing and the ATLAS experiment is not an exception. In 2017, ATLAS exploited steadily almost 3M HS06 units, which corresponds to about 300 000 standard CPU cores. The total disk and tape capacity managed by the Rucio data management system exceeded 350 PB. Resources are provided mostly by Grid computing centers distributed in geographically separated locations and connected by the Grid middleware. The ATLAS collaboration developed several systems to manage computational jobs, data files and network transfers. ATLAS solutions for job and data management (PanDA and Rucio) were generalized and now are used also by other collaborations. More components are needed to include new resources such as private and public clouds, volunteers' desktop computers and primarily supercomputers in major HPC centers. Workflows and data flows significantly differ for these less traditional resources and extensive software re...

Traditional access and forest management arrangements for beekeeping: the case of Southwest Ethiopia forest region

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Endalamaw, T.B.; Wiersum, K.F.

2009-01-01

Forest beekeeping is an ancient form of forest exploitation in south west Ethiopia. The practice has continued to the present with a gradual evolution in beekeeping technology and resource access and management arrangements. The aim of the present study is to study traditional forest management

Typical horticultural products between tradition and innovation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Innocenza Chessa

Full Text Available Recent EU and National policies for agriculture and rural development are mainly focused to foster the production of high quality products as a result of the increasing demand of food safety, typical foods and traditional processing methods. Another word very often used to describe foods in these days is “typicality” which pools together the concepts of “food connected with a specific place”, “historical memory and tradition” and “culture”. The importance for the EU and the National administrations of the above mentioned kind of food is demonstrated, among other things, by the high number of the PDO, PGI and TSG certificated products in Italy. In this period of global markets and economical crisis farmers are realizing how “typical products” can be an opportunity to maintain their market share and to improve the economy of local areas. At the same time, new tools and strategy are needed to reach these goals. A lack of knowledge has being recognized also on how new technologies and results coming from recent research can help in exploiting traditional product and in maintaining the biodiversity. Taking into account the great variety and richness of typical products, landscapes and biodiversity, this report will describe and analyze the relationships among typicality, innovation and research in horticulture. At the beginning “typicality” and “innovation” will be defined also through some statistical features, which ranks Italy at the first place in terms of number of typical labelled products, then will be highlighted how typical products of high quality and connected with the tradition and culture of specific production areas are in a strict relationship with the value of agro-biodiversity. Several different examples will be used to explain different successful methods and/or strategies used to exploit and foster typical Italian vegetables, fruits and flowers. Finally, as a conclusion, since it is thought that

Tobacco industry misappropriation of American Indian culture and traditional tobacco.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Silva, Joanne; O'Gara, Erin; Villaluz, Nicole T

2018-02-19

Describe the extent to which tobacco industry marketing tactics incorporated American Indian culture and traditional tobacco. A keyword search of industry documents was conducted using document archives from the Truth Tobacco Documents Library. Tobacco industry documents (n=76) were analysed for themes. Tobacco industry marketing tactics have incorporated American Indian culture and traditional tobacco since at least the 1930s, with these tactics prominently highlighted during the 1990s with Natural American Spirit cigarettes. Documents revealed the use of American Indian imagery such as traditional headdresses and other cultural symbols in product branding and the portrayal of harmful stereotypes of Native people in advertising. The historical and cultural significance of traditional tobacco was used to validate commercially available tobacco. The tobacco industry has misappropriated culture and traditional tobacco by misrepresenting American Indian traditions, values and beliefs to market and sell their products for profit. Findings underscore the need for ongoing monitoring of tobacco industry marketing tactics directed at exploiting Native culture and counter-marketing tactics that raise awareness about the distinction between commercial and traditional tobacco use. Such efforts should be embedded within a culturally sensitive framework to reduce the burden of commercial tobacco use. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Asymptotic response of observables from divergent weak-coupling expansions: A fractional-calculus-assisted Padé technique

Science.gov (United States)

Dhatt, Sharmistha; Bhattacharyya, Kamal

2012-08-01

Appropriate constructions of Padé approximants are believed to provide reasonable estimates of the asymptotic (large-coupling) amplitude and exponent of an observable, given its weak-coupling expansion to some desired order. In many instances, however, sequences of such approximants are seen to converge very poorly. We outline here a strategy that exploits the idea of fractional calculus to considerably improve the convergence behavior. Pilot calculations on the ground-state perturbative energy series of quartic, sextic, and octic anharmonic oscillators reveal clearly the worth of our endeavor.

Organizational Effectiveness = Corporate Performance? Why and How Two Research Traditions Need to be Merged

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Glunk, U.; Wilderom, C.P.M.

1996-01-01

Organizational effectiveness and corporate performance research seem to deal with the same core construct: organizational effectiveness/performance.However, both research traditions have produced separate bodies of literature and have developed different strengths and weaknesses.Organizational

Organ sales: exploitative at any price?

Science.gov (United States)

Lawlor, Rob

2014-05-01

In many cases, claims that a transaction is exploitative will focus on the details of the transaction, such as the price paid or conditions. For example, in a claim that a worker is exploited, the grounds for the claim are usually that the pay is not sufficient or the working conditions too dangerous. In some cases, however, the claim that a transaction is exploitative is not seen to rely on these finer details. Many, for example, claim that organ sales would be exploitative, in a way that doesn't seem to depend on the details. This article considers, but ultimately rejects, a number of arguments which could be used to defend this sort of claim. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A collapse pressure prediction model for horizontal shale gas wells with multiple weak planes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Chen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Since collapse of horizontal wellbore through long brittle shale interval is a major problem, the occurrence characteristics of weak planes were analyzed according to outcrop, core, and SEM and FMI data of shale rocks. A strength analysis method was developed for shale rocks with multiple weak planes based on weak-plane strength theory. An analysis was also conducted of the strength characteristics of shale rocks with uniform distribution of multiple weak planes. A collapse pressure prediction model for horizontal wells in shale formation with multiple weak planes was established, which takes into consideration the occurrence of each weak plane, wellbore stress condition, borehole azimuth, and in-situ stress azimuth. Finally, a case study of a horizontal shale gas well in southern Sichuan Basin was conducted. The results show that the intersection angle between the shale bedding plane and the structural fracture is generally large (nearly orthogonal; with the increase of weak plane number, the strength of rock mass declines sharply and is more heavily influenced by weak planes; when there are more than four weak planes, the rock strength tends to be isotropic and the whole strength of rock mass is greatly weakened, significantly increasing the risk of wellbore collapse. With the increase of weak plane number, the drilling fluid density (collapse pressure to keep borehole stability goes up gradually. For instance, the collapse pressure is 1.04 g/cm3 when there are no weak planes, and 1.55 g/cm3 when there is one weak plane, and 1.84 g/cm3 when there are two weak planes. The collapse pressure prediction model for horizontal wells proposed in this paper presented results in better agreement with those in actual situation. This model, more accurate and practical than traditional models, can effectively improve the accuracy of wellbore collapse pressure prediction of horizontal shale gas wells.

Hartman effect and weak measurements that are not really weak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sokolovski, D.; Akhmatskaya, E.

2011-01-01

We show that in wave packet tunneling, localization of the transmitted particle amounts to a quantum measurement of the delay it experiences in the barrier. With no external degree of freedom involved, the envelope of the wave packet plays the role of the initial pointer state. Under tunneling conditions such ''self-measurement'' is necessarily weak, and the Hartman effect just reflects the general tendency of weak values to diverge, as postselection in the final state becomes improbable. We also demonstrate that it is a good precision, or a 'not really weak' quantum measurement: no matter how wide the barrier d, it is possible to transmit a wave packet with a width σ small compared to the observed advancement. As is the case with all weak measurements, the probability of transmission rapidly decreases with the ratio σ/d.

Identification of traditional foods with public health potential for complementary feeding in Western Kenya

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kinyuru, John N,; Konyole, Silvenus O.; Kenji, Glaston M.

2012-01-01

The diversity of traditional foods in Kisumu West District of Western Kenya was assessed with an aim to identify the foods with a potential for complementary feeding. Leaves were the most consumed plant part amongst vegetables, while a few fruits were consumed together with their seeds. Amaranthus...... with nutritional and health benefits as perceived by the locals. Traditional food processing methods such as boiling, fermentation and sun drying were identified. Thus exploitation of the species possessing nutrient, health and processing benefits needs to be explored in complementary feeding....

Weak KAM theory for a weakly coupled system of Hamilton–Jacobi equations

KAUST Repository

Figalli, Alessio; Gomes, Diogo A.; Marcon, Diego

2016-01-01

Here, we extend the weak KAM and Aubry–Mather theories to optimal switching problems. We consider three issues: the analysis of the calculus of variations problem, the study of a generalized weak KAM theorem for solutions of weakly coupled systems of Hamilton–Jacobi equations, and the long-time behavior of time-dependent systems. We prove the existence and regularity of action minimizers, obtain necessary conditions for minimality, extend Fathi’s weak KAM theorem, and describe the asymptotic limit of the generalized Lax–Oleinik semigroup. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Weak KAM theory for a weakly coupled system of Hamilton–Jacobi equations

KAUST Repository

Figalli, Alessio

2016-06-23

Here, we extend the weak KAM and Aubry–Mather theories to optimal switching problems. We consider three issues: the analysis of the calculus of variations problem, the study of a generalized weak KAM theorem for solutions of weakly coupled systems of Hamilton–Jacobi equations, and the long-time behavior of time-dependent systems. We prove the existence and regularity of action minimizers, obtain necessary conditions for minimality, extend Fathi’s weak KAM theorem, and describe the asymptotic limit of the generalized Lax–Oleinik semigroup. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Herbivory eliminates fitness costs of mutualism exploiters.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonsen, Anna K; Stinchcombe, John R

2014-04-01

A common empirical observation in mutualistic interactions is the persistence of variation in partner quality and, in particular, the persistence of exploitative phenotypes. For mutualisms between hosts and symbionts, most mutualism theory assumes that exploiters always impose fitness costs on their host. We exposed legume hosts to mutualistic (nitrogen-fixing) and exploitative (non-nitrogen-fixing) symbiotic rhizobia in field conditions, and manipulated the presence or absence of insect herbivory to determine if the costly fitness effects of exploitative rhizobia are context-dependent. Exploitative rhizobia predictably reduced host fitness when herbivores were excluded. However, insects caused greater damage on hosts associating with mutualistic rhizobia, as a consequence of feeding preferences related to leaf nitrogen content, resulting in the elimination of fitness costs imposed on hosts by exploitative rhizobia. Our experiment shows that herbivory is potentially an important factor in influencing the evolutionary dynamic between legumes and rhizobia. Partner choice and host sanctioning are theoretically predicted to stabilize mutualisms by reducing the frequency of exploitative symbionts. We argue that herbivore pressure may actually weaken selection on choice and sanction mechanisms, thus providing one explanation of why host-based discrimination mechanisms may not be completely effective in eliminating nonbeneficial partners. © 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

Test of the Weak Equivalence Principle using LIGO observations of GW150914 and Fermi observations of GBM transient 150914

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Molin Liu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available About 0.4 s after the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO detected a transient gravitational-wave (GW signal GW150914, the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM also found a weak electromagnetic transient (GBM transient 150914. Time and location coincidences favor a possible association between GW150904 and GBM transient 150914. Under this possible association, we adopt Fermi's electromagnetic (EM localization and derive constraints on possible violations of the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP from the observations of two events. Our calculations are based on four comparisons: (1 The first is the comparison of the initial GWs detected at the two LIGO sites. From the different polarizations of these initial GWs, we obtain a limit on any difference in the parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN parameter Δγ≲10−10. (2 The second is a comparison of GWs and possible EM waves. Using a traditional super-Eddington accretion model for GBM transient 150914, we again obtain an upper limit Δγ≲10−10. Compared with previous results for photons and neutrinos, our limits are five orders of magnitude stronger than those from PeV neutrinos in blazar flares, and seven orders stronger than those from MeV neutrinos in SN1987A. (3 The third is a comparison of GWs with different frequencies in the range [35 Hz, 250 Hz]. (4 The fourth is a comparison of EM waves with different energies in the range [1 keV, 10 MeV]. These last two comparisons lead to an even stronger limit, Δγ≲10−8. Our results highlight the potential of multi-messenger signals exploiting different emission channels to strengthen existing tests of the WEP.

Dark-Matter Particles without Weak-Scale Masses or Weak Interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng, Jonathan L.; Kumar, Jason

2008-01-01

We propose that dark matter is composed of particles that naturally have the correct thermal relic density, but have neither weak-scale masses nor weak interactions. These models emerge naturally from gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, where they elegantly solve the dark-matter problem. The framework accommodates single or multiple component dark matter, dark-matter masses from 10 MeV to 10 TeV, and interaction strengths from gravitational to strong. These candidates enhance many direct and indirect signals relative to weakly interacting massive particles and have qualitatively new implications for dark-matter searches and cosmological implications for colliders

Dissemination and Exploitation Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Badger, Merete; Monaco, Lucio; Fransson, Torsten

of Technology in Sweden, Politecnico di Torino in Italy, and Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. The project is partially funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme (project no. RI-283746). This report describes the final dissemination and exploitation strategy...... for project Virtual Campus Hub. A preliminary dissemination and exploitation plan was setup early in the project as described in the deliverable D6.1 Dissemination strategy paper - preliminary version. The plan has been revised on a monthly basis during the project’s lifecycle in connection with the virtual...

Exploitative and Deceptive Resource Acquisition Strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshua J. Reynolds

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Life history strategy (LHS and life history contingencies (LHCs should theoretically influence the use of exploitative and deceptive resource acquisition strategies. However, little research has been done in this area. The purpose of the present work was to create measures of exploitative strategies and test the predictions of life history theory. Pilot studies developed and validated a behavioral measure of cheating called the Dot Game. The role of individual LHS and LHCs (manipulated via validated story primes on cheating was investigated in Study 1. Studies 2a through 2c were conducted to develop and validate a self-report measure called the Exploitative and Deceptive Resource Acquisition Strategy Scale (EDRASS. Finally, Study 3 investigated life history and EDRASS. Results indicated that while LHS influences exploitative strategies, life history contingences had little effect. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Quantum to Classical Transitions via Weak Measurements and Post-Selection

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Eliahu; Aharonov, Yakir

Alongside its immense empirical success, the quantum mechanical account of physical systems imposes a myriad of divergences from our thoroughly ingrained classical ways of thinking. These divergences, while striking, would have been acceptable if only a continuous transition to the classical domain was at hand. Strangely, this is not quite the case. The difficulties involved in reconciling the quantum with the classical have given rise to different interpretations, each with its own shortcomings. Traditionally, the two domains are sewed together by invoking an ad hoc theory of measurement, which has been incorporated in the axiomatic foundations of quantum theory. This work will incorporate a few related tools for addressing the above conceptual difficulties: deterministic operators, weak measurements, and post-selection. Weak Measurement, based on a very weak von Neumann coupling, is a unique kind of quantum measurement with numerous theoretical and practical applications. In contrast to other measurement techniques, it allows to gather a small amount of information regarding the quantum system, with only a negligible probability of collapsing it onto an eigenstate of the measured observable. A single weak measurement yieldsan almost random outcome, but when performed repeatedly over a large ensemble, the averaged outcome becomes increasingly robust and accurate. Importantly, a long sequence of weak measurements can be thought of as a single projective measurement. We claim in this work that classical variables appearing in the o-world, such as center of mass, moment of inertia, pressure, and average forces, result from a multitude of quantum weak measurements performed in the micro-world. Here again, the quantum outcomes are highly uncertain, but the law of large numbers obliges their convergence to the definite quantities we know from our everyday lives. By augmenting this description with a final boundary condition and employing the notion of "classical

Trajectories and cycles of sexual exploitation and trafficking for sexual exploitation of women in the Peruvian Amazon

OpenAIRE

Mujica, Jaris

2015-01-01

The commercial sexual exploitation is a constant activity in the Peruvian Amazon. Around the river port of Pucallpa in ucayali region, the practice appears systematically: teenage attend taverns around the port, and those dedicated to the work of cooking camps logging, are victims of constant exploitation and many also of trafficking. this article aims to reconstruct the path of life and reproductive cycle of the forms of exploitation in a sample of 20 women, and focuses on: (i) evidence of s...

Women and Domestic Violence: Implication for Counselling ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Domestic violence against women or girl child has been an old phenomenon women were compared as weak, vulnerable, and in position to be exploited. The traditional norms has made them subject of violence where men were given the outright domination over the issue that affect their lines. They are assaulted ...

Total exploitation of an ornamental granite quarry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taboada, J.

2005-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper we propose a methodology to estimate the recovery percentage for each of the products which can be obtained from the exploitation of an ornamental granite quarry: block, semiblock, masonry-transverse stone, and the smaller materials that can be used to obtain construction aggregates. This methodology ensures that quarry exploitation is exhaustive, thereby minimising the production of spoils and the consequent negative impact on the environment. The analysis is based on a detailed and exhaustive compilation of discontinuity data from the research fronts, which are then interpreted statistically and projected over the three weakness planes that are a particular feature of ornamental granite deposits. Using this information, and bearing in mind the minimum commercially viable sizes for each kind of granite, the corresponding recovery rates are calculated for each material in each plane. The results are then integrated using spatial techniques, and the result is an evaluation of quarry contents with a view to total exploitation. This methodology was applied to a quarry in the opening phase in order to carry out an a priori assessment of the economic feasibility of the quarry.

En este trabajo se propone una metodología para estimar el porcentaje de recuperación de cada uno de los productos que se pueden obtener en la explotación de una cantera de granito ornamental: bloque, semibloque, manpostería y per piaños, y material restante destinado a la obtención de áridos. De esta manera se logra un aprovechamiento integral de la cantera, evitándose la generación de estériles y el subsiguiente impacto ambiental producido por éstos. La metodología de análisis se basa en la recopilación detallada y exhaustiva de datos de discontinuidades en los frentes de investigación, que se interpretan estadísticamente y se proyectan sobre los tres planos de debilidad propios del granito ornamental. Con esta información, y las

A Modified Differential Coherent Bit Synchronization Algorithm for BeiDou Weak Signals with Large Frequency Deviation.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Zhifeng; Liu, Jianye; Li, Rongbing; Zeng, Qinghua; Wang, Yi

2017-07-04

BeiDou system navigation messages are modulated with a secondary NH (Neumann-Hoffman) code of 1 kbps, where frequent bit transitions limit the coherent integration time to 1 millisecond. Therefore, a bit synchronization algorithm is necessary to obtain bit edges and NH code phases. In order to realize bit synchronization for BeiDou weak signals with large frequency deviation, a bit synchronization algorithm based on differential coherent and maximum likelihood is proposed. Firstly, a differential coherent approach is used to remove the effect of frequency deviation, and the differential delay time is set to be a multiple of bit cycle to remove the influence of NH code. Secondly, the maximum likelihood function detection is used to improve the detection probability of weak signals. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to analyze the detection performance of the proposed algorithm compared with a traditional algorithm under the CN0s of 20~40 dB-Hz and different frequency deviations. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the traditional method with a frequency deviation of 50 Hz. This algorithm can remove the effect of BeiDou NH code effectively and weaken the influence of frequency deviation. To confirm the feasibility of the proposed algorithm, real data tests are conducted. The proposed algorithm is suitable for BeiDou weak signal bit synchronization with large frequency deviation.

Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Traditions: Epistemological, Theoretical, and Methodological Differences

Science.gov (United States)

Yilmaz, Kaya

2013-01-01

There has been much discussion about quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in different disciplines. In the behavioural and social sciences, these two paradigms are compared to reveal their relative strengths and weaknesses. But the debate about both traditions has commonly taken place in academic books. It is hard to find an article…

Weak mixing below the weak scale in dark-matter direct detection

Science.gov (United States)

Brod, Joachim; Grinstein, Benjamin; Stamou, Emmanuel; Zupan, Jure

2018-02-01

If dark matter couples predominantly to the axial-vector currents with heavy quarks, the leading contribution to dark-matter scattering on nuclei is either due to one-loop weak corrections or due to the heavy-quark axial charges of the nucleons. We calculate the effects of Higgs and weak gauge-boson exchanges for dark matter coupling to heavy-quark axial-vector currents in an effective theory below the weak scale. By explicit computation, we show that the leading-logarithmic QCD corrections are important, and thus resum them to all orders using the renormalization group.

Exploitation and exploration dynamics in recessionary times

OpenAIRE

Walrave, B.

2012-01-01

Firm performance largely depends on the ability to adapt to, and exploit, changes in the business environment. That is, firms should maintain ecological fitness by reconfiguring their resource base to cope with emerging threats and explore new opportunities, while at the same time exploiting existing resources. As such, firms possessing the ability to simultaneously perform exploitative and explorative initiatives are more resilient. In this respect, the performance implications of balancing ...

THE ULTRAVIOLET-TO-MID-INFRARED SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION OF WEAK EMISSION LINE QUASARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lane, Ryan A.; Shemmer, Ohad; Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar M.; Fan Xiaohui; Anderson, Scott F.; Brandt, W. N.; Schneider, Donald P.; Plotkin, Richard M.; Richards, Gordon T.; Strauss, Michael A.

2011-01-01

We present Spitzer Space Telescope photometry of 18 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars at 2.7 ≤ z ≤ 5.9 which have weak or undetectable high-ionization emission lines in their rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) spectra (hereafter weak-lined quasars, or WLQs). The Spitzer data are combined with SDSS spectra and ground-based, near-infrared (IR) photometry of these sources to produce a large inventory of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of WLQs across the rest-frame ∼0.1-5 μm spectral band. The SEDs of our sources are inconsistent with those of BL Lacertae objects which are dominated by synchrotron emission due to a jet aligned close to our line of sight, but are consistent with the SED of ordinary quasars with similar luminosities and redshifts that exhibit a near-to-mid-IR 'bump', characteristic of hot dust emission. This indicates that broad emission lines in WLQs are intrinsically weak, rather than suffering continuum dilution from a jet, and that such sources cannot be selected efficiently from traditional photometric surveys.

THE ULTRAVIOLET-TO-MID-INFRARED SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION OF WEAK EMISSION LINE QUASARS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lane, Ryan A.; Shemmer, Ohad [Department of Physics, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203 (United States); Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar M. [Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States); Fan Xiaohui [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Anderson, Scott F. [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Brandt, W. N.; Schneider, Donald P. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Plotkin, Richard M. [Astronomical Institute ' Anton Pannekoek' , University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, NL-1098 XH Amsterdam (Netherlands); Richards, Gordon T. [Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Strauss, Michael A., E-mail: RyanLane@my.unt.edu, E-mail: ohad@unt.edu [Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

2011-12-20

We present Spitzer Space Telescope photometry of 18 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars at 2.7 {<=} z {<=} 5.9 which have weak or undetectable high-ionization emission lines in their rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) spectra (hereafter weak-lined quasars, or WLQs). The Spitzer data are combined with SDSS spectra and ground-based, near-infrared (IR) photometry of these sources to produce a large inventory of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of WLQs across the rest-frame {approx}0.1-5 {mu}m spectral band. The SEDs of our sources are inconsistent with those of BL Lacertae objects which are dominated by synchrotron emission due to a jet aligned close to our line of sight, but are consistent with the SED of ordinary quasars with similar luminosities and redshifts that exhibit a near-to-mid-IR 'bump', characteristic of hot dust emission. This indicates that broad emission lines in WLQs are intrinsically weak, rather than suffering continuum dilution from a jet, and that such sources cannot be selected efficiently from traditional photometric surveys.

The role of the complete Coriolis force in weakly stratified oceanic flows

Science.gov (United States)

Tort, M.; Winters, K. B.; Ribstein, B.; Zeitlin, V.

2016-02-01

Ocean dynamics is usually described using the primitive equations based on the so-called traditional approximation (TA), where the Coriolis force associated with the horizontal component of the planetary rotation is neglected (also called non-traditional (NT) part proportional to cosΦ, see Fig 1.). However, recent studies have shown that the NT part of the Coriolis force plays a non-negligible dynamical role in some particular oceanic flows (see Gerkema et al., 2008 for an extensive review of NT effects for geophysical and astrophysical flows). Here we explore the relevance of including the NT component of the Coriolis force in ocean models, by presenting particular results regarding two different mid-latitude flow configurations after relaxing the TA: Propagation of wind-induced near-inertial waves (NIWs). Under the TA, NIWs propagate toward the equator, the inertially poleward propagation being internally reflected at a depth-independent critical latitude. The combined effects of the NT Coriolis force and weak stratification in the deep ocean leads to the existence of waveguides for sub-inertial waves, which get trapped and propagate further poleward (Winters et al., 2011). Here we consider storm-induced NIWs and their evolution in a non-linear Boussinesq model on the β-plane in the NT approximation. Preliminary results are presented concerning the behavior of the waves in a weakly stratified mixed-layer, where NT effects are expected to be significant. Inertial instability. A detailed linear stability analysis of the Bickley jet at large Rossby numbers in the NT approximation on the f-plane is performed for long waves in a continuously stratified Boussinesq model. For a sufficiently weak stratification, both symmetric and asymmetric inertial instabilities have substantially higher growth rates than in the TA while no discernible differences between the two approximations are observed for strong enough stratifications (Tort et al., 2015).

Poverty-Exploitation-Alienation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bronfenbrenner, Martin

1980-01-01

Illustrates how knowledge derived from the discipline of economics can be used to help shed light on social problems such as poverty, exploitation, and alienation, and can help decision makers form policy to minimize these and similar problems. (DB)

On structure-exploiting trust-region regularized nonlinear least squares algorithms for neural-network learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Mizutani, Eiji; Demmel, James W

2003-01-01

This paper briefly introduces our numerical linear algebra approaches for solving structured nonlinear least squares problems arising from 'multiple-output' neural-network (NN) models. Our algorithms feature trust-region regularization, and exploit sparsity of either the 'block-angular' residual Jacobian matrix or the 'block-arrow' Gauss-Newton Hessian (or Fisher information matrix in statistical sense) depending on problem scale so as to render a large class of NN-learning algorithms 'efficient' in both memory and operation costs. Using a relatively large real-world nonlinear regression application, we shall explain algorithmic strengths and weaknesses, analyzing simulation results obtained by both direct and iterative trust-region algorithms with two distinct NN models: 'multilayer perceptrons' (MLP) and 'complementary mixtures of MLP-experts' (or neuro-fuzzy modular networks).

Continuum orbital approximations in weak-coupling theories for inelastic electron scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peek, J.M.; Mann, J.B.

1977-01-01

Two approximations, motivated by heavy-particle scattering theory, are tested for weak-coupling electron-atom (ion) inelastic scattering theory. They consist of replacing the one-electron scattering orbitals by their Langer uniform approximations and the use of an average trajectory approximation which entirely avoids the necessity for generating continuum orbitals. Numerical tests for a dipole-allowed and a dipole-forbidden event, based on Coulomb-Born theory with exchange neglected, reveal the error trends. It is concluded that the uniform approximation gives a satisfactory prediction for traditional weak-coupling theories while the average approximation should be limited to collision energies exceeding at least twice the threshold energy. The accuracy for both approximations is higher for positive ions than for neutral targets. Partial-wave collision-strength data indicate that greater care should be exercised in using these approximations to predict quantities differential in the scattering angle. An application to the 2s 2 S-2p 2 P transition in Ne VIII is presented

A novel strategy for signal denoising using reweighted SVD and its applications to weak fault feature enhancement of rotating machinery

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Ming; Jia, Xiaodong

2017-09-01

Singular value decomposition (SVD), as an effective signal denoising tool, has been attracting considerable attention in recent years. The basic idea behind SVD denoising is to preserve the singular components (SCs) with significant singular values. However, it is shown that the singular values mainly reflect the energy of decomposed SCs, therefore traditional SVD denoising approaches are essentially energy-based, which tend to highlight the high-energy regular components in the measured signal, while ignoring the weak feature caused by early fault. To overcome this issue, a reweighted singular value decomposition (RSVD) strategy is proposed for signal denoising and weak feature enhancement. In this work, a novel information index called periodic modulation intensity is introduced to quantify the diagnostic information in a mechanical signal. With this index, the decomposed SCs can be evaluated and sorted according to their information levels, rather than energy. Based on that, a truncated linear weighting function is proposed to control the contribution of each SC in the reconstruction of the denoised signal. In this way, some weak but informative SCs could be highlighted effectively. The advantages of RSVD over traditional approaches are demonstrated by both simulated signals and real vibration/acoustic data from a two-stage gearbox as well as train bearings. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can successfully extract the weak fault feature even in the presence of heavy noise and ambient interferences.

L'industrialisation de l'exploitation de l'or à Kalsaka, Burkina Faso : une chance pour une population rurale pauvre ?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthieu Thune

2011-09-01

Full Text Available On assiste au Burkina Faso au passage d'une exploitation essentiellement artisanale de l'or à une exploitation industrielle. Sur des sites miniers exploités jusqu'alors de façon artisanale, l'arrivée d'une entreprise industrielle perturbe les rapports des habitants aux espaces qu’ils exploitent et aux bénéfices qu’ils prétendent en tirer. A travers l'étude du site de Kalsaka, au nord du pays, il s'agit d'analyser les changements engendrés par l'arrivée de la mine sur les activités rurales. L'implantation de l'entreprise minière bouleverse l’économie locale dans le sens d'une paupérisation et ne constitue pas une nouvelle opportunité économique pour les habitants du lieu. Toutefois, les acteurs locaux sont inégalement touchés et de nombreux habitants perturbés dans leurs activités ont été en mesure de s'adapter au changement.Burkina Faso is faced with the transition from a mainly traditional gold mining activity to an industrial one. On sites that had hitherto been mined with traditional techniques, the setting-up of an industrial company interferes with the way the population interact with the area, as well as the profit they wish to draw from it. The point of this study on the Kalsaka site, situated in the north of the country, is to analyze the impact the mine has caused on rural activities. The emergence of the mining company has impoverished the local economy and has failed to provide the local population with any new economic opportunity. However, the locals turned out to be unevenly affected and many people -whose activity had initially been disrupted- have adjusted to the change.

Information-guided transmission in decode-and-forward relaying systems: Spatial exploitation and throughput enhancement

KAUST Repository

Yang, Yuli

2011-07-01

In addressing the issue of achieving high throughput in half-duplex relay channels, we exploit a concept of information-guided transmission for the network consisting of a source node, a destination node, and multiple half-duplex relay nodes. For further benefiting from multiple relay nodes, the relay-selection patterns are defined as the arbitrary combinations of given relay nodes. By exploiting the difference among the spatial channels states, in each relay-help transmission additional information to be forwarded is mapped onto the index of the active relay-selection pattern besides the basic information mapped onto the traditional constellation, which is forwarded by the relay node(s) in the active relay-selection pattern, so as to enhance the relay throughtput. With iterative decoding, the destination node can achieve a robust detection by decoupling the signals forwarded in different ways. We investigate the proposed scheme considering "decode-and-forward" protocol and establish its achievable transmission rate. The analytical results on capacity behaviors prove the efficiency of the proposed scheme by showing that it achieves better capacity performance than the conventional scheme. © 2011 IEEE.

Impact of marine reserve on maximum sustainable yield in a traditional prey-predator system

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Prosenjit; Kar, T. K.; Ghorai, Abhijit

2018-01-01

Multispecies fisheries management requires managers to consider the impact of fishing activities on several species as fishing impacts both targeted and non-targeted species directly or indirectly in several ways. The intended goal of traditional fisheries management is to achieve maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from the targeted species, which on many occasions affect the targeted species as well as the entire ecosystem. Marine reserves are often acclaimed as the marine ecosystem management tool. Few attempts have been made to generalize the ecological effects of marine reserve on MSY policy. We examine here how MSY and population level in a prey-predator system are affected by the low, medium and high reserve size under different possible scenarios. Our simulation works shows that low reserve area, the value of MSY for prey exploitation is maximum when both prey and predator species have fast movement rate. For medium reserve size, our analysis revealed that the maximum value of MSY for prey exploitation is obtained when prey population has fast movement rate and predator population has slow movement rate. For high reserve area, the maximum value of MSY for prey's exploitation is very low compared to the maximum value of MSY for prey's exploitation in case of low and medium reserve. On the other hand, for low and medium reserve area, MSY for predator exploitation is maximum when both the species have fast movement rate.

The strength of the rotating Presidency is that it keeps the Presidency weak

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beach, Derek

One of the most important justifications for the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon was that the introduction of a fixed President of the European Council would result in a more efficient Europe. During the negotiations serious attempts were made to strengthen the Presidency at the Council of Minis...... fashion to all, and finds, formulates and brokers acceptable compromises. Acceptable is not the same as being neutral, and an instrumental leader can exploit its position for private gains, but it cannot be too blatant as it is in more hegemonic forms of leadership....... of Ministers level, including proposals to allow the European Council President to chair the General Affairs Council. Underlying these reform efforts is the argument that the Presidency as an institution is unable to supply effective leadership, and in particular that smaller member states are manifestly...... that while the powers possessed by the Presidency are relatively weak, it is the very weakness of the Presidency that makes it an effective leader. Drawing upon recent advances in the study of informal norms in the Council and leadership theories, this paper first discusses what types of leadership...

Genotoxicity of extracts of Japanese traditional herbal medicines (Kampo)

OpenAIRE

Makoto, Katami; Haruo, Kuboniwa; Shunichi, Maemura; Toshihiko, Yanagisawa; New Drug Discovery Laboratory, R & D Division, TSUMURA & Co.; New Drug Discovery Laboratory, R & D Division, TSUMURA & Co.; New Drug Discovery Laboratory, R & D Division, TSUMURA & Co.; New Drug Discovery Laboratory, R & D Division, TSUMURA & Co.

2002-01-01

The possible genotoxicity potential of 128 Japanese traditional herbal medicines (Kampo) was investigated using a bacterial reverse mutation test (the Ames test), an in vivo micronucleus test (MN test) in mouse bone marrow cells and an unscheduled DNA synthesis test (UDS test) in rat hepatocytes. Of 128 Kampo extracts examined, 98 did not induce mutations in bacteria while 30 induced mutations weakly in Salmonella typhimurium TA1537. Extracts of Scutellariae Radix, a common herbal drug, and i...

Compatibility between weak gel and microorganisms in weak gel-assisted microbial enhanced oil recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Yi-Bin; Zheng, Cheng-Gang; Lv, Cheng-Yuan; Lun, Zeng-Min; Ma, Tao

2018-03-20

To investigate weak gel-assisted microbial flooding in Block Wang Long Zhuang in the Jiangsu Oilfield, the compatibility of weak gel and microbe was evaluated using laboratory experiments. Bacillus sp. W5 was isolated from the formation water in Block Wang Long Zhuang. The rate of oil degradation reached 178 mg/day, and the rate of viscosity reduction reached 75.3%. Strain W5 could produce lipopeptide with a yield of 1254 mg/L. Emulsified crude oil was dispersed in the microbial degradation system, and the average diameter of the emulsified oil particles was 18.54 μm. Bacillus sp. W5 did not affect the rheological properties of the weak gel, and the presence of the weak gel did not significantly affect bacterial reproduction (as indicated by an unchanged microbial biomass), emulsification (surface tension is 35.56 mN/m and average oil particles size is 21.38 μm), oil degradation (162 mg/day) and oil viscosity reduction (72.7%). Core-flooding experiments indicated oil recovery of 23.6% when both weak gel and Bacillus sp. W5 were injected into the system, 14.76% when only the weak gel was injected, and 9.78% with strain W5 was injected without the weak gel. The results demonstrate good compatibility between strains W5 and the weak gel and highlight the application potential of weak gel-assisted microbial flooding. Copyright © 2018 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Radiation environmental impact assessment of copper exploitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan Guang; Wen Zhijian

2010-01-01

The radiation environmental impact of mineral exploitation on the surrounding environment has become a public concern. This paper presents the radiation environmental impact assessment of copper exploitation. Based on the project description and detailed investigations of surrounding environment, systematic radiation environmental impacts have been identified. The environmental impacts are assessed during both construction and operation phase. The environmental protection measures have also been proposed. The related conclusion and measures can play an active role in copper exploitation and environmental protection. (authors)

History of Weak Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, T. D.

1970-07-01

While the phenomenon of beta-decay was discovered near the end of the last century, the notion that the weak interaction forms a separate field of physical forces evolved rather gradually. This became clear only after the experimental discoveries of other weak reactions such as muon-decay, muon-capture, etc., and the theoretical observation that all these reactions can be described by approximately the same coupling constant, thus giving rise to the notion of a universal weak interaction. Only then did one slowly recognize that the weak interaction force forms an independent field, perhaps on the same footing as the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, and the strong nuclear and sub-nuclear forces.

Weakly nonlocal symplectic structures, Whitham method and weakly nonlocal symplectic structures of hydrodynamic type

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maltsev, A Ya

2005-01-01

We consider the special type of field-theoretical symplectic structures called weakly nonlocal. The structures of this type are, in particular, very common for integrable systems such as KdV or NLS. We introduce here the special class of weakly nonlocal symplectic structures which we call weakly nonlocal symplectic structures of hydrodynamic type. We investigate then the connection of such structures with the Whitham averaging method and propose the procedure of 'averaging' the weakly nonlocal symplectic structures. The averaging procedure gives the weakly nonlocal symplectic structure of hydrodynamic type for the corresponding Whitham system. The procedure also gives 'action variables' corresponding to the wave numbers of m-phase solutions of the initial system which give the additional conservation laws for the Whitham system

ROLE OF RESOURCE-BASED ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT TO INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS OF TRADITIONALLY WOVEN SARONG CREATIVE INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zakiyah Z.

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The objectives of the study were to describe position of traditionally woven sarong creative industry in Donggala in business competition based on both internal aspects (strength and weakness and external ones (opportunity and threats, and role of resource-based entrepreneurship development to improve competitiveness of the traditionally woven sarong creative industry in Donggala. In order to meet the objectives, the study used SWOT and Moderating Regression Analysis (MRA. The findings showed that the strength of the Donggala woven sarong industry was the sarong had indigenous Central Sulawesi pattern, it was part of the rural society and was traditionally made. The weaknesses were the sarong pattern and design had yet been touched by modern technology, its color faded away easily during laundry and it was only sold in the local areas. The opportunities were the sarong may become alternative souvenir from Central Sulawesi and development of creative economy was widely discussed recently. The threat was there were various types and patterns of sarong in the market; and entrepreneurship was moderating variables between resource-based strategy and competitiveness of Donggala woven sarong creative industry; the level of significance was 0.001 and the R-Square was 0.803.

Competing Discourses about Youth Sexual Exploitation in Canadian News Media.

Science.gov (United States)

Saewyc, Elizabeth M; Miller, Bonnie B; Rivers, Robert; Matthews, Jennifer; Hilario, Carla; Hirakata, Pam

2013-10-01

Media holds the power to create, maintain, or break down stigmatizing attitudes, which affect policies, funding, and services. To understand how Canadian news media depicts the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth, we examined 835 Canadian newspaper articles from 1989-2008 using a mixed methods critical discourse analysis approach, comparing representations to existing research about sexually exploited youth. Despite research evidence that equal rates of boys and girls experience exploitation, Canadian news media depicted exploited youth predominantly as heterosexual girls, and described them alternately as victims or workers in a trade, often both in the same story. News media mentioned exploiters far less often than victims, and portrayed them almost exclusively as male, most often called 'customers' or 'consumers,' and occasionally 'predators'; in contrast, research has documented the majority of sexually exploited boys report female exploiters. Few news stories over the past two decades portrayed the diversity of victims, perpetrators, and venues of exploitation reported in research. The focus on victims but not exploiters helps perpetuate stereotypes of sexual exploitation as business or a 'victimless crime,' maintains the status quo, and blurs responsibility for protecting youth under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Health care providers and researchers can be advocates for accuracy in media coverage about sexual exploitation; news reporters and editors should focus on exploiters more than victims, draw on existing research evidence to avoid perpetuating stereotypes, and use accurate terms, such as commercial sexual exploitation, rather than terms related to business or trade.

Simulated population responses of common carp to commercial exploitation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weber, Michael J.; Hennen, Matthew J.; Brown, Michael L.

2011-12-01

Common carp Cyprinus carpio is a widespread invasive species that can become highly abundant and impose deleterious ecosystem effects. Thus, aquatic resource managers are interested in controlling common carp populations. Control of invasive common carp populations is difficult, due in part to the inherent uncertainty of how populations respond to exploitation. To understand how common carp populations respond to exploitation, we evaluated common carp population dynamics (recruitment, growth, and mortality) in three natural lakes in eastern South Dakota. Common carp exhibited similar population dynamics across these three systems that were characterized by consistent recruitment (ages 3 to 15 years present), fast growth (K = 0.37 to 0.59), and low mortality (A = 1 to 7%). We then modeled the effects of commercial exploitation on size structure, abundance, and egg production to determine its utility as a management tool to control populations. All three populations responded similarly to exploitation simulations with a 575-mm length restriction, representing commercial gear selectivity. Simulated common carp size structure modestly declined (9 to 37%) in all simulations. Abundance of common carp declined dramatically (28 to 56%) at low levels of exploitation (0 to 20%) but exploitation >40% had little additive effect and populations were only reduced by 49 to 79% despite high exploitation (>90%). Maximum lifetime egg production was reduced from 77 to 89% at a moderate level of exploitation (40%), indicating the potential for recruitment overfishing. Exploitation further reduced common carp size structure, abundance, and egg production when simulations were not size selective. Our results provide insights to how common carp populations may respond to exploitation. Although commercial exploitation may be able to partially control populations, an integrated removal approach that removes all sizes of common carp has a greater chance of controlling population abundance

Transnational gestational surrogacy: does it have to be exploitative?

Science.gov (United States)

Kirby, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

This article explores the controversial practice of transnational gestational surrogacy and poses a provocative question: Does it have to be exploitative? Various existing models of exploitation are considered and a novel exploitation-evaluation heuristic is introduced to assist in the analysis of the potentially exploitative dimensions/elements of complex health-related practices. On the basis of application of the heuristic, I conclude that transnational gestational surrogacy, as currently practiced in low-income country settings (such as rural, western India), is exploitative of surrogate women. Arising out of consideration of the heuristic's exploitation conditions, a set of public education and enabled choice, enhanced protections, and empowerment reforms to transnational gestational surrogacy practice is proposed that, if incorporated into a national regulatory framework and actualized within a low income country, could possibly render such practice nonexploitative.

Tobacco Industry Promotional Strategies Targeting American Indians/Alaska Natives and Exploiting Tribal Sovereignty.

Science.gov (United States)

Lempert, Lauren K; Glantz, Stanton A

2018-03-12

American Indians/Alaska Natives have the highest commercial tobacco use in the United States, resulting in higher tobacco-caused deaths and diseases than the general population. Some American Indians/Alaska Natives use commercial tobacco for ceremonial as well as recreational uses. Because federally-recognized Tribal lands are sovereign, they are not subject to state cigarette taxes and smokefree laws. This study analyzes tobacco industry promotional efforts specifically targeting American Indians/Alaska Natives and exploiting Tribal lands to understand appropriate policy responses in light of American Indians'/Alaska Natives' unique sovereign status and culture. We analyzed previously secret tobacco industry documents available at the Truth Tobacco Documents Library (https://industrydocuments.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/). Tobacco companies used promotional strategies targeting American Indians/Alaska Natives and exploiting Tribal lands that leveraged the federally-recognized Tribes' unique sovereign status exempting them from state cigarette taxes and smokefree laws, and exploited some Tribes' existing traditional uses of ceremonial tobacco and poverty. Tactics included price reductions, coupons, giveaways, gaming promotions, charitable contributions and sponsorships. Additionally, tobacco companies built alliances with Tribal leaders to help improve their corporate image, advance ineffective "youth smoking prevention" programs, and defeat tobacco control policies. The industry's promotional tactics likely contribute to disparities in smoking prevalence and smoking-related diseases among American Indians//Alaska Natives. Proven policy interventions to address these disparities including tobacco price increases, cigarette taxes, comprehensive smokefree laws, and industry denormalization campaigns to reduce smoking prevalence and smoking-related disease could be considered by Tribal communities. The sovereign status of federally-recognized Tribes does not prevent them

Collaborative real-time motion video analysis by human observer and image exploitation algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Hild, Jutta; Krüger, Wolfgang; Brüstle, Stefan; Trantelle, Patrick; Unmüßig, Gabriel; Heinze, Norbert; Peinsipp-Byma, Elisabeth; Beyerer, Jürgen

2015-05-01

Motion video analysis is a challenging task, especially in real-time applications. In most safety and security critical applications, a human observer is an obligatory part of the overall analysis system. Over the last years, substantial progress has been made in the development of automated image exploitation algorithms. Hence, we investigate how the benefits of automated video analysis can be integrated suitably into the current video exploitation systems. In this paper, a system design is introduced which strives to combine both the qualities of the human observer's perception and the automated algorithms, thus aiming to improve the overall performance of a real-time video analysis system. The system design builds on prior work where we showed the benefits for the human observer by means of a user interface which utilizes the human visual focus of attention revealed by the eye gaze direction for interaction with the image exploitation system; eye tracker-based interaction allows much faster, more convenient, and equally precise moving target acquisition in video images than traditional computer mouse selection. The system design also builds on prior work we did on automated target detection, segmentation, and tracking algorithms. Beside the system design, a first pilot study is presented, where we investigated how the participants (all non-experts in video analysis) performed in initializing an object tracking subsystem by selecting a target for tracking. Preliminary results show that the gaze + key press technique is an effective, efficient, and easy to use interaction technique when performing selection operations on moving targets in videos in order to initialize an object tracking function.

Exploitation as the Unequal Exchange of Labour : An Axiomatic Approach

OpenAIRE

Yoshihara, Naoki; Veneziani, Roberto

2009-01-01

In subsistence economies with general convex technology and rational optimising agents, a new, axiomatic approach is developed, which allows an explicit analysis of the core positive and normative intuitions behind the concept of exploitation. Three main new axioms, called Labour Exploitation in Subsistence Economies , Relational Exploitation , and Feasibility of Non-Exploitation , are presented and it is proved that they uniquely characterise a definition of exploitation conceptually related...

The Potential Socio-economic Impacts of Gas Hydrate Exploitation

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, David; Schaafsma, Marije; Marin-Moreno, Héctor; Minshull, Tim A.

2017-04-01

the labour supply may not fit with the labour demand. In regions with an existing strong fossil fuel energy sector, hydrate development would prolong the timeframe for which this sector could significantly contribute to the local and wider economy. In unexploited areas the industry can provide considerable income to an otherwise undeveloped region. Industrialisation tends to increase regional population, pressuring existing public services, such as healthcare and transport infrastructure. Immigrant fossil fuel sector workers are predominantly young, male and single. Their presence may be linked to elevated levels of certain social issues seen as undesirable problems by the community at large, such as drug usage or alcoholism. Hydrate development provides limited benefit to indigenous communities who are still following a traditional cultural lifestyle in the proposed development area, as many opportunities are not compatible with their way of life. Additionally, industry associated infrastructure can reduce the ability of the indigenous population to utilise the land directly, or as an access route elsewhere. The range of possible impacts show that any hydrate development must be carefully managed to maximise its potential, whether this takes the form of using the revenue from hydrate exploitation to try and counter the associated issues, or whether there needs to be specific limits placed on locations where extraction can occur.

Weak interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjorken, J.D.

1978-01-01

Weak interactions are studied from a phenomenological point of view, by using a minimal number of theoretical hypotheses. Charged-current phenomenology, and then neutral-current phenomenology are discussed. This all is described in terms of a global SU(2) symmetry plus an electromagnetic correction. The intermediate-boson hypothesis is introduced and lower bounds on the range of the weak force are inferred. This phenomenology does not yet reconstruct all the predictions of the conventional SU(2)xU(1) gauge theory. To do that requires an additional assumption of restoration of SU(2) symmetry at asymptotic energies

Traditional Medicine in Madagascar - Current Situation and the Institutional Context of Promotion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Pierlovisi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Following WHO recommandations and in order to improve medical coverage, Madagascar officially recognized in 2007 its traditional medicine as a legitimate practice.UNESCO, to sustain traditional healers in the Indian Ocean, wanted to use anthropological tools to explore the current situation in Madagascar.Despit a plurality of practices, data collected for three months in the Southeast of the Island, allowed us to identify some fundamental aspects of Malagasy traditional medicine, such as the omnipresence of symbolism or the complexity of healers’ roles at the crossroads of social, sacred and therapeutic registries.The study shows that the national policy on traditional medicine improves gradually the promotion of these practices too often undervalued. Nevertheless, the institutional context exposes weaknesses which might explain the difficulty encountered by some tradipractitioners to find their place in this new regulation. Indeed, regarding the current context, a reducing process of the healers' practices is likely to emerge.

Detection of weak electric fields by sharks, rays, and skates.

Science.gov (United States)

Adair, Robert K.; Astumian, R. Dean; Weaver, James C.

1998-09-01

The elasmobranchs-sharks, rays, and skates-can detect very weak electric fields in their aqueous environment through a complex sensory system, the ampullae of Lorenzini. The ampullae are conducting tubes that connect the surface of the animal to its interior. In the presence of an electric field, the potential of the surface of the animal will differ from that of the interior and that potential is applied across the apical membrane of the special sensory cells that line the ampullae. The firing rate of the afferent neurons that transmit signals from the ampullae has been shown to vary with that potential. We show that those firing rates can be described quantitatively in terms of synchronous firing of the sensory cells that feed the neurons. We demonstrate that such synchronism follows naturally from a hypothetical weak cell-to-cell interaction that results in a self-organization of the sensory cells. Moreover, the pulse rates of those cells-and the neurons that service the cells-can be expected to vary with the imposed electric fields in accord with measured values through actions of voltage gated transmembrane proteins in the apical sector of the cell membranes that admit Ca(++) ions. We also present a more conjectural model of signal processing at the neuron level that could exploit small differences in firing rates of nerve fibers servicing different ampullae to send an unambiguous signal to the central nervous system of the animal. (c) 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Systematic review: role of acid, weakly acidic and weakly alkaline reflux in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boeckxstaens, G. E.; Smout, A.

2010-01-01

The importance of weakly acidic and weakly alkaline reflux in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is gaining recognition. To quantify the proportions of reflux episodes that are acidic (pH <4), weakly acidic (pH 4-7) and weakly alkaline (pH >7) in adult patients with GERD, and to evaluate their

Resonant enhanced parallel-T topology for weak coupling wireless power transfer pickup applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yao Guo

2015-07-01

Full Text Available For the wireless power transfer (WPT system, the transfer performance and the coupling coefficient are contradictory. In this paper, a novel parallel-T resonant topology consists of a traditional parallel circuit and a T-matching network for secondary side is proposed. With this method, a boosted voltage can be output to the load, since this topology has a resonant enhancement effect, and high Q value can be obtained at a low resonant frequency and low coil inductance. This feature makes it more suitable for weak coupling WPT applications. Besides, the proposed topology shows good frequency stability and adaptability to variations of load. Experimental results show that the output voltage gain improves by 757% compared with traditional series circuit, and reaches 85% total efficiency when the coupling coefficient is 0.046.

Strategic Combination of Isocratic and Gradient Elution for Simultaneous Separation of Polar Compounds in Traditional Chinese Medicines by HPLC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mei-Tuo Zhang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC method for the simultaneous separation of the highly polar and weakly polar components of traditional Chinese medicines was developed via a strategic combination of isocratic and gradient elution methods. Liu-Shen-Wan and Liu-Wei-Di-Huang-Wan were used as representative examples of traditional Chinese medicines. This is the first time that 6 components of varying degrees of polarity in Liu-Shen-Wan had been successfully resolved in a single chromatographic run using an ultraviolet-visible detector with a fixed wavelength of 296 nm. In contrast to conventional gradient separation methods, this novel method offered a viable route for separation of the highly and weakly polar fractions simultaneously, thus greatly reducing the time and cost of analysis. This method therefore provides a more efficient way to determine the polar components present in traditional Chinese medicines. It would find potential application in drug screening, drug authentication, and product quality control.

Weakly infinite-dimensional spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fedorchuk, Vitalii V

2007-01-01

In this survey article two new classes of spaces are considered: m-C-spaces and w-m-C-spaces, m=2,3,...,∞. They are intermediate between the class of weakly infinite-dimensional spaces in the Alexandroff sense and the class of C-spaces. The classes of 2-C-spaces and w-2-C-spaces coincide with the class of weakly infinite-dimensional spaces, while the compact ∞-C-spaces are exactly the C-compact spaces of Haver. The main results of the theory of weakly infinite-dimensional spaces, including classification via transfinite Lebesgue dimensions and Luzin-Sierpinsky indices, extend to these new classes of spaces. Weak m-C-spaces are characterised by means of essential maps to Henderson's m-compacta. The existence of hereditarily m-strongly infinite-dimensional spaces is proved.

Exploiting Weaknesses: An Approach to Counter Cartel Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-01

Surveillance MISO Military Information Support Operations MSB Money Services Businesses NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NHRC National...structure. Finally, the last phase constitutes the development of a pragmatic disruption strategy against the financial practices, key terrain and...Forces Unconventional Warfare manual defines an insurgency as, “An organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through use of

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE BY UN PEACEKEEPERS ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Allaiac

sexual exploitation of children by peacekeepers is particularly insidious. ... sexual exploitation and abuse should involve an understanding of the social .... The charges of sexual misconduct, and the consequent media exposure, have ..... awareness programmes such as video tapes, lectures and training manuals, designed.

Acute muscular weakness in children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Pablo Javier Erazo Torricelli

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Acute muscle weakness in children is a pediatric emergency. During the diagnostic approach, it is crucial to obtain a detailed case history, including: onset of weakness, history of associated febrile states, ingestion of toxic substances/toxins, immunizations, and family history. Neurological examination must be meticulous as well. In this review, we describe the most common diseases related to acute muscle weakness, grouped into the site of origin (from the upper motor neuron to the motor unit. Early detection of hyperCKemia may lead to a myositis diagnosis, and hypokalemia points to the diagnosis of periodic paralysis. Ophthalmoparesis, ptosis and bulbar signs are suggestive of myasthenia gravis or botulism. Distal weakness and hyporeflexia are clinical features of Guillain-Barré syndrome, the most frequent cause of acute muscle weakness. If all studies are normal, a psychogenic cause should be considered. Finding the etiology of acute muscle weakness is essential to execute treatment in a timely manner, improving the prognosis of affected children.

Weak openness and almost openness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David A. Rose

1984-01-01

Full Text Available Weak openness and almost openness for arbitrary functions between topological spaces are defined as duals to the weak continuity of Levine and the almost continuity of Husain respectively. Independence of these two openness conditions is noted and comparison is made between these and the almost openness of Singal and Singal. Some results dual to those known for weak continuity and almost continuity are obtained. Nearly almost openness is defined and used to obtain an improved link from weak continuity to almost continuity.

Electromagnetic current in weak interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, E.

1983-01-01

In gauge models which unify weak and electromagnetic interactions, the weak neutral-current interaction also involves the electromagnetic current. The exact nature of such a component can be explored using e + e - experimental data. In recent years, the existence of a new component of the weak interaction has become firmly established, i.e., the neutral-current interaction. As such, it competes with the electromagnetic interaction whenever the particles involved are also charged, but at a very much lower rate because its effective strength is so small. Hence neutrino processes are best for the detection of the neutral-current interaction. However, in any gauge model which unifies weak and electromagnetic interactions, the weak neutral-current interaction also involves the electromagnetic current

Exploitation and exploration dynamics in recessionary times

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Walrave, B.

2012-01-01

Firm performance largely depends on the ability to adapt to, and exploit, changes in the business environment. That is, firms should maintain ecological fitness by reconfiguring their resource base to cope with emerging threats and explore new opportunities, while at the same time exploiting

Main principles of developing exploitation models of semiconductor devices

Science.gov (United States)

Gradoboev, A. V.; Simonova, A. V.

2018-05-01

The paper represents primary tasks, solutions of which allow to develop the exploitation modes of semiconductor devices taking into account complex and combined influence of ionizing irradiation and operation factors. The structure of the exploitation model of the semiconductor device is presented, which is based on radiation and reliability models. Furthermore, it was shown that the exploitation model should take into account complex and combine influence of various ionizing irradiation types and operation factors. The algorithm of developing the exploitation model of the semiconductor devices is proposed. The possibility of creating the radiation model of Schottky barrier diode, Schottky field-effect transistor and Gunn diode is shown based on the available experimental data. The basic exploitation model of IR-LEDs based upon double AlGaAs heterostructures is represented. The practical application of the exploitation models will allow to output the electronic products with guaranteed operational properties.

Legal and Ethical Issues around Incorporating Traditional Knowledge in Polar Data Infrastructures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Scassa

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Human knowledge of the polar region is a unique blend of Western scientific knowledge and local and indigenous knowledge. It is increasingly recognized that to exclude Traditional Knowledge from repositories of polar data would both limit the value of such repositories and perpetuate colonial legacies of exclusion and exploitation. However, the inclusion of Traditional Knowledge within repositories that are conceived and designed for Western scientific knowledge raises its own unique challenges. There is increasing acceptance of the need to make these two knowledge systems interoperable but in addition to the technical challenge there are legal and ethical issues involved. These relate to ‘ownership’ or custodianship of the knowledge; obtaining appropriate consent to gather, use and incorporate this knowledge; being sensitive to potentially different norms regarding access to and sharing of some types of knowledge; and appropriate acknowledgement for data contributors. In some cases, respectful incorporation of Traditional Knowledge may challenge standard conceptions regarding the sharing of data, including through open data licensing. These issues have not been fully addressed in the existing literature on legal interoperability which does not adequately deal with Traditional Knowledge. In this paper we identify legal and ethical norms regarding the use of Traditional Knowledge and explore their application in the particular context of polar data. Drawing upon our earlier work on cybercartography and Traditional Knowledge we identify the elements required in the development of a framework for the inclusion of Traditional Knowledge within data infrastructures.

Ultra-Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Sensing Network Coated with Sensitive Material for Multi-Parameter Measurements

OpenAIRE

Bai, Wei; Yang, Minghong; Hu, Chenyuan; Dai, Jixiang; Zhong, Xuexiang; Huang, Shuai; Wang, Gaopeng

2017-01-01

A multi-parameter measurement system based on ultra-weak fiber Bragg grating (UFBG) array with sensitive material was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The UFBG array interrogation principle is time division multiplex technology with two semiconductor optical amplifiers as timing units. Experimental results showed that the performance of the proposed UFBG system is almost equal to that of traditional FBG, while the UFBG array system has obvious superiority with potential multiplexing ...

Weak interactions with nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walecka, J.D.

1983-01-01

Nuclei provide systems where the strong, electomagnetic, and weak interactions are all present. The current picture of the strong interactions is based on quarks and quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The symmetry structure of this theory is SU(3)/sub C/ x SU(2)/sub W/ x U(1)/sub W/. The electroweak interactions in nuclei can be used to probe this structure. Semileptonic weak interactions are considered. The processes under consideration include beta decay, neutrino scattering and weak neutral-current interactions. The starting point in the analysis is the effective Lagrangian of the Standard Model

Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo inversion for weak anisotropy parameters and fracture weaknesses using azimuthal elastic impedance

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huaizhen; Pan, Xinpeng; Ji, Yuxin; Zhang, Guangzhi

2017-08-01

A system of aligned vertical fractures and fine horizontal shale layers combine to form equivalent orthorhombic media. Weak anisotropy parameters and fracture weaknesses play an important role in the description of orthorhombic anisotropy (OA). We propose a novel approach of utilizing seismic reflection amplitudes to estimate weak anisotropy parameters and fracture weaknesses from observed seismic data, based on azimuthal elastic impedance (EI). We first propose perturbation in stiffness matrix in terms of weak anisotropy parameters and fracture weaknesses, and using the perturbation and scattering function, we derive PP-wave reflection coefficient and azimuthal EI for the case of an interface separating two OA media. Then we demonstrate an approach to first use a model constrained damped least-squares algorithm to estimate azimuthal EI from partially incidence-phase-angle-stack seismic reflection data at different azimuths, and then extract weak anisotropy parameters and fracture weaknesses from the estimated azimuthal EI using a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo inversion method. In addition, a new procedure to construct rock physics effective model is presented to estimate weak anisotropy parameters and fracture weaknesses from well log interpretation results (minerals and their volumes, porosity, saturation, fracture density, etc.). Tests on synthetic and real data indicate that unknown parameters including elastic properties (P- and S-wave impedances and density), weak anisotropy parameters and fracture weaknesses can be estimated stably in the case of seismic data containing a moderate noise, and our approach can make a reasonable estimation of anisotropy in a fractured shale reservoir.

Weak Localization and Antilocalization in Topological Materials with Impurity Spin-Orbit Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Hankiewicz, Ewelina M.; Culcer, Dimitrie

2017-01-01

Topological materials have attracted considerable experimental and theoretical attention. They exhibit strong spin-orbit coupling both in the band structure (intrinsic) and in the impurity potentials (extrinsic), although the latter is often neglected. In this work, we discuss weak localization and antilocalization of massless Dirac fermions in topological insulators and massive Dirac fermions in Weyl semimetal thin films, taking into account both intrinsic and extrinsic spin-orbit interactions. The physics is governed by the complex interplay of the chiral spin texture, quasiparticle mass, and scalar and spin-orbit scattering. We demonstrate that terms linear in the extrinsic spin-orbit scattering are generally present in the Bloch and momentum relaxation times in all topological materials, and the correction to the diffusion constant is linear in the strength of the extrinsic spin-orbit. In topological insulators, which have zero quasiparticle mass, the terms linear in the impurity spin-orbit coupling lead to an observable density dependence in the weak antilocalization correction. They produce substantial qualitative modifications to the magnetoconductivity, differing greatly from the conventional Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka formula traditionally used in experimental fits, which predicts a crossover from weak localization to antilocalization as a function of the extrinsic spin-orbit strength. In contrast, our analysis reveals that topological insulators always exhibit weak antilocalization. In Weyl semimetal thin films having intermediate to large values of the quasiparticle mass, we show that extrinsic spin-orbit scattering strongly affects the boundary of the weak localization to antilocalization transition. We produce a complete phase diagram for this transition as a function of the mass and spin-orbit scattering strength. Throughout the paper, we discuss implications for experimental work, and, at the end, we provide a brief comparison with transition metal

Weak C* Hopf Symmetry

OpenAIRE

Rehren, K. -H.

1996-01-01

Weak C* Hopf algebras can act as global symmetries in low-dimensional quantum field theories, when braid group statistics prevents group symmetries. Possibilities to construct field algebras with weak C* Hopf symmetry from a given theory of local observables are discussed.

Inferring 'weak spots' in phylogenetic trees: application to mosasauroid nomenclature.

Science.gov (United States)

Madzia, Daniel; Cau, Andrea

2017-01-01

Mosasauroid squamates represented the apex predators within the Late Cretaceous marine and occasionally also freshwater ecosystems. Proper understanding of the origin of their ecological adaptations or paleobiogeographic dispersals requires adequate knowledge of their phylogeny. The studies assessing the position of mosasauroids on the squamate evolutionary tree and their origins have long given conflicting results. The phylogenetic relationships within Mosasauroidea, however, have experienced only little changes throughout the last decades. Considering the substantial improvements in the development of phylogenetic methodology that have undergone in recent years, resulting, among others, in numerous alterations in the phylogenetic hypotheses of other fossil amniotes, we test the robustness in our understanding of mosasauroid beginnings and their evolutionary history. We re-examined a data set that results from modifications assembled in the course of the last 20 years and performed multiple parsimony analyses and Bayesian tip-dating analysis. Following the inferred topologies and the 'weak spots' in the phylogeny of mosasauroids, we revise the nomenclature of the 'traditionally' recognized mosasauroid clades, to acknowledge the overall weakness among branches and the alternative topologies suggested previously, and discuss several factors that might have an impact on the differing phylogenetic hypotheses and their statistical support.

Packaging of Sin Goods - Commitment or Exploitation?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nafziger, Julia

to such self-control problems, and possibly exploit them, by offering different package sizes. In a competitive market, either one or three (small, medium and large) packages are offered. In contrast to common intuition, the large, and not the small package is a commitment device. The latter serves to exploit...

The use of handwriting examinations beyond the traditional court purpose.

Science.gov (United States)

Agius, Anna; Jones, Kylie; Epple, Rochelle; Morelato, Marie; Moret, Sébastien; Chadwick, Scott; Roux, Claude

2017-09-01

Traditionally, forensic science has predominantly focused its resources and objectives on addressing court related questions. However, this view restricts the contribution of forensic science to one function and results in lost opportunities as investigative and intelligence roles are often overlooked. A change of perspective and expansion of the contributions of forensic science is required to take advantage of the benefits of abductive and inductive thought processes throughout the investigative and intelligence functions. One forensic discipline that has the potential to broaden its traditional focus is handwriting examination. Typically used in investigations that are focused on both criminal and civil cases, the examination procedure and outcome are time consuming and subjective, requiring a detailed study of the features of the handwriting in question. Traditionally, the major handwriting features exploited are characteristics that are often considered individual (or at least highly polymorphic) and habitual. However, handwriting can be considered as an information vector in an intelligence framework. One such example is the recognition of key elements related to the author's native language. This paper discusses the traditional method generally used around the world and proposes a theoretical approach to expand the application of handwriting examination towards gaining additional information for intelligence purposes. This concept will be designed and tested in a future research project. Copyright © 2017 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. All rights reserved.

Accurate characterization of weak macromolecular interactions by titration of NMR residual dipolar couplings: application to the CD2AP SH3-C:ubiquitin complex.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega-Roldan, Jose Luis; Jensen, Malene Ringkjøbing; Brutscher, Bernhard; Azuaga, Ana I; Blackledge, Martin; van Nuland, Nico A J

2009-05-01

The description of the interactome represents one of key challenges remaining for structural biology. Physiologically important weak interactions, with dissociation constants above 100 muM, are remarkably common, but remain beyond the reach of most of structural biology. NMR spectroscopy, and in particular, residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) provide crucial conformational constraints on intermolecular orientation in molecular complexes, but the combination of free and bound contributions to the measured RDC seriously complicates their exploitation for weakly interacting partners. We develop a robust approach for the determination of weak complexes based on: (i) differential isotopic labeling of the partner proteins facilitating RDC measurement in both partners; (ii) measurement of RDC changes upon titration into different equilibrium mixtures of partially aligned free and complex forms of the proteins; (iii) novel analytical approaches to determine the effective alignment in all equilibrium mixtures; and (iv) extraction of precise RDCs for bound forms of both partner proteins. The approach is demonstrated for the determination of the three-dimensional structure of the weakly interacting CD2AP SH3-C:Ubiquitin complex (K(d) = 132 +/- 13 muM) and is shown, using cross-validation, to be highly precise. We expect this methodology to extend the remarkable and unique ability of NMR to study weak protein-protein complexes.

Sensory exploitation and cultural transmission: the late emergence of iconic representations in human evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Verpooten, Jan; Nelissen, Mark

2010-09-01

Iconic representations (i.e., figurative imagery and realistic art) only started to appear consistently some 45,000 years ago, although humans have been anatomically modern since 200,000-160,000 years ago. What explains this? Some authors have suggested a neurocognitive change took place, leading to a creative explosion, although this has been contested. Here, we examine the hypothesis that demographic changes caused cultural "cumulative adaptive evolution" and as such the emergence of modern symbolic behavior. This approach usefully explains the evolution of utilitarian skills and tools, and the creation of symbols to identify groups. However, it does not equally effectively explain the evolution of behaviors that may not be directly adaptive, such as the production of iconic representations like figurines and rock art. In order to shed light on their emergence, we propose to combine the above-mentioned cultural hypothesis with the concept of sensory exploitation. The concept essentially states that behavioral traits (in this case iconic art production) which exploit pre-existing sensory sensitivities will evolve if not hindered by costs (i.e., natural selection). In this view, iconic art traditions are evolved by piggy-backing on cumulative adaptive evolution. Since it is to date uncertain whether art has served any adaptive function in human evolution, parsimony demands paying more attention to the primary and a functional mechanism of sensory exploitation as opposed to mechanisms of models based exclusively on secondary benefits (such as Miller's, for instance, in which art is proposed to evolve as a sexual display of fitness).

Weak Solution and Weakly Uniformly Bounded Solution of Impulsive Heat Equations Containing “Maximum” Temperature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oyelami, Benjamin Oyediran

2013-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper, criteria for the existence of weak solutions and uniformly weak bounded solution of impulsive heat equation containing maximum temperature are investigated and results obtained. An example is given for heat flow system with impulsive temperature using maximum temperature simulator and criteria for the uniformly weak bounded of solutions of the system are obtained.

A Theory of Exploitative Child Labor

OpenAIRE

Carol Ann Rogers; Kenneth A. Swinnerton

2003-01-01

Child labor laws should aim to protect children who work, instead of trying to remove children from work. In this paper, we identify an instance when the risk of exploitation lowers the expected bene…t of child labor to the child,and therefore suppresses child labor force participation. Targeted legal intervention that lowers or removes the risk of exploitation raises child participation in the labor market, child welfare, and overall societal welfare. Targeting on child labor more broadly ma...

Rationalising predictors of child sexual exploitation and sex-trading.

Science.gov (United States)

Klatt, Thimna; Cavner, Della; Egan, Vincent

2014-02-01

Although there is evidence for specific risk factors leading to child sexual exploitation and prostitution, these influences overlap and have rarely been examined concurrently. The present study examined case files for 175 young persons who attended a voluntary organization in Leicester, United Kingdom, which supports people who are sexually exploited or at risk of sexual exploitation. Based on the case files, the presence or absence of known risk factors for becoming a sex worker was coded. Data were analyzed using t-test, logistic regression, and smallest space analysis. Users of the voluntary organization's services who had been sexually exploited exhibited a significantly greater number of risk factors than service users who had not been victims of sexual exploitation. The logistic regression produced a significant model fit. However, of the 14 potential predictors--many of which were associated with each other--only four variables significantly predicted actual sexual exploitation: running away, poverty, drug and/or alcohol use, and having friends or family members in prostitution. Surprisingly, running away was found to significantly decrease the odds of becoming involved in sexual exploitation. Smallest space analysis of the data revealed 5 clusters of risk factors. Two of the clusters, which reflected a desperation and need construct and immature or out-of-control lifestyles, were significantly associated with sexual exploitation. Our research suggests that some risk factors (e.g. physical and emotional abuse, early delinquency, and homelessness) for becoming involved in sexual exploitation are common but are part of the problematic milieu of the individuals affected and not directly associated with sex trading itself. Our results also indicate that it is important to engage with the families and associates of young persons at risk of becoming (or remaining) a sex worker if one wants to reduce the numbers of persons who engage in this activity. Copyright �

Developing Traditional Food Service: A Portrait of Women in Culinary Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Maukar, S. M. D.; Langitan, F. W.; Tangkere, T. F. S.; Dondokambey, A.

2018-02-01

The purpose of this research is to obtain data about development of traditional food service for small woman business in Minahasa Toulour, Indonesia. The type of research used is descriptive qualitative method. The result of this research is to show that the profile data of the development of the service quality of the catering service business and the traditional home industry of the small business women at the grassroots around Lake Tondano, Minahasa, is in desperate need of rocks and guidance, because although it has the strength and opportunities such as traditional food products, the taste is quite good and popular consumer, the main raw material is the main agricultural products Minahasa so the price is relatively affordable, the role of print media and electronics to support the socialization of traditional foods Regional, National, International so it can be exported abroad, but on the other hand is also faced with weaknesses both internally and externally such as the lack of traditional entrepreneurial knowledge of Minahasa’s traditional cuisine, suffering from a lack of capital, and the impact of lack of knowledge and lack of capital result in the following items being prepared, as limited and monotonous as well lack of innovation, inadequate food business equipment, lack of clear health insurance, information dissemination and limited development, although facilities exist but cannot be implemented due to lack of funds, poor sanitation is noticed.

Weak hard X-ray emission from broad absorption line quasars: evidence for intrinsic X-ray weakness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo, B.; Brandt, W. N.; Scott, A. E.; Alexander, D. M.; Gandhi, P.; Stern, D.; Teng, S. H.; Arévalo, P.; Bauer, F. E.; Boggs, S. E.; Craig, W. W.; Christensen, F. E.; Comastri, A.; Farrah, D.; Hailey, C. J.; Harrison, F. A.; Koss, M.; Ogle, P.; Puccetti, S.; Saez, C.

2014-01-01

We report NuSTAR observations of a sample of six X-ray weak broad absorption line (BAL) quasars. These targets, at z = 0.148-1.223, are among the optically brightest and most luminous BAL quasars known at z < 1.3. However, their rest-frame ≈2 keV luminosities are 14 to >330 times weaker than expected for typical quasars. Our results from a pilot NuSTAR study of two low-redshift BAL quasars, a Chandra stacking analysis of a sample of high-redshift BAL quasars, and a NuSTAR spectral analysis of the local BAL quasar Mrk 231 have already suggested the existence of intrinsically X-ray weak BAL quasars, i.e., quasars not emitting X-rays at the level expected from their optical/UV emission. The aim of the current program is to extend the search for such extraordinary objects. Three of the six new targets are weakly detected by NuSTAR with ≲ 45 counts in the 3-24 keV band, and the other three are not detected. The hard X-ray (8-24 keV) weakness observed by NuSTAR requires Compton-thick absorption if these objects have nominal underlying X-ray emission. However, a soft stacked effective photon index (Γ eff ≈ 1.8) for this sample disfavors Compton-thick absorption in general. The uniform hard X-ray weakness observed by NuSTAR for this and the pilot samples selected with <10 keV weakness also suggests that the X-ray weakness is intrinsic in at least some of the targets. We conclude that the NuSTAR observations have likely discovered a significant population (≳ 33%) of intrinsically X-ray weak objects among the BAL quasars with significantly weak <10 keV emission. We suggest that intrinsically X-ray weak quasars might be preferentially observed as BAL quasars.

Shale gas exploitation: Status, problems and prospect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shiqian Wang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Over the past five years, great progress has been made in shale gas exploitation, which has become the most driving force for global gas output growth. Hydrocarbon extraction from shale helps drive the USA on the road to energy independence. Besides, shale oil & gas production has been kept in a sustained growth by continuous improvement in drilling efficiency and well productivity in the case of tumbling oil prices and rig counts. Shale gas reserves and production have been in a rapid growth in China owing to the Lower Paleozoic Wufeng and Longmaxi shale gas exploitation in the Sichuan Basin, which has become an important sector for the future increment of gas reserves and output in China. However, substantial progress has been made neither in non-marine shale gas exploitation as previously expected nor in the broad complicated tectonic areas in South China for which a considerable investment was made. Analysis of the basic situation and issues in domestic shale gas development shows that shale gas exploitation prospects are constrained by many problems in terms of resources endowment, horizontal well fracturing technology, etc. especially in non-marine shale deposits and complicated tectonic areas in South China where hot shales are widely distributed but geological structures are found severely deformed and over matured. Discussion on the prospects shows that the sustained and steady growth in shale gas reserves and production capacity in the coming years lies in the discovery and supersession of new shale plays in addition to Wufeng and Longmaxi shale plays, and that a technological breakthrough in ultra-high-pressure and ultra-deep (over 3500 m buried in the Sichuan Basin marine shale gas exploitation is the key and hope. Keywords: Shale gas, Exploitation, Marine facies, Hot shale, Resource endowment, Sichuan Basin, South China, Complicated tectonic area, Gas play

A weak balance: the contribution of muscle weakness to postural instability and falls.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Horlings, G.C.; Engelen, B.G.M. van; Allum, J.H.J.; Bloem, B.R.

2008-01-01

Muscle strength is a potentially important factor contributing to postural control. In this article, we consider the influence of muscle weakness on postural instability and falling. We searched the literature for research evaluating muscle weakness as a risk factor for falls in community-dwelling

Assessment of Sub-Micron Particles by Exploiting Charge Differences with Dielectrophoresis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria F. Romero-Creel

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The analysis, separation, and enrichment of submicron particles are critical steps in many applications, ranging from bio-sensing to disease diagnostics. Microfluidic electrokinetic techniques, such as dielectrophoresis (DEP have proved to be excellent platforms for assessment of submicron particles. DEP is the motion of polarizable particles under the presence of a non-uniform electric field. In this work, the polarization and dielectrophoretic behavior of polystyrene particles with diameters ranging for 100 nm to 1 μm were studied employing microchannels for insulator based DEP (iDEP and low frequency (<1000 Hz AC and DC electric potentials. In particular, the effects of particle surface charge, in terms of magnitude and type of functionalization, were examined. It was found that the magnitude of particle surface charge has a significant impact on the polarization and dielectrophoretic response of the particles, allowing for successful particle assessment. Traditionally, charge differences are exploited employing electrophoretic techniques and particle separation is achieved by differential migration. The present study demonstrates that differences in the particle’s surface charge can also be exploited by means of iDEP; and that distinct types of nanoparticles can be identified by their polarization and dielectrophoretic behavior. These findings open the possibility for iDEP to be employed as a technique for the analysis of submicron biological particles, where subtle differences in surface charge could allow for rapid particle identification and separation.

Charged weak currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turlay, R.

1979-01-01

In this review of charged weak currents I shall concentrate on inclusive high energy neutrino physics. There are surely still things to learn from the low energy weak interaction but I will not discuss it here. Furthermore B. Tallini will discuss the hadronic final state of neutrino interactions. Since the Tokyo conference a few experimental results have appeared on charged current interaction, I will present them and will also comment on important topics which have been published during the last past year. (orig.)

Weak-interacting holographic QCD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gazit, D.; Yee, H.-U.

2008-06-01

We propose a simple prescription for including low-energy weak-interactions into the frame- work of holographic QCD, based on the standard AdS/CFT dictionary of double-trace deformations. As our proposal enables us to calculate various electro-weak observables involving strongly coupled QCD, it opens a new perspective on phenomenological applications of holographic QCD. We illustrate efficiency and usefulness of our method by performing a few exemplar calculations; neutron beta decay, charged pion weak decay, and meson-nucleon parity non-conserving (PNC) couplings. The idea is general enough to be implemented in both Sakai-Sugimoto as well as Hard/Soft Wall models. (author)

Second class weak currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delorme, J.

1978-01-01

The definition and general properties of weak second class currents are recalled and various detection possibilities briefly reviewed. It is shown that the existing data on nuclear beta decay can be consistently analysed in terms of a phenomenological model. Their implication on the fundamental structure of weak interactions is discussed [fr

The possibilities of exploitation of Serbian thermomineral waters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jovanovic, L.

2002-01-01

Global ecological problem of petrol resources deficit caused an intensive search of alternative energy sources. Deficit of conventional energy fluids in Yugoslavia requires serious efforts to create a program of alternative energy sources exploitation. Geothermal energy represents an important energetic source for the countries with poor energy resources. Geothermal energy can become the basis for economic development. At present these geothermal resources are not being exploited in Yugoslavia. The possibilities of effective exploitation of thermal and thermomineral water resources in Yugoslavia are presented in this paper

Standard and Null Weak Values

OpenAIRE

Zilberberg, Oded; Romito, Alessandro; Gefen, Yuval

2013-01-01

Weak value (WV) is a quantum mechanical measurement protocol, proposed by Aharonov, Albert, and Vaidman. It consists of a weak measurement, which is weighed in, conditional on the outcome of a later, strong measurement. Here we define another two-step measurement protocol, null weak value (NVW), and point out its advantages as compared to WV. We present two alternative derivations of NWVs and compare them to the corresponding derivations of WVs.

Thermal Property Engineering: Exploiting the Properties of Ceramic Nanocomposites

Science.gov (United States)

2018-03-01

ARL-TR-8308 ● MAR 2018 US Army Research Laboratory Thermal Property Engineering : Exploiting the Properties of Ceramic...return it to the originator. ARL-TR-8308 ● MAR 2018 US Army Research Laboratory Thermal Property Engineering : Exploiting the...2015 – Dec 31 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Thermal Property Engineering : Exploiting the Properties of Ceramic Nanocomposites 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b

Rethinking exploitation: a process-centered account.

Science.gov (United States)

Jansen, Lynn A; Wall, Steven

2013-12-01

Exploitation has become an important topic in recent discussions of biomedical and research ethics. This is due in no small measure to the influence of Alan Wertheimer's path-breaking work on the subject. This paper presents some objections to Wertheimer's account of the concept. The objections attempt to show that his account places too much emphasis on outcome-based considerations and too little on process-based considerations. Building on these objections, the paper develops an alternative process-centered account of the concept. This alternative account of exploitation takes as its point of departure the broadly Kantian notion that it is wrong to use another as an instrument for the advancement of one's own ends. It sharpens this slippery notion and adds a number of refinements to it. The paper concludes by arguing that process-centered accounts of exploitation better illuminate the ethical challenges posed by research on human subjects than outcome-centered accounts.

The CERN Resonant Weakly Interacting Sub-eV Particle Search (CROWS)

CERN Document Server

Betz, Michael; Gasior, Marek; Thumm, Manfred

The subject of this thesis is the design, implementation and first results of the ``CERN Resonant WISP Search'' (CROWS) experiment, which probes the existence of Weakly Interacting Sub-eV Particles (WISPs) using microwave techniques. Axion Like Particles and Hidden Sector Photons are two well motivated members of the WISP family. Their existence could reveal the composition of cold dark matter in the universe and explain a large number of astrophysical phenomena. Particularly, the discovery of an axion would solve a long standing issue in the standard model, known as the ``strong CP problem''. Despite their strong theoretical motivation, the hypothetical particles have not been observed in any experiment so far. One way to probe the existence of WISPs is to exploit their interaction with photons in a ``light shining through the wall'' experiment. A laser beam is guided through a strong magnetic field in the ``emitting region'' of the experiment. This provides photons, which can convert into hypothetical Axi...

Pruritus Treatment in Viewpoints of Traditional Persian Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Jazani, Arezoo Moini; Azgomi, Ramin Nasimi Doost; Shirbeigi, Leila

2016-05-01

Pruritus is an unpleasant feeling that can cause the desire of scratching in a person and can be the symptoms of systemic, infectious, and neurological diseases. Pruritus is the most common clinical manifestation of skin diseases. Pruritus prevalence is 8-38% in the general population. Causes and treatments of pruritus have been described by traditional Persian medicine scientists. The aim of this study was to derive general principles of the proposed treatment to reduce or relieve pruritus. This descriptive study, review traditional medicine books including Al canon fil tibb, Al-Hawi, Makhzan ul-adviyyah, Al-Abniyah an-Haghyegh el-adviyah, Tuhfat ul-Momineen and Exir-e-Azam. The above-mentioned documents were derived and classified by keywords such as pruritus, hakka, jarab and sherry. In traditional Persian medicine, there are different causes for pruritus such as accumulation of vapors or acute humors in subcutaneous tissue or weakness of expulsive (Dafi'a) faculty and its treatment is based on removing the causes. Proper nutrition, bathing, and removing pathogenic humors are involved in the treatment. According to this study, some plants such as Cassia fistula, Purslane, Violets, Fumaria, Barley, Coriander, Rose and Terminalia chebula are anti-itching. Proper nutrition is the most important point in health and treatment of humors production with appropriate quality and quantity. Pruritus can be treated by lifestyle modification and using medicinal plants. It could be concluded that traditional Persian medicine therapies can be effective in the treatment of pruritus with mild side effects. By further investigation and research, we can reach more effective treatment methods in the field of traditional Persian medicine along with other new medical therapies.

Weak interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chanda, R.

1981-01-01

The theoretical and experimental evidences to form a basis for Lagrangian Quantum field theory for Weak Interactions are discussed. In this context, gauge invariance aspects of such interactions are showed. (L.C.) [pt

Population connectivity and larval dispersal of the exploited mangrove crab Ucides cordatus along the Brazilian coast

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Anders J.; Carvalho, Adriana M.F.; Vasconcelos, Carolina C.M.P.; Farias, Antonia M.; Bentzen, Paul

2018-01-01

Background The mangrove crab Ucides cordatus is considered a key species for the ecological balance of mangrove forests and a major source of employment and income for traditional crab collectors in Brazil. Several studies evidenced weak genetic variation among populations due to an efficient larval transport. However, gene flow patterns of the species is poorly understood, with no information about migration rates. The influence of the two main Brazilian currents in larval dispersion is also not clear. In order to provide baseline information for conservation, planning and management of this important fishery resource, the present study aimed to estimate and evaluate spatial distribution of genetic diversity, migration rates and gene flow directivity among populations of U. cordatus in Brazil. Methods Nine microsatellites were used to resolve population structure of 319 crabs collected from six sites located along the Brazilian coast. The degree of geographical differentiation included estimates of genetic diversity, population structure and gene flow models, with spatial analysis of shared alleles (SAShA), isolation by distance tests, AMOVA, discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) and Bayesian clustering. We estimated the amount of ongoing gene flow between clusters using the coalescent-based method implemented in Migrate-N. Results Loci were highly polymorphic (average of 12.4 alleles per locus) evidencing high genetic variability. There was significant differentiation among localities, despite of the low value of FST (= 0.019; P < 0.001). FST and Jost’s D indexes were also estimated in pairwise comparisons and showed significant differences between most of the surveyed site pairs (P < 0.05). Structure evidenced a single genetic group among samples, however SAShA pointed to a non-panmictic condition (P = 0.011). AMOVA detected four statistical significant clusters with low level of differentiation (FCT = 0.037; P = 0.023). The gene flow model that

Population connectivity and larval dispersal of the exploited mangrove crab Ucides cordatus along the Brazilian coast.

Science.gov (United States)

Britto, Fábio B; Schmidt, Anders J; Carvalho, Adriana M F; Vasconcelos, Carolina C M P; Farias, Antonia M; Bentzen, Paul; Diniz, Fábio M

2018-01-01

The mangrove crab Ucides cordatus is considered a key species for the ecological balance of mangrove forests and a major source of employment and income for traditional crab collectors in Brazil. Several studies evidenced weak genetic variation among populations due to an efficient larval transport. However, gene flow patterns of the species is poorly understood, with no information about migration rates. The influence of the two main Brazilian currents in larval dispersion is also not clear. In order to provide baseline information for conservation, planning and management of this important fishery resource, the present study aimed to estimate and evaluate spatial distribution of genetic diversity, migration rates and gene flow directivity among populations of U. cordatus in Brazil. Nine microsatellites were used to resolve population structure of 319 crabs collected from six sites located along the Brazilian coast. The degree of geographical differentiation included estimates of genetic diversity, population structure and gene flow models, with spatial analysis of shared alleles (SAShA), isolation by distance tests, AMOVA, discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) and Bayesian clustering. We estimated the amount of ongoing gene flow between clusters using the coalescent-based method implemented in Migrate-N. Loci were highly polymorphic (average of 12.4 alleles per locus) evidencing high genetic variability. There was significant differentiation among localities, despite of the low value of F ST (= 0.019; P < 0.001). F ST and Jost's D indexes were also estimated in pairwise comparisons and showed significant differences between most of the surveyed site pairs ( P < 0.05). Structure evidenced a single genetic group among samples, however SAShA pointed to a non-panmictic condition ( P = 0.011). AMOVA detected four statistical significant clusters with low level of differentiation ( F CT = 0.037; P = 0.023). The gene flow model that best described the

Population connectivity and larval dispersal of the exploited mangrove crab Ucides cordatus along the Brazilian coast

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fábio B. Britto

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background The mangrove crab Ucides cordatus is considered a key species for the ecological balance of mangrove forests and a major source of employment and income for traditional crab collectors in Brazil. Several studies evidenced weak genetic variation among populations due to an efficient larval transport. However, gene flow patterns of the species is poorly understood, with no information about migration rates. The influence of the two main Brazilian currents in larval dispersion is also not clear. In order to provide baseline information for conservation, planning and management of this important fishery resource, the present study aimed to estimate and evaluate spatial distribution of genetic diversity, migration rates and gene flow directivity among populations of U. cordatus in Brazil. Methods Nine microsatellites were used to resolve population structure of 319 crabs collected from six sites located along the Brazilian coast. The degree of geographical differentiation included estimates of genetic diversity, population structure and gene flow models, with spatial analysis of shared alleles (SAShA, isolation by distance tests, AMOVA, discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC and Bayesian clustering. We estimated the amount of ongoing gene flow between clusters using the coalescent-based method implemented in Migrate-N. Results Loci were highly polymorphic (average of 12.4 alleles per locus evidencing high genetic variability. There was significant differentiation among localities, despite of the low value of FST (= 0.019; P < 0.001. FST and Jost’s D indexes were also estimated in pairwise comparisons and showed significant differences between most of the surveyed site pairs (P < 0.05. Structure evidenced a single genetic group among samples, however SAShA pointed to a non-panmictic condition (P = 0.011. AMOVA detected four statistical significant clusters with low level of differentiation (FCT = 0.037; P = 0.023. The gene

The Gambler’s Fallacy Is Associated with Weak Affective Decision Making but Strong Cognitive Ability

OpenAIRE

Xue, Gui; He, Qinghua; Lei, Xuemei; Chen, Chunhui; Liu, Yuyun; Chen, Chuansheng; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Dong, Qi; Bechara, Antoine

2012-01-01

Humans demonstrate an inherent bias towards making maladaptive decisions, as shown by a phenomenon known as the gambler's fallacy (GF). The GF has been traditionally considered as a heuristic bias supported by the fast and automatic intuition system, which can be overcome by the reasoning system. The present study examined an intriguing hypothesis, based on emerging evidence from neuroscience research, that the GF might be attributed to a weak affective but strong cognitive decision making me...

The Theory of Exploitation as the Unequal Exchange of Labour

OpenAIRE

Veneziani, Roberto; Yoshihara, Naoki

2016-01-01

This paper analyses the normative and positive foundations of the theory of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour (UEL). The key intuitions behind all of the main approaches to UEL exploitation are explicitly analysed as a series of formal claims in a general economic environment. It is then argued that these intuitions can be captured by one fundamental axiom - called Labour Exploitation - which defines the basic domain of all UEL exploitation forms and identifies the formal and the...

The theory of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour

OpenAIRE

Veneziani, Roberto; Yoshihara, Naoki

2017-01-01

This paper analyses the normative and positive foundations of the theory of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour (UEL). The key intuitions behind all of the main approaches to UEL exploitation are explicitly analysed as a series of formal claims in a general economic environment. It is then argued that these intuitions can be captured by one fundamental axiom - called Labour Exploitation - which defines the basic domain of all UEL exploitation forms and identifies the formal and the...

Fishery Development and Exploitation in South East Australia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camilla Novaglio

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Understanding the full extent of past ecological changes in human-influenced marine systems is needed to inform present management policies, but is often hampered by the scarcity of information about exploitation practices and population status over the entire history of fishing. The history of commercial fishing in South East Australia is relatively recent and thus easier to document. Our aim is to reconstruct such history and to use this information to understand general patterns and consequences of fishing exploitation. Intense exploitation of marine resources arrived in South East Australia with European colonization in the early 1800s, and unregulated sealing, whaling and oyster dredging resulted in the first documented significant impact on local marine populations. Exploitation extended to demersal resources in 1915 when the trawl fishery developed. Between the early 1800s and the 1980s, some of the exploited stocks collapsed, but fishing moved further offshore and in deeper waters as technology improved and new resources became available or were discovered. This phase of fisheries expansion masked the unsustainable nature of some fishing industries, such as trawling and whaling, and postponed the need for management regulations. From the 1990s onward, an increasing awareness of the depleted nature of some fisheries led to the establishment of management strategies aiming at a more sustainable exploitation of target stocks and, from the mid-2000s onwards, management strategies were revised and improved to better address the effect of fishing on multiple components of marine ecosystems. This led to the recovery of some depleted populations and to increased habitat protection. The relatively short history of fishing exploitation and the small scale of the fishing industry in South East Australia played a significant role in limiting the magnitude of fishing impacts on local populations and helped to achieve recoveries when fisheries

Cosmology with weak lensing surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munshi, Dipak; Valageas, Patrick; Waerbeke, Ludovic van; Heavens, Alan

2008-01-01

Weak gravitational lensing is responsible for the shearing and magnification of the images of high-redshift sources due to the presence of intervening matter. The distortions are due to fluctuations in the gravitational potential, and are directly related to the distribution of matter and to the geometry and dynamics of the Universe. As a consequence, weak gravitational lensing offers unique possibilities for probing the Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe. In this review, we summarise the theoretical and observational state of the subject, focussing on the statistical aspects of weak lensing, and consider the prospects for weak lensing surveys in the future. Weak gravitational lensing surveys are complementary to both galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations as they probe the unbiased non-linear matter power spectrum at modest redshifts. Most of the cosmological parameters are accurately estimated from CMB and large-scale galaxy surveys, so the focus of attention is shifting to understanding the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. On the theoretical side, recent advances in the use of 3D information of the sources from photometric redshifts promise greater statistical power, and these are further enhanced by the use of statistics beyond two-point quantities such as the power spectrum. The use of 3D information also alleviates difficulties arising from physical effects such as the intrinsic alignment of galaxies, which can mimic weak lensing to some extent. On the observational side, in the next few years weak lensing surveys such as CFHTLS, VST-KIDS and Pan-STARRS, and the planned Dark Energy Survey, will provide the first weak lensing surveys covering very large sky areas and depth. In the long run even more ambitious programmes such as DUNE, the Supernova Anisotropy Probe (SNAP) and Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) are planned. Weak lensing of diffuse components such as the CMB and 21 cm emission can also

Cosmology with weak lensing surveys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Munshi, Dipak [Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA (United Kingdom); Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHE (United Kingdom)], E-mail: munshi@ast.cam.ac.uk; Valageas, Patrick [Service de Physique Theorique, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Waerbeke, Ludovic van [University of British Columbia, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Heavens, Alan [SUPA - Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)

2008-06-15

Weak gravitational lensing is responsible for the shearing and magnification of the images of high-redshift sources due to the presence of intervening matter. The distortions are due to fluctuations in the gravitational potential, and are directly related to the distribution of matter and to the geometry and dynamics of the Universe. As a consequence, weak gravitational lensing offers unique possibilities for probing the Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe. In this review, we summarise the theoretical and observational state of the subject, focussing on the statistical aspects of weak lensing, and consider the prospects for weak lensing surveys in the future. Weak gravitational lensing surveys are complementary to both galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations as they probe the unbiased non-linear matter power spectrum at modest redshifts. Most of the cosmological parameters are accurately estimated from CMB and large-scale galaxy surveys, so the focus of attention is shifting to understanding the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. On the theoretical side, recent advances in the use of 3D information of the sources from photometric redshifts promise greater statistical power, and these are further enhanced by the use of statistics beyond two-point quantities such as the power spectrum. The use of 3D information also alleviates difficulties arising from physical effects such as the intrinsic alignment of galaxies, which can mimic weak lensing to some extent. On the observational side, in the next few years weak lensing surveys such as CFHTLS, VST-KIDS and Pan-STARRS, and the planned Dark Energy Survey, will provide the first weak lensing surveys covering very large sky areas and depth. In the long run even more ambitious programmes such as DUNE, the Supernova Anisotropy Probe (SNAP) and Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) are planned. Weak lensing of diffuse components such as the CMB and 21 cm emission can also

From Exploitation to Industry: Definitions, Risks, and Consequences of Domestic Sexual Exploitation and Sex Work Among Women and Girls.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerassi, Lara

In the last 15 years, terms such as prostitution, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, modern-day slavery, and sex work have elicited much confusion and debate as to their definitions. Consequently several challenges have emerged for both law enforcement in the prosecution of criminals and practitioners in service provision. This article reviews the state of the literature with regard to domestic, sexual exploitation among women and girls in the United States and seeks to (1) provide definitions and describe the complexity of all terms relating to domestic sexual exploitation of women and girls in the United States, (2) explore available national prevalence data according to the definitions provided, and (3) review the evidence of mental health, social, and structural risk factors at the micro-, mezzo-, and macrolevels.

The ESA Geohazard Exploitation Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Bally, Philippe; Laur, Henri; Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Pinto, Salvatore

2015-04-01

Earthquakes represent one of the world's most significant hazards in terms both of loss of life and damages. In the first decade of the 21st century, earthquakes accounted for 60 percent of fatalities from natural disasters, according to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). To support mitigation activities designed to assess and reduce risks and improve response in emergency situations, satellite EO can be used to provide a broad range of geo-information services. This includes for instance crustal block boundary mapping to better characterize active faults, strain rate mapping to assess how rapidly faults are deforming, soil vulnerability mapping to help estimate how the soil is behaving in reaction to seismic phenomena, geo-information to assess the extent and intensity of the earthquake impact on man-made structures and formulate assumptions on the evolution of the seismic sequence, i.e. where local aftershocks or future main shocks (on nearby faults) are most likely to occur. In May 2012, the European Space Agency and the GEO Secretariat convened the International Forum on Satellite EO for Geohazards now known as the Santorini Conference. The event was the continuation of a series of international workshops such as those organized by the Geohazards Theme of the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership. In Santorini the seismic community has set out a vision of the EO contribution to an operational global seismic risk program, which lead to the Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratories (GSNL) initiative. The initial contribution of ESA to suuport the GSNL was the first Supersites Exploitation Platform (SSEP) system in the framework of Grid Processing On Demand (GPOD), now followed by the Geohazard Exploitation Platform (GEP). In this presentation, we will describe the contribution of the GEP for exploiting satellite EO for geohazard risk assessment. It is supporting the GEO Supersites and has been further

A Framework for Exploiting Internet of Things for Context-Aware Trust-Based Personalized Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abayomi Otebolaku

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In the last years, we have witnessed the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT as an integral part of the Internet with billions of interconnected and addressable everyday objects. On one hand, these objects generate a massive volume of data that can be exploited to gain useful insights into our day-to-day needs. On the other hand, context-aware recommender systems (CARSs are intelligent systems that assist users to make service consumption choices that satisfy their preferences based on their contextual situations. However, one of the key challenges facing the development and deployment of CARSs is the lack of functionality for providing dynamic and reliable context information required by the recommendation decision process. Thus, data obtained from IoT objects and other sources can be exploited to build CARSs that satisfy users’ preferences, improve quality of experience, and boost recommendation accuracy. This article describes various components of a conceptual IoT-based framework for context-aware personalized recommendations. The framework addresses the weakness whereby CARSs rely on static and limited contexts from user’s mobile phone by providing additional components for reliable and dynamic context information, using IoT context sources. The core of the framework consists of a context classification and reasoning management and a dynamic user profile model, incorporating trust to improve the accuracy of context-aware personalized recommendations. Experimental evaluations show that incorporating context and trust into personalized recommendation process can improve accuracy.

Oil exploitation and the environmental Kuznets curve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esmaeili, Abdoulkarim; Abdollahzadeh, Negar

2009-01-01

This study refers to a panel estimation of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for oil to determine the factors most affecting oil exploitation in 38 oil-producing countries during 1990-2000. Control variables such as oil reserves, oil price, population, political rights, and the Gini index were used to determine its contribution to the main EKC model. The empirical results fully support the existence of an EKC for oil exploitation. Furthermore, the result indicates that the proved oil reserves has a significant and positive role in oil production, but oil price and population do not significantly affect crude oil production. Also, increased freedoms and a better income distribution will reduce the rate of oil exploitation. Thus, policies aiming at enhancing democratic society and better income distribution would be more compatible with sustainability. (author)

Oil exploitation and the environmental Kuznets curve

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Esmaeili, Abdoulkarim; Abdollahzadeh, Negar [Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Fars (Iran)

2009-01-15

This study refers to a panel estimation of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for oil to determine the factors most affecting oil exploitation in 38 oil-producing countries during 1990-2000. Control variables such as oil reserves, oil price, population, political rights, and the Gini index were used to determine its contribution to the main EKC model. The empirical results fully support the existence of an EKC for oil exploitation. Furthermore, the result indicates that the proved oil reserves has a significant and positive role in oil production, but oil price and population do not significantly affect crude oil production. Also, increased freedoms and a better income distribution will reduce the rate of oil exploitation. Thus, policies aiming at enhancing democratic society and better income distribution would be more compatible with sustainability. (author)

Feasibility of isotachochromatography as a method for the preparative separation of weak acids and weak bases. I. Theoretical considerations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kooistra, C.; Sluyterman, L.A.A.E.

1988-01-01

The fundamental equation of isotachochromatography, i.e., isotachophoresis translated into ion-exchange chromatography, has been derived for weak acids and weak bases. Weak acids are separated on strong cation exchangers and weak bases on strong anion exchangers. According to theory, the elution

Security option file - Exploitation (DOS-Expl)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-01-01

This document aims at presenting functions performed by Cigeo during its exploitation phase, its main technical and security options which are envisaged with respect to different types of internal or external risks, and a first assessment of its impact on mankind and on the environment during its exploitation in normal operation as well as in incidental or accidental situations. A first volume addresses security principles, approach and management in relationship with the legal and regulatory framework. The second volume presents input data related to waste parcels and used for the installation sizing and operation, the main site characteristics, the main technical options regarding structures and equipment, and the main options regarding exploitation (parcel management, organisational and human aspects, and effluent management). The third volume describes how parcel are processed from their arrival to their setting in storage compartment, an inventory of internal and external risks, and a first assessment of consequences of scenarios on mankind and on the environment. The fourth volume presents options and operations which are envisaged regarding Cigeo closure, and inventory of associated risks

From Exploitation to Industry: Definitions, Risks, and Consequences of Domestic Sexual Exploitation and Sex Work Among Women and Girls

Science.gov (United States)

Gerassi, Lara

2015-01-01

In the last 15 years, terms such as prostitution, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, modern-day slavery, and sex work have elicited much confusion and debate as to their definitions. Consequently several challenges have emerged for both law enforcement in the prosecution of criminals and practitioners in service provision. This article reviews the state of the literature with regard to domestic, sexual exploitation among women and girls in the United States and seeks to (1) provide definitions and describe the complexity of all terms relating to domestic sexual exploitation of women and girls in the United States, (2) explore available national prevalence data according to the definitions provided, and (3) review the evidence of mental health, social, and structural risk factors at the micro-, mezzo-, and macrolevels. PMID:26726289

Major achievements of evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine in treating major diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, Jung; Dai, Yuntao; Verpoorte, Robert; Lam, Wing; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Pao, Li-Heng; Zhang, Wei; Chen, Shilin

2017-09-01

A long history of use and extensive documentation of the clinical practices of traditional Chinese medicine resulted in a considerable number of classical preparations, which are still widely used. This heritage of our ancestors provides a unique resource for drug discovery. Already, a number of important drugs have been developed from traditional medicines, which in fact form the core of Western pharmacotherapy. Therefore, this article discusses the differences in drug development between traditional medicine and Western medicine. Moreover, the article uses the discovery of artemisinin as an example that illustrates the "bedside-bench-bedside" approach to drug discovery to explain that the middle way for drug development is to take advantage of the best features of these two distinct systems and compensate for certain weaknesses in each. This article also summarizes evidence-based traditional medicines and discusses quality control and quality assessment, the crucial steps in botanical drug development. Herbgenomics may provide effective tools to clarify the molecular mechanism of traditional medicines in the botanical drug development. The totality-of-the-evidence approach used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for botanical products provides the directions on how to perform quality control from the field throughout the entire production process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Traditional Leadership and Democratic Governance: Using Leadership Theories to Calibrate Administrative Compatibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mashele Rapatsa

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article discusses South Africa’s phenomenon of traditional leadership which is widely vested in kings, chiefs and headmen in a traditional context. It unpacks the notion of traditional leadership considerate of transformative leadership theory applicable to the post-1994 rights-based administration, given notable changes in governance systems under democratic dispensation and its reputable human rights narratives. The erstwhile regime of apartheid configured traditional authorities and their administration in a despotic manner, to an extent that kings, chiefs and their traditional headmen were elevated in status and regarded as unequal to all other humans in society. This served apartheid excellently as it enabled kings and chiefs to disregard human rights and other people’s entitlements thereby rendering people powerless and docile to abuses and exploitations. Thus, apartheid entrenched that ‘culture of authority’ which could not be challenged. Women and children suffered the most under these instances. In contrast, the post-1994 administration embedded a new system of governance characterized by a ‘culture of justification’. The system obligates that all administrative actions including those of traditional authorities, must be justified in accordance with the law as per the supremacy of the Constitution. This entails that kings and chiefs are not above the law and must similarly conform to written rules, uphold the Constitution, respect and protect people’s fundamental rights. It is asserted that a contestation of power between traditional authority and central democratic governance remain widespread. Thus, it is indispensable to calibrate administrative compatibility of these regimes to essentially safeguard the democratic regime and its crucial human rights norms from collapsing. This is essential to effectuate appropriate democratic public administration.

Early Sexual Exploitation as an Influence in Prostitution.

Science.gov (United States)

Silbert, Mimi H.; Pines, Ayala M.

1983-01-01

Surveyed 200 female street prostitutes to determine whether they were sexually exploited during childhood. Results showed 60 percent of the subjects were sexually exploited. The few girls who discussed their abuse with others were met with shame and most often inaction. Only 10 percent were abused by strangers. (JAC)

Riemann Geometric Color-Weak Compensationfor Individual Observers

OpenAIRE

Kojima, Takanori; Mochizuki, Rika; Lenz, Reiner; Chao, Jinhui

2014-01-01

We extend a method for color weak compensation based on the criterion of preservation of subjective color differences between color normal and color weak observers presented in [2]. We introduce a new algorithm for color weak compensation using local affine maps between color spaces of color normal and color weak observers. We show howto estimate the local affine map and how to determine correspondences between the origins of local coordinates in color spaces of color normal and color weak ob...

Dissemination and Exploitation: Project Goals beyond Science

Science.gov (United States)

Hamann, Kristin; Reitz, Anja

2017-04-01

Dissemination and Exploitation are essential parts of public funded projects. In Horizon 2020 a plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results (PEDR) is a requirement. The plan should contain a clear vision on the objectives of the project in relation to actions for dissemination and potential exploitation of the project results. The actions follow the basic idea to spread the knowledge and results gathered within the project and face the challenge of how to bring the results into potentially relevant policy circle and how they impact the market. The plan follows the purpose to assess the impact of the project and to address various target groups who are interested in the project results. Simply put, dissemination concentrates on the transfer of knowledge and exploitation on the commercialization of the project. Beyond the question of the measurability of project`s impact, strategies within science marketing can serve purposes beyond internal and external communication. Accordingly, project managers are facing the challenge to implement a dissemination and exploitation strategy that ideally supports the identification of all partners with the project and matches the current discourse of the project`s content within the society, politics and economy. A consolidated plan might unite all projects partners under a central idea and supports the identification with the project beyond the individual research questions. Which applications, strategies and methods can be used to bring forward a PEDR that accompanies a project successfully and allows a comprehensive assessment of the project afterwards? Which hurdles might project managers experience in the dissemination process and which tasks should be fulfilled by the project manager?

[Establishment of prescription research technology system in Chinese medicine secondary exploitation based on "component structure" theory].

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Xu-Dong; Feng, Liang; Gu, Jun-Fei; Zhang, Ming-Hua; Jia, Xiao-Bin

2014-11-01

Chinese medicine prescriptions are the wisdom outcomes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinical treatment determinations which based on differentiation of symptoms and signs. Chinese medicine prescriptions are also the basis of secondary exploitation of TCM. The study on prescription helps to understand the material basis of its efficacy, pharmacological mechanism, which is an important guarantee for the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. Currently, there is not yet dissertation n the method and technology system of basic research on the prescription of Chinese medicine. This paper focuses on how to build an effective system of prescription research technology. Based on "component structure" theory, a technology system contained four-step method that "prescription analysis, the material basis screening, the material basis of analysis and optimization and verify" was proposed. The technology system analyzes the material basis of the three levels such as Chinese medicine pieces, constituents and the compounds which could respect the overall efficacy of Chinese medicine. Ideas of prescription optimization, remodeling are introduced into the system. The technology system is the combination of the existing research and associates with new techniques and methods, which used for explore the research thought suitable for material basis research and prescription remodeling. The system provides a reference for the secondary development of traditional Chinese medicine, and industrial upgrading.

[Ecotourism exploitation model in Bita Lake Natural Reserve of Yunnan].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, G; Wang, Y; Zhong, L

2000-12-01

Bita lake provincial natural reserve is located in Shangri-La region of North-western Yunnan, and was set as a demonstrating area for ecotourism exploitation in 1998. After a year's exploitation construction and half a year's operation as a branch of the 99' Kunming International Horticulture Exposition to accept tourists, it was proved that the ecotourism demonstrating area attained four integrated functions of ecotourism, i.e., tourism, protection, poverty clearing and environment education. Five exploitation and management models including function zoned exploitation model, featured tourism communication model signs system designing model, local Tibetan family reception model and environmental monitoring model, were also successful, which were demonstrated and spreaded to the whole province. Bita lake provincial natural reserve could be a good sample for the ecotourism exploitation natural reserves of the whole country.

Weak boson emission in hadron collider processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baur, U.

2007-01-01

The O(α) virtual weak radiative corrections to many hadron collider processes are known to become large and negative at high energies, due to the appearance of Sudakov-like logarithms. At the same order in perturbation theory, weak boson emission diagrams contribute. Since the W and Z bosons are massive, the O(α) virtual weak radiative corrections and the contributions from weak boson emission are separately finite. Thus, unlike in QED or QCD calculations, there is no technical reason for including gauge boson emission diagrams in calculations of electroweak radiative corrections. In most calculations of the O(α) electroweak radiative corrections, weak boson emission diagrams are therefore not taken into account. Another reason for not including these diagrams is that they lead to final states which differ from that of the original process. However, in experiment, one usually considers partially inclusive final states. Weak boson emission diagrams thus should be included in calculations of electroweak radiative corrections. In this paper, I examine the role of weak boson emission in those processes at the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN LHC for which the one-loop electroweak radiative corrections are known to become large at high energies (inclusive jet, isolated photon, Z+1 jet, Drell-Yan, di-boson, tt, and single top production). In general, I find that the cross section for weak boson emission is substantial at high energies and that weak boson emission and the O(α) virtual weak radiative corrections partially cancel

The Splashback Feature around DES Galaxy Clusters: Galaxy Density and Weak Lensing Profiles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chang, Chihway; et al.

2017-10-18

Splashback refers to the process of matter that is accreting onto a dark matter halo reaching its first orbital apocenter and turning around in its orbit. The cluster-centric radius at which this process occurs, r_sp, defines a halo boundary that is connected to the dynamics of the cluster, in contrast with other common halo boundary definitions such as R_200. A rapid decline in the matter density profile of the halo is expected near r_sp. We measure the galaxy number density and weak lensing mass profiles around RedMapper galaxy clusters in the first year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data. For a cluster sample with mean mass ~2.5 x 10^14 solar masses, we find strong evidence of a splashback-like steepening of the galaxy density profile and measure r_sp=1.16 +/- 0.08 Mpc/h, consistent with earlier SDSS measurements of More et al. (2016) and Baxter et al. (2017). Moreover, our weak lensing measurement demonstrates for the first time the existence of a splashback-like steepening of the matter profile of galaxy clusters. We measure r_sp=1.28 +/- 0.18 Mpc/h from the weak lensing data, in good agreement with our galaxy density measurements. Applying our analysis to different cluster and galaxy samples, we find that consistent with LambdaCDM simulations, r_sp scales with R_200m and does not evolve with redshift over the redshift range of 0.3--0.6. We also find that potential systematic effects associated with the RedMapper algorithm may impact the location of r_sp, in particular the choice of scale used to estimate cluster richness. We discuss progress needed to understand the systematic uncertainties and fully exploit forthcoming data from DES and future surveys, emphasizing the importance of more realistic mock catalogs and independent cluster samples.

Exploitation program of ''Adamow'' quarry up to 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hadlaw, A.

1994-01-01

The brown coal deposits exploited by the quarry ''Adamow'' located in Central Poland are shortly described and the prognosis of their exploitation up to 2015 is given. The basis data on the perspective deposits in the quarry's area are also presented. All deposits are shown on the map. 3 ills, 2 tabs

Etude de l'exploitation et du marché des produits forestiers non ligneux à Kinshasa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Biloso, A.

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Study of Non Woody Forest Products Exploitation and Market in Kinshasa. In spite of the considerable number of ethnobotanic studies carried out in many regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, almost no information is available on the exploitation and commerce of the wild products (non woody forest products, "produits forestiers non ligneux" – PFNL of the Congolese provinces in general and the urban province of Kinshasa in particular. Nevertheless, these products are largely used and marketed. Therefore, direct observations in situ, and socio-economic and ethnoecologic investigations (including interviews were organized in the urban province of Kinshasa to analyse various aspects of consumption of these wild products. The purpose of these investigations was to collect information regarding the use and the marketing of PFNL products by the populations living in the zones surrounding the urban area. The analysis of the various types of exploitation and use of the PFNL has shown twelve categories of PFNL use: energy, food, construction of music instruments, saw mill applications, drink, drugs, dye, packing, construction of baskets, textile fabrication, construction and ornamentation. The majority of these PFNL originate not only from the secondary forests and from forest galleries, but from shrubby savannas and the marshes as well. The exploitations and uses of the PFNL vary rather largely with the level of income, the purchasing power, the attachment with food practices and with local traditions. The various levels of semi-monthly income by owner of the PFNL are estimated for the following plants which were used as vegetables: Gnetum africanum Welw., (275.0 $; Pteridium aquilinium Hieron. (166.7 $; Dracaena camerooniana Baker. (75.5 $; Dioscorea praehensilis (Benth. (71.0 $; Psophocarpus scandens (Endl. Verdc. (58.7 $. The average income resulting from the firewood sale was estimated at 80 $ per month and per person, for a group of 25 owners

Quality and safety of traditional foods: the role of microbiology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiana Garofalo

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The typical and traditional foods represent an heritage of undisputed value and a significant development opportunity for large part of the territory of our country. Their protection and enhancement can not prescind from thorough knowledge, based on objective data, concerning both the strengths and weaknesses of this type of productions. Most of the traditional and origin-protected foods are fermented foods and most of them have great value in the daily diet, as bread and other leavened baked goods, cheeses, fermented milks and different kinds of fermented meat products. The fermentation processes of these traditional productions are based on the activities of characteristic microbial communities, often very heterogeneous and complex, defined “autochthonous” since they are specifically associated to raw materials and production environments. The role of these microbial communities is essential in determining the nutritional and sensory properties of the traditional and typical foods, therefore, their knowledge is crucial for giving value to these products. On the other hand, it is necessary that the typical and traditional productions guarantee the same level of safety present in current products obtained through more standardized processes. To this aim, both a deep knowledge of the mechanisms leading to the occurrence of possible risks and the development of appropriate control tools (respectful of the traditional nature of these productions are needed. Food Microbiologists have given an essential contribution in both these directions carrying out researches dealing with the microbial populations of the typical and traditional productions, focused on either autochthonous microorganisms that play a pro-technology role, or pathogen micro-organisms and toxic metabolite producers. This brief review summarizes the contributions collected from the Microbiologists of the SIMTREA presented at the Congress of the AISSA.

Quality and safety of traditional foods: the role of microbiology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca Clementi

Full Text Available The typical and traditional foods represent an heritage of undisputed value and a significant development opportunity for large part of the territory of our country. Their protection and enhancement can not prescind from thorough knowledge, based on objective data, concerning both the strengths and weaknesses of this type of productions. Most of the traditional and origin-protected foods are fermented foods and most of them have great value in the daily diet, as bread and other leavened baked goods, cheeses, fermented milks and different kinds of fermented meat products. The fermentation processes of these traditional productions are based on the activities of characteristic microbial communities, often very heterogeneous and complex, defined “autochthonous” since they are specifically associated to raw materials and production environments. The role of these microbial communities is essential in determining the nutritional and sensory properties of the traditional and typical foods, therefore, their knowledge is crucial for giving value to these products. On the other hand, it is necessary that the typical and traditional productions guarantee the same level of safety present in current products obtained through more standardized processes. To this aim, both a deep knowledge of the mechanisms leading to the occurrence of possible risks and the development of appropriate control tools (respectful of the traditional nature of these productions are needed. Food Microbiologists have given an essential contribution in both these directions carrying out researches dealing with the microbial populations of the typical and traditional productions, focused on either autochthonous microorganisms that play a pro-technology role, or pathogen micro-organisms and toxic metabolite producers. This brief review summarizes the contributions collected from the Microbiologists of the SIMTREA presented at the Congress of the AISSA.

Classical field approach to quantum weak measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Dressel, Justin; Bliokh, Konstantin Y; Nori, Franco

2014-03-21

By generalizing the quantum weak measurement protocol to the case of quantum fields, we show that weak measurements probe an effective classical background field that describes the average field configuration in the spacetime region between pre- and postselection boundary conditions. The classical field is itself a weak value of the corresponding quantum field operator and satisfies equations of motion that extremize an effective action. Weak measurements perturb this effective action, producing measurable changes to the classical field dynamics. As such, weakly measured effects always correspond to an effective classical field. This general result explains why these effects appear to be robust for pre- and postselected ensembles, and why they can also be measured using classical field techniques that are not weak for individual excitations of the field.

zero day exploits and national readiness for cyber-warfare

African Journals Online (AJOL)

HOD

A zero day vulnerability is an unknown exploit that divulges security flaws in software before such a flaw is publicly ... Keywords: exploits, zero day, vulnerability, cyberspace, cyber-warfare. 1. ..... industries and companies across the globe. The.

Peripheral facial weakness (Bell's palsy).

Science.gov (United States)

Basić-Kes, Vanja; Dobrota, Vesna Dermanović; Cesarik, Marijan; Matovina, Lucija Zadro; Madzar, Zrinko; Zavoreo, Iris; Demarin, Vida

2013-06-01

Peripheral facial weakness is a facial nerve damage that results in muscle weakness on one side of the face. It may be idiopathic (Bell's palsy) or may have a detectable cause. Almost 80% of peripheral facial weakness cases are primary and the rest of them are secondary. The most frequent causes of secondary peripheral facial weakness are systemic viral infections, trauma, surgery, diabetes, local infections, tumor, immune disorders, drugs, degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, etc. The diagnosis relies upon the presence of typical signs and symptoms, blood chemistry tests, cerebrospinal fluid investigations, nerve conduction studies and neuroimaging methods (cerebral MRI, x-ray of the skull and mastoid). Treatment of secondary peripheral facial weakness is based on therapy for the underlying disorder, unlike the treatment of Bell's palsy that is controversial due to the lack of large, randomized, controlled, prospective studies. There are some indications that steroids or antiviral agents are beneficial but there are also studies that show no beneficial effect. Additional treatments include eye protection, physiotherapy, acupuncture, botulinum toxin, or surgery. Bell's palsy has a benign prognosis with complete recovery in about 80% of patients, 15% experience some mode of permanent nerve damage and severe consequences remain in 5% of patients.

Weakly oval electron lense

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daumenov, T.D.; Alizarovskaya, I.M.; Khizirova, M.A.

2001-01-01

The method of the weakly oval electrical field getting generated by the axially-symmetrical field is shown. Such system may be designed with help of the cylindric form coaxial electrodes with the built-in quadrupole duplet. The singularity of the indicated weakly oval lense consists of that it provides the conducting both mechanical and electronic adjustment. Such lense can be useful for elimination of the near-axis astigmatism in the electron-optical system

THE DECAY OF A WEAK LARGE-SCALE MAGNETIC FIELD IN TWO-DIMENSIONAL TURBULENCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kondić, Todor; Hughes, David W.; Tobias, Steven M., E-mail: t.kondic@leeds.ac.uk [Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT (United Kingdom)

2016-06-01

We investigate the decay of a large-scale magnetic field in the context of incompressible, two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. It is well established that a very weak mean field, of strength significantly below equipartition value, induces a small-scale field strong enough to inhibit the process of turbulent magnetic diffusion. In light of ever-increasing computer power, we revisit this problem to investigate fluids and magnetic Reynolds numbers that were previously inaccessible. Furthermore, by exploiting the relation between the turbulent diffusion of the magnetic potential and that of the magnetic field, we are able to calculate the turbulent magnetic diffusivity extremely accurately through the imposition of a uniform mean magnetic field. We confirm the strong dependence of the turbulent diffusivity on the product of the magnetic Reynolds number and the energy of the large-scale magnetic field. We compare our findings with various theoretical descriptions of this process.

Metatheatricalizing Communal Exploitation in Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ngugi wa Miriis’ I Will Marry When I want

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niyi Akingbe

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Metatheatre often refers to the capability of a stage text and performance to ostensibly establish a gamut of commentaries needed to repudiate a pervading social and political quagmire, tellingly obtainable in societies under siege. Metatheatre is a long established theatre tradition which has been sufficiently calibrated in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, put into a utilitarian proclivity in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, and fully aestheticized in Jean Genet's The Balcony and The Blacks. It is also a tradition which has been successfully exploited in Wole Soyinka's Madmen and Specialists; Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi is Dead; Femi Osofisan's The Chattering and the Song and Segun Oyekunle's Katakata for Sofahead. Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Ngugi wa Mirii steeped a metatheatre into the interface of politics and religion in I Will Marry When I Want, in order to foreground the hypocrisy of Christianity as underscored by the exploitation of the downtrodden masses, by the land grabbing Christian elite of the Kenyan society. This paper will be examining how Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Ngugi wa Miriis' I Will Marry When I Want builds on the harvest of the oral, mimetic and metaphoric signification of myth, history and song, to launch a barrage of criticism against a backdrop of land theft. This appropriation is poignantly accentuated by a language of equivocation, usually associated with the Christian elite in Kenya. The paper will among other things emphasize that, the rapacious gluttony for land grabbing is indubitably faith driven, as clearly demonstrated by the Kenyan Christian elite in the play.

Use of the spectral analysis for estimating the intensity of a weak periodic source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marseguerra, M.

1989-01-01

This paper deals with the possibility of exploiting spectral methods for the analysis of counting experiments in which one has to estimate the intensity of a weak periodic source of particles buried in a high background. The general theoretical expressions here obtained for the auto- and cross-spectra are applied to three kinds of simulated experiments. In all cases it turns out that the source intensity can acutally be estimated with a standard deviation comparable with that obtained in classical experiments in which the source can be moved out. Thus the spectral methods represent an interesting technique nowadays easy to implement on low-cost computers which could also be used in many research fields by suitably redesigning classical experiments. The convenience of using these methods in the field of nuclear safeguards is presently investigated in our Institute. (orig.)

Weak decays of stable particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, R.M.

1988-09-01

In this article we review recent advances in the field of weak decays and consider their implications for quantum chromodynamics (the theory of strong interactions) and electroweak theory (the combined theory of electromagnetic and weak interactions), which together form the ''Standard Model'' of elementary particles. (author)

Weak lensing and dark energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huterer, Dragan

2002-01-01

We study the power of upcoming weak lensing surveys to probe dark energy. Dark energy modifies the distance-redshift relation as well as the matter power spectrum, both of which affect the weak lensing convergence power spectrum. Some dark-energy models predict additional clustering on very large scales, but this probably cannot be detected by weak lensing alone due to cosmic variance. With reasonable prior information on other cosmological parameters, we find that a survey covering 1000 sq deg down to a limiting magnitude of R=27 can impose constraints comparable to those expected from upcoming type Ia supernova and number-count surveys. This result, however, is contingent on the control of both observational and theoretical systematics. Concentrating on the latter, we find that the nonlinear power spectrum of matter perturbations and the redshift distribution of source galaxies both need to be determined accurately in order for weak lensing to achieve its full potential. Finally, we discuss the sensitivity of the three-point statistics to dark energy

From Exploitation to Industry: Definitions, Risks, and Consequences of Domestic Sexual Exploitation and Sex Work Among Women and Girls

OpenAIRE

Gerassi, Lara

2015-01-01

In the last 15 years, terms such as prostitution, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation, modern-day slavery, and sex work have elicited much confusion and debate as to their definitions. Consequently several challenges have emerged for both law enforcement in the prosecution of criminals and practitioners in service provision. This article reviews the state of the literature with regard to domestic, sexual exploitation among women and girls in the United States and seeks to (1) provide definit...

Teotihuacan, tepeapulco, and obsidian exploitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Charlton, T H

1978-06-16

Current cultural ecological models of the development of civilization in central Mexico emphasize the role of subsistence production techniques and organization. The recent use of established and productive archeological surface survey techniques along natural corridors of communication between favorable niches for cultural development within the Central Mexican symbiotic region resulted in the location of sites that indicate an early development of a decentralized resource exploitation, manufacturing, and exchange network. The association of the development of this system with Teotihuacán indicates the importance such nonsubsistence production and exchange had in the evolution of this first central Mexican civilization. The later expansion of Teotihuacán into more distant areas of Mesoamerica was based on this resource exploitation model. Later civilizations centered at Tula and Tenochtitlán also used such a model in their expansion.

CubiCal - Fast radio interferometric calibration suite exploiting complex optimisation

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, J. S.; Smirnov, O. M.; Grobler, T. L.; Perkins, S. J.

2018-05-01

It has recently been shown that radio interferometric gain calibration can be expressed succinctly in the language of complex optimisation. In addition to providing an elegant framework for further development, it exposes properties of the calibration problem which can be exploited to accelerate traditional non-linear least squares solvers such as Gauss-Newton and Levenberg-Marquardt. We extend existing derivations to chains of Jones terms: products of several gains which model different aberrant effects. In doing so, we find that the useful properties found in the single term case still hold. We also develop several specialised solvers which deal with complex gains parameterised by real values. The newly developed solvers have been implemented in a Python package called CubiCal, which uses a combination of Cython, multiprocessing and shared memory to leverage the power of modern hardware. We apply CubiCal to both simulated and real data, and perform both direction-independent and direction-dependent self-calibration. Finally, we present the results of some rudimentary profiling to show that CubiCal is competitive with respect to existing calibration tools such as MeqTrees.

Aspects économiques de l'exploitation des resources halieutiques ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Aspects économiques de l'exploitation des resources halieutiques des petits barrages du Nord de la Côte d' lvoire : Economic aspects of the exploitation of halieutic resources of petits barrages inland waters in the north of Côte d'lvoire.

Weak self-adjoint differential equations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gandarias, M L

2011-01-01

The concepts of self-adjoint and quasi self-adjoint equations were introduced by Ibragimov (2006 J. Math. Anal. Appl. 318 742-57; 2007 Arch. ALGA 4 55-60). In Ibragimov (2007 J. Math. Anal. Appl. 333 311-28), a general theorem on conservation laws was proved. In this paper, we generalize the concept of self-adjoint and quasi self-adjoint equations by introducing the definition of weak self-adjoint equations. We find a class of weak self-adjoint quasi-linear parabolic equations. The property of a differential equation to be weak self-adjoint is important for constructing conservation laws associated with symmetries of the differential equation. (fast track communication)

Improving industrial yeast strains: exploiting natural and artificial diversity

Science.gov (United States)

Steensels, Jan; Snoek, Tim; Meersman, Esther; Nicolino, Martina Picca; Voordeckers, Karin; Verstrepen, Kevin J

2014-01-01

Yeasts have been used for thousands of years to make fermented foods and beverages, such as beer, wine, sake, and bread. However, the choice for a particular yeast strain or species for a specific industrial application is often based on historical, rather than scientific grounds. Moreover, new biotechnological yeast applications, such as the production of second-generation biofuels, confront yeast with environments and challenges that differ from those encountered in traditional food fermentations. Together, this implies that there are interesting opportunities to isolate or generate yeast variants that perform better than the currently used strains. Here, we discuss the different strategies of strain selection and improvement available for both conventional and nonconventional yeasts. Exploiting the existing natural diversity and using techniques such as mutagenesis, protoplast fusion, breeding, genome shuffling and directed evolution to generate artificial diversity, or the use of genetic modification strategies to alter traits in a more targeted way, have led to the selection of superior industrial yeasts. Furthermore, recent technological advances allowed the development of high-throughput techniques, such as ‘global transcription machinery engineering’ (gTME), to induce genetic variation, providing a new source of yeast genetic diversity. PMID:24724938

Information source exploitation/exploration and NPD decision-making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jespersen, Kristina Risom

different Scandinavian companies. Data was analyzed using hierarchical regression models across decision criteria dimensions and NPD stages as well as analyzing the combination of selected information sources. Rather than forwarding one optimal search behavior for the entire NPD process, we find optimal...... information search behavior at either end of the exploitation/exploration continuum. Additionally, we find that overexploitation and overexploration is caused by managerial bias. This creates managerial misbehavior at gate decision-points of the NPD process.......The purpose of this study is to examine how the exploration/exploitation continuum is applied by decision-makers in new product gate decision-making. Specifically, we analyze at gate decision-points how the evaluation of a new product project is affected by the information source exploitation...

Exploiting opportunities at all cost? Entrepreneurial intent and externalities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Urbig, D.; Weitzel, G.U.; Rosenkranz, S.; van Witteloostuijn, A.

2011-01-01

they exploit welfare-enhancing opportunities as it is assumed in several normative models? Do we need to prevent potential entrepreneurs from being destructive or are there intrinsic limits to harm others? We experimentally investigate how people with different entrepreneurial intent exploit risky

Quantum discord with weak measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Uttam; Pati, Arun Kumar

2014-01-01

Weak measurements cause small change to quantum states, thereby opening up the possibility of new ways of manipulating and controlling quantum systems. We ask, can weak measurements reveal more quantum correlation in a composite quantum state? We prove that the weak measurement induced quantum discord, called as the “super quantum discord”, is always larger than the quantum discord captured by the strong measurement. Moreover, we prove the monotonicity of the super quantum discord as a function of the measurement strength and in the limit of strong projective measurement the super quantum discord becomes the normal quantum discord. We find that unlike the normal discord, for pure entangled states, the super quantum discord can exceed the quantum entanglement. Our results provide new insights on the nature of quantum correlation and suggest that the notion of quantum correlation is not only observer dependent but also depends on how weakly one perturbs the composite system. We illustrate the key results for pure as well as mixed entangled states. -- Highlights: •Introduced the role of weak measurements in quantifying quantum correlation. •We have introduced the notion of the super quantum discord (SQD). •For pure entangled state, we show that the SQD exceeds the entanglement entropy. •This shows that quantum correlation depends not only on observer but also on measurement strength

Correlation of the Rock Mass Rating (RMR) System with the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS): Introduction of the Weak Rock Mass Rating System (W-RMR)

Science.gov (United States)

Warren, Sean N.; Kallu, Raj R.; Barnard, Chase K.

2016-11-01

Underground gold mines in Nevada are exploiting increasingly deeper ore bodies comprised of weak to very weak rock masses. The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) classification system is widely used at underground gold mines in Nevada and is applicable in fair to good-quality rock masses, but is difficult to apply and loses reliability in very weak rock mass to soil-like material. Because very weak rock masses are transition materials that border engineering rock mass and soil classification systems, soil classification may sometimes be easier and more appropriate to provide insight into material behavior and properties. The Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) is the most likely choice for the classification of very weak rock mass to soil-like material because of its accepted use in tunnel engineering projects and its ability to predict soil-like material behavior underground. A correlation between the RMR and USCS systems was developed by comparing underground geotechnical RMR mapping to laboratory testing of bulk samples from the same locations, thereby assigning a numeric RMR value to the USCS classification that can be used in spreadsheet calculations and geostatistical analyses. The geotechnical classification system presented in this paper including a USCS-RMR correlation, RMR rating equations, and the Geo-Pick Strike Index is collectively introduced as the Weak Rock Mass Rating System (W-RMR). It is the authors' hope that this system will aid in the classification of weak rock masses and more usable design tools based on the RMR system. More broadly, the RMR-USCS correlation and the W-RMR system help define the transition between engineering soil and rock mass classification systems and may provide insight for geotechnical design in very weak rock masses.

Mining survey data for SWOT analysis

OpenAIRE

Phadermrod, Boonyarat

2016-01-01

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis is one of the most important tools for strategic planning. The traditional method of conducting SWOT analysis does not prioritize and is likely to hold subjective views that may result in an improper strategic action. Accordingly, this research exploits Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA), a technique for measuring customers’ satisfaction based on survey data, to systematically generate prioritized SWOT factors based on custom...

Spin effects in the weak interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freedman, S.J.; Chicago Univ., IL; Chicago Univ., IL

1990-01-01

Modern experiments investigating the beta decay of the neutron and light nuclei are still providing important constraints on the theory of the weak interaction. Beta decay experiments are yielding more precise values for allowed and induced weak coupling constants and putting constraints on possible extensions to the standard electroweak model. Here we emphasize the implications of recent experiments to pin down the strengths of the weak vector and axial vector couplings of the nucleon

Weak interactions in astrophysics and cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, R.J.

1977-01-01

There ar many problems in astrophysics and cosmology in which the form of the weak interactions, their strength or the number of weakly interacting particles, is very important. It is possible that astronomical observations may give some information about the weak interactions. In the conventional hot big bang cosmological theory the number of leptons with associated neutrinos influences the speed of expansion of the Universe and the chemical composition of pre-galactic matter. The strength of the weak interaction, as exemplified by the half-life of the neutron, has a similar effect. In addition, the form of the weak interactions will determine how effectively neutrino viscosity can smooth out irregularities in the early Universe. Because neutrinos have a very long mean free path, they can escape from the central region of stars whereas photons can only escape from the surface. In late stages of stellar evolution, neutrino luminosity is often believed to be much greater than photon luminosity. This can both accelerate the cooling of dying stars and influence the stages of stellar evolution leading to the onset of supernova explosions. In pre-super-novae it is even possible that very dense stellar cores can be opaque to neutrinos and that the absorption or scattering of neutrinos can cause the explosion. These results depend crucially on the form of the weak interactions, with the discovery of neutral currents being very important. Until the solar neutrino experiment has been reconciled with theory, the possible role of uncertainties in the weak interactions cannot be ignored. (author)

Weak links in high critical temperature superconductors

Science.gov (United States)

Tafuri, Francesco; Kirtley, John R.

2005-11-01

The traditional distinction between tunnel and highly transmissive barriers does not currently hold for high critical temperature superconducting Josephson junctions, both because of complicated materials issues and the intrinsic properties of high temperature superconductors (HTS). An intermediate regime, typical of both artificial superconductor-barrier-superconductor structures and of grain boundaries, spans several orders of magnitude in the critical current density and specific resistivity. The physics taking place at HTS surfaces and interfaces is rich, primarily because of phenomena associated with d-wave order parameter (OP) symmetry. These phenomena include Andreev bound states, the presence of the second harmonic in the critical current versus phase relation, a doubly degenerate state, time reversal symmetry breaking and the possible presence of an imaginary component of the OP. All these effects are regulated by a series of transport mechanisms, whose rules of interplay and relative activation are unknown. Some transport mechanisms probably have common roots, which are not completely clear and possibly related to the intrinsic nature of high-TC superconductivity. The d-wave OP symmetry gives unique properties to HTS weak links, which do not have any analogy with systems based on other superconductors. Even if the HTS structures are not optimal, compared with low critical temperature superconductor Josephson junctions, the state of the art allows the realization of weak links with unexpectedly high quality quantum properties, which open interesting perspectives for the future. The observation of macroscopic quantum tunnelling and the qubit proposals represent significant achievements in this direction. In this review we attempt to encompass all the above aspects, attached to a solid experimental basis of junction concepts and basic properties, along with a flexible phenomenological background, which collects ideas on the Josephson effect in the presence

Weak links in high critical temperature superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tafuri, Francesco; Kirtley, John R

2005-01-01

The traditional distinction between tunnel and highly transmissive barriers does not currently hold for high critical temperature superconducting Josephson junctions, both because of complicated materials issues and the intrinsic properties of high temperature superconductors (HTS). An intermediate regime, typical of both artificial superconductor-barrier-superconductor structures and of grain boundaries, spans several orders of magnitude in the critical current density and specific resistivity. The physics taking place at HTS surfaces and interfaces is rich, primarily because of phenomena associated with d-wave order parameter (OP) symmetry. These phenomena include Andreev bound states, the presence of the second harmonic in the critical current versus phase relation, a doubly degenerate state, time reversal symmetry breaking and the possible presence of an imaginary component of the OP. All these effects are regulated by a series of transport mechanisms, whose rules of interplay and relative activation are unknown. Some transport mechanisms probably have common roots, which are not completely clear and possibly related to the intrinsic nature of high-T C superconductivity. The d-wave OP symmetry gives unique properties to HTS weak links, which do not have any analogy with systems based on other superconductors. Even if the HTS structures are not optimal, compared with low critical temperature superconductor Josephson junctions, the state of the art allows the realization of weak links with unexpectedly high quality quantum properties, which open interesting perspectives for the future. The observation of macroscopic quantum tunnelling and the qubit proposals represent significant achievements in this direction. In this review we attempt to encompass all the above aspects, attached to a solid experimental basis of junction concepts and basic properties, along with a flexible phenomenological background, which collects ideas on the Josephson effect in the presence

Traditional knowledge on zootherapeutic uses by the Saharia tribe of Rajasthan, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahawar, Madan Mohan; Jaroli, D P

2007-06-05

The present zootherapeutic study describes the traditional knowledge related to the use of different animals and animal-derived products as medicines by the Saharia tribe reside in the Shahabad and Kishanganj Panchayat Samiti's of Baran district of Rajasthan, India. A field survey was conducted from April to June 2006 by performing interview through structured questionnaire with 21 selected respondents, who provided information regarding use of animals and their products in folk medicine. A total of 15 animal species were recorded and they are used for different ethnomedical purposes, including cough, asthma, tuberculosis, paralysis, earache, herpes, weakness, muscular pain etc. The zootherapeutic knowledge was mostly based on domestic animals, but some protected species like the peacock (Pavo cristatus,), hard shelled turtle (Kachuga tentoria), sambhar (Cervus unicolor) were also mentioned as medicinal resources. We would suggest that this kind of neglected traditional knowledge should be included into the strategies of conservation and management of faunistic resources. Further studies are required for experimental validation to confirm the presence of bioactive compounds in these traditional remedies and also to emphasize more sustainable use of these resources.

Exploitation and Utilization of Oilfield Geothermal Resources in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shejiao Wang

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Geothermal energy is a clean, green renewable resource, which can be utilized for power generation, heating, cooling, and could effectively replace oil, gas, and coal. In recent years, oil companies have put more efforts into exploiting and utilizing geothermal energy with advanced technologies for heat-tracing oil gathering and transportation, central heating, etc., which has not only reduced resource waste, but also improved large-scale and industrial resource utilization levels, and has achieved remarkable economic and social benefits. Based on the analysis of oilfield geothermal energy development status, resource potential, and exploitation and utilization modes, the advantages and disadvantages of harnessing oilfield geothermal resource have been discussed. Oilfield geothermal energy exploitation and utilization have advantages in resources, technical personnel, technology, and a large number of abandoned wells that could be reconstructed and utilized. Due to the high heat demand in oilfields, geothermal energy exploitation and utilization can effectively replace oil, gas, coal, and other fossil fuels, and has bright prospects. The key factors limiting oilfield geothermal energy exploitation and utilization are also pointed out in this paper, including immature technologies, lack of overall planning, lack of standards in resource assessment, and economic assessment, lack of incentive policies, etc.

Network exploitation using WAMI tracks

Science.gov (United States)

Rimey, Ray; Record, Jim; Keefe, Dan; Kennedy, Levi; Cramer, Chris

2011-06-01

Creating and exploiting network models from wide area motion imagery (WAMI) is an important task for intelligence analysis. Tracks of entities observed moving in the WAMI sensor data are extracted, then large numbers of tracks are studied over long time intervals to determine specific locations that are visited (e.g., buildings in an urban environment), what locations are related to other locations, and the function of each location. This paper describes several parts of the network detection/exploitation problem, and summarizes a solution technique for each: (a) Detecting nodes; (b) Detecting links between known nodes; (c) Node attributes to characterize a node; (d) Link attributes to characterize each link; (e) Link structure inferred from node attributes and vice versa; and (f) Decomposing a detected network into smaller networks. Experimental results are presented for each solution technique, and those are used to discuss issues for each problem part and its solution technique.

Low-energy Electro-weak Reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gazit, Doron

2012-01-01

Chiral effective field theory (EFT) provides a systematic and controlled approach to low-energy nuclear physics. Here, we use chiral EFT to calculate low-energy weak Gamow-Teller transitions. We put special emphasis on the role of two-body (2b) weak currents within the nucleus and discuss their applications in predicting physical observables.

Instrumental systematics and weak gravitational lensing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mandelbaum, R.

2015-01-01

We present a pedagogical review of the weak gravitational lensing measurement process and its connection to major scientific questions such as dark matter and dark energy. Then we describe common ways of parametrizing systematic errors and understanding how they affect weak lensing measurements. Finally, we discuss several instrumental systematics and how they fit into this context, and conclude with some future perspective on how progress can be made in understanding the impact of instrumental systematics on weak lensing measurements

Robust weak measurements on finite samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tollaksen, Jeff

2007-01-01

A new weak measurement procedure is introduced for finite samples which yields accurate weak values that are outside the range of eigenvalues and which do not require an exponentially rare ensemble. This procedure provides a unique advantage in the amplification of small nonrandom signals by minimizing uncertainties in determining the weak value and by minimizing sample size. This procedure can also extend the strength of the coupling between the system and measuring device to a new regime

On weakly D-differentiable operators

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Erik

2016-01-01

Let DD be a self-adjoint operator on a Hilbert space HH and aa a bounded operator on HH. We say that aa is weakly DD-differentiable, if for any pair of vectors ξ,ηξ,η from HH the function 〈eitDae−itDξ,η〉〈eitDae−itDξ,η〉 is differentiable. We give an elementary example of a bounded operator aa......, such that aa is weakly DD-differentiable, but the function eitDae−itDeitDae−itD is not uniformly differentiable. We show that weak  DD-differentiability   may be characterized by several other properties, some of which are related to the commutator (Da−aD)...

Nanostructured Basaltfiberconcrete Exploitational Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Saraykina, K. A.; Shamanov, V. A.

2017-11-01

The article demonstrates that the mass use of basalt fiber concrete (BFC) is constrained by insufficient study of their durability and serviceability in a variety of environments. This research is aimed at the study of the basalt fiber corrosion processes in the cement stone of BFC, the control of the new products structure formation in order to protect the reinforcing fiber from alkaline destruction and thereby improve the exploitational characteristics of the composite. The research result revealed that the modification of basaltfiber concrete by the dispersion of MWNTs contributes to the directional formation of new products in the cement matrix. The HAM additive in basaltfiberconcrete provides for the binding of portlandite to low-basic calcium hydroaluminosilicates, thus reducing the aggressive effect of the cement environment on the reinforcing fibers properties. The complex modification of BFC with nanostructured additives provides for an increase in its durability and exploitational properties (strength, frost resistance and water resistance) due to basalt fiber protection from alkali corrosion on account of the compacting of the contact zone “basalt fiber - cement stone” and designing of the new products structure and morphology of cement matrix over the fiber surface.

Weakly distributive modules. Applications to supplement submodules

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. In this paper, we define and study weakly distributive modules as a proper generalization of distributive modules. We prove that, weakly distributive supplemented modules are amply supplemented. In a weakly distributive supplemented module every submodule has a unique coclosure. This generalizes a result of ...

On species preservation and Non-Cooperative Exploiters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kronbak, Lone Grønbæk; Lindroos, Marko

cases where several non-cooperative exploiters are involved in mixed fisheries. This paper is targeting biodiversity preservation by setting up a two species model with the aim of ensuring both species survive harvesting of exploiters adapting a non-cooperative behaviour. The model starts out as a multi......-species model without biological dependency and is then modified to include also biological dependency. We contribute to the literature by analytically finding the limits on the number of players preserving both species including the conditions to be satisfied. For visual purposes we simulate a two species...

Geometric phase topology in weak measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Samlan, C. T.; Viswanathan, Nirmal K.

2017-12-01

The geometric phase visualization proposed by Bhandari (R Bhandari 1997 Phys. Rep. 281 1-64) in the ellipticity-ellipse orientation basis of the polarization ellipse of light is implemented to understand the geometric aspects of weak measurement. The weak interaction of a pre-selected state, acheived via spin-Hall effect of light (SHEL), results in a spread in the polarization ellipticity (η) or ellipse orientation (χ) depending on the resulting spatial or angular shift, respectively. The post-selection leads to the projection of the η spread in the complementary χ basis results in the appearance of a geometric phase with helical phase topology in the η - χ parameter space. By representing the weak measurement on the Poincaré sphere and using Jones calculus, the complex weak value and the geometric phase topology are obtained. This deeper understanding of the weak measurement process enabled us to explore the techniques’ capabilities maximally, as demonstrated via SHEL in two examples—external reflection at glass-air interface and transmission through a tilted half-wave plate.

Mixed retention mechanism of proteins in weak anion-exchange chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Peng; Yang, Haiya; Geng, Xindu

2009-10-30

Using four commercial weak anion-exchange chromatography (WAX) columns and 11 kinds of different proteins, we experimentally examined the involvement of hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) mechanism in protein retention on the WAX columns. The HIC mechanism was found to operate in all four WAX columns, and each of these columns had a better resolution in the HIC mode than in the corresponding WAX mode. Detailed analysis of the molecular interactions in a chromatographic system indicated that it is impossible to completely eliminate hydrophobic interactions from a WAX column. Based on these results, it may be possible to employ a single WAX column for protein separation by exploiting mixed modes (WAX and HIC) of retention. The stoichiometric displacement theory and two linear plots were used to show that mechanism of the mixed modes of retention in the system was a combination of two kinds of interactions, i.e., nonselective interactions in the HIC mode and selective interactions in the IEC mode. The obtained U-shaped elution curve of proteins could be distinguished into four different ranges of salt concentration, which also represent four retention regions.

Trolling may intensify exploitation in crappie fisheries

Science.gov (United States)

Meals, K. O.; Dunn, A. W.; Miranda, Leandro E.

2012-01-01

In some parts of the USA, anglers targeting crappies Pomoxis spp. are transitioning from mostly stationary angling with a single pole around submerged structures to using multiple poles while drifting with the wind or under power. This shift in fishing methods could result in a change in catch efficiency, possibly increasing exploitation rates to levels that would be of concern to managers. We studied the catch statistics of anglers fishing while trolling with multiple poles (trollers) and those fishing with single poles (polers) in Mississippi reservoirs. Specifically, we tested whether (1) various catch statistics differed between trollers and polers, (2) catch rates of trollers were related to the number of poles fished, and (3) trollers could raise exploitation rates to potentially unsustainable levels. Results showed that participation in the crappie fisheries was about equally split between polers and trollers. In spring, 90% of crappie anglers were polers; in summer, 85% of crappie anglers were trollers. The size of harvested crappies was similar for the two angler groups, but the catch per hour was almost three times higher for trollers than for polers. Catch rates by trollers were directly correlated to the number of poles fished, although the relationship flattened as the number of poles increased. The average harvest rate for one troller fishing with three poles was similar to the harvest rate obtained by one poler. Simulations predicted that at the existing mix of about 50% polers and 50% trollers and with no restrictions on the number of poles used by trollers, exploitation of crappies is about 1.3 times higher than that in a polers-only fishery; under a scenario in which 100% of crappie anglers were trollers, exploitation was forecasted to increase to about 1.7 times the polers-only rate. The efficiency of trolling for crappies should be of concern to fishery managers because crappie fisheries are mostly consumptive and may increase exploitation

Models of Social Exploitation with Special Emphasis on Slovenc Traffic Economics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iztok Ostan

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In order to decipher the organisational behaviour operatingin the transport sector of the economy it is necessary to discoverthe prevalent patterns of social exploitation at work. PreliminaJyresults of a study of experienced irregular traffic studentsshow that, according to them there is no significant differencein Slovenia between exploitation in traffic and other sectors.Thus, general models of exploitation could be used to explainthe behaviour in the traffic sector. Empirical research amongSlovene students showed that according to their statements inthe 90s the managerial and capitalistic types of exploitation prevailedin Slovenia over non-exploitative types of economic behaviour.It also showed that statements of students do not differmuch from those of the general public regarding this question,nor from the statements of irregular students with extensivework experience. It was also found that there were no substantialdifferences between the statements of Italian and Slovenestudents regarding the type of exploitation operative in theircountries. Students of traffic are basically of the same opinionregarding this topic as students in general, though slightly morecritical, especially towards business managers and politicians.

Weak radiative hyperon decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, B.L.; Booth, E.C.; Gall, K.P.; McIntyre, E.K.; Miller, J.P.; Whitehouse, D.A.; Bassalleck, B.; Hall, J.R.; Larson, K.D.; Wolfe, D.M.; Fickinger, W.J.; Robinson, D.K.; Hallin, A.L.; Hasinoff, M.D.; Measday, D.F.; Noble, A.J.; Waltham, C.E.; Hessey, N.P.; Lowe, J.; Horvath, D.; Salomon, M.

1990-01-01

New measurements of the Σ + and Λ weak radiative decays are discussed. The hyperons were produced at rest by the reaction K - p → Yπ where Y = Σ + or Λ. The monoenergetic pion was used to tag the hyperon production, and the branching ratios were determined from the relative amplitudes of Σ + → pγ to Σ + → pπ 0 and Λ → nγ to Λ → nπ 0 . The photons from weak radiative decays and from π 0 decays were detected with modular NaI arrays. (orig.)

Weak strange particle production: advantages and difficulties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angelescu, Tatiana; Baker, O.K.

2002-01-01

Electromagnetic strange particle production developed at Jefferson Laboratory was an important source of information on strange particle electromagnetic formfactors and induced and transferred polarization. The high quality of the beam and the detection techniques involved could be an argument for detecting strange particles in weak interactions and answer questions about cross sections, weak formfactors, neutrino properties, which have not been investigated yet. The paper analyses some aspects related to the weak lambda production and detection with the Hall C facilities at Jefferson Laboratory and the limitations in measuring the weak interaction quantities. (authors)

Study of weak interaction with p-p colliding beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arafune, Jiro; Sugawara, Hirotaka

1975-01-01

Weak interaction in the energy range of TRISTAN project is discussed. The cross-section of production of weak boson in p-p reaction was calculated with the parton model. The observation of weak boson may be possible. The production rate of neutral weak boson was also estimated on the basis of the Weinberg model, and was almost same as that of weak boson. The method of observation of weak boson is suggested. The direct method is the observation of lepton pair due to the decay of neutral weak boson. It is expected that the spectrum of decay products (+ -) in the decay of weak boson shows a characteristic feature, and it shows the existence of weak boson. Weak interaction makes larger contribution in case of large momentum transfer than electromagnetic interaction. When the momentum transfer is larger than 60 GeV/c, the contribution of weak interaction is dominant over the others. Therefore, the experiments at high energy will give informations concerning the relations among the interactions of elementary particles. Possibility of study on the Higgs scalar meson is also discussed. (Kato, T.)

Challenges in authorization of exploration and exploitation of radioactive minerals in Slovakia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janova, V.; Turner, M.

2014-01-01

Slovakia has a long tradition in the peaceful use of nuclear energy which dates back to the 1950s of last century. In parallel with the development of nuclear power uranium exploitation has started. Whereas the development of nuclear power has continued without interruption the uranium exploitation has been suspended during the political and economic restructuralization until 2005. There is also a difference in the acceptance of nuclear power by the local authorities in comparison with uranium exploration and exploitation. Permitting process of exploration activities in the Slovak Republic is regulated by geological law and falls within the competence of the Ministry of Environment. Radioactive minerals are considered as exclusive minerals and their survey is allowed to the applicant only in exploration territory. The exploration area is determined for four years and then extended for additional periods. The opinions of the affected municipalities and self governing regions (which reflect the compliance of the geological project with the objectives and priorities of the economic and social development programs and with the land-use planning documentation) have to be submitted with the application. Meanwhile, the affected municipality and the self governing region are the parties of administrative procedure of designation, change or cancellation of exploration area for radioactive minerals and they have a right of veto. In case, that affected municipality or autonomous region disagree with proposal, the Ministry of the Environment recommends a modification of proposed exploration area. Extraction of minerals is regulated by the mining act that falls under the competency of the Ministry of Economy. The right to mine exclusive deposits has the organization which has got mining license and which a mining area has been determined to. Preferential right for mining area determination has the company, that exploration area was determined and the research was carried out at

Meaning, function and methods of the recultivation in mining exploitation

OpenAIRE

Dambov, Risto; Ljatifi, Ejup

2015-01-01

With the exploitation of mineral resources is performed degradation and deformation of the relief and the general part of surface of the Earth's crust. Depending on the type of open pit mine, this degradation can be expressed to a lesser or greater extent, and sometimes in several square kilometers. The exploitation of mineral resources is with unbreakable link with the environment. Very often it is said that mining is „enemy No. 1“ for environment. With exploitation comes to degradation of h...

Weak convergence and uniform normalization in infinitary rewriting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simonsen, Jakob Grue

2010-01-01

the starkly surprising result that for any orthogonal system with finitely many rules, the system is weakly normalizing under weak convergence if{f} it is strongly normalizing under weak convergence if{f} it is weakly normalizing under strong convergence if{f} it is strongly normalizing under strong...... convergence. As further corollaries, we derive a number of new results for weakly convergent rewriting: Systems with finitely many rules enjoy unique normal forms, and acyclic orthogonal systems are confluent. Our results suggest that it may be possible to recover some of the positive results for strongly...

Peat exploitation - Environment. Effects and measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stenbeck, G.

1996-01-01

This report gives a detailed description of the influence of peat exploitation on the land-, water- and atmospheric environments. Proposals for mitigatory measures to minimize damage to the environment are also given

Traditional methods v. new technologies – dilemmas for dietary assessment in large-scale nutrition surveys and studies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amoutzopoulos, B.; Steer, T.; Roberts, C.

2018-01-01

assessment in population surveys’, was held at the 9th International Conference on Diet and Activity Methods (ICDAM9), Brisbane, September 2015. Despite respondent and researcher burden, traditional methods have been most commonly used in nutrition surveys. However, dietary assessment technologies offer...... of traditional dietary assessment methods (food records, FFQ, 24 h recalls, diet history with interviewer-assisted data collection) v. new technology-based dietary assessment methods (web-based and mobile device applications). The panel discussion ‘Traditional methods v. new technologies: dilemmas for dietary......The aim of the present paper is to summarise current and future applications of dietary assessment technologies in nutrition surveys in developed countries. It includes the discussion of key points and highlights of subsequent developments from a panel discussion to address strengths and weaknesses...

The comparison of solar water heating system operation parameters calculated using traditional method and dynamic simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sornek Krzysztof

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The proper design of renewable energy based systems is really important to provide their efficient and safe operation. The aim of this paper is to compare the results obtained during traditional static calculations, with the results of dynamic simulations. For this reason, simulations of solar water heating (SWH system, designed for a typical residential building, were conducted in the TRNSYS (Transient System Simulation Tool. Carried out calculations allowed to determine the heat generation in the discussed system as well as to estimate the efficiency of considered installation. Obtained results were compared with the results from other available tool based on the static calculations. It may be concluded, that using dynamic simulations at the designing stage of renewable energy based systems may help to avoid many exploitation problems (including low efficiency, overheating etc. and allows to provide safe exploitation of such installations.

Intelligence, mapping, and geospatial exploitation system (IMAGES)

Science.gov (United States)

Moellman, Dennis E.; Cain, Joel M.

1998-08-01

This paper provides further detail to one facet of the battlespace visualization concept described in last year's paper Battlespace Situation Awareness for Force XXI. It focuses on the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) goal to 'provide customers seamless access to tailorable imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information.' This paper describes Intelligence, Mapping, and Geospatial Exploitation System (IMAGES), an exploitation element capable of CONUS baseplant operations or field deployment to provide NIMA geospatial information collaboratively into a reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) environment through the United States Imagery and Geospatial Information System (USIGS). In a baseplant CONUS setting IMAGES could be used to produce foundation data to support mission planning. In the field it could be directly associated with a tactical sensor receiver or ground station (e.g. UAV or UGV) to provide near real-time and mission specific RSTA to support mission execution. This paper provides IMAGES functional level design; describes the technologies, their interactions and interdependencies; and presents a notional operational scenario to illustrate the system flexibility. Using as a system backbone an intelligent software agent technology, called Open Agent ArchitectureTM (OAATM), IMAGES combines multimodal data entry, natural language understanding, and perceptual and evidential reasoning for system management. Configured to be DII COE compliant, it would utilize, to the extent possible, COTS applications software for data management, processing, fusion, exploitation, and reporting. It would also be modular, scaleable, and reconfigurable. This paper describes how the OAATM achieves data synchronization and enables the necessary level of information to be rapidly available to various command echelons for making informed decisions. The reasoning component will provide for the best information to be developed in the timeline

Phase Change Materials in Transparent Building Envelopes: A Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilaria Vigna

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Building envelopes can play a crucial role in building improvement efficiency, and the adoption of Phase Change Materials (PCMs, coupled with transparent elements, may: (i allow a better control of the heat flows from/to the outdoor environment, (ii increase the exploitation of solar energy at a building scale and (iii modulate light transmission in order to prevent glare effects. Starting from a literature review, focused on experimental works, this research identifies the main possible integrations of PCMs in transparent/translucent building envelope components (in glazing, in shutters and in multilayer façade system in order to draw a global picture of the potential and limitations of these technologies. Transparent envelopes with PCMs have been classified from the simplest “zero” technology, which integrates the PCM in a double glass unit (DGU, to more complex solutions—with a different number of glass cavities (triple glazed unit TGU, different positions of the PCM layer (internal/external shutter, and in combination with other materials (TIM, aerogel, prismatic solar reflector, PCM curtain controlled by an electric pump. The results of the analysis have been summarised in a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT analysis table to underline the strengths and weaknesses of transparent building envelope components with PCMs, and to indicate opportunities and threats for future research and building applications.

Motives for consumer choice of traditional food and European food in mainland China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ou; De Steur, Hans; Gellynck, Xavier; Verbeke, Wim

2015-04-01

The demand for European (-style) foods in mainland China has been increasing dramatically during the last decade. Nevertheless, European food producers often appear to be not capable to fully exploit this huge market potential, partially due to the competition with traditional (Chinese) foods. This study examines the determinants of mainland Chinese consumers' choice of traditional food and European food. A web-based survey was administered with 541 consumers from two cities: Shanghai and Xi'an. Thereby, the Food Choice Motives model, predominantly used thus far in a European or developed context, is applied to mainland China in order to address the lack of knowledge on food motives of its consumer market and to detect associations between these motives, attitudes, and purchase intentions. Factor analysis resulted in a new Food Choice Motive construct that is considered more appropriate within the context of mainland Chinese consumers, encompassing six dimensions: Health concern, Time or money saving, Sensory appeal, Availability and familiarity, Mood and Food safety concern. Path analysis demonstrated that Time or money saving was negatively associated with attitude toward traditional food on the one hand and purchase intentions toward European food on the other hand. Availability and familiarity had a positive association with attitude toward traditional food. Mood was a positive factor driving attitude toward European food. For both food types, Sensory appeal and Attitude were positively linked to purchase intentions. Furthermore, Mood was negatively linked to the purchase intention toward traditional food in Shanghai. Food safety concern was positively associated with attitudes toward traditional food in Xi'an. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microwave-assisted Weak Acid Hydrolysis of Proteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miyeong Seo

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Myoglobin was hydrolyzed by microwave-assisted weak acid hydrolysis with 2% formic acid at 37 oC, 50 oC, and100 oC for 1 h. The most effective hydrolysis was observed at 100 oC. Hydrolysis products were investigated using matrixassistedlaser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Most cleavages predominantly occurred at the C-termini ofaspartyl residues. For comparison, weak acid hydrolysis was also performed in boiling water for 20, 40, 60, and 120 min. A 60-min weak acid hydrolysis in boiling water yielded similar results as a 60-min microwave-assisted weak acid hydrolysis at100 oC. These results strongly suggest that microwave irradiation has no notable enhancement effect on acid hydrolysis of proteinsand that temperature is the major factor that determines the effectiveness of weak acid hydrolysis.

Diagnosis of functional (psychogenic paresis and weakness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Savkov V.S.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Functional (conversion neurological symptoms represent one of the most common situations faced by neurologists in their everyday practice. Among them, acute or subacute functional weakness may mimic very prevalent conditions such as stroke or traumatic injury. In the diagnosis of functional weakness, although elements of the history are helpful, physical signs are often of crucial importance in the diagnosis and positive signs are as important as absence of signs of disease. Hence, accurate and reliable positive signs of functional weakness are valuable for obtaining timely diagnosis and treatment, making it possible to avoid unnecessary or invasive tests and procedures up to thrombolysis. Functional weakness commonly presents as weakness of an entire limb, paraparesis, or hemiparesis, with observable or demonstrable inconsistencies and non-anatomic accompaniments. Documentation of limb movements during sleep, the arm drop test, the Babinski’s trunk-thigh test, Hoover tests, the Sonoo abductor test, and various dynamometer tests can provide useful bedside diagnostic information on functional weakness. We therefore present here a brief overview of the positive neurological signs of functional weakness available, both in the lower and in the upper limbs; but none should be used in isolation and must be interpreted in the overall context of the presentation. It should be borne in mind that a patient may have both a functional and an organic disorder.

Rational Exploitation and Utilizing of Groundwater in Jiangsu Coastal Area

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, B.; Lin, X.

2017-12-01

Jiangsu coastal area is located in the southeast coast of China, where is a new industrial base and an important coastal and Land Resources Development Zone of China. In the areas with strong human exploitation activities, regional groundwater evolution is obviously affected by human activities. In order to solve the environmental geological problems caused by groundwater exploitation fundamentally, we must find out the forming conditions of regional groundwater hydrodynamic field, and the impact of human activities on groundwater hydrodynamic field evolution and hydrogeochemical evolition. Based on these results, scientific management and reasonable exploitation of the regional groundwater resources can be provided for the utilization. Taking the coastal area of Jiangsu as the research area, we investigate and analyze of the regional hydrogeological conditions. The numerical simulation model of groundwater flow was established according to the water power, chemical and isotopic methods, the conditions of water flow and the influence of hydrodynamic field on the water chemical field. We predict the evolution of regional groundwater dynamics under the influence of human activities and climate change and evaluate the influence of groundwater dynamic field evolution on the environmental geological problems caused by groundwater exploitation under various conditions. We get the following conclusions: Three groundwater exploitation optimal schemes were established. The groundwater salinization was taken as the primary control condition. The substitution model was proposed to model groundwater exploitation and water level changes by BP network method.Then genetic algorithm was used to solve the optimization solution. Three groundwater exploitation optimal schemes were submit to local water resource management. The first sheme was used to solve the groundwater salinization problem. The second sheme focused on dual water supply. The third sheme concerned on emergency water

Conservational Exploitation as a Sustainable Development Strategy for a Small Township: The Example of Waipu District in Taichung, Taiwan

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Li-Wei Liu

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The contemporary form of urban-rural interfaces is moving toward a more hybridized identity, since nowadays ambiguous places prevail. In particular, contemporary rural settlements are increasingly exhibiting urban characteristics in terms of their built environments. Many traditional agricultural landscapes in the world have thus been altered due to rapid urbanization, such that in order to maintain environmental diversity, the conservation of agricultural landscapes and their functions has become an important issue. Waipu District is located in the northwest of Taichung, a peri-urban area of Taichung City. This means that Waipu is rural in appearance at present but may undergo rapid urbanization in the near future. In order to protect quality local characteristics from land exploitation and move towards sustainable development, this paper depicts a strategy of conservational exploitation which is adopted to direct the future development of Waipu so as to maintain its characteristics and environmental sustainability. This paper also briefly documents the process of an experimental practice through which graduate students with landscape architecture, recreation, and urban planning backgrounds have taken part in an experimental project with professional social services in order to develop master plans for Waipu. By means of field surveys, interviews with local people, and discussions with local officials, a landscape master plan, a tourism plan, and a spatial plan developed by the students have been provided to the Waipu District Office. These plans are intended to help Waipu to develop its unique characteristics, improve local landscapes, and promote local economic development. In order to conserve rural landscapes, cultural landscaping and cultural tourism have been identified as development concepts for future development. Conservational exploitation which focuses on maintaining cultural landscapes and promoting cultural tourism can

Relative entropies, suitable weak solutions, and weak-strong uniqueness for the compressible Navier–Stokes system

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Feireisl, Eduard; Jin, B.J.; Novotný, A.

2012-01-01

Roč. 14, č. 4 (2012), s. 717-730 ISSN 1422-6928 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA201/09/0917 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : suitable weak solution * weak-strong uniqueness * compressible Navier-Stokes system Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.415, year: 2012 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00021-011-0091-9

Quality and innovation between tipical products exploiting and new food design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Dalla Rosa

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Scientific approach is often ignored in the production of typical and marginal foods which come from empiric trial and procedures consolidated along the time. At the beginning of the twentieth century food science starter influencing food production and processing by a multidisciplinary approach aiming at the safety guarantee of industrial products intended for large scale consumption. In the last decades researchers started taking into account traditional and marginal food products by an accurate scientific approach aiming to their exploitation and to define their quality and safety parameters. Scientific approach to marginal products can be schematically divided in two levels: analytical and technological/engineering. In general, the analytical approach focuses on chemical aspects, physical properties, aromatic and sensorial characteristics and on the microbiological and genetic characterizations. 

Quality and innovation between tipical products exploiting and new food design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dino Mastrocola

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Scientific approach is often ignored in the production of typical and marginal foods which come from empiric trial and procedures consolidated along the time. At the beginning of the twentieth century food science starter influencing food production and processing by a multidisciplinary approach aiming at the safety guarantee of industrial products intended for large scale consumption. In the last decades researchers started taking into account traditional and marginal food products by an accurate scientific approach aiming to their exploitation and to define their quality and safety parameters. Scientific approach to marginal products can be schematically divided in two levels: analytical and technological/engineering. In general, the analytical approach focuses on chemical aspects, physical properties, aromatic and sensorial characteristics and on the microbiological and genetic characterizations. The technological/engineering approach must be considered a san integration of the knowledge both about the finished product and the production process and consists of: the definition of markers connecting quality to first matter; the study of seasonal and annual variability; the search for correlations among process/environment/quality on molecular basis; the pointing out of markers to set traceability systems up; the definition of key-factors to characterize the land according to its food production as an impulse for the development of other sectors such as tourism. Finally, innovation in the sector of traditional and marginal production should concern the definition of chemicalphysical and sensorial characteristics, the rationalization of traditional processes and the introduction of new compatible technology phases, the introduction of new packaging forms to elongate the shelf life and to enlarge distribution areas guaranteeing, at the same time, the maintenance of product peculiarity and typicality. New food design is one of the most

Attending to weak signals: the leader's challenge.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerfoot, Karlene

2005-12-01

Halverson and Isham (2003) quote sources that report the accidental death rate of simply being in a hospital is " ... four hundred times more likely than your risk of death from traveling by train, forty times higher than driving a car, and twenty times higher than flying in a commercial aircraft" (p. 13). High-reliability organizations such as nuclear power plants and aircraft carriers have been pioneers in the business of recognizing weak signals. Weike and Sutcliffe (2001) note that high-reliability organizations distinguish themselves from others because of their mindfulness which enables them to see the significance of weak signals and to give strong interventions to weak signals. To act mindfully, these organizations have an underlying mental model of continually updating, anticipating, and focusing the possibility of failure using the intelligence that weak signals provides. Much of what happens is unexpected in health care. However, with a culture that is continually looking for weak signals, and intervenes and rescues when these signals are detected, the unexpected happens less often. This is the epitome of how leaders can build a culture of safety that focuses on recognizing the weak signals to manage the unforeseen.

Extrapolating Weak Selection in Evolutionary Games

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Bin; García, Julián; Hauert, Christoph; Traulsen, Arne

2013-01-01

In evolutionary games, reproductive success is determined by payoffs. Weak selection means that even large differences in game outcomes translate into small fitness differences. Many results have been derived using weak selection approximations, in which perturbation analysis facilitates the derivation of analytical results. Here, we ask whether results derived under weak selection are also qualitatively valid for intermediate and strong selection. By “qualitatively valid” we mean that the ranking of strategies induced by an evolutionary process does not change when the intensity of selection increases. For two-strategy games, we show that the ranking obtained under weak selection cannot be carried over to higher selection intensity if the number of players exceeds two. For games with three (or more) strategies, previous examples for multiplayer games have shown that the ranking of strategies can change with the intensity of selection. In particular, rank changes imply that the most abundant strategy at one intensity of selection can become the least abundant for another. We show that this applies already to pairwise interactions for a broad class of evolutionary processes. Even when both weak and strong selection limits lead to consistent predictions, rank changes can occur for intermediate intensities of selection. To analyze how common such games are, we show numerically that for randomly drawn two-player games with three or more strategies, rank changes frequently occur and their likelihood increases rapidly with the number of strategies . In particular, rank changes are almost certain for , which jeopardizes the predictive power of results derived for weak selection. PMID:24339769

Weak value distributions for spin 1/2

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, M. V.; Dennis, M. R.; McRoberts, B.; Shukla, P.

2011-05-01

The simplest weak measurement is of a component of spin 1/2. For this observable, the probability distributions of the real and imaginary parts of the weak value, and their joint probability distribution, are calculated exactly for pre- and postselected states uniformly distributed over the surface of the Poincaré-Bloch sphere. The superweak probability, that the real part of the weak value lies outside the spectral range, is 1/3. This case, with just two eigenvalues, complements our previous calculation (Berry and Shukla 2010 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 354024) of the universal form of the weak value probability distribution for an operator with many eigenvalues.

Weak value distributions for spin 1/2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berry, M V; Dennis, M R; McRoberts, B; Shukla, P

2011-01-01

The simplest weak measurement is of a component of spin 1/2. For this observable, the probability distributions of the real and imaginary parts of the weak value, and their joint probability distribution, are calculated exactly for pre- and postselected states uniformly distributed over the surface of the Poincare-Bloch sphere. The superweak probability, that the real part of the weak value lies outside the spectral range, is 1/3. This case, with just two eigenvalues, complements our previous calculation (Berry and Shukla 2010 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 354024) of the universal form of the weak value probability distribution for an operator with many eigenvalues.

Elder Financial Exploitation: Implications for Future Policy and Research in Elder Mistreatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Price, Thomas

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Recent advances in the understanding of elder mistreatment have demonstrated that financial exploitation tends to be one of the most common forms of mistreatment affecting older populations. Agencies such as the World Bank and World Health Organization show significant concern regarding financial exploitation and its connection to physical and emotional injury to victims. The World Bank uses the term “financial violence” as a means of generally describing the harm caused to an individual as a result of financial exploitation or abuse. The proportion of financial exploitation in relation to other forms of elder mistreatment is defined in our research. We discuss the potential impact of elder financial exploitation on victims as well as explore the implications for future research and policy development focused on financial aspects of elder mistreatment and call for further study in the concept of financial exploitation as a violent act. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(3:354-356.

Exploitation of commercial remote sensing images: reality ignored?

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Paul C.

1999-12-01

The remote sensing market is on the verge of being awash in commercial high-resolution images. Market estimates are based on the growing numbers of planned commercial remote sensing electro-optical, radar, and hyperspectral satellites and aircraft. EarthWatch, Space Imaging, SPOT, and RDL among others are all working towards launch and service of one to five meter panchromatic or radar-imaging satellites. Additionally, new advances in digital air surveillance and reconnaissance systems, both manned and unmanned, are also expected to expand the geospatial customer base. Regardless of platform, image type, or location, each system promises images with some combination of increased resolution, greater spectral coverage, reduced turn-around time (request-to- delivery), and/or reduced image cost. For the most part, however, market estimates for these new sources focus on the raw digital images (from collection to the ground station) while ignoring the requirements for a processing and exploitation infrastructure comprised of exploitation tools, exploitation training, library systems, and image management systems. From this it would appear the commercial imaging community has failed to learn the hard lessons of national government experience choosing instead to ignore reality and replicate the bias of collection over processing and exploitation. While this trend may be not impact the small quantity users that exist today it will certainly adversely affect the mid- to large-sized users of the future.

Optimization of strong and weak coordinates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Swart, M.; Bickelhaupt, F.M.

2006-01-01

We present a new scheme for the geometry optimization of equilibrium and transition state structures that can be used for both strong and weak coordinates. We use a screening function that depends on atom-pair distances to differentiate strong coordinates from weak coordinates. This differentiation

Exploitation of cloud computing in management of construction projects in Slovakia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mandičák Tomáš

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The issue of cloud computing is a highly topical issue. Cloud computing represents a new model for information technology (IT services based on the exploitation of Web (it represents a cloud and other application platforms, as well as software as a service. In general, the exploitation of cloud computing in construction project management has several advantages, as demonstrated by several research reports. Currently, research quantifying the exploitation of cloud computing in the Slovak construction industry has not yet been carried out. The article discusses the issue of exploitation of cloud computing in construction project management in Slovakia. The main objective of the research is to confirm whether factors such as size of construction enterprise, owner of construction enterprise and participant of construction project have any impact on the exploitation level of cloud computing in construction project management. It includes confirmation of differences in use between different participants of the construction project or between construction enterprises broken down by size and shareholders.

Improving industrial yeast strains: exploiting natural and artificial diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Steensels, Jan; Snoek, Tim; Meersman, Esther; Picca Nicolino, Martina; Voordeckers, Karin; Verstrepen, Kevin J

2014-09-01

Yeasts have been used for thousands of years to make fermented foods and beverages, such as beer, wine, sake, and bread. However, the choice for a particular yeast strain or species for a specific industrial application is often based on historical, rather than scientific grounds. Moreover, new biotechnological yeast applications, such as the production of second-generation biofuels, confront yeast with environments and challenges that differ from those encountered in traditional food fermentations. Together, this implies that there are interesting opportunities to isolate or generate yeast variants that perform better than the currently used strains. Here, we discuss the different strategies of strain selection and improvement available for both conventional and nonconventional yeasts. Exploiting the existing natural diversity and using techniques such as mutagenesis, protoplast fusion, breeding, genome shuffling and directed evolution to generate artificial diversity, or the use of genetic modification strategies to alter traits in a more targeted way, have led to the selection of superior industrial yeasts. Furthermore, recent technological advances allowed the development of high-throughput techniques, such as 'global transcription machinery engineering' (gTME), to induce genetic variation, providing a new source of yeast genetic diversity. © 2014 The Authors. FEMS Microbiology Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Microbiological Societies.

The Q{sup p}{sub Weak} experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Androic, D. [University of Zagreb (Croatia); Armstrong, D. S. [The College of William and Mary (United States); Asaturyan, A. [Yerevan Physics Institute (Armenia); Averett, T. [The College of William and Mary (United States); Balewski, J. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States); Beaufait, J. [Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (United States); Beminiwattha, R. S. [Ohio University (United States); Benesch, J. [Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (United States); Benmokhtar, F. [Duquesne University (United States); Birchall, J. [University of Manitoba (Canada); Carlini, R. D.; Cornejo, J. C. [The College of William and Mary (United States); Covrig, S. [Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (United States); Dalton, M. M. [University of Virginia (United States); Davis, C. A. [TRIUMF (United States); Deconinck, W. [The College of William and Mary (United States); Diefenbach, J. [Hampton University (United States); Dow, K. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States); Dowd, J. F. [The College of William and Mary (United States); Dunne, J. A. [Mississippi State University (United States); and others

2013-03-15

In May 2012, the Q{sup p}{sub Weak} collaboration completed a two year measurement program to determine the weak charge of the proton Q{sub W}{sup p} = ( 1 - 4sin{sup 2}{theta}{sub W}) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF). The experiment was designed to produce a 4.0 % measurement of the weak charge, via a 2.5 % measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in the number of elastically scattered 1.165 GeV electrons from protons, at forward angles. At the proposed precision, the experiment would produce a 0.3 % measurement of the weak mixing angle at a momentum transfer of Q{sup 2} = 0.026 GeV{sup 2}, making it the most precise stand alone measurement of the weak mixing angle at low momentum transfer. In combination with other parity measurements, Q{sup p}{sub Weak} will also provide a high precision determination of the weak charges of the up and down quarks. At the proposed precision, a significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction could be a signal of new physics at mass scales up to Asymptotically-Equal-To 6 TeV, whereas agreement would place new and significant constraints on possible Standard Model extensions at mass scales up to Asymptotically-Equal-To 2 TeV. This paper provides an overview of the physics and the experiment, as well as a brief look at some preliminary diagnostic and analysis data.

Current ethical and other problems in the practice of African traditional medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Omonzejele, Peter

2003-01-01

Medicine in Africa is regarded as possessing its own "life force", not just using a system of prescribing. This is because health problems are not only attributed to pathological explanations alone, but also to other "forces". Hence, traditional healers utter incantations to take care of negative forces which militate against achieving cure. Treatment in African traditional medicine (ATM) is holistic. It seeks to strike a balance between the patients' body, soul and spirit. The problems arise from the infiltration of charlatans into the field, the practice of using mystical explanations for ill-health, and inadequate knowledge of the properties and clinical use of herbal remedies. Despite its problems, ATM can work in parallel with orthodox medicine using its strengths rather than its weaknesses. ATM has to be applied within a uniform ethical system. Practitioners of ATM must follow the principles of autonomy and confidentiality.

Weakly Coretractable Modules

Science.gov (United States)

Hadi, Inaam M. A.; Al-aeashi, Shukur N.

2018-05-01

If R is a ring with identity and M is a unitary right R-module. Here we introduce the class of weakly coretractable module. Some basic properties are investigated and some relationships between these modules and other related one are introduced.

S-parameters for weakly excited slots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albertsen, Niels Christian

1999-01-01

A simple approach to account for parasitic effects in weakly excited slots cut in the broad wall of a rectangular waveguide is proposed......A simple approach to account for parasitic effects in weakly excited slots cut in the broad wall of a rectangular waveguide is proposed...

Sexual exploitation and labor during adolescence: A case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana Dutra-Thomé

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The present article focused on the perception of sexual exploitation as a job, using a single case study design. The aim of the study was to investigate the case of a 14 year-old girl, involved in commercial sexual exploitation, who considered this situation as her labor activity. A content analysis showed protective and risk factors as categories, especially related to her labor activities. The girl perceived the sexual exploitation activity as a job that provided autonomy, subsistence, and survival. The study revealed that the negative effects of working during adolescence may bring consequences to health and development. Youth work may be defined as a risk factor, especially when the labour conditions are not adequate and protected.

Survival and weak chaos.

Science.gov (United States)

Nee, Sean

2018-05-01

Survival analysis in biology and reliability theory in engineering concern the dynamical functioning of bio/electro/mechanical units. Here we incorporate effects of chaotic dynamics into the classical theory. Dynamical systems theory now distinguishes strong and weak chaos. Strong chaos generates Type II survivorship curves entirely as a result of the internal operation of the system, without any age-independent, external, random forces of mortality. Weak chaos exhibits (a) intermittency and (b) Type III survivorship, defined as a decreasing per capita mortality rate: engineering explicitly defines this pattern of decreasing hazard as 'infant mortality'. Weak chaos generates two phenomena from the normal functioning of the same system. First, infant mortality- sensu engineering-without any external explanatory factors, such as manufacturing defects, which is followed by increased average longevity of survivors. Second, sudden failure of units during their normal period of operation, before the onset of age-dependent mortality arising from senescence. The relevance of these phenomena encompasses, for example: no-fault-found failure of electronic devices; high rates of human early spontaneous miscarriage/abortion; runaway pacemakers; sudden cardiac death in young adults; bipolar disorder; and epilepsy.

Enhancing QKD security with weak measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Farinholt, Jacob M.; Troupe, James E.

2016-10-01

Publisher's Note: This paper, originally published on 10/24/2016, was replaced with a corrected/revised version on 11/8/2016. If you downloaded the original PDF but are unable to access the revision, please contact SPIE Digital Library Customer Service for assistance. In the late 1980s, Aharonov and colleagues developed the notion of a weak measurement of a quantum observable that does not appreciably disturb the system.1, 2 The measurement results are conditioned on both the pre-selected and post-selected state of the quantum system. While any one measurement reveals very little information, by making the same measurement on a large ensemble of identically prepared pre- and post-selected (PPS) states and averaging the results, one may obtain what is known as the weak value of the observable with respect to that PPS ensemble. Recently, weak measurements have been proposed as a method of assessing the security of QKD in the well-known BB84 protocol.3 This weak value augmented QKD protocol (WV-QKD) works by additionally requiring the receiver, Bob, to make a weak measurement of a particular observable prior to his strong measurement. For the subset of measurement results in which Alice and Bob's measurement bases do not agree, the weak measurement results can be used to detect any attempt by an eavesdropper, Eve, to correlate her measurement results with Bob's. Furthermore, the well-known detector blinding attacks, which are known to perfectly correlate Eve's results with Bob's without being caught by conventional BB84 implementations, actually make the eavesdropper more visible in the new WV-QKD protocol. In this paper, we will introduce the WV-QKD protocol and discuss its generalization to the 6-state single qubit protocol. We will discuss the types of weak measurements that are optimal for this protocol, and compare the predicted performance of the 6- and 4-state WV-QKD protocols.

Automated UAV-based video exploitation using service oriented architecture framework

Science.gov (United States)

Se, Stephen; Nadeau, Christian; Wood, Scott

2011-05-01

Airborne surveillance and reconnaissance are essential for successful military missions. Such capabilities are critical for troop protection, situational awareness, mission planning, damage assessment, and others. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) gather huge amounts of video data but it is extremely labour-intensive for operators to analyze hours and hours of received data. At MDA, we have developed a suite of tools that can process the UAV video data automatically, including mosaicking, change detection and 3D reconstruction, which have been integrated within a standard GIS framework. In addition, the mosaicking and 3D reconstruction tools have also been integrated in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) framework. The Visualization and Exploitation Workstation (VIEW) integrates 2D and 3D visualization, processing, and analysis capabilities developed for UAV video exploitation. Visualization capabilities are supported through a thick-client Graphical User Interface (GUI), which allows visualization of 2D imagery, video, and 3D models. The GUI interacts with the VIEW server, which provides video mosaicking and 3D reconstruction exploitation services through the SOA framework. The SOA framework allows multiple users to perform video exploitation by running a GUI client on the operator's computer and invoking the video exploitation functionalities residing on the server. This allows the exploitation services to be upgraded easily and allows the intensive video processing to run on powerful workstations. MDA provides UAV services to the Canadian and Australian forces in Afghanistan with the Heron, a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV system. On-going flight operations service provides important intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance information to commanders and front-line soldiers.

Medicinal plants, traditional medicine, markets and management in far-west Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunwar, Ripu M; Mahat, Laxmi; Acharya, Ram P; Bussmann, Rainer W

2013-04-12

Modern therapeutic medicine is historically based on indigenous therapies and ethnopharmacological uses, which have become recognized tools in the search for new sources of pharmaceuticals. Globalization of herbal medicine along with uncontrolled exploitative practices and lack of concerted conservation efforts, have pushed many of Nepal's medicinal plants to the verge of extinction. Sustainable utilization and management of medicinal plants, based on traditional knowledge, is therefore necessary. After establishing verbal informed consent with participating communities, five field surveys, roughly 20 days in duration, were carried out. In all, 176 schedules were surveyed, and 52 participants were consulted through focus group discussions and informal meetings. Altogether, 24 key informants were surveyed to verify and validate the data. A total of 252 individuals, representing non-timber forest product (NTFP) collectors, cultivators, traders, traditional healers (Baidhya), community members, etc. participated in study. Medicinal plants were free-listed and their vernacular names and folk uses were collected, recorded, and applied to assess agreement among respondents about traditional medicines, markets and management. Within the study area, medicinal herbs were the main ingredients of traditional therapies, and they were considered a main lifeline and frequently were the first choice. About 55% plants were ethnomedicinal, and about 37% of ethnomedicinal plants possessed the highest informant consensus value (0.86-1.00). Use of Cordyceps sinensis as an aphrodisiac, Berberis asiatica for eye problems, Bergenia ciliata for disintegration of calculi, Sapindus mukorossi for dandruff, and Zanthoxylum armatum for toothache were the most frequently mentioned. These species possess potential for pharmacology. Medicinal plants are inseparable from local livelihoods because they have long been collected, consumed, and managed through local customs and knowledge. Management

Prospects of geothermal resource exploitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourrelier, P.H.; Cornet, F.; Fouillac, C.

1994-01-01

The use of geothermal energy to generate electricity has only occurred during the past 50 years by drilling wells in aquifers close to magmas and producing either dry steam or hot water. The world's production of electricity from geothermal energy is over 6000 MWe and is still growing. The direct use of geothermal energy for major urban communities has been developed recently by exploitation of aquifers in sedimentary basins under large towns. Scaling up the extraction of heat implies the exploitation of larger and better located fields requiring an appropriate method of extraction; the objective of present attempts in USA, Japan and Europe is to create heat exchangers by the circulation of water between several deep wells. Two field categories are considered: the extension of classical geothermal fields beyond the aquifer areas, and areas favoured by both a high geothermal gradient, fractures inducing a natural permeability at large scale, and good commercial prospects (such as in the Rhenan Graben). Hot dry rocks concept has gained a large interest. 1 fig., 5 tabs., 11 refs

Traditional knowledge on zootherapeutic uses by the Saharia tribe of Rajasthan, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaroli DP

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract The present zootherapeutic study describes the traditional knowledge related to the use of different animals and animal-derived products as medicines by the Saharia tribe reside in the Shahabad and Kishanganj Panchayat Samiti's of Baran district of Rajasthan, India. A field survey was conducted from April to June 2006 by performing interview through structured questionnaire with 21 selected respondents, who provided information regarding use of animals and their products in folk medicine. A total of 15 animal species were recorded and they are used for different ethnomedical purposes, including cough, asthma, tuberculosis, paralysis, earache, herpes, weakness, muscular pain etc. The zootherapeutic knowledge was mostly based on domestic animals, but some protected species like the peacock (Pavo cristatus,, hard shelled turtle (Kachuga tentoria, sambhar (Cervus unicolor were also mentioned as medicinal resources. We would suggest that this kind of neglected traditional knowledge should be included into the strategies of conservation and management of faunistic resources. Further studies are required for experimental validation to confirm the presence of bioactive compounds in these traditional remedies and also to emphasize more sustainable use of these resources.

[Study on botanical pesticides and its application in production of traditional Chinese medicine].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Peng; Li, Xi-Wen; Dong, Lin-Lin; Chen, Shi-Lin

2016-10-01

The issues including excessive pesticide residues and heavy metal contamination have become the bottle-neck in the development of Chinese herbal medicines. Compared with traditional chemical pesticides, biological pesticides, especially botanical pesticides, are more safe and environment-friendly, which were beneficial to the quality improvement Chinese medicinal materials. Though there exists a weak basic research and it is hard for promotion and regulation, the policy of good and the desire for botanical pesticides will accelerate its development, and replace traditional chemical pesticides gradually. This paper reviews the current situation of botanical pesticides, and gives some pertinence suggestions according to the existing problems and challenges. Research on botanical pesticides will become the key point to solve the problem of excessive pesticides residues and heavy metal contamination, and promote the healthy development of Chinese materia medica. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Malware Sandbox Analysis for Secure Observation of Vulnerability Exploitation

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshioka, Katsunari; Inoue, Daisuke; Eto, Masashi; Hoshizawa, Yuji; Nogawa, Hiroki; Nakao, Koji

Exploiting vulnerabilities of remote systems is one of the fundamental behaviors of malware that determines their potential hazards. Understanding what kind of propagation tactics each malware uses is essential in incident response because such information directly links with countermeasures such as writing a signature for IDS. Although recently malware sandbox analysis has been studied intensively, little work is done on securely observing the vulnerability exploitation by malware. In this paper, we propose a novel sandbox analysis method for securely observing malware's vulnerability exploitation in a totally isolated environment. In our sandbox, we prepare two victim hosts. We first execute the sample malware on one of these hosts and then let it attack the other host which is running multiple vulnerable services. As a simple realization of the proposed method, we have implemented a sandbox using Nepenthes, a low-interaction honeypot, as the second victim. Because Nepenthes can emulate a variety of vulnerable services, we can efficiently observe the propagation of sample malware. In the experiments, among 382 samples whose scan capabilities are confirmed, 381 samples successfully started exploiting vulnerabilities of the second victim. This indicates the certain level of feasibility of the proposed method.

An Innovative Strategy for Accurate Thermal Compensation of Gyro Bias in Inertial Units by Exploiting a Novel Augmented Kalman Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita Fontanella

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an innovative model for integrating thermal compensation of gyro bias error into an augmented state Kalman filter. The developed model is applied in the Zero Velocity Update filter for inertial units manufactured by exploiting Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS gyros. It is used to remove residual bias at startup. It is a more effective alternative to traditional approach that is realized by cascading bias thermal correction by calibration and traditional Kalman filtering for bias tracking. This function is very useful when adopted gyros are manufactured using MEMS technology. These systems have significant limitations in terms of sensitivity to environmental conditions. They are characterized by a strong correlation of the systematic error with temperature variations. The traditional process is divided into two separated algorithms, i.e., calibration and filtering, and this aspect reduces system accuracy, reliability, and maintainability. This paper proposes an innovative Zero Velocity Update filter that just requires raw uncalibrated gyro data as input. It unifies in a single algorithm the two steps from the traditional approach. Therefore, it saves time and economic resources, simplifying the management of thermal correction process. In the paper, traditional and innovative Zero Velocity Update filters are described in detail, as well as the experimental data set used to test both methods. The performance of the two filters is compared both in nominal conditions and in the typical case of a residual initial alignment bias. In this last condition, the innovative solution shows significant improvements with respect to the traditional approach. This is the typical case of an aircraft or a car in parking conditions under solar input.

An Innovative Strategy for Accurate Thermal Compensation of Gyro Bias in Inertial Units by Exploiting a Novel Augmented Kalman Filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Fontanella, Rita; Accardo, Domenico; Moriello, Rosario Schiano Lo; Angrisani, Leopoldo; Simone, Domenico De

2018-05-07

This paper presents an innovative model for integrating thermal compensation of gyro bias error into an augmented state Kalman filter. The developed model is applied in the Zero Velocity Update filter for inertial units manufactured by exploiting Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) gyros. It is used to remove residual bias at startup. It is a more effective alternative to traditional approach that is realized by cascading bias thermal correction by calibration and traditional Kalman filtering for bias tracking. This function is very useful when adopted gyros are manufactured using MEMS technology. These systems have significant limitations in terms of sensitivity to environmental conditions. They are characterized by a strong correlation of the systematic error with temperature variations. The traditional process is divided into two separated algorithms, i.e., calibration and filtering, and this aspect reduces system accuracy, reliability, and maintainability. This paper proposes an innovative Zero Velocity Update filter that just requires raw uncalibrated gyro data as input. It unifies in a single algorithm the two steps from the traditional approach. Therefore, it saves time and economic resources, simplifying the management of thermal correction process. In the paper, traditional and innovative Zero Velocity Update filters are described in detail, as well as the experimental data set used to test both methods. The performance of the two filters is compared both in nominal conditions and in the typical case of a residual initial alignment bias. In this last condition, the innovative solution shows significant improvements with respect to the traditional approach. This is the typical case of an aircraft or a car in parking conditions under solar input.

Final Report, “Exploiting Global View for Resilience”

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chien, Andrew [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

2017-03-29

Final technical report for the "Exploiting Global View for Resilience" project. The GVR project aims to create a new approach to portable, resilient applications. The GVR approach builds on a global view data model,, adding versioning (multi-version), user control of timing and rate (multi-stream), and flexible cross layer error signalling and recovery. With a versioned array as a portable abstraction, GVR enables application programmers to exploit deep scientific and application code insights to manage resilience (and its overhead) in a flexible, portable fashion.

Weak Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ales Psaker; Wolodymyr Melnitchouk; Anatoly Radyushkin

2006-01-01

We extend the analysis of the deeply virtual Compton scattering process to the weak interaction sector in the generalized Bjorken limit. The virtual Compton scattering amplitudes for the weak neutral and charged currents are calculated at the leading twist within the framework of the nonlocal light-cone expansion via coordinate space QCD string operators. Using a simple model, we estimate cross sections for neutrino scattering off the nucleon, relevant for future high intensity neutrino beam facilities

Weakly Idempotent Lattices and Bilattices, Non-Idempotent Plonka Functions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Davidova D. S.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we study weakly idempotent lattices with an additional interlaced operation. We characterize interlacity of a weakly idempotent semilattice operation, using the concept of hyperidentity and prove that a weakly idempotent bilattice with an interlaced operation is epimorphic to the superproduct with negation of two equal lattices. In the last part of the paper, we introduce the concepts of a non-idempotent Plonka function and the weakly Plonka sum and extend the main result for algebras with the well known Plonka function to the algebras with the non-idempotent Plonka function. As a consequence, we characterize the hyperidentities of the variety of weakly idempotent lattices, using non-idempotent Plonka functions, weakly Plonka sums and characterization of cardinality of the sets of operations of subdirectly irreducible algebras with hyperidentities of the variety of weakly idempotent lattices. Applications of weakly idempotent bilattices in multi-valued logic is to appear.

Plane waves with weak singularities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David, Justin R.

2003-03-01

We study a class of time dependent solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations which are plane waves with weak null singularities. This singularity is weak in the sense that though the tidal forces diverge at the singularity, the rate of divergence is such that the distortion suffered by a freely falling observer remains finite. Among such weak singular plane waves there is a sub-class which does not exhibit large back reaction in the presence of test scalar probes. String propagation in these backgrounds is smooth and there is a natural way to continue the metric beyond the singularity. This continued metric admits string propagation without the string becoming infinitely excited. We construct a one parameter family of smooth metrics which are at a finite distance in the space of metrics from the extended metric and a well defined operator in the string sigma model which resolves the singularity. (author)

Chiral perturbation theory approach to hadronic weak amplitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rafael, E. de

1989-01-01

We are concerned with applications to the non-leptonic weak interactions in the sector of light quark flavors: u, d and s. Both strangeness changing ΔS=1 and ΔS=2 non-leptonic transitions can be described as weak perturbations to the strong effective chiral Lagrangian; the chiral structure of the weak effective Lagrangian being dictated by the transformation properties of the weak non-leptonic Hamiltonian of the Standard Model under global SU(3) Left xSU(3) Right rotations of the quark-fields. These lectures are organized as follows. Section 2 gives a review of the basic properties of chiral symmetry. Section 3 explains the effective chiral realization of the non-leptonic weak Hamiltonian of the Standard Model to lowest order in derivatives and masses. Section 4 deals with non-leptonic weak transitions in the presence of electromagnetism. Some recent applications to radiative kaon decays are reviewed and the effect of the so called electromagnetic penguin like diagrams is also discussed. Section 5 explains the basic ideas of the QCD-hadronic duality approach to the evaluation of coupling constants of the non-leptonic chiral weak Lagrangian. (orig./HSI)

Boys are not exempt: Sexual exploitation of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Adjei, Jones K; Saewyc, Elizabeth M

2017-03-01

Research on youth sexual exploitation in Africa has largely neglected the experiences of exploited boys. To date, much of the research in sub-Saharan Africa continues to consider boys mainly as exploiters but not as exploited. Using the only publicly available population-based surveys from the National Survey of Adolescents, conducted in four sub-Saharan African countries - Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda-we assessed factors associated with transactional sexual behaviour among never-married adolescent boys and girls. We also examined whether boys' reported sexual exploitation was linked to similar risky sexual behaviours as has been noted among girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Results from our analyses indicated that even though adolescent girls have a somewhat higher likelihood of reporting sexual abuse and exploitation, the odds of trading sex were significantly elevated for previously traumatized boys (that is those with a history of sexual and physical abuse) but not for their female counterparts. Just like adolescent girls, transactional sexual behaviour was associated with the risk of having concurrent multiple sexual partners for boys. These findings support the reality of boys' sexual exploitation within the African context, and further highlight the importance of including males in general and boys in particular in population-based studies on sexual health, risk, and protective factors in the sub-Saharan African region. Understanding the factors linked to sexual exploitation for both boys and girls will help in developing policies and programs that could improve the overall sexual and reproductive health outcomes among adolescents and youth in sub-Saharan Africa. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Weak interaction: past answers, present questions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ne'eman, Y.

1977-02-01

A historical sketch of the weak interaction is presented. From beta ray to pion decay, the V-A theory of Marshak and Sudarshan, CVC principle of equivalence, universality as an algebraic condition, PCAC, renormalized weak Hamiltonian in the rehabilitation of field theory, and some current issues are considered in this review. 47 references

Weak measurements with a qubit meter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Shengjun; Mølmer, Klaus

2009-01-01

We derive schemes to measure the so-called weak values of quantum system observables by coupling of the system to a qubit meter system. We highlight, in particular, the meaning of the imaginary part of the weak values, and show how it can be measured directly on equal footing with the real part...

On (weakly precious rings associated to central polynomials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hani A. Khashan

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Let R be an associative ring with identity and let g(x be a fixed polynomial over the center of R. We define R to be (weakly g(x-precious if for every element a∈R, there are a zero s of g(x, a unit u and a nilpotent b such that (a=±s+u+b a=s+u+b. In this paper, we investigate many examples and properties of (weakly g(x-precious rings. If a and b are in the center of R with b-a is a unit, we give a characterizations for (weakly (x-a(x-b-precious rings in terms of (weakly precious rings. In particular, we prove that if 2 is a unit, then a ring is precious if and only it is weakly precious. Finally, for n∈ℕ, we study (weakly (xⁿ-x-precious rings and clarify some of their properties.

Making the most of cloud storage - a toolkit for exploitation by WLCG experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarez Ayllon, Alejandro; Arsuaga Rios, Maria; Bitzes, Georgios; Furano, Fabrizio; Keeble, Oliver; Manzi, Andrea

2017-10-01

Understanding how cloud storage can be effectively used, either standalone or in support of its associated compute, is now an important consideration for WLCG. We report on a suite of extensions to familiar tools targeted at enabling the integration of cloud object stores into traditional grid infrastructures and workflows. Notable updates include support for a number of object store flavours in FTS3, Davix and gfal2, including mitigations for lack of vector reads; the extension of Dynafed to operate as a bridge between grid and cloud domains; protocol translation in FTS3; the implementation of extensions to DPM (also implemented by the dCache project) to allow 3rd party transfers over HTTP. The result is a toolkit which facilitates data movement and access between grid and cloud infrastructures, broadening the range of workflows suitable for cloud. We report on deployment scenarios and prototype experience, explaining how, for example, an Amazon S3 or Azure allocation can be exploited by grid workflows.

A Descriptive Study on Sexually Exploited Children in Residential Treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Twill, Sarah E.; Green, Denise M.; Traylor, Amy

2010-01-01

Sexual exploitation and prostitution of children and adolescents is a multibillion dollar industry in the United States (Estes and Weiner in "Medical, legal & social science aspects of child sexual exploitation: A comprehensive review of pornography, prostitution, and internet crimes, vol I," G.W. Medical Publishing, Inc, St Louis,…

Sustainable exploitation and management of aquatic resources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neuenfeldt, Stefan; Köster, Fritz

2014-01-01

DTU Aqua conducts research, provides advice,educates at university level and contributes toinnovation in sustainable exploitation andmanagement of aquatic resources. The vision of DTUAqua is to enable ecologically and economicallysustainable exploitation of aquatic resourcesapplying an integrated...... management. Marineecosystems aims at understanding the mechanisms that govern the interaction between individuals,species and populations in an ecosystem enabling us to determine the stability and flexibility of theecosystem.Marine living resources looks at the sustainable utilization of fish and shellfish...... stocks.Ecosystem effects expands from the ecosystem approach to fisheries management to an integratedapproach where other human activities are taken into consideration. Fisheries management developsmethods, models and tools for predicting and evaluating the effects of management measures andregulations...

Fingerprinting dark energy. II. Weak lensing and galaxy clustering tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sapone, Domenico; Kunz, Martin; Amendola, Luca

2010-01-01

The characterization of dark energy is a central task of cosmology. To go beyond a cosmological constant, we need to introduce at least an equation of state and a sound speed and consider observational tests that involve perturbations. If dark energy is not completely homogeneous on observable scales, then the Poisson equation is modified and dark matter clustering is directly affected. One can then search for observational effects of dark energy clustering using dark matter as a probe. In this paper we exploit an analytical approximate solution of the perturbation equations in a general dark energy cosmology to analyze the performance of next-decade large-scale surveys in constraining equation of state and sound speed. We find that tomographic weak lensing and galaxy redshift surveys can constrain the sound speed of the dark energy only if the latter is small, of the order of c s < or approx. 0.01 (in units of c). For larger sound speeds the error grows to 100% and more. We conclude that large-scale structure observations contain very little information about the perturbations in canonical scalar field models with a sound speed of unity. Nevertheless, they are able to detect the presence of cold dark energy, i.e. a dark energy with nonrelativistic speed of sound.

Fixed points of occasionally weakly biased mappings

OpenAIRE

Y. Mahendra Singh, M. R. Singh

2012-01-01

Common fixed point results due to Pant et al. [Pant et al., Weak reciprocal continuity and fixed point theorems, Ann Univ Ferrara, 57(1), 181-190 (2011)] are extended to a class of non commuting operators called occasionally weakly biased pair[ N. Hussain, M. A. Khamsi A. Latif, Commonfixed points for JH-operators and occasionally weakly biased pairs under relaxed conditions, Nonlinear Analysis, 74, 2133-2140 (2011)]. We also provideillustrative examples to justify the improvements. Abstract....

Weakly compact operators and interpolation

OpenAIRE

Maligranda, Lech

1992-01-01

The class of weakly compact operators is, as well as the class of compact operators, a fundamental operator ideal. They were investigated strongly in the last twenty years. In this survey, we have collected and ordered some of this (partly very new) knowledge. We have also included some comments, remarks and examples. The class of weakly compact operators is, as well as the class of compact operators, a fundamental operator ideal. They were investigated strongly in the last twenty years. I...

Policy-based benchmarking of weak heaps and their relatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bruun, Asger; Edelkamp, Stefan; Katajainen, Jyrki

2010-01-01

In this paper we describe an experimental study where we evaluated the practical efficiency of three worst-case efficient priority queues: 1) a weak heap that is a binary tree fulfilling half-heap ordering, 2) a weak queue that is a forest of perfect weak heaps, and 3) a runrelaxed weak queue tha...

Imouraren mining exploitation : Complementary studies Synthetic report Volum B - Mines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

The object of the current study is to determine the main technical characteristics of the reference project of a mine that can supply the necessary ore quantity at a production of 3000 tonnes uranium per year, along 10 years. The project is one of the possible solutions for exploiting the mine. The current study permits to establish : investment and functioning cost estimation, overall project of the mining exploitation program, necessary strength estimation, average ore grades evaluation and variations of these grades, utilities needs, production vizing program, main exploitation methods and necessary materials. Reference project study of the mine serves as base to the economics studies and studies optimization [fr

Exploitative and hierarchical antagonism in a cooperative bacterium.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca Fiegna

2005-11-01

Full Text Available Social organisms that cooperate with some members of their own species, such as close relatives, may fail to cooperate with other genotypes of the same species. Such noncooperation may take the form of outright antagonism or social exploitation. Myxococcus xanthus is a highly social prokaryote that cooperatively develops into spore-bearing, multicellular fruiting bodies in response to starvation. Here we have characterized the nature of social interactions among nine developmentally proficient strains of M. xanthus isolated from spatially distant locations. Strains were competed against one another in all possible pairwise combinations during starvation-induced development. In most pairings, at least one competitor exhibited strong antagonism toward its partner and a majority of mixes showed bidirectional antagonism that decreased total spore production, even to the point of driving whole populations to extinction. Differential response to mixing was the primary determinant of competitive superiority rather than the sporulation efficiencies of unmixed populations. In some competitive pairings, the dominant partner sporulated more efficiently in mixed populations than in clonal isolation. This finding represents a novel form of exploitation in bacteria carried out by socially competent genotypes and is the first documentation of social exploitation among natural bacterial isolates. Patterns of antagonistic superiority among these strains form a highly linear dominance hierarchy. At least some competition pairs construct chimeric, rather than segregated, fruiting bodies. The cooperative prokaryote M. xanthus has diverged into a large number of distinct social types that cooperate with clone-mates but exhibit intense antagonism toward distinct social types of the same species. Most lengthy migration events in nature may thus result in strong antagonism between migratory and resident populations, and this antagonism may have large effects on local

Weak-interaction rates in stellar conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Sarriguren, Pedro

2018-05-01

Weak-interaction rates, including β-decay and electron captures, are studied in several mass regions at various densities and temperatures of astrophysical interest. In particular, we study odd-A nuclei in the pf-shell region, which are involved in presupernova formations. Weak rates are relevant to understand the late stages of the stellar evolution, as well as the nucleosynthesis of heavy nuclei. The nuclear structure involved in the weak processes is studied within a quasiparticle proton-neutron random-phase approximation with residual interactions in both particle-hole and particle-particle channels on top of a deformed Skyrme Hartree-Fock mean field with pairing correlations. First, the energy distributions of the Gamow-Teller strength are discussed and compared with the available experimental information, measured under terrestrial conditions from charge-exchange reactions. Then, the sensitivity of the weak-interaction rates to both astrophysical densities and temperatures is studied. Special attention is paid to the relative contribution to these rates of thermally populated excited states in the decaying nucleus and to the electron captures from the degenerate electron plasma.

Tradition of remaking and serialisation in world film

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kraljačić Nikolaj Dejan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Although they are often emphasised as characteristic of contemporary (especially Hollywood production, which according to many predominantly offers pastiche in service of exploitative tendencies of late capitalism, remaking and serialisation, the stylistic tools that directly correspond to the aforementioned, have in fact a long and rich tradition in world film. Dating back to the silent era, being present in cinematography worldwide even before the 1970s, when the term postmodernism, which usually suggests a crisis in ideology and strongly manifested commercialism became attached to film, today justifyingly notorious, these tools were close to respectable authors, particularly the ones in the so called classical period of film, but in the period of modernism too - remakes being some of the most significant accomplishments. The paper suggests that the problem of quality of the recent production of remakes and sequels is not merely in the roots of these concepts, but in the author's approach, i.e. in the treatment of adaptation of the original.

Efficient quantum computing with weak measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lund, A P

2011-01-01

Projective measurements with high quantum efficiency are often assumed to be required for efficient circuit-based quantum computing. We argue that this is not the case and show that the fact that they are not required was actually known previously but was not deeply explored. We examine this issue by giving an example of how to perform the quantum-ordering-finding algorithm efficiently using non-local weak measurements considering that the measurements used are of bounded weakness and some fixed but arbitrary probability of success less than unity is required. We also show that it is possible to perform the same computation with only local weak measurements, but this must necessarily introduce an exponential overhead.

Modeling of information on the impact of mining exploitation on bridge objects in BIM

Science.gov (United States)

Bętkowski, Piotr

2018-04-01

The article discusses the advantages of BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology in the management of bridge infrastructure on mining areas. The article shows the problems with information flow in the case of bridge objects located on mining areas and the advantages of proper information management, e.g. the possibility of automatic monitoring of structures, improvement of safety, optimization of maintenance activities, cost reduction of damage removal and preventive actions, improvement of atmosphere for mining exploitation, improvement of the relationship between the manager of the bridge and the mine. Traditional model of managing bridge objects on mining areas has many disadvantages, which are discussed in this article. These disadvantages include among others: duplication of information about the object, lack of correlation in investments due to lack of information flow between bridge manager and mine, limited assessment possibilities of damage propagation on technical condition and construction resistance to mining influences.

The technology for lifting of liquid during the development and exploitation of gas wells in tubing string of big diameters; La technologie pour l'elevation du liquide pendant la mise en valeur et l'exploitation des gisements a gaz par tubing de grand diametre

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chouliatikov, I.V.; Sidorov, S.N.; Sidorova, S.A.; Chouliatikov, V.I. [OAO ' ' Gazprom' ' , VNIIGAZ (Russian Federation)

2000-07-01

A new direction of effective removing liquid from the gas wells and improving of traditional gas-lift technologies for oil wells considered in this report. This direction merges the advantages of traditional methods such as gas-lift, plunger lift and swabbing, and it wide the range of application. Such a technology importantly decreases capital costs to installing wellhead and submerged equipment (it does not require the stopping of a well, trip and special conversion of tubing). It is ecology safe and does require minimal exploitation costs. A new technology derived a name - 'Combigaslift'. Combigaslift is the process of lilting of liquid from wells, in which it occurs by gas is been moving non-hermetic plunger-valve divider by wire and hoist. During a heaving a gas upflow does not allow to drain liquid under the divider. Tests of Combigaslift were made in gas and oil wells of different diameters. (author)

Nuclear beta decay and the weak interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kean, D.C.

1975-11-01

Short notes are presented on various aspects of nuclear beta decay and weak interactions including: super-allowed transitions, parity violation, interaction strengths, coupling constants, and the current-current formalism of weak interaction. (R.L.)

[Impacts of hydroelectric cascade exploitation on river ecosystem and landscape: a review].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kun; Deng, Xi; Li, Xue-Ling; Wen, Ping

2011-05-01

Hydroelectric cascade exploitation, one of the major ways for exploiting water resources and developing hydropower, not only satisfies the needs of various national economic sectors, but also promotes the socio-economic sustainable development of river basin. unavoidable anthropogenic impacts on the entire basin ecosystem. Based on the process of hydroelectric cascade exploitation and the ecological characteristics of river basins, this paper reviewed the major impacts of hydroelectric cascade exploitation on dam-area ecosystems, river reservoirs micro-climate, riparian ecosystems, river aquatic ecosystems, wetlands, and river landscapes. Some prospects for future research were offered, e.g., strengthening the research of chain reactions and cumulative effects of ecological factors affected by hydroelectric cascade exploitation, intensifying the study of positive and negative ecological effects under the dam networks and their joint operations, and improving the research of successional development and stability of basin ecosystems at different temporal and spatial scales.

The exploitation of living resources in the Dutch Wadden Sea : a historical overview

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolff, W J

An overview, based on written sources and personal observations, is presented of exploitation of living resources in and around the Dutch Wadden Sea during the past few centuries. It is concluded that before about 1900 exploitation was almost unrestricted. Exploitation of plants has been documented

PROBA-V Mission Exploitation Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erwin Goor

2016-07-01

Full Text Available As an extension of the PROBA-Vegetation (PROBA-V user segment, the European Space Agency (ESA, de Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO, and partners TRASYS and Spacebel developed an operational Mission Exploitation Platform (MEP to drastically improve the exploitation of the PROBA-V Earth Observation (EO data archive, the archive from the historical SPOT-VEGETATION mission, and derived products by researchers, service providers, and thematic users. The analysis of the time series of data (petabyte range is addressed, as well as the large scale on-demand processing of the complete archive, including near real-time data. The platform consists of a private cloud environment, a Hadoop-based processing environment and a data manager. Several applications are released to the users, e.g., a full resolution viewing service, a time series viewer, pre-defined on-demand processing chains, and virtual machines with powerful tools and access to the data. After an initial release in January 2016 a research platform was deployed gradually, allowing users to design, debug, and test applications on the platform. From the PROBA-V MEP, access to, e.g., Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 data will be addressed as well.

Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, and Bioactivities of Cananga odorata (Ylang-Ylang)

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Loh Teng Hern; Lee, Learn Han; Yin, Wai Fong; Chan, Chim Kei; Chan, Kok Gan

2015-01-01

Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata Hook. F. & Thomson) is one of the plants that are exploited at a large scale for its essential oil which is an important raw material for the fragrance industry. The essential oils extracted via steam distillation from the plant have been used mainly in cosmetic industry but also in food industry. Traditionally, C. odorata is used to treat malaria, stomach ailments, asthma, gout, and rheumatism. The essential oils or ylang-ylang oil is used in aromatherapy and is believed to be effective in treating depression, high blood pressure, and anxiety. Many phytochemical studies have identified the constituents present in the essential oils of C. odorata. A wide range of chemical compounds including monoterpene, sesquiterpenes, and phenylpropanoids have been isolated from this plant. Recent studies have shown a wide variety of bioactivities exhibited by the essential oils and the extracts of C. odorata including antimicrobial, antibiofilm, anti-inflammatory, antivector, insect-repellent, antidiabetic, antifertility and antimelanogenesis activities. Thus, the present review summarizes the information concerning the traditional uses, phytochemistry, and biological activities of C. odorata. This review is aimed at demonstrating that C. odorata not only is an important raw material for perfume industry but also considered as a prospective useful plant to agriculture and medicine. PMID:26294929

Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, and Bioactivities of Cananga odorata (Ylang-Ylang

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loh Teng Hern Tan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata Hook. F. & Thomson is one of the plants that are exploited at a large scale for its essential oil which is an important raw material for the fragrance industry. The essential oils extracted via steam distillation from the plant have been used mainly in cosmetic industry but also in food industry. Traditionally, C. odorata is used to treat malaria, stomach ailments, asthma, gout, and rheumatism. The essential oils or ylang-ylang oil is used in aromatherapy and is believed to be effective in treating depression, high blood pressure, and anxiety. Many phytochemical studies have identified the constituents present in the essential oils of C. odorata. A wide range of chemical compounds including monoterpene, sesquiterpenes, and phenylpropanoids have been isolated from this plant. Recent studies have shown a wide variety of bioactivities exhibited by the essential oils and the extracts of C. odorata including antimicrobial, antibiofilm, anti-inflammatory, antivector, insect-repellent, antidiabetic, antifertility and antimelanogenesis activities. Thus, the present review summarizes the information concerning the traditional uses, phytochemistry, and biological activities of C. odorata. This review is aimed at demonstrating that C. odorata not only is an important raw material for perfume industry but also considered as a prospective useful plant to agriculture and medicine.

Risk assessment by dynamic representation of vulnerability, exploitation, and impact

Science.gov (United States)

Cam, Hasan

2015-05-01

Assessing and quantifying cyber risk accurately in real-time is essential to providing security and mission assurance in any system and network. This paper presents a modeling and dynamic analysis approach to assessing cyber risk of a network in real-time by representing dynamically its vulnerabilities, exploitations, and impact using integrated Bayesian network and Markov models. Given the set of vulnerabilities detected by a vulnerability scanner in a network, this paper addresses how its risk can be assessed by estimating in real-time the exploit likelihood and impact of vulnerability exploitation on the network, based on real-time observations and measurements over the network. The dynamic representation of the network in terms of its vulnerabilities, sensor measurements, and observations is constructed dynamically using the integrated Bayesian network and Markov models. The transition rates of outgoing and incoming links of states in hidden Markov models are used in determining exploit likelihood and impact of attacks, whereas emission rates help quantify the attack states of vulnerabilities. Simulation results show the quantification and evolving risk scores over time for individual and aggregated vulnerabilities of a network.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Current Dental Hygiene Educational System.

Science.gov (United States)

Theile, Cheryl Westphal

2017-09-01

The state of the dental hygiene educational system in the United States is evolving. The numbers of programs, extent of curricula, and diversity of students, faculty, and practice settings vary significantly across the country. New trends in workforce utilization and delivery models are challenging current educational foundations and mandating an interprofessional approach to both the education and practice of dental hygienists. This article presents an overview of the current state of dental hygiene education to create a baseline for discussion of desired educational models for 2040. The strengths and weaknesses are defined to motivate change. Limitations of the current two-year associate degree are emphasized, along with the need to add expanded content and development of new skills. The developing non-traditional practice settings bring both a challenge to dental hygiene education and a promise of increasing potential in primary care interprofessional settings for the 21 st century. This article was written as part of the project "Advancing Dental Education in the 21 st Century."

Fermi and the Theory of Weak Interactions

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IAS Admin

Quantum Field Theory created by Dirac and used by Fermi to describe weak ... of classical electrodynamics (from which the electric field and magnetic field can be obtained .... Universe. However, thanks to weak interactions, this can be done.

SIMULATION OF SUBGRADE EMBANKMENT ON WEAK BASE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. D. Petrenko

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose. This article provides: the question of the sustainability of the subgrade on a weak base is considered in the paper. It is proposed to use the method of jet grouting. Investigation of the possibility of a weak base has an effect on the overall deformation of the subgrade; the identification and optimization of the parameters of subgrade based on studies using numerical simulation. Methodology. The theoretical studies of the stress-strain state of the base and subgrade embankment by modeling in the software package LIRA have been conducted to achieve this goal. Findings. After making the necessary calculations perform building fields of a subsidence, borders cramped thickness, bed’s coefficients of Pasternak and Winkler. The diagrams construction of vertical stress performs at any point of load application. Also, using the software system may perform peer review subsidence, rolls railroad tracks in natural and consolidated basis. Originality. For weak soils is the most appropriate nonlinear model of the base with the existing areas of both elastic and limit equilibrium, mixed problem of the theory of elasticity and plasticity. Practical value. By increasing the load on the weak base as a result of the second track construction, adds embankment or increasing axial load when changing the rolling stock process of sedimentation and consolidation may continue again. Therefore, one of the feasible and promising options for the design and reconstruction of embankments on weak bases is to strengthen the bases with the help of jet grouting. With the expansion of the railway infrastructure, increasing speed and weight of the rolling stock is necessary to ensure the stability of the subgrade on weak bases. LIRA software package allows you to perform all the necessary calculations for the selection of a proper way of strengthening weak bases.

(Weakly) three-dimensional caseology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pomraning, G.C.

1996-01-01

The singular eigenfunction technique of Case for solving one-dimensional planar symmetry linear transport problems is extended to a restricted class of three-dimensional problems. This class involves planar geometry, but with forcing terms (either boundary conditions or internal sources) which are weakly dependent upon the transverse spatial variables. Our analysis involves a singular perturbation about the classic planar analysis, and leads to the usual Case discrete and continuum modes, but modulated by weakly dependent three-dimensional spatial functions. These functions satisfy parabolic differential equations, with a different diffusion coefficient for each mode. Representative one-speed time-independent transport problems are solved in terms of these generalised Case eigenfunctions. Our treatment is very heuristic, but may provide an impetus for more rigorous analysis. (author)

Nonlinear waves and weak turbulence

CERN Document Server

Zakharov, V E

1997-01-01

This book is a collection of papers on dynamical and statistical theory of nonlinear wave propagation in dispersive conservative media. Emphasis is on waves on the surface of an ideal fluid and on Rossby waves in the atmosphere. Although the book deals mainly with weakly nonlinear waves, it is more than simply a description of standard perturbation techniques. The goal is to show that the theory of weakly interacting waves is naturally related to such areas of mathematics as Diophantine equations, differential geometry of waves, Poincaré normal forms, and the inverse scattering method.

Panel discussion on exploitation of geothermal resources in thermal zones

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Viramonte, J G; Mange, J; Stefani, G

1978-03-01

The topics discussed include the major known geothermal resources, varying ways of exploiting geothermal resources, technical and economic difficulties in the exploitation, the place of geothermal energy in the total energy policy of a given country, advanced exploration techniques, and indications of needed areas of study. The panelists represented most of the South American countries, Mexico, and Italy. (JSR)

Local Perspectives on Environmental Insecurity and Its Influence on Illegal Biodiversity Exploitation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meredith L Gore

Full Text Available Environmental insecurity is a source and outcome of biodiversity declines and social conflict. One challenge to scaling insecurity reduction policies is that empirical evidence about local attitudes is overwhelmingly missing. We set three objectives: determine how local people rank risk associated with different sources of environmental insecurity; assess perceptions of environmental insecurity, biodiversity exploitation, myths of nature and risk management preferences; and explore relationships between perceptions and biodiversity exploitation. We conducted interviews (N = 88 with residents of Madagascar's Torotorofotsy Protected Area, 2014. Risk perceptions had a moderate effect on perceptions of environmental insecurity. We found no effects of environmental insecurity on biodiversity exploitation. Results offer one if not the first exploration of local perceptions of illegal biodiversity exploitation and environmental security. Local people's perception of risk seriousness associated with illegal biodiversity exploitation such as lemur hunting (low overall may not reflect perceptions of policy-makers (considered to be high. Discord is a key entry point for attention.

An Exploitability Analysis Technique for Binary Vulnerability Based on Automatic Exception Suppression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiyuan Jiang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available To quickly verify and fix vulnerabilities, it is necessary to judge the exploitability of the massive crash generated by the automated vulnerability mining tool. While the current manual analysis of the crash process is inefficient and time-consuming, the existing automated tools can only handle execute exceptions and some write exceptions but cannot handle common read exceptions. To address this problem, we propose a method of determining the exploitability based on the exception type suppression. This method enables the program to continue to execute until an exploitable exception is triggered. The method performs a symbolic replay of the crash sample, constructing and reusing data gadget, to bypass the complex exception, thereby improving the efficiency and accuracy of vulnerability exploitability analysis. The testing of typical CGC/RHG binary software shows that this method can automatically convert a crash that cannot be judged by existing analysis tools into a different crash type and judge the exploitability successfully.

Medicinal Plants in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Perspective of Traditional Persian Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Farzaei, Mohammad Hosein; Shahpiri, Zahra; Mehri, Mohammad Reza; Bahramsoltani, Roodabeh; Rezaei, Mahdi; Raeesdana, Azade; Rahimi, Roja

2018-01-01

Neurodegenerative diseases are a progressive loss of structure and/or function of neurons. Weak therapeutic response and progressive nature of the diseases, as well as a wide range of side effects caused by conventional therapeutic approaches make patients seek for complementary and alternative medicine. The aim of the present paper is to discuss the neuropharmacological basis of medicinal plants and their principle phytochemicals which have been used in traditional Persian medicine for different types of neurodegenerative diseases. Medicinal plants introduced in traditional Persian medicine perform beneficial effects in neurodegenerative diseases via various cellular and molecular mechanisms including suppression of apoptosis mediated by an increase in the expression of anti-apoptotic agents (e.g. Bcl-2) as well as a decrease in the expression and activity of proapoptotic proteins (e.g. Bax, caspase 3 and 9). Alleviating inflammatory responses and suppressing the expression and function of pro-inflammatory cytokines like Tumor necrosis factor α and interleukins, as well as improvement in antioxidative performance mediated by superoxide dismutase and catalase, are among other neuroprotective mechanisms of traditional medicinal plants. Modulation of transcription, transduction, intracellular signaling pathways including ERK, p38, and MAPK, with upstream regulatory activity on inflammatory cascades, apoptosis and oxidative stress associated pathways, play an essential role in the preventive and therapeutic potential of the plants in neurodegenerative diseases. Medicinal plants used in traditional Persian medicine along with their related phytochemicals by affecting various neuropharmacological pathways can be considered as future drugs or adjuvant therapies with conventional pharmacotherapeutics; though, further clinical studies are necessary for the confirmation of their safety and efficacy. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at

Testing the weak gravity-cosmic censorship connection

Science.gov (United States)

Crisford, Toby; Horowitz, Gary T.; Santos, Jorge E.

2018-03-01

A surprising connection between the weak gravity conjecture and cosmic censorship has recently been proposed. In particular, it was argued that a promising class of counterexamples to cosmic censorship in four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Λ theory would be removed if charged particles (with sufficient charge) were present. We test this idea and find that indeed if the weak gravity conjecture is true, one cannot violate cosmic censorship this way. Remarkably, the minimum value of charge required to preserve cosmic censorship appears to agree precisely with that proposed by the weak gravity conjecture.

The ALARA project of the EDF nuclear park exploitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Potoczek, J.

1998-01-01

To bring the exploitation of the nuclear park of EDF at the level of the best exploiters in the world in matter of collective and individual dosimetry, the ALARA principle coordinates numerous actions: to associate the temporary societies, to define common language, methods and tools for the whole park to organize a level effect in this area, to optimize the maintenance that is expansive in radiation doses, to make the different levels of management responsible on dosimetric stakes, to reduce the singular sources of exposure, to assure the organisation and exploitation of the experience back in this field and adapt consequently the system of information. The results are cheerful and the objectives for 2000 are: less than 1.2 h.Sv by year and by reactor, no intervener whom annual radiation dose is upper than 20 mSv (out of exceptional case). (N.C.)

Development of Ayurveda - Tradition to trend.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukherjee, Pulok K; Harwansh, Ranjit K; Bahadur, Shiv; Banerjee, Subhadip; Kar, Amit; Chanda, Joydeb; Biswas, Sayan; Ahmmed, Sk Milan; Katiyar, C K

2017-02-02

Ayurveda entails a scientific tradition of harmonious living and its origin can be traced from ancient knowledge in Rigveda and Atharvaveda. Ayurveda is a traditional healthcare system of Indian medicine since ancient times. Several Ayurvedic medicines have been exploiting for treatment and management of various diseases in human beings. The several drugs have been developed and practiced from Ayurveda since ancient time to modern practice as 'tradition to trend'. The potential of Ayurvedic medicine needs to be explored further with modern scientific validation approaches for better therapeutic leads. The present study was aimed to explore the various aspects of Ayurveda and inspired drug discovery approaches for its promotion and development. We have reviewed all the literature related to the history and application of Ayurvedic herbs. Various aspects for the quality control, standardization, chemo-profiling, and metabolite fingerprinting for quality evaluation of Ayurvedic drugs. The development of Ayurvedic drugs is gaining momentum with the perspectives of safety, efficacy and quality for promotion and management of human health. Scientific documentation, process validation and several others significant parameters are key points, which can ensure the quality, safety and effectiveness of Ayurvedic drugs. The present review highlights on the major goal of Ayurveda and their significant role in healthcare system. Ayurveda deals with several classical formulations including arka, asavas, aristas, churna, taila, vati, gutika, bhasma etc. There are several lead molecules that have been developed from the Ayurvedic herbs, which have various significant therapeutic activities. Chemo-profiling of Ayurvedic drug is essential in order to assess the quality of products. It deals with bioactive compound quantification, spurious and allied drug determination, chromatographic fingerprinting, standardization, stability and quality consistency of Ayurvedic products. Scientific

Integrating traditional knowledge when it appears to conflict with conservation: lessons from the discovery and protection of sitatunga in Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana M. McPherson

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Cultural traditions can conflict with modern conservation goals when they promote damage to fragile environments or the harvest of imperiled species. We explore whether and how traditional, culturally motivated species exploitation can nonetheless aid conservation by examining the recent "discovery" in Avu Lagoon, Ghana, of sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii gratus, a species familiar to locals, but not previously scientifically recorded in Ghana and regionally assumed extinct. Specifically, we investigate what role traditional beliefs, allied hunting practices, and the associated traditional ecological knowledge have played in the species' discovery and subsequent community-based conservation; how they might influence future conservation outcomes; and how they may themselves be shaped by conservation efforts. Our study serves to exemplify the complexities, risks, and benefits associated with building conservation efforts around traditional ecological knowledge and beliefs. Complexities arise from localized variation in beliefs (with cultural significance of sitatunga much stronger in one village than others, progressive dilution of traditional worldviews by mainstream religions, and the context dependence, both culturally and geographically, of the reliability of traditional ecological knowledge. Among the benefits, we highlight (1 information on the distribution and habitat needs of species that can help to discover, rediscover, or manage imperiled taxa if appropriately paired with scientific data collection; and (2 enhanced sustainability of conservation efforts given the cultivation of mutual trust, respect, and understanding between researchers and local communities. In turn, conservation attention to traditional ecological knowledge and traditionally important species can help reinvigorate cultural diversity by promoting the persistence of traditional belief and knowledge systems alongside mainstream worldviews and religions.

Exploitation of vegetables and fruits through lactic acid fermentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Cagno, Raffaella; Coda, Rossana; De Angelis, Maria; Gobbetti, Marco

2013-02-01

Lactic acid fermentation represents the easiest and the most suitable way for increasing the daily consumption of fresh-like vegetables and fruits. Literature data are accumulating, and this review aims at describing the main features of the lactic acid bacteria to be used for fermentation. Lactic acid bacteria are a small part of the autochthonous microbiota of vegetables and fruits. The diversity of the microbiota markedly depends on the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the plant matrix. Notwithstanding the reliable value of the spontaneous fermentation to stabilize and preserve raw vegetables and fruits, a number of factors are in favour of using selected starters. Two main options may be pursued for the controlled lactic acid fermentation of vegetables and fruits: the use of commercial/allochthonous and the use of autochthonous starters. Several evidences were described in favour of the use of selected autochthonous starters, which are tailored for the specific plant matrix. Pro-technological, sensory and nutritional criteria for selecting starters were reported as well as several functional properties, which were recently ascribed to autochthonous lactic acid bacteria. The main features of the protocols used for the manufacture of traditional, emerging and innovative fermented vegetables and fruits were reviewed. Tailored lactic acid bacteria starters completely exploit the potential of vegetables and fruits, which enhances the hygiene, sensory, nutritional and shelf life properties. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alepidea amatymbica Eckl. & Zeyh.: A Review of Its Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Toxicology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. A. Wintola

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Alepidea amatymbica is an important medicinal plant in Southern Africa with a long history of traditional use for the management of conditions like colds, coughs, sore throat, influenza, asthma, and abdominal cramps. Despite the much acclaimed traditional uses of the plant, there is a dearth of scientific information on the review of this plant. Hence, this review is aimed at providing information on the botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology of A. amatymbica. This review uses all the synonyms of the plant obtained from the plant list. Google scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, and Scopus were made use of in addition to the University of Fort Hare’s online databases. All the phytochemical studies on Alepidea amatymbica obtained from the literature reported the presence of kaurene-type diterpenoids and their derivatives. Pharmacological areas identified on A. amatymbica fresh and dried extract include antibacterial, antifungal, sedative, astringent, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, antihelminthes, antihypertensive, anti-HIV, and diuretic activities. Literature search on A. amatymbica revealed the use of cell line, brine shrimps, and rats for the determination of the toxicity in the plant. Clinical trials and product development to fully exploit the medicinal value are also required to validate its folklore use in traditional medicine.

Precision cosmology with weak gravitational lensing

Science.gov (United States)

Hearin, Andrew P.

In recent years, cosmological science has developed a highly predictive model for the universe on large scales that is in quantitative agreement with a wide range of astronomical observations. While the number and diversity of successes of this model provide great confidence that our general picture of cosmology is correct, numerous puzzles remain. In this dissertation, I analyze the potential of planned and near future galaxy surveys to provide new understanding of several unanswered questions in cosmology, and address some of the leading challenges to this observational program. In particular, I study an emerging technique called cosmic shear, the weak gravitational lensing produced by large scale structure. I focus on developing strategies to optimally use the cosmic shear signal observed in galaxy imaging surveys to uncover the physics of dark energy and the early universe. In chapter 1 I give an overview of a few unsolved mysteries in cosmology and I motivate weak lensing as a cosmological probe. I discuss the use of weak lensing as a test of general relativity in chapter 2 and assess the threat to such tests presented by our uncertainty in the physics of galaxy formation. Interpreting the cosmic shear signal requires knowledge of the redshift distribution of the lensed galaxies. This redshift distribution will be significantly uncertain since it must be determined photometrically. In chapter 3 I investigate the influence of photometric redshift errors on our ability to constrain dark energy models with weak lensing. The ability to study dark energy with cosmic shear is also limited by the imprecision in our understanding of the physics of gravitational collapse. In chapter 4 I present the stringent calibration requirements on this source of uncertainty. I study the potential of weak lensing to resolve a debate over a long-standing anomaly in CMB measurements in chapter 5. Finally, in chapter 6 I summarize my findings and conclude with a brief discussion of my

New weak keys in simplified IDEA

Science.gov (United States)

Hafman, Sari Agustini; Muhafidzah, Arini

2016-02-01

Simplified IDEA (S-IDEA) is simplified version of International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) and useful teaching tool to help students to understand IDEA. In 2012, Muryanto and Hafman have found a weak key class in the S-IDEA by used differential characteristics in one-round (0, ν, 0, ν) → (0,0, ν, ν) on the first round to produce input difference (0,0, ν, ν) on the fifth round. Because Muryanto and Hafman only use three differential characteristics in one-round, we conducted a research to find new differential characteristics in one-round and used it to produce new weak key classes of S-IDEA. To find new differential characteristics in one-round of S-IDEA, we applied a multiplication mod 216+1 on input difference and combination of active sub key Z1, Z4, Z5, Z6. New classes of weak keys are obtained by combining all of these characteristics and use them to construct two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA with or without the 4th round sub key. In this research, we found six new differential characteristics in one round and combined them to construct two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA. When two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA are used and the 4th round sub key required, we obtain 2 new classes of weak keys, 213 and 28. When two new differential characteristics in full-round of S-IDEA are used, yet the 4th round sub key is not required, the weak key class of 213 will be 221 and 28 will be 210. Membership test can not be applied to recover the key bits in those weak key classes. The recovery of those unknown key bits can only be done by using brute force attack. The simulation result indicates that the bit of the key can be recovered by the longest computation time of 0,031 ms.

Gossip and Distributed Kalman Filtering: Weak Consensus Under Weak Detectability

Science.gov (United States)

Kar, Soummya; Moura, José M. F.

2011-04-01

The paper presents the gossip interactive Kalman filter (GIKF) for distributed Kalman filtering for networked systems and sensor networks, where inter-sensor communication and observations occur at the same time-scale. The communication among sensors is random; each sensor occasionally exchanges its filtering state information with a neighbor depending on the availability of the appropriate network link. We show that under a weak distributed detectability condition: 1. the GIKF error process remains stochastically bounded, irrespective of the instability properties of the random process dynamics; and 2. the network achieves \\emph{weak consensus}, i.e., the conditional estimation error covariance at a (uniformly) randomly selected sensor converges in distribution to a unique invariant measure on the space of positive semi-definite matrices (independent of the initial state.) To prove these results, we interpret the filtered states (estimates and error covariances) at each node in the GIKF as stochastic particles with local interactions. We analyze the asymptotic properties of the error process by studying as a random dynamical system the associated switched (random) Riccati equation, the switching being dictated by a non-stationary Markov chain on the network graph.

Cloud Based Earth Observation Data Exploitation Platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Romeo, A.; Pinto, S.; Loekken, S.; Marin, A.

2017-12-01

In the last few years data produced daily by several private and public Earth Observation (EO) satellites reached the order of tens of Terabytes, representing for scientists and commercial application developers both a big opportunity for their exploitation and a challenge for their management. New IT technologies, such as Big Data and cloud computing, enable the creation of web-accessible data exploitation platforms, which offer to scientists and application developers the means to access and use EO data in a quick and cost effective way. RHEA Group is particularly active in this sector, supporting the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Exploitation Platforms (EP) initiative, developing technology to build multi cloud platforms for the processing and analysis of Earth Observation data, and collaborating with larger European initiatives such as the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). An EP is a virtual workspace, providing a user community with access to (i) large volume of data, (ii) algorithm development and integration environment, (iii) processing software and services (e.g. toolboxes, visualization routines), (iv) computing resources, (v) collaboration tools (e.g. forums, wiki, etc.). When an EP is dedicated to a specific Theme, it becomes a Thematic Exploitation Platform (TEP). Currently, ESA has seven TEPs in a pre-operational phase dedicated to geo-hazards monitoring and prevention, costal zones, forestry areas, hydrology, polar regions, urban areas and food security. On the technology development side, solutions like the multi cloud EO data processing platform provides the technology to integrate ICT resources and EO data from different vendors in a single platform. In particular it offers (i) Multi-cloud data discovery, (ii) Multi-cloud data management and access and (iii) Multi-cloud application deployment. This platform has been demonstrated with the EGI Federated Cloud, Innovation Platform Testbed Poland

A ferromagnetic chain in a random weak field

Science.gov (United States)

Avgin, I.

1996-10-01

The harmonic magnon modes in a Heisenberg ferromagnetic chain in a random weak field are studied. The Lyapunov exponent for the uniform ( k = 0) mode is computed using the coherent potential approximation (CPA) in the weak-disorder limit. The CPA results are compared with the numerical and weak-disorder expansions of various random systems. We have found that the inverse localization length and the integrated density of states have anomalous power law behaviour as reported earlier. The CPA also reproduces the dispersion law for the same system, calculated by Pimentel and Stinchcombe using the real space renormalization scaling technique. A brief comment is also made for the uniform weak-field case.

Solution of weakly compressible isothermal flow in landfill gas collection networks

Science.gov (United States)

Nec, Y.; Huculak, G.

2017-12-01

Pipe networks collecting gas in sanitary landfills operate under the regime of a weakly compressible isothermal flow of ideal gas. The effect of compressibility has been traditionally neglected in this application in favour of simplicity, thereby creating a conceptual incongruity between the flow equations and thermodynamic equation of state. Here the flow is solved by generalisation of the classic Darcy-Weisbach equation for an incompressible steady flow in a pipe to an ordinary differential equation, permitting continuous variation of density, viscosity and related fluid parameters, as well as head loss or gain due to gravity, in isothermal flow. The differential equation is solved analytically in the case of ideal gas for a single edge in the network. Thereafter the solution is used in an algorithm developed to construct the flow equations automatically for a network characterised by an incidence matrix, and determine pressure distribution, flow rates and all associated parameters therein.

Weak-interaction contributions to hyperfine splitting and Lamb shift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eides, M.I.

1996-01-01

Weak-interaction contributions to hyperfine splitting and the Lamb shift in hydrogen and muonium are discussed. The problem of sign of the weak-interaction contribution to HFS is clarified, and simple physical arguments that make this sign evident are presented. It is shown that weak-interaction contributions to HFS in hydrogen and muonium have opposite signs. A weak-interaction contribution to the Lamb shift is obtained. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

The concept of exploitation in international human trafficking law

OpenAIRE

von der Pütten, Tuija Kaarina

2017-01-01

Human trafficking is commonly known as a criminal practice that takes place in the framework of sex trade: women and children are trafficked within a state, or from one state to another, for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Similarly, the early 20th century international conventions aimed to tackle ‘white slave traffic’, trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation. However, it is misleading to see trafficking only within this context. People are trafficked so that they can be...

Assessing uncertainty and risk in exploited marine populations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fogarty, M.J.; Mayo, R.K.; O'Brien, L.; Serchuk, F.M.; Rosenberg, A.A.

1996-01-01

The assessment and management of exploited fish and invertebrate populations is subject to several types of uncertainty. This uncertainty translates into risk to the population in the development and implementation of fishery management advice. Here, we define risk as the probability that exploitation rates will exceed a threshold level where long term sustainability of the stock is threatened. We distinguish among several sources of error or uncertainty due to (a) stochasticity in demographic rates and processes, particularly in survival rates during the early fife stages; (b) measurement error resulting from sampling variation in the determination of population parameters or in model estimation; and (c) the lack of complete information on population and ecosystem dynamics. The first represents a form of aleatory uncertainty while the latter two factors represent forms of epistemic uncertainty. To illustrate these points, we evaluate the recent status of the Georges Bank cod stock in a risk assessment framework. Short term stochastic projections are made accounting for uncertainty in population size and for random variability in the number of young surviving to enter the fishery. We show that recent declines in this cod stock can be attributed to exploitation rates that have substantially exceeded sustainable levels

Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Richard J; English, Abigail

2015-08-01

This review describes the current state of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of adolescents in the United States and globally, the legal and health implications of this severe form of abuse, and the roles that pediatric and adolescent healthcare providers can play in addressing this issue. Although this form of exploitation and abuse is shrouded in secrecy, pediatric and adolescent healthcare providers are well positioned to respond when it arises. However, awareness and understanding of the issue are generally lacking among healthcare professionals, currently limiting their effectiveness in combating this problem. Although the empirical evidence base available to guide clinical care of victims of trafficking remains limited given the secretive nature of the abuse, important contributions to the multidisciplinary literature on this issue have been made in recent years, including the Institute of Medicine's landmark report in the United States. Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of adolescents represent a human rights tragedy that remains inadequately addressed. As preeminent advocates for the health and well-being of adolescents, pediatric and adolescent healthcare providers can play a crucial role in advancing efforts not only to intervene but also to prevent further victimization of vulnerable youth.

Exploitation of linkage learning in evolutionary algorithms

CERN Document Server

Chen, Ying-ping

2010-01-01

The exploitation of linkage learning is enhancing the performance of evolutionary algorithms. This monograph examines recent progress in linkage learning, with a series of focused technical chapters that cover developments and trends in the field.

Cosmology and the weak interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schramm, D.N.

1989-12-01

The weak interaction plays a critical role in modern Big Bang cosmology. This review will emphasize two of its most publicized cosmological connections: Big Bang nucleosynthesis and Dark Matter. The first of these is connected to the cosmological prediction of Neutrino Flavours, N ν ∼ 3 which is now being confirmed at SLC and LEP. The second is interrelated to the whole problem of galaxy and structure formation in the universe. This review will demonstrate the role of the weak interaction both for dark matter candidates and for the problem of generating seeds to form structure. 87 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs

Cosmology and the weak interaction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schramm, D.N. (Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (USA)):(Chicago Univ., IL (USA))

1989-12-01

The weak interaction plays a critical role in modern Big Bang cosmology. This review will emphasize two of its most publicized cosmological connections: Big Bang nucleosynthesis and Dark Matter. The first of these is connected to the cosmological prediction of Neutrino Flavours, N{sub {nu}} {approximately} 3 which is now being confirmed at SLC and LEP. The second is interrelated to the whole problem of galaxy and structure formation in the universe. This review will demonstrate the role of the weak interaction both for dark matter candidates and for the problem of generating seeds to form structure. 87 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs.

Weak disorder in Fibonacci sequences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ben-Naim, E [Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Krapivsky, P L [Department of Physics and Center for Molecular Cybernetics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 (United States)

2006-05-19

We study how weak disorder affects the growth of the Fibonacci series. We introduce a family of stochastic sequences that grow by the normal Fibonacci recursion with probability 1 - {epsilon}, but follow a different recursion rule with a small probability {epsilon}. We focus on the weak disorder limit and obtain the Lyapunov exponent that characterizes the typical growth of the sequence elements, using perturbation theory. The limiting distribution for the ratio of consecutive sequence elements is obtained as well. A number of variations to the basic Fibonacci recursion including shift, doubling and copying are considered. (letter to the editor)

Annexe 3. Constitution d'une exploitation à Homs

OpenAIRE

2015-01-01

‘Abd al-Laṭīf, né en 1925, est jardinier à Horns. Il exploite avec son fils aîné et l'aide de deux de ses petits-fils un jardin de quelques 35 dunum (3,5 hectares) situé dans le zūr al-Ǧdīdeh, secteur central de la zone agricole. Cette grande exploitation, constituée de plusieurs parcelles ayant différents statuts, est en partie le produit d'une histoire familiale dont je voudrais présenter ici brièvement les principaux aspects. Figure 50 – Alliances matrimoniales entre la lignée de ‘Abbās e...

Open pit coal exploitation viability. Margarita mine. Case of study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veloza, Julia; Molina, Jorge; Mejia, Humberto

2006-01-01

This paper provides an analysis of financial viability, planning and design for the new coal open pit exploitation for La Margarita mine, with coal-resources estimated on 440.139,7 ton. Dimension, design and economic evaluation were possible by three exploitation methods: (multiple bench, open cast contour, and terraces). Net present values (NVP) were calculated: $c 817,5; $c 518,5 and $c 645,2 respectively for each method (given in million current Colombian pesos $. $c 2380 are equivalent to $us 1) and rate of return (ROR) 78,33%; 34,0% and 38,62% respectively for each method. These indicators served as a parameter to choose the multiple bench method, which should be recalculated because it was necessary to work jointly with two pits and making feasible the project. in addition a general environmental evaluation was done, which is vital for the exploitation. Important impacts on the flower, animals, air, water were found, and measures of control, prevention and mitigation were stated. it is expected that this paper can be useful as a technical-economical support for the development of the open pit exploitation in the margarita mine

Nonperturbative theory of weak pre- and post-selected measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kofman, Abraham G., E-mail: kofmana@gmail.com; Ashhab, Sahel; Nori, Franco

2012-11-01

This paper starts with a brief review of the topic of strong and weak pre- and post-selected (PPS) quantum measurements, as well as weak values, and afterwards presents original work. In particular, we develop a nonperturbative theory of weak PPS measurements of an arbitrary system with an arbitrary meter, for arbitrary initial states of the system and the meter. New and simple analytical formulas are obtained for the average and the distribution of the meter pointer variable. These formulas hold to all orders in the weak value. In the case of a mixed preselected state, in addition to the standard weak value, an associated weak value is required to describe weak PPS measurements. In the linear regime, the theory provides the generalized Aharonov–Albert–Vaidman formula. Moreover, we reveal two new regimes of weak PPS measurements: the strongly-nonlinear regime and the inverted region (the regime with a very large weak value), where the system-dependent contribution to the pointer deflection decreases with increasing the measurement strength. The optimal conditions for weak PPS measurements are obtained in the strongly-nonlinear regime, where the magnitude of the average pointer deflection is equal or close to the maximum. This maximum is independent of the measurement strength, being typically of the order of the pointer uncertainty. In the optimal regime, the small parameter of the theory is comparable to the overlap of the pre- and post-selected states. We show that the amplification coefficient in the weak PPS measurements is generally a product of two qualitatively different factors. The effects of the free system and meter Hamiltonians are discussed. We also estimate the size of the ensemble required for a measurement and identify optimal and efficient meters for weak measurements. Exact solutions are obtained for a certain class of the measured observables. These solutions are used for numerical calculations, the results of which agree with the theory

Nonperturbative theory of weak pre- and post-selected measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kofman, Abraham G.; Ashhab, Sahel; Nori, Franco

2012-01-01

This paper starts with a brief review of the topic of strong and weak pre- and post-selected (PPS) quantum measurements, as well as weak values, and afterwards presents original work. In particular, we develop a nonperturbative theory of weak PPS measurements of an arbitrary system with an arbitrary meter, for arbitrary initial states of the system and the meter. New and simple analytical formulas are obtained for the average and the distribution of the meter pointer variable. These formulas hold to all orders in the weak value. In the case of a mixed preselected state, in addition to the standard weak value, an associated weak value is required to describe weak PPS measurements. In the linear regime, the theory provides the generalized Aharonov–Albert–Vaidman formula. Moreover, we reveal two new regimes of weak PPS measurements: the strongly-nonlinear regime and the inverted region (the regime with a very large weak value), where the system-dependent contribution to the pointer deflection decreases with increasing the measurement strength. The optimal conditions for weak PPS measurements are obtained in the strongly-nonlinear regime, where the magnitude of the average pointer deflection is equal or close to the maximum. This maximum is independent of the measurement strength, being typically of the order of the pointer uncertainty. In the optimal regime, the small parameter of the theory is comparable to the overlap of the pre- and post-selected states. We show that the amplification coefficient in the weak PPS measurements is generally a product of two qualitatively different factors. The effects of the free system and meter Hamiltonians are discussed. We also estimate the size of the ensemble required for a measurement and identify optimal and efficient meters for weak measurements. Exact solutions are obtained for a certain class of the measured observables. These solutions are used for numerical calculations, the results of which agree with the theory

Is Tourism Marriage of Young Girls in Egypt a Form of Child Sexual Abuse? A Family Exploitation Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Soliman, Hussein Hassan; Alsharqawi, Nagwa Ibrahim; Younis, Mustafa Ahmed

2018-01-01

Tourism marriage in Egypt is considered a part of the child marriage phenomenon, as parents following false interpretations of Islamic teachings offer up their daughters for short-term sexual relationships in return for money from tourists. This exploratory study used qualitative methods to interview 42 parents who reside in the city of Darasa, Giza, Egypt, whose daughters were persuaded to engage in tourism marriage. Eight social work students utilized an interview guide that contained 10 questions exploring how parents strike deals with tourists and avoid all legal and traditional procedures of marriage in Egypt. The findings of this study were summarized in six distinct themes, which show evidence of family exploitation of young women. This experience likely increases the child's vulnerability to psychological, social, and physical consequences.

On Hardy's paradox, weak measurements, and multitasking diagrams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meglicki, Zdzislaw

2011-01-01

We discuss Hardy's paradox and weak measurements by using multitasking diagrams, which are introduced to illustrate the progress of quantum probabilities through the double interferometer system. We explain how Hardy's paradox is avoided and elaborate on the outcome of weak measurements in this context. -- Highlights: → Hardy's paradox explained and eliminated. → Weak measurements: what is really measured? → Multitasking diagrams: introduced and used to discuss quantum mechanical processes.

Hunting the weak bosons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1979-01-01

The possibility of the production of weak bosons in the proton-antiproton colliding beam facilities which are currently being developed, is discussed. The production, decay and predicted properties of these particles are described. (W.D.L.).

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE BY UN PEACEKEEPERS ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Allaiac

from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (ST/SGB/2003/13) (UN, Secretary .... In addition, in most situations, UN personnel have enjoyed immunity from local .... 9 Official UN statistics show a higher incidence of allegations reported against.

Measures of weak noncompactness, nonlinear Leray-Schauder ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this paper, we establish some new nonlinear Leray-Schauder alternatives for the sum and the product of weakly sequentially continuous operators in Banach algebras satisfying certain sequential condition (P). The main condition in our results is formulated in terms of axiomatic measures of weak noncompactness.

Reception of the Istrian musical tradition(s

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marušić Dario

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The successive colonization of Istria with culturally differentiated populations, and peripheral position of the peninsula regarding both the Latin and Slav worlds, has conditioned interesting phenomena which defines the traditional life of the province. On the spiritual level it is primarily reflected in two cultural dimensions: the language and traditional music.

Weak localization in few-layer black phosphorus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du, Yuchen; Neal, Adam T; Zhou, Hong; Ye, Peide D

2016-01-01

We have conducted a comprehensive investigation into the magneto-transport properties of few-layer black phosphorus in terms of phase coherence length, phase coherence time, and mobility via weak localization measurement and Hall-effect measurement. We present magnetoresistance data showing the weak localization effect in bare p-type few-layer black phosphorus and reveal its strong dependence on temperature and carrier concentration. The measured weak localization agrees well with the Hikami–Larkin–Nagaoka model and the extracted phase coherence length of 104 nm at 350 mK, decreasing as ∼T −0.513+−0.053 with increased temperature. Weak localization measurement allows us to qualitatively probe the temperature-dependent phase coherence time τ ϕ , which is in agreement with the theory of carrier interaction in the diffusive regime. We also observe the universal conductance fluctuation phenomenon in few-layer black phosphorus within moderate magnetic field and low temperature regime. (paper)

Reduce conflicts in traditional merariq traditions through the long tradition of the tribal people of sasak lombok

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmini; Nadiroh, Ulin; Saeun Fahmi, Muhammad

2018-01-01

Marriage is a container for framing the inner-to-heart relationship, the bond of love and affection between a man and woman to nurture a joy of happiness. This study aims to find out how the process and stages in traditional merariq traditions in the Sasak people, conflicts arising from merariq traditions, and reduce conflict through the tradition of selabar. The method used in this research is qualitative analysis method. In the process, merariq tradition is done by kidnapping the bride without the knowledge of the parents or the family of the women. There are several stages that must be passed by the bride and groom in the tradition merariq, namely: besejati, nyelabar, bait wali, sorong serah dan nyongkolang. Conflict that often arises, for internal family, merariq often become a place of coercion against the female family. For society, merariq impact on disruption of harmony of social life. In order to reduce the conflicts done selabar tradition, the tragedy is regarded as an alternative problem solving in the form of negotiations between the bride and groom’s family and the bride-to-be relating to ajikrame and pisuke transactions.

Strong effects in weak nonleptonic decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wise, M.B.

1980-04-01

In this report the weak nonleptonic decays of kaons and hyperons are examined with the hope of gaining insight into a recently proposed mechanism for the ΔI = 1/2 rule. The effective Hamiltonian for ΔS = 1 weak nonleptonic decays and that for K 0 -anti K 0 mixing are calculated in the six-quark model using the leading logarithmic approximation. These are used to examine the CP violation parameters of the kaon system. It is found that if Penguin-type diagrams make important contributions to K → ππ decay amplitudes then upcoming experiments may be able to distinguish the six-quark model for CP violation from the superweak model. The weak radiative decays of hyperons are discussed with an emphasis on what they can teach us about hyperon nonleptonic decays and the ΔI = 1/2 rule

Weak Hard X-Ray Emission from Broad Absorption Line Quasars: Evidence for Intrinsic X-Ray Weakness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luo, B.; Brandt, W. N.; Alexander, D. M.

2014-01-01

We report NuSTAR observations of a sample of six X-ray weak broad absorption line (BAL) quasars. These targets, at z = 0.148-1.223, are among the optically brightest and most luminous BAL quasars known at z 330 times weaker than...... expected for typical quasars. Our results from a pilot NuSTAR study of two low-redshift BAL quasars, a Chandra stacking analysis of a sample of high-redshift BAL quasars, and a NuSTAR spectral analysis of the local BAL quasar Mrk 231 have already suggested the existence of intrinsically X-ray weak BAL...... quasars, i.e., quasars not emitting X-rays at the level expected from their optical/UV emission. The aim of the current program is to extend the search for such extraordinary objects. Three of the six new targets are weakly detected by NuSTAR with ≲ 45 counts in the 3-24 keV band, and the other three...

The exploitation of swamp plants for dewatering liquid sewage sludge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiří Šálek

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The operators of little rural wastewater treatment plants have been interested in economic exploitation of sewage sludge in local conditions. The chance is searching simply and natural ways of processing and exploitation stabilized sewage sludge in agriculture. Manure substrate have been obtained by composting waterless sewage sludge including rest plant biomass after closing 6–8 years period of filling liquid sewage sludge to the basin. Main attention was focused on exploitation of swamp plants for dewatering liquid sewage sludge and determination of influence sewage sludge on plants, intensity and course of evapotranspiration and design and setting of drying beds. On the base of determined ability of swamp plants evapotranspiration were edited suggestion solutions of design and operation sludge bed facilities in the conditions of small rural wastewater treatment plant.

Cultural Work as a Site of Struggle: Freelancers and Exploitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole S. Cohen

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This paper argues that Marxist political economy is a useful framework for understanding contemporary conditions of cultural work. Drawing on Karl Marx’s foundational concepts, labour process theory, and a case study of freelance writers, I argue that the debate over autonomy and control in cultural work ignores exploitation in labour-capital relationships, which is a crucial process shaping cultural work. To demonstrate the benefits of this approach, I discuss two methods media firms use to extract surplus value from freelance writers: exploitation of unpaid labour time and exploitation of intellectual property through aggressive copyright regimes. I argue that a Marxist perspective can uncover the dynamics that are transforming cultural industries and workers’ experiences. From this perspective, cultural work is understood as a site of struggle.

Financial Exploitation Is Associated With Structural and Functional Brain Differences in Healthy Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Spreng, R Nathan; Cassidy, Benjamin N; Darboh, Bri S; DuPre, Elizabeth; Lockrow, Amber W; Setton, Roni; Turner, Gary R

2017-10-01

Age-related brain changes leading to altered socioemotional functioning may increase vulnerability to financial exploitation. If confirmed, this would suggest a novel mechanism leading to heightened financial exploitation risk in older adults. Development of predictive neural markers could facilitate increased vigilance and prevention. In this preliminary study, we sought to identify structural and functional brain differences associated with financial exploitation in older adults. Financially exploited older adults (n = 13, 7 female) and a matched cohort of older adults who had been exposed to, but avoided, a potentially exploitative situation (n = 13, 7 female) were evaluated. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we examined cortical thickness and resting state functional connectivity. Behavioral data were collected using standardized cognitive assessments, self-report measures of mood and social functioning. The exploited group showed cortical thinning in anterior insula and posterior superior temporal cortices, regions associated with processing affective and social information, respectively. Functional connectivity encompassing these regions, within default and salience networks, was reduced, while between network connectivity was increased. Self-reported anger and hostility was higher for the exploited group. We observed financial exploitation associated with brain differences in regions involved in socioemotional functioning. These exploratory and preliminary findings suggest that alterations in brain regions implicated in socioemotional functioning may be a marker of financial exploitation risk. Large-scale, prospective studies are necessary to validate this neural mechanism, and develop predictive markers for use in clinical practice. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.

Availability Control for Means of Transport in Decisive Semi-Markov Models of Exploitation Process

Science.gov (United States)

Migawa, Klaudiusz

2012-12-01

The issues presented in this research paper refer to problems connected with the control process for exploitation implemented in the complex systems of exploitation for technical objects. The article presents the description of the method concerning the control availability for technical objects (means of transport) on the basis of the mathematical model of the exploitation process with the implementation of the decisive processes by semi-Markov. The presented method means focused on the preparing the decisive for the exploitation process for technical objects (semi-Markov model) and after that specifying the best control strategy (optimal strategy) from among possible decisive variants in accordance with the approved criterion (criteria) of the activity evaluation of the system of exploitation for technical objects. In the presented method specifying the optimal strategy for control availability in the technical objects means a choice of a sequence of control decisions made in individual states of modelled exploitation process for which the function being a criterion of evaluation reaches the extreme value. In order to choose the optimal control strategy the implementation of the genetic algorithm was chosen. The opinions were presented on the example of the exploitation process of the means of transport implemented in the real system of the bus municipal transport. The model of the exploitation process for the means of transports was prepared on the basis of the results implemented in the real transport system. The mathematical model of the exploitation process was built taking into consideration the fact that the model of the process constitutes the homogenous semi-Markov process.

Introduction to weak interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leite Lopes, J.

An account is first given of the electromagnetic interactions of complex, scalar, vector and spinor fields. It is shown that the electromagnetic field may be considered as a gauge field. Yang-Mills fields and the field theory invariant with respect to the non-Abelian gauge transformation group are then described. The construction, owing to this invariance principle, of conserved isospin currents associated with gauge fields is also demonstrated. This is followed by a historical survey of the development of the weak interaction theory, established at first to describe beta disintegration processes by analogy with electrodynamics. The various stages are mentioned from the discovery of principles and rules and violation of principles, such as those of invariance with respect to spatial reflection and charge conjugation to the formulation of the effective current-current Lagrangian and research on the structure of weak currents [fr

Geographical aspects of exploitation of nuclear energy in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurucova, S.

2007-05-01

The topic of exploitation of nuclear energy is becoming increasingly actual in the present time in connection with frequently discussed question of 'renaissance of nuclear energetics'. The work is aimed at research of geographical aspects of exploitation of nuclear energy for military and civil purposes on the territory of Europe. The base of work represents the analysis of theoretical aspects of research of energy, mainly of nuclear energy. The work examines the historical development of exploitation of nuclear energy since its discovery, through development of military nuclear industry in Europe, big attention is paid to spreading of nuclear energetics on the territory of Europe from its beginnings up to the present time. The main part of the work represents the analysis of the present situation of exploitation of nuclear energy for civil purposes in Europe. The attention is paid to so-called nuclear fuel cycle as complex chain of several reciprocally interconnected operations of nuclear fuel treatment. The monitoring of spatial relations among individual countries within their nuclear fuel cycles is emphasised. The analysis of historical development and of the present state of nuclear energetics finished up in the outline of the perspectives of its further development in Europe. The analysis of the tendencies of evolution of world energetic economy mentions on the trend of growth of energy consumption in the world and Europe, as well as on the important position of nuclear energy in the structure of energy sources. Summary in English language is included. (author)

Three Plays by Austin Clarke and the Commedia Tradition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Murray

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Commedia dell’arte influenced theatrical production styles in many European countries, Ireland being no exception, assimilating the influence through pantomime during colonial times. The drama of Austin Clarke (1896-1974 is usually examined in the context of Yeats’s plays and modern poetic drama. But among his plays are three little-known experimental pieces, The Kiss, The Second Kiss and The Third Kiss, which make use of four characters from the wider commedia tradition, Harlequin, Columbine, Pierrot and Pierrette and also self-consciously exploit the possibilities of romance, mischief and the carnivalesque for Clarke’s own poetic purposes. The aim of this essay is to show how Clarke’s use for his Lyric Theatre of themes and techniques derived from commedia dell’arte represents both a tribute to a specific international form and a critique in satirical terms of hypocrisies underlying Irish bourgeois society in the 1940s and after.

Exploiting HRM in support of lean manufacturing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Frances; Matthiesen, Rikke

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in HRM practices are-and could potentially be-exploited to support lean manufacturing in practice. First, a review of the pertinent literature regarding HRM, SHRM, and lean manufacturing is presented to provide an understanding of the mechanisms...... by which HRM practices could, theoretically, be used to support a lean implementation. Data presented in the paper are derived from 1) a longitudinal case study on lean implementation and 2) from managers currently involved with lean manufacturing in a second company. The relevant literature and the data...... depicting the potential role in supporting HRM/lean integrated practices. The analysis of the model with respect to the theoretical background emphasizes a number of areas in which HRM could be more fully exploited in order to more successfully support lean implementation, for example, by stressing HRM...

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN THE TOURISM – THE DARK SIDE OF TOURISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janez Mekinc

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The underlying causes of sexual exploitation and prostitution are poverty, inequality between women and men, high population growth and rural - urban migration. Victims are, predominantly, women and children with lower socio-economic status. One particular form of sexual exploitation is child sex tourism. This ruthless exploitation of children can be found throughout the world, predominantly in the third world and developing countries. Children, mainly between the ages of 6 to 14 years, are trapped in a vicious battle between large impoverished families who are dependent on their support, and a society that ruthlessly exploits them. In line with the trend in increasing child exploitation, there is, also, increasing exploitation of children for the purposes of child sex tourism. Based on the analysis of forms, reasons, impacts, consequences and trends of child sex tourism, it has been possible to develop from these findings some necessary measures to prevent this practice from occurring. Analysis of the phenomenon of child sex tourism has highlighted some fundamental conditions for preventing it becoming a social phenomenon. These include the strict implementation of laws against child labour and the political will to enforce them.

The ESA Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions element

Science.gov (United States)

Desnos, Yves-Louis; Regner, Peter; Delwart, Steven; Benveniste, Jerome; Engdahl, Marcus; Zehner, Claus; Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Bojkov, Bojan; Gascon, Ferran; Donlon, Craig; Davidson, Malcolm; Goryl, Philippe; Pinnock, Simon

2015-04-01

SEOM is a program element within the fourth period (2013-2017) of ESA's Earth Observation Envelope Programme (http://seom.esa.int/). The prime objective is to federate, support and expand the international research community that the ERS,ENVISAT and the Envelope programmes have built up over the last 25 years. It aims to further strengthen the leadership of the European Earth Observation research community by enabling them to extensively exploit future European operational EO missions. SEOM will enable the science community to address new scientific research that are opened by free and open access to data from operational EO missions. Based on community-wide recommendations for actions on key research issues, gathered through a series of international thematic workshops and scientific user consultation meetings, a work plan has been established and is approved every year by ESA Members States. The 2015 SEOM work plan is covering the organisation of three Science users consultation workshops for Sentinel1/3/5P , the launch of new R&D studies for scientific exploitation of the Sentinels, the development of open-source multi-mission scientific toolboxes, the organisation of advanced international training courses, summer schools and educational materials, as well as activities for promoting the scientific use of EO data. The first SEOM projects have been tendered since 2013 including the development of Sentinel toolboxes, advanced INSAR algorithms for Sentinel-1 TOPS data exploitation, Improved Atmospheric Spectroscopic data-base (IAS), as well as grouped studies for Sentinel-1, -2, and -3 land and ocean applications and studies for exploiting the synergy between the Sentinels. The status and first results from these SEOM projects will be presented and an outlook for upcoming SEOM studies will be given.

Weak interactions at high energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellis, J.

1978-08-01

Review lectures are presented on the phenomenological implications of the modern spontaneously broken gauge theories of the weak and electromagnetic interactions, and some observations are made about which high energy experiments probe what aspects of gauge theories. Basic quantum chromodynamics phenomenology is covered including momentum dependent effective quark distributions, the transverse momentum cutoff, search for gluons as sources of hadron jets, the status and prospects for the spectroscopy of fundamental fermions and how fermions may be used to probe aspects of the weak and electromagnetic gauge theory, studies of intermediate vector bosons, and miscellaneous possibilities suggested by gauge theories from the Higgs bosons to speculations about proton decay. 187 references

quasi hyperrigidity and weak peak points for non-commutative ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

7

Abstract. In this article, we introduce the notions of weak boundary repre- sentation, quasi hyperrigidity and weak peak points in the non-commutative setting for operator systems in C∗-algebras. An analogue of Saskin's theorem relating quasi hyperrigidity and weak Choquet boundary for particular classes of C∗-algebras is ...

Regulatory Framework on Exploration and Exploitation of Croatian Part of Adriatic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mudric, M.

2015-01-01

As the prelude to the regulation of marine exploration and exploitation activities in the Croatian Adriatic waters, the new Mining Act and Act on exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons have provided a general legal framework for the natural resources exploration and exploitation. The latter Act also appropriated the establishment of the independent regulatory body, the Hydrocarbon Agency. It is important to mention the Decree on Fees for exploration and production of hydrocarbons, and the Decree on main technical requirements on safety and security of offshore exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the Republic of Croatia, that are of special relevance for the current activities with regard the proposed project of exploration and exploitation of the Croatian waters in search for gas and oil sea-bed deposits. The Hydrocarbon Agency has published the Strategic Study of the Likely Significant Environmental Impact of the Framework Plan and Program of Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons in the Adriatic, a document receiving a lot of criticism from the legal experts and general public. At the same time, the experts tend to support the general idea of sea-bed exploration and exploitation, with the major antagonism still being present in the general public, with several initiatives introducing the possibility of a public referenda to oppose the sea-bed exploration and exploitation. The Government is currently preparing the Act on the Safety of Offshore Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Operations, based on the Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 1994 on the conditions for granting and using authorizations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1112/2014 of 13 October 2014 determining a common format for sharing of information on major hazard indicators by the operators and owners of offshore oil and gas installations and a common format

Exploitation of Factory Workers: A Study of Union Dicon Salt, Lagos ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examined labour exploitation in Nigeria with particular reference to Union Dicon Salt Plc., Lagos. The review of literature points to the fact that exploitation of the factory workers in the long run leads to strained relationships between management and staff. The situation becomes conflictual to the extent that both ...

Economic factors of vulnerability trade and exploitation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Allodi, L.

2017-01-01

Cybercrime markets support the development and diffusion of new attack technologies, vulnerability exploits, and malware. Whereas the revenue streams of cyber attackers have been studied multiple times in the literature, no quantitative account currently exists on the economics of attack acquisition

Thermal exploitation of shallow aquifers. Guide for the preparation of preliminary studies of technical feasibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ausseur, J.Y.; Sauty, J.P.

1982-08-01

This report presents the main devices aimed at exploiting surface aquifers. After an introduction to the different systems of thermal exploitation of aquifers (generalities, very low energy geothermal, sensitive heat storage, interest of thermal exploitation of aquifers, indication of possible systems), this report presents the different possible systems and analyses their characteristics and performance. These systems are: direct exploitation of groundwater bodies at their natural temperature by heat sink and with release in surface networks or by geothermal dipole, or exploitation with artificial thermal refill. Thus the report addresses the single sink device with or without storage, heat pumps on dipole in surface groundwater bodies or very low temperature geothermal, the scanning dipole system, and the dipole system with hot sink and cold sink. It discusses the choice and sizing of the exploitation system. An appendix reports a feasibility preliminary study of nine cases of thermal exploitation of surface aquifers by double drills

Forensic DNA barcoding and bio-response studies of animal horn products used in traditional medicine.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Yan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Animal horns (AHs have been applied to traditional medicine for more than thousands of years, of which clinical effects have been confirmed by the history. But now parts of AHs have been listed in the items of wildlife conservation, which limits the use for traditional medicine. The contradiction between the development of traditional medicine and the protection of wild resources has already become the common concern of zoophilists, traditional medical professionals, economists, sociologists. We believe that to strengthen the identification for threatened animals, to prevent the circulation of them, and to seek fertile animals of corresponding bioactivities as substitutes are effective strategies to solve this problem. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A powerful technique of DNA barcoding based on the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase I (COI was used to identify threatened animals of Bovidae and Cervidae, as well as their illegal adulterants (including 10 species and 47 specimens. Meanwhile, the microcalorimetric technique was used to characterize the differences of bio-responses when those animal specimens acted on model organism (Escherichia coli. We found that the COI gene could be used as a universal primer to identify threatened animals and illegal adulterants mentioned above. By analyzing 223 mitochondrial COI sequences, a 100% identification success rate was achieved. We further found that the horns of Mongolian Gazelle and Red Deer could be exploited as a substitute for some functions of endangered Saiga Antelope and Sika Deer in traditional medicine, respectively. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Although it needs a more comprehensive evaluation of bioequivalence in order to completely solve the problem of substitutes for threatened animals, we believe that the identification (DNA barcoding of threatened animals combined with seeking substitutions (bio-response can yet be regarded as a valid strategy for establishing a balance

Solution of weakly compressible isothermal flow in landfill gas collection networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nec, Y [Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia (Canada); Huculak, G, E-mail: cranberryana@gmail.com, E-mail: greg@gnhconsulting.ca [GNH Consulting, Delta, British Columbia (Canada)

2017-12-15

Pipe networks collecting gas in sanitary landfills operate under the regime of a weakly compressible isothermal flow of ideal gas. The effect of compressibility has been traditionally neglected in this application in favour of simplicity, thereby creating a conceptual incongruity between the flow equations and thermodynamic equation of state. Here the flow is solved by generalisation of the classic Darcy–Weisbach equation for an incompressible steady flow in a pipe to an ordinary differential equation, permitting continuous variation of density, viscosity and related fluid parameters, as well as head loss or gain due to gravity, in isothermal flow. The differential equation is solved analytically in the case of ideal gas for a single edge in the network. Thereafter the solution is used in an algorithm developed to construct the flow equations automatically for a network characterised by an incidence matrix, and determine pressure distribution, flow rates and all associated parameters therein. (paper)

Solution of weakly compressible isothermal flow in landfill gas collection networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nec, Y; Huculak, G

2017-01-01

Pipe networks collecting gas in sanitary landfills operate under the regime of a weakly compressible isothermal flow of ideal gas. The effect of compressibility has been traditionally neglected in this application in favour of simplicity, thereby creating a conceptual incongruity between the flow equations and thermodynamic equation of state. Here the flow is solved by generalisation of the classic Darcy–Weisbach equation for an incompressible steady flow in a pipe to an ordinary differential equation, permitting continuous variation of density, viscosity and related fluid parameters, as well as head loss or gain due to gravity, in isothermal flow. The differential equation is solved analytically in the case of ideal gas for a single edge in the network. Thereafter the solution is used in an algorithm developed to construct the flow equations automatically for a network characterised by an incidence matrix, and determine pressure distribution, flow rates and all associated parameters therein. (paper)

Simulation of weak and strong Langmuir collapse regimes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hadzievski, L.R.; Skoric, M.M.; Kono, M.; Sato, T.

1998-01-01

In order to check the validity of the self-similar solutions and the existence of weak and strong collapse regimes, direct two dimensional simulation of the time evolution of a Langmuir soliton instability is performed. Simulation is based on the Zakharov model of strong Langmuir turbulence in a weakly magnetized plasma accounting for the full ion dynamics. For parameters considered, agreement with self-similar dynamics of the weak collapse type is found with no evidence of the strong Langmuir collapse. (author)

Continuous detection of weak sensory signals in afferent spike trains: the role of anti-correlated interspike intervals in detection performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Goense, J B M; Ratnam, R

2003-10-01

An important problem in sensory processing is deciding whether fluctuating neural activity encodes a stimulus or is due to variability in baseline activity. Neurons that subserve detection must examine incoming spike trains continuously, and quickly and reliably differentiate signals from baseline activity. Here we demonstrate that a neural integrator can perform continuous signal detection, with performance exceeding that of trial-based procedures, where spike counts in signal- and baseline windows are compared. The procedure was applied to data from electrosensory afferents of weakly electric fish (Apteronotus leptorhynchus), where weak perturbations generated by small prey add approximately 1 spike to a baseline of approximately 300 spikes s(-1). The hypothetical postsynaptic neuron, modeling an electrosensory lateral line lobe cell, could detect an added spike within 10-15 ms, achieving near ideal detection performance (80-95%) at false alarm rates of 1-2 Hz, while trial-based testing resulted in only 30-35% correct detections at that false alarm rate. The performance improvement was due to anti-correlations in the afferent spike train, which reduced both the amplitude and duration of fluctuations in postsynaptic membrane activity, and so decreased the number of false alarms. Anti-correlations can be exploited to improve detection performance only if there is memory of prior decisions.

Nivelstein sandstone, weakly lithified pure silica sands from the Dutch-German border area, intermittently used in architecture for two millennia

Science.gov (United States)

Nijland, Timo G.; Wim Dubelaar, C.

2017-04-01

The current paper provides a concise overview of the geological setting of the Nivelstein sandstone in broad sense, its petrographic and physical characteristics, and its use as natural stone. Miocene pure silica sands occur around Heerlen in the southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg and Herzogenrath in adjacent Germany, as well as in the Belgian province of Limburg near Opgrimbie. In Dutch Limburg and in Germany are three large active exploitations, quarrying the sands for industrial purposes. On top of the unconsolidated sands in the Herzogenrath quarry, lithified banks of sandstone occur, known as Nivelstein (or more rarely Herzogenrath) sandstone. This sandstone has been used as dimension stone and ornamental stone since Roman times. In the 11th century the quarry was reopened and after a long period of disuse sandstone blocks were again quarried in the second half of the 19th century. The lithification of the Nivelstein sandstone usually is very weak, with grain to grain contacts and some newly formed quartz rims only. The clay content is extremely low and is restricted to tiny booklets of kaolinite. Despite the weak cementation the Nivelstein sandstone has proved to be very time-resistant building stone that forms a major element in the stone cultural heritage of the Dutch- German border area.

Prevalence of Weak D Antigen In Western Indian Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tanvi Sadaria

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Discovery of Rh antigens in 1939 by Landsteiner and Weiner was the revolutionary stage in blood banking. Of these antigens, D, which decides Rh positivity or negativity, is the most antigenic. A problem is encountered when an individual has a weakened expression of D (Du, i.e., fewer numbers of D antigens on red cell membrane. Aims and Objectives: To know the prevalence of weak D in Indian population because incidence varies in different population. To determine the risk of alloimmunization among Rh D negative patients who receives the blood of weak D positive donors. Material and Methods: Rh grouping of 38,962 donors who came to The Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion of Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad from 1st January 2013 to 30th September 2014 was done using the DIAGAST (Automated Grouping. The samples that tested negative for D antigen were further analysed for weak D (Du by indirect antiglobulin test using blend of Ig G and Ig M Anti D. This was done using Column agglutination method in ID card (gel card. Results: The total number of donors studied was 38,962. Out of these 3360(8.6% were tested Rh D negative. All Rh D negative donors were tested for weak D (Du. 22 (0.056% of total donors and 0.65% of Rh negative donors turned out to be weak D (Du positive. Conclusion: The prevalence of weak D (Du in Western Indian population is 0.056 %, So the risk of alloimmunization in our setting due to weak D (Du antigen is marginal. But, testing of weak D antigen is necessary in blood bank because weak D antigen is immunogenic and can produce alloimmunization if transfused to Rh D negative subjects.

Sexual slavery without borders: trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation in India

Science.gov (United States)

Joffres, Christine; Mills, Edward; Joffres, Michel; Khanna, Tinku; Walia, Harleen; Grund, Darrin

2008-01-01

Trafficking in women and children is a gross violation of human rights. However, this does not prevent an estimated 800 000 women and children to be trafficked each year across international borders. Eighty per cent of trafficked persons end in forced sex work. India has been identified as one of the Asian countries where trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation has reached alarming levels. While there is a considerable amount of internal trafficking from one state to another or within states, India has also emerged as a international supplier of trafficked women and children to the Gulf States and South East Asia, as well as a destination country for women and girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation from Nepal and Bangladesh. Trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation is a highly profitable and low risk business that preys on particularly vulnerable populations. This paper presents an overview of the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation (CSE) in India; identifies the health impacts of CSE; and suggest strategies to respond to trafficking and related issues. PMID:18817576

Sexual slavery without borders: trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Joffres, Christine; Mills, Edward; Joffres, Michel; Khanna, Tinku; Walia, Harleen; Grund, Darrin

2008-09-25

Trafficking in women and children is a gross violation of human rights. However, this does not prevent an estimated 800 000 women and children to be trafficked each year across international borders. Eighty per cent of trafficked persons end in forced sex work. India has been identified as one of the Asian countries where trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation has reached alarming levels. While there is a considerable amount of internal trafficking from one state to another or within states, India has also emerged as a international supplier of trafficked women and children to the Gulf States and South East Asia, as well as a destination country for women and girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation from Nepal and Bangladesh. Trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation is a highly profitable and low risk business that preys on particularly vulnerable populations. This paper presents an overview of the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation (CSE) in India; identifies the health impacts of CSE; and suggest strategies to respond to trafficking and related issues.

Piloting the older adult financial exploitation measure in adult safeguarding services.

Science.gov (United States)

Phelan, A; Fealy, G; Downes, C

Financial abuse is arguably the most complex form of elder abuse as it may occur remote to the older person and it is impacted by issues such as cultural values, perpetrator intent and family expectations. Financial abuse may not be recognised by either the older person or the perpetrator, thus, its prevention, early identification and amelioration are important. The (Irish) National Centre for the Protection of Older People undertook a study to determine the appropriateness of the Older Adult Financial Exploitation Measure for use by the national safeguarding older person services. Findings from a small pilot study involving 16 safeguarding staff's use of the Older Adult Financial Exploitation Measure with 52 community dwelling older people referred to their service demonstrate a higher suspicion of financial abuse as well as identifying multiple instances of possible financial exploitation in a single individual. Thus, the Older Adult Financial Exploitation Measure is considered appropriate to assist safeguarding personnel's assessment of older people related to a suspicion of financial abuse. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Algorithms exploiting ultrasonic sensors for subject classification

Science.gov (United States)

Desai, Sachi; Quoraishee, Shafik

2009-09-01

Proposed here is a series of techniques exploiting micro-Doppler ultrasonic sensors capable of characterizing various detected mammalian targets based on their physiological movements captured a series of robust features. Employed is a combination of unique and conventional digital signal processing techniques arranged in such a manner they become capable of classifying a series of walkers. These processes for feature extraction develops a robust feature space capable of providing discrimination of various movements generated from bipeds and quadrupeds and further subdivided into large or small. These movements can be exploited to provide specific information of a given signature dividing it in a series of subset signatures exploiting wavelets to generate start/stop times. After viewing a series spectrograms of the signature we are able to see distinct differences and utilizing kurtosis, we generate an envelope detector capable of isolating each of the corresponding step cycles generated during a walk. The walk cycle is defined as one complete sequence of walking/running from the foot pushing off the ground and concluding when returning to the ground. This time information segments the events that are readily seen in the spectrogram but obstructed in the temporal domain into individual walk sequences. This walking sequence is then subsequently translated into a three dimensional waterfall plot defining the expected energy value associated with the motion at particular instance of time and frequency. The value is capable of being repeatable for each particular class and employable to discriminate the events. Highly reliable classification is realized exploiting a classifier trained on a candidate sample space derived from the associated gyrations created by motion from actors of interest. The classifier developed herein provides a capability to classify events as an adult humans, children humans, horses, and dogs at potentially high rates based on the tested sample

Weak limits for quantum random walks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimmett, Geoffrey; Janson, Svante; Scudo, Petra F.

2004-01-01

We formulate and prove a general weak limit theorem for quantum random walks in one and more dimensions. With X n denoting position at time n, we show that X n /n converges weakly as n→∞ to a certain distribution which is absolutely continuous and of bounded support. The proof is rigorous and makes use of Fourier transform methods. This approach simplifies and extends certain preceding derivations valid in one dimension that make use of combinatorial and path integral methods

Exploiting indigenous knowledge in the environmental conservation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... of agriculture and reared livestock (especially goats). Over several years, they developed sustainable and effective exploitation mechanisms of the existing biodiversity resources to satisfy their individual needs and those of their societies in general. Journal of Language, Technology and Entrepreneurship in Africa Vol.

Managerial attention to exploitation versus exploration : Toward a dynamic perspective on ambidexterity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Walrave, B.; Romme, A.G.L.; van Oorschot, K.E.; Langerak, F.

2017-01-01

Managerial attention to exploitation and exploration has a strong influence on organizational performance. However, there is hardly any knowledge about whether senior managers need to adjust their distribution of attention to exploitation and exploration in response to major changes in demand

Quick detection of traditional Chinese medicine ‘Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma’ pieces by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Hao; Shi, Hong; Feng, Shangyuan; Lin, Juqiang; Chen, Weiwei; Yu, Yun; Lin, Duo; Xu, Qian; Chen, Rong

2013-01-01

A surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method was developed for the analysis of traditional Chinese medicine ‘Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma’ pieces (AMRP) for the first time with the aim to develop a quick method for traditional Chinese medicine detection. Both Raman spectra and SERS spectra were obtained from AMRP, and tentative assignments of the Raman bands in the measured spectra suggested that only a few weak Raman peaks could be observed in the regular Raman spectra, while primary Raman peaks at around 536, 555, 619, 648, 691, 733, 790, 958, 1004, 1031, 1112, 1244, 1324, 1395, 1469, 1574 and 1632 cm-1 could be observed in the SERS spectra, with the strongest signals at 619, 733, 958, 1324, 1395 and 1469 cm-1. This was due to a strong interaction between the silver colloids and the AMRP, which led to an extraordinary enhancement in the intensity of the Raman scattering in AMRP. This exploratory study suggests the SERS technique has great potential for providing a novel non-destructive method for effectively and accurately detecting traditional Chinese medicine without complicated separation and extraction.

Following international trends while subject to past traditions: neuropsychological test use in the Nordic countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Egeland, Jens; Løvstad, Marianne; Norup, Anne; Nybo, Taina; Persson, Bengt A; Rivera, Diego Fernando; Schanke, Anne-Kristine; Sigurdardottir, Solrun; Arango-Lasprilla, Juan Carlos

2016-01-01

Historically, the neuropsychological test traditions of the four Nordic countries have spanned from the flexible and qualitative tradition of Luria-Christensen to the quantitative large battery approach of Halstead and Kløve-Matthews. This study reports current test use and discusses whether these traditions still influence attitudes toward test use and choice of tests. The study is based on survey data from 702 Nordic neuropsychologists. The average participant used 9 tests in a standard assessment, and 25 tests overall in their practice. Test use was moderated by nationality, competence level, practice profile, and by attitude toward test selection. Participants who chose their tests flexibly used fewer tests than those adhering to the flexible battery approach, but had fewer tests from which to choose. Testing patients with psychiatric disorders was associated with using more tests. IQ, memory, attention, and executive function were the domains with the largest utilization rate, while tests of motor, visual/spatial, and language were used by few. There is a lack of academic achievement tests. Screening tests played a minor role in specialized assessments, and symptom validity tests were seldom applied on a standard basis. Most tests were of Anglo-American origin. New test methods are implemented rapidly in the Nordic countries, but test selection is also characterized by the dominating position of established and much researched tests. The Halstead-Reitan and Luria traditions are currently weak, but national differences in size of test batteries seem to be influenced by these longstanding traditions.

Weak values in a classical theory with an epistemic restriction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karanjai, Angela; Cavalcanti, Eric G; Bartlett, Stephen D; Rudolph, Terry

2015-01-01

Weak measurement of a quantum system followed by postselection based on a subsequent strong measurement gives rise to a quantity called the weak value: a complex number for which the interpretation has long been debated. We analyse the procedure of weak measurement and postselection, and the interpretation of the associated weak value, using a theory of classical mechanics supplemented by an epistemic restriction that is known to be operationally equivalent to a subtheory of quantum mechanics. Both the real and imaginary components of the weak value appear as phase space displacements in the postselected expectation values of the measurement device's position and momentum distributions, and we recover the same displacements as in the quantum case by studying the corresponding evolution in our theory of classical mechanics with an epistemic restriction. By using this epistemically restricted theory, we gain insight into the appearance of the weak value as a result of the statistical effects of post selection, and this provides us with an operational interpretation of the weak value, both its real and imaginary parts. We find that the imaginary part of the weak value is a measure of how much postselection biases the mean phase space distribution for a given amount of measurement disturbance. All such biases proportional to the imaginary part of the weak value vanish in the limit where disturbance due to measurement goes to zero. Our analysis also offers intuitive insight into how measurement disturbance can be minimized and the limits of weak measurement. (paper)

Feasibility study of a latchup-based particle detector exploiting commercial CMOS technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabrielli, A.; Matteucci, G.; Civera, P.; Demarchi, D.; Villani, G.; Weber, M.

2009-01-01

The stimulated ignition of latchup effects caused by external radiation has so far proved to be a hidden hazard. Here this effect is described as a novel approach to detect particles by means of a solid-state device susceptible to latchup effects. In addition, the device can also be used as a circuit for reading sensors devices, leaving the capability of sensing to external sensors. The paper first describes the state-of-the-art of the project and its development over the latest years, then the present and future studies are proposed. An elementary cell composed of two transistors connected in a thyristor structure is shown. The study begins using traditional bipolar transistors since the latchup effect is originated as a parasitic circuit composed of such devices. Then, an equivalent circuit built up of MOS transistors is exploited, resulting an even more promising and challenging configuration than that obtained via bipolar transistors. As the MOS transistors are widely used at present in microelectronics devices and sensors, a latchup-based cell is proposed as a novel structure for future applications in particle detection, amplification of signal sensors and radiation monitoring.

Water Exploitation and Its Outcomes Caused by Capitalism as Reflected on Gore Verbinski's Rango Movie

OpenAIRE

SETIAWAN, DANIEL NUGRAHA

2014-01-01

Nugraha Setiawan, Daniel. 2014. Water Exploitation and Its Outcome Caused byCapitalism as Reflected on Gore Verbinski's Rango Movie. Study Program ofEnglish, Universitas Brawijaya.Supervisor: Yusri Fajar, Co-supervisor: Melania Shinta Harendika.Keywords: water exploitation, environment, capitalism, Rango movie. Water exploitation threats ecosystem and causes a great damage to environment. One of the causes of the water exploitation is capitalism. The movie entitled Rango reveals some causes a...

Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the development of a health technology assessment program in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahveci, Rabia; Meads, Catherine

2008-01-01

The Turkish healthcare system is currently undergoing reform, and efficient use of resources has become a key factor in determining the allocation of resources. The objective of this study was to analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) in the development of a health technology assessment (HTA) program in Turkey. A SWOT analysis was performed using a literature review and interviews with key people in the Turkish Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labor and Social Security. Regarding recent reforms in health care, investments for information network and databank are the strengths, but the traditional "expert-based" decision making, poor availability of data, and poor quality of data could be seen as some of the weaknesses. Another major weakness is lack of general awareness of HTA. Increasing demand for transparency in decision making, demand for evidence, and demand for credibility by decision makers are some of the opportunities, and current healthcare reforms, i.e., restructuring of healthcare and general health insurance, could also be seen as major opportunities. These opportunities unfortunately could be threatened by lack of funding, and resources are challenged by large, recent national investments. There is a good opportunity for Turkey to use the skills in HTA currently being developed through activities in Europe and the Americas to assist in the development of a much more cost-effective and transparent healthcare system in Turkey.

Boldness predicts an individual's position along an exploration-exploitation foraging trade-off.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, Samantha C; Pinaud, David; Weimerskirch, Henri

2017-09-01

Individuals do not have complete information about the environment and therefore they face a trade-off between gathering information (exploration) and gathering resources (exploitation). Studies have shown individual differences in components of this trade-off but how stable these strategies are in a population and the intrinsic drivers of these differences is not well understood. Top marine predators are expected to experience a particularly strong trade-off as many species have large foraging ranges and their prey often have a patchy distribution. This environment leads these species to exhibit pronounced exploration and exploitation phases but differences between individuals are poorly resolved. Personality differences are known to be important in foraging behaviour but also in the trade-off between exploration and exploitation. Here we test whether personality predicts an individual exploration-exploitation strategy using wide ranging wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) as a model system. Using GPS tracking data from 276 wandering albatrosses, we extract foraging parameters indicative of exploration (searching) and exploitation (foraging) and show that foraging effort, time in patch and size of patch are strongly correlated, demonstrating these are indicative of an exploration-exploitation (EE) strategy. Furthermore, we show these are consistent within individuals and appear stable in the population, with no reproductive advantage. The searching and foraging behaviour of bolder birds placed them towards the exploration end of the trade-off, whereas shy birds showed greater exploitation. This result provides a mechanism through which individual foraging strategies may emerge. Age and sex affected components of the trade-off, but not the trade-off itself, suggesting these factors may drive behavioural compensation to maintain resource acquisition and this was supported by the evidence that there were no fitness consequence of any EE trait nor the trade

Exploiting citation contexts for physics retrieval

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dabrowska, Anna; Larsen, Birger

2015-01-01

The text surrounding citations within scientific papers may contain terms that usefully describe cited documents and can benefit retrieval. We present a preliminary study that investigates appending ci- tation contexts from citing documents to cited documents in the iSearch test collection. We ex...... in a large collection of physics papers, paving the way for future research that exploits citation contexts for retrieval....

Understanding traditional African healing.

Science.gov (United States)

Mokgobi, M G

2014-09-01

Traditional African healing has been in existence for many centuries yet many people still seem not to understand how it relates to God and religion/spirituality. Some people seem to believe that traditional healers worship the ancestors and not God. It is therefore the aim of this paper to clarify this relationship by discussing a chain of communication between the worshipers and the Almighty God. Other aspects of traditional healing namely types of traditional healers, training of traditional healers as well as the role of traditional healers in their communities are discussed. In conclusion, the services of traditional healers go far beyond the uses of herbs for physical illnesses. Traditional healers serve many roles which include but not limited to custodians of the traditional African religion and customs, educators about culture, counselors, social workers and psychologists.

Normative Beliefs about Aggression as a Mediator of Narcissistic Exploitativeness and Cyberbullying

Science.gov (United States)

Ang, Rebecca P.; Tan, Kit-Aun; Mansor, Abu Talib

2011-01-01

The current study examined normative beliefs about aggression as a mediator between narcissistic exploitativeness and cyberbullying using two Asian adolescent samples from Singapore and Malaysia. Narcissistic exploitativeness was significantly and positively associated with cyberbullying and normative beliefs about aggression and normative beliefs…

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN THE TOURISM – THE DARK SIDE OF TOURISM

OpenAIRE

Janez Mekinc; Katarina Music

2015-01-01

The underlying causes of sexual exploitation and prostitution are poverty, inequality between women and men, high population growth and rural - urban migration. Victims are, predominantly, women and children with lower socio-economic status. One particular form of sexual exploitation is child sex tourism. This ruthless exploitation of children can be found throughout the world, predominantly in the third world and developing countries. Children, mainly between the ages of 6 to 14 years, are t...

Escaping from the exploitation trap by shaping the digital future

OpenAIRE

Füzes, Péter; Gódor, Zoltán; Szabó, Zsolt Roland

2017-01-01

Even Fortune 500 firms can disappear quickly, because many of them falls into an exploitation trap. Examples show that certain organizations – that manifest ambidextrous features – can avoid the exploitation trap. But, how can they do it? Authors tracked the digital transformation of a Fortune 500 company in order to understand the strategic and organizational challenges and solutions to become resilient and prosperous. A cutting edge example is shown in the paper about how an industry leader...

Weak hadronic currents in compensation theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pappas, R.C.

1975-01-01

Working within the framework of a compensation theory of strong and weak interactions, it is shown that: (1) an axial vector baryon number current can be included in the weak current algebra if certain restrictions on the K-meson strong couplings are relaxed; (2) the theory does not permit the introduction of strange currents of the chiral form V + A; and (3) the assumption that the superweak currents of the theory cannot contain certain CP conserving terms can be justified on the basis of compensation requirements

Weak interactions of the b quark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Branco, G.C.; Mohapatra, R.N.

1978-01-01

In weak-interaction models with two charged W bosons of comparable mass, there exists a novel possibility for the weak interactions of the b quark, in which the (u-barb)/sub R/ current occurs with maximal strength. It is noted that multimuon production in e + e - annihilation at above Q 2 > or approx. = (12 GeV) 2 will distinguish this scheme from the conventional one. We also present a Higgs system that leads naturally to this type of coupling, in a class of gauge models

CPT non-invariance and weak interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsu, J.P.

1973-01-01

In this talk, I will describe a possible violation of CPT invariance in the domain of weak interactions. One can construct a model of weak interactions which, in order to be consistent with all experimental data, must violate CPT maximally. The model predicts many specific results for decay processes which could be tested in the planned neutral hyperon beam or neutrino beam at NAL. The motivations and the physical idea in the model are explained and the implications of the model are discussed. (U.S.)

Traditional-medical knowledge and perception of pangolins (manis sps among the awori people, Southwestern Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adekanola Temilolu A

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Animals have been used as medicinal resources throughout human history. Majority of wildlife used in traditional medicines is taken from the wild; hence demand by traditional medicine is a cause of over-exploitation of wild animals. Indiscriminate use of endangered species portends grievous implications for biodiversity conservation. This study investigated the dynamics of the use of pangolin in trado-medicinal preparations amongst the Awori people. Methods Forty traditional Yorubic-medical practitioners (tymps selected through stratified random-sampling technique were interviewed using open-ended questionnaires. Various aspects of the utilisation of pangolin in traditional medicinal practices were investigated. Data collected were analysed using simple frequencies and percentages. Results An average of 1.6 pangolins were utilised per tymp per month. About 43% of respondents contracted hunters for deliberate searches for the animals. More than 92% believed that pangolins' abundance is steadily decreasing. Above 97% reported a continuous decline in the size of pangolin. Pangolin was used in treating 47 conditions. Situations accommodated included those that can be treated by orthodox medicine like rheumatism and venereal diseases as well as some that are out of range for orthodox medicine including kleptomania and good luck charms. Some substitute animals like gorilla are under a greater conservation threat than pangolin. Conclusions Utilisation of pangolin in traditional medicine has no consideration for sustainability. Awareness should be created on people as regards the implications of unsustainable depletion of medicinal resources. Efforts should be intensified on ex-situ breeding of pangolin while subjecting the scales and other parts to laboratory studies to determine the bioactive constituents.

The weak interaction in nuclear, particle and astrophysics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grotz, K.; Klapdor, H.V.

1989-01-01

This book is an introduction to the concepts of weak interactions and their importance and consequences for nuclear physics, particle physics, neutrino physics, astrophysics and cosmology. After a general introduction to elementary particles and interactions the Fermi theory of weak interactions is described together with its connection with nuclear structure and beta decay including the double beta decay. Then, after a general description of gauge theories the Weinberg-Salam theory of the electroweak interactions is introduced. Thereafter the weak interactions are considered in the framework of grand unification. Then the physics of neutrinos is discussed. Thereafter connections of weak interactions with astrophysics are considered with special regards to the gravitational collapse and the synthesis of heavy elements in the r-process. Finally, the connections of grand unified theories and cosmology are considered. (HSI) With 141 figs., 39 tabs

Weak relativity

CERN Document Server

Selleri, Franco

2015-01-01

Weak Relativity is an equivalent theory to Special Relativity according to Reichenbach’s definition, where the parameter epsilon equals to 0. It formulates a Neo-Lorentzian approach by replacing the Lorentz transformations with a new set named “Inertial Transformations”, thus explaining the Sagnac effect, the twin paradox and the trip from the future to the past in an easy and elegant way. The cosmic microwave background is suggested as a possible privileged reference system. Most importantly, being a theory based on experimental proofs, rather than mutual consensus, it offers a physical description of reality independent of the human observation.

Staggering towards a calculation of weak amplitudes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sharpe, S.R.

1988-09-01

An explanation is given of the methods required to calculate hadronic matrix elements of the weak Hamiltonians using lattice QCD with staggered fermions. New results are presented for the 1-loop perturbative mixing of the weak interaction operators. New numerical techniques designed for staggered fermions are described. A preliminary result for the kaon B parameter is presented. 24 refs., 3 figs.

Precision phase estimation based on weak-value amplification

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, Xiaodong; Xie, Linguo; Liu, Xiong; Luo, Lan; Li, Zhaoxue; Zhang, Zhiyou; Du, Jinglei

2017-02-01

In this letter, we propose a precision method for phase estimation based on the weak-value amplification (WVA) technique using a monochromatic light source. The anomalous WVA significantly suppresses the technical noise with respect to the intensity difference signal induced by the phase delay when the post-selection procedure comes into play. The phase measured precision of this method is proportional to the weak-value of a polarization operator in the experimental range. Our results compete well with the wide spectrum light phase weak measurements and outperform the standard homodyne phase detection technique.

Impact socio-environnemental de l'exploitation du sable marin sur le ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

En effet, l'exploitation du sable marin dans cette contrée s'est ouverte et évolue du fait de l'urbanisation galopante de la Commune liée à l'érection des ... In addition, the uncontrolled exploitation increased coastal erosion and does little to improve the conditions of economic and social life of the people who indulge ...

Weak lensing probes of modified gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, Fabian

2008-01-01

We study the effect of modifications to general relativity on large-scale weak lensing observables. In particular, we consider three modified gravity scenarios: f(R) gravity, the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model, and tensor-vector-scalar theory. Weak lensing is sensitive to the growth of structure and the relation between matter and gravitational potentials, both of which will in general be affected by modified gravity. Restricting ourselves to linear scales, we compare the predictions for galaxy-shear and shear-shear correlations of each modified gravity cosmology to those of an effective dark energy cosmology with the same expansion history. In this way, the effects of modified gravity on the growth of perturbations are separated from the expansion history. We also propose a test which isolates the matter-potential relation from the growth factor and matter power spectrum. For all three modified gravity models, the predictions for galaxy and shear correlations will be discernible from those of dark energy with very high significance in future weak lensing surveys. Furthermore, each model predicts a measurably distinct scale dependence and redshift evolution of galaxy and shear correlations, which can be traced back to the physical foundations of each model. We show that the signal-to-noise for detecting signatures of modified gravity is much higher for weak lensing observables as compared to the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, measured via the galaxy-cosmic microwave background cross-correlation.

Weak interaction potentials of nucleons in the Weinberg-Salam model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lobov, G.A.

1979-01-01

Weak interaction potentials of nucleons due to the nonet vector meson exchange are obtained in the Weinberg-Salam model using the vector-meson dominance. Contribution from the hadronic neutral currents to the weak interaction potential due to the charged pion exchange is obtained. The isotopic structure of the obtained potentials, that is unambiguous in the Weinberg-Salam model, is investigated. Enhancement of the nucleon weak interaction in nuclei resulting from the hadronic neutral currents is discussed. A nuclear one-particle weak interaction potential is presented that is a result of averaging of the two-particle potential over the states of the nuclear core. An approach to the nucleon weak interaction based on the quark model, is discussed. Effects of the nucleon weak interaction in the radiative capture of a thermal neutron by a proton, are considered

Proximal Limb Weakness Reverting After CSF Diversion In Intracranial Hypertension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sinha S

2005-01-01

Full Text Available We report about two young girls who developed progressive visual failure secondary to increased intracranial pressure and had significant proximal muscle weakness of limbs. Patients with elevated intracranial pressure (ICP may present with "false localizing signs", besides having headache, vomiting and papilledema. Radicular pain as a manifestation of raised ICP is rare and motor weakness attributable to polyradiculopathy is exceptional. Two patients with increased intracranial pressure without lateralizing signs′ had singnificant muscle weakness. Clinical evaluation and laboratory tests did not disclose any other cause for weakness. Following theco-peritoneal shunt, in both patients, there was variable recovery of vision but the proximal weakness and symptoms of elevated ICP improved rapidly. Recognition of this uncommon manifestation of raised ICP may obviate the need for unnecessary investigation and reduce morbidity due to weakness by CSF diversion procedure.

Uncovering Indicators of Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bounds, Dawn; Delaney, Kathleen R; Julion, Wrenetha; Breitenstein, Susan

2017-07-01

It is estimated that annually 100,000 to 300,000 youth are at risk for sex trafficking; a commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or any such act where the person induced to perform such an act is younger than 18 years of age. Increasingly, such transactions are occurring online via Internet-based sites that serve the commercial sex industry. Commercial sex transactions involving trafficking are illegal; thus, Internet discussions between those involved must be veiled. Even so, transactions around sex trafficking do occur. Within these transactions are innuendos that provide one avenue for detecting potential activity. The purpose of this study is to identify linguistic indicators of potential commercial sexual exploitation within the online comments of men posted on an Internet site. Six hundred sixty-six posts from five Midwest cities and 363 unique members were analyzed via content analysis. Three main indicators were found: the presence of youth or desire for youthfulness, presence of pimps, and awareness of vulnerability. These findings begin a much-needed dialogue on uncovering online risks of commercial sexual exploitation and support the need for further research on Internet indicators of sex trafficking.

In Vivo Predictive Dissolution: Comparing the Effect of Bicarbonate and Phosphate Buffer on the Dissolution of Weak Acids and Weak Bases.

Science.gov (United States)

Krieg, Brian J; Taghavi, Seyed Mohammad; Amidon, Gordon L; Amidon, Gregory E

2015-09-01

Bicarbonate is the main buffer in the small intestine and it is well known that buffer properties such as pKa can affect the dissolution rate of ionizable drugs. However, bicarbonate buffer is complicated to work with experimentally. Finding a suitable substitute for bicarbonate buffer may provide a way to perform more physiologically relevant dissolution tests. The dissolution of weak acid and weak base drugs was conducted in bicarbonate and phosphate buffer using rotating disk dissolution methodology. Experimental results were compared with the predicted results using the film model approach of (Mooney K, Mintun M, Himmelstein K, Stella V. 1981. J Pharm Sci 70(1):22-32) based on equilibrium assumptions as well as a model accounting for the slow hydration reaction, CO2 + H2 O → H2 CO3 . Assuming carbonic acid is irreversible in the dehydration direction: CO2 + H2 O ← H2 CO3 , the transport analysis can accurately predict rotating disk dissolution of weak acid and weak base drugs in bicarbonate buffer. The predictions show that matching the dissolution of weak acid and weak base drugs in phosphate and bicarbonate buffer is possible. The phosphate buffer concentration necessary to match physiologically relevant bicarbonate buffer [e.g., 10.5 mM (HCO3 (-) ), pH = 6.5] is typically in the range of 1-25 mM and is very dependent upon drug solubility and pKa . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.

Growth, Mortality and Exploitation Rates of Sarotherodon ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Evans

ABSTRACT. Sarotherodon melanotheron population of Dominli Lagoon in the Western Region of Ghana was studied for its growth and mortality parameters as well as exploitation rate. The study generally aimed at providing basic information necessary for the assessment and management of the fish stock in the lagoon.

The exploitation of "Exploitation" in the tenofovir prep trial in Cameroon: Lessons learned from media coverage of an HIV prevention trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Mack, Natasha; Robinson, Elizabeth T; MacQueen, Kathleen M; Moffett, Jill; Johnson, Laura M

2010-06-01

media coverage influences how clinical trials are perceived internationally and in communities where trials occur, affecting recruitment, retention, and political support for research. We conducted a discourse analysis of news coverage from 2004-2005 of a trial in Cameroon on oral PrEP for HIV prevention, to identify messages, communication techniques, and sources of messages that were amplified via media. We identified two parallel discourses: one on ethical concerns about the Cameroon trial, and a second, more general "science exploitation" discourse concerned with the potential for trials with vulnerable participant populations to be conducted unethically, benefiting only wealthy populations. Researchers should overtly address exploitation as an integral, ongoing component of research, particularly where historical or cultural conditions set the stage for controversy to emerge.

Adaptive Reactive Power Control of PV Power Plants for Improved Power Transfer Capability under Ultra-Weak Grid Conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Dongsheng; Wang, Xiongfei; Liu, Fangcheng

2018-01-01

with the unity power factor. Then, considering the reactive power compensation from PV inverters, the minimum SCR in respect to Power Factor (PF) is derived, and the optimized coordination of the active and reactive power is exploited. It is revealed that the power transfer capability of PV power plant under...... of a 200 MW PV power plant demonstrate that the proposed method can ensure the rated power transfer of PV power plant with the SCR of 1.25, provided that the PV inverters are operated with the minimal PF=0.9.......This paper analyzes the power transfer limitation of the PV power plant under the ultra-weak grid condition, i.e., when the Short-Circuit Ratio (SCR) is close to 1. It explicitly identifies that a minimum SCR of 2 is required for the PV power plant to deliver the rated active power when operating...

Reducing Weak to Strong Bisimilarity in CCP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrés Aristizábal

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Concurrent constraint programming (ccp is a well-established model for concurrency that singles out the fundamental aspects of asynchronous systems whose agents (or processes evolve by posting and querying (partial information in a global medium. Bisimilarity is a standard behavioural equivalence in concurrency theory. However, only recently a well-behaved notion of bisimilarity for ccp, and a ccp partition refinement algorithm for deciding the strong version of this equivalence have been proposed. Weak bisimiliarity is a central behavioural equivalence in process calculi and it is obtained from the strong case by taking into account only the actions that are observable in the system. Typically, the standard partition refinement can also be used for deciding weak bisimilarity simply by using Milner's reduction from weak to strong bisimilarity; a technique referred to as saturation. In this paper we demonstrate that, because of its involved labeled transitions, the above-mentioned saturation technique does not work for ccp. We give an alternative reduction from weak ccp bisimilarity to the strong one that allows us to use the ccp partition refinement algorithm for deciding this equivalence.

The exploration-exploitation dilemma: a multidisciplinary framework.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oded Berger-Tal

Full Text Available The trade-off between the need to obtain new knowledge and the need to use that knowledge to improve performance is one of the most basic trade-offs in nature, and optimal performance usually requires some balance between exploratory and exploitative behaviors. Researchers in many disciplines have been searching for the optimal solution to this dilemma. Here we present a novel model in which the exploration strategy itself is dynamic and varies with time in order to optimize a definite goal, such as the acquisition of energy, money, or prestige. Our model produced four very distinct phases: Knowledge establishment, Knowledge accumulation, Knowledge maintenance, and Knowledge exploitation, giving rise to a multidisciplinary framework that applies equally to humans, animals, and organizations. The framework can be used to explain a multitude of phenomena in various disciplines, such as the movement of animals in novel landscapes, the most efficient resource allocation for a start-up company, or the effects of old age on knowledge acquisition in humans.

Exploiting Quantum Resonance to Solve Combinatorial Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Zak, Michail; Fijany, Amir

2006-01-01

Quantum resonance would be exploited in a proposed quantum-computing approach to the solution of combinatorial optimization problems. In quantum computing in general, one takes advantage of the fact that an algorithm cannot be decoupled from the physical effects available to implement it. Prior approaches to quantum computing have involved exploitation of only a subset of known quantum physical effects, notably including parallelism and entanglement, but not including resonance. In the proposed approach, one would utilize the combinatorial properties of tensor-product decomposability of unitary evolution of many-particle quantum systems for physically simulating solutions to NP-complete problems (a class of problems that are intractable with respect to classical methods of computation). In this approach, reinforcement and selection of a desired solution would be executed by means of quantum resonance. Classes of NP-complete problems that are important in practice and could be solved by the proposed approach include planning, scheduling, search, and optimal design.

Weak form factors of beauty baryons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, M.A.; Lyubovitskij, V.E.

1992-01-01

Full analysis of semileptonic decays of beauty baryons with J p =1/2 2 and J p =3/2 2 into charmed ones within the Quark Confinement Model is reported. Weak form factors and decay rates are calculated. Also the heavy quark limit m Q →∞ (Isgur-Wise symmetry) is examined. The weak heavy-baryon form factors in the Isgur-Wise limit and 1/m Q -corrections to them are computered. The Ademollo-Gatto theorem is spin-flavour symmetry of heavy quarks is checked. 33 refs.; 1 fig.; 9 tabs

Legal Approaches to Combating the Exploitation of Third-Country National Seasonal Workers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rijken, Conny

2015-01-01

The Directive on Seasonal workers is aimed at combating exploitative practices vis-a-vis seasonal workers from outside the EU. After a thorough analysis of the conditions under which practices can be qualified as exploitative, this article assesses the extent to which the directive is equipped to

Exploiting the opportunities of Internet and multi-channel pricing : An exploratory research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sotgiu, Francesca; Ancarani, Fabio

2004-01-01

Smart firms are not worried about the impact of the Internet on pricing, but realise that they have the unique opportunity to exploit new options and improve their marketing performance. Multi-channel pricing is one of the most interesting opportunities firms can exploit in the digital economy.

Tradition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Otto, Ton

2016-01-01

: beliefs, practices, institutions, and also things. In this sense, the meaning of the term in social research is very close to its usage in common language and is not always theoretically well developed (see Shils, 1971: 123). But the concept of tradition has also been central to major theoretical debates...... on the nature of social change, especially in connection with the notion of modernity. Here tradition is linked to various forms of agency as a factor of both stability and intentional change....

On Weak-BCC-Algebras

Science.gov (United States)

Thomys, Janus; Zhang, Xiaohong

2013-01-01

We describe weak-BCC-algebras (also called BZ-algebras) in which the condition (x∗y)∗z = (x∗z)∗y is satisfied only in the case when elements x, y belong to the same branch. We also characterize ideals, nilradicals, and nilpotent elements of such algebras. PMID:24311983

Accurate weak lensing of standard candles. II. Measuring σ8 with supernovae

Science.gov (United States)

Quartin, Miguel; Marra, Valerio; Amendola, Luca

2014-01-01

Soon the number of type Ia supernova (SN) measurements should exceed 100 000. Understanding the effect of weak lensing by matter structures on the supernova brightness will then be more important than ever. Although SN lensing is usually seen as a source of systematic noise, we will show that it can be in fact turned into signal. More precisely, the non-Gaussianity introduced by lensing in the SN Hubble diagram dispersion depends rather sensitively on the amplitude σ8 of the matter power spectrum. By exploiting this relation, we are able to predict constraints on σ8 of 7% (3%) for a catalog of 100 000 (500 000) SNe of average magnitude error 0.12, without having to assume that such intrinsic dispersion and its redshift evolution are known a priori. The intrinsic dispersion has been assumed to be Gaussian; possible intrinsic non-Gaussianities in the data set (due to the SN themselves and/or to other transients) could be potentially dealt with by means of additional nuisance parameters describing higher moments of the intrinsic dispersion distribution function. This method is independent of and complementary to the standard methods based on cosmic microwave background, cosmic shear, or cluster abundance observables.

Conductivity of weakly disordered strange metals: From conformal to hyperscaling-violating regimes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Lucas

2015-03-01

Full Text Available We present a semi-analytic method for constructing holographic black holes that interpolate from anti-de Sitter space to hyperscaling-violating geometries. These are holographic duals of conformal field theories in the presence of an applied chemical potential, μ, at a non-zero temperature, T, and allow us to describe the crossover from ‘strange metal’ physics at T≪μ, to conformal physics at T≫μ. Our holographic technique adds an extra gauge field and exploits structure of the Einstein–Maxwell system to manifestly find 1-parameter families of solutions of the Einstein-matter system in terms of a small family of functions, obeying a nested set of differential equations. Using these interpolating geometries, we re-consider holographically some recent questions of interest about hyperscaling-violating field theories. Our focus is a more detailed holographic computation of the conductivity of strange metals, weakly perturbed by disorder coupled to scalar operators, including both the average conductivity as well as sample-to-sample fluctuations. Our findings are consistent with previous scaling arguments, though we point out logarithmic corrections in some special (holographic cases. We also discuss the nature of superconducting instabilities in hyperscaling-violating geometries with appropriate choices of scalar couplings.

Drift waves in a weakly ionized plasma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Popovic, M.; Melchior, H.

1968-01-01

A dispersion relation for low frequency drift waves in a weakly ionized plasma has been derived, and through numerical calculations the effect of collisions between the charged and the neutral particles is estimated.......A dispersion relation for low frequency drift waves in a weakly ionized plasma has been derived, and through numerical calculations the effect of collisions between the charged and the neutral particles is estimated....

Residual coal exploitation and its impact on sustainable development of the coal industry in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yujiang; Feng, Guorui; Zhang, Min; Ren, Hongrui; Bai, Jinwen; Guo, Yuxia; Jiang, Haina; Kang, Lixun

2016-01-01

Although China owns large coal reserves, it now faces the problem of depletion of its coal resources in advance. The coal-based energy mix in China will not change in the short term, and a means of delaying the coal resources depletion is therefore urgently required. The residual coal was exploited first with a lower recovery percentage and was evaluated as commercially valuable damaged coal. This approach is in comparison to past evaluations when the residual coal was allocated as exploitation losses. Coal recovery rates, the calculation method of residual coal reserves and statistics of its mines in China were given. On this basis, a discussion concerning the impacts on the delay of China's coal depletion, development of coal exploitation and sustainable developments, as well as technologies and relevant policies, were presented. It is considered that the exploitation of residual coal can effectively delay China's coal depletion, inhibit the construction of new mines, redress the imbalance between supply and demand of coal in eastern China, improve the mining area environment and guarantee social stability. The Chinese government supports the exploitation technologies of residual coal. Hence, exploiting residual coal is of considerable importance in sustainable development of the coal industry in China. - Highlights: •Pay attention to residual coal under changing energy-mix environment in China. •Estimate residual coal reserves and investigate its exploitation mines. •Discuss impacts of residual coal exploitation on delay of coal depletion in China. •Discuss impacts on coal mining industry and residual coal exploitation technology. •Give corresponding policy prescriptions.

Hypernuclear weak decay puzzle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbero, C.; Horvat, D.; Narancic, Z.; Krmpotic, F.; Kuo, T.T.S.; Tadic, D.

2002-01-01

A general shell model formalism for the nonmesonic weak decay of the hypernuclei has been developed. It involves a partial wave expansion of the emitted nucleon waves, preserves naturally the antisymmetrization between the escaping particles and the residual core, and contains as a particular case the weak Λ-core coupling formalism. The extreme particle-hole model and the quasiparticle Tamm-Dancoff approximation are explicitly worked out. It is shown that the nuclear structure manifests itself basically through the Pauli principle, and a very simple expression is derived for the neutron- and proton-induced decays rates Γ n and Γ p , which does not involve the spectroscopic factors. We use the standard strangeness-changing weak ΛN→NN transition potential which comprises the exchange of the complete pseudoscalar and vector meson octets (π,η,K,ρ,ω,K * ), taking into account some important parity-violating transition operators that are systematically omitted in the literature. The interplay between different mesons in the decay of Λ 12 C is carefully analyzed. With the commonly used parametrization in the one-meson-exchange model (OMEM), the calculated rate Γ NM =Γ n +Γ p is of the order of the free Λ decay rate Γ 0 (Γ NM th congruent with Γ 0 ) and is consistent with experiments. Yet the measurements of Γ n/p =Γ n /Γ p and of Γ p are not well accounted for by the theory (Γ n/p th p th > or approx. 0.60Γ 0 ). It is suggested that, unless additional degrees of freedom are incorporated, the OMEM parameters should be radically modified

Light weakly interacting massive particles

Science.gov (United States)

Gelmini, Graciela B.

2017-08-01

Light weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are dark matter particle candidates with weak scale interaction with the known particles, and mass in the GeV to tens of GeV range. Hints of light WIMPs have appeared in several dark matter searches in the last decade. The unprecedented possible coincidence into tantalizingly close regions of mass and cross section of four separate direct detection experimental hints and a potential indirect detection signal in gamma rays from the galactic center, aroused considerable interest in our field. Even if these hints did not so far result in a discovery, they have had a significant impact in our field. Here we review the evidence for and against light WIMPs as dark matter candidates and discuss future relevant experiments and observations.

Qubit state tomography in a superconducting circuit via weak measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Lupei; Xu, Luting; Feng, Wei; Li, Xin-Qi

2017-03-01

In this work we present a study on a new scheme for measuring the qubit state in a circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) system, based on weak measurement and the concept of weak value. To be applicable under generic parameter conditions, our formulation and analysis are carried out for finite-strength weak measurement, and in particular beyond the bad-cavity and weak-response limits. The proposed study is accessible to present state-of-the-art circuit QED experiments.

Composite weak bosons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suzuki, M.

1988-04-01

Dynamical mechanism of composite W and Z is studied in a 1/N field theory model with four-fermion interactions in which global weak SU(2) symmetry is broken explicitly by electromagnetic interaction. Issues involved in such a model are discussed in detail. Deviation from gauge coupling due to compositeness and higher order loop corrections are examined to show that this class of models are consistent not only theoretically but also experimentally.

Child Exploitation: Some Pieces of the Puzzle.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohlader, Dorothy

The report addresses the status in North Carolina and in the nation of child exploitation. Legislative and judicial backgrounds of child pornography and child prostitution are reviewed, and difficulties in obtaining statistical data are noted. Law enforcement issues in pornography are cited, and suggestions for further legislation regarding child…

Fishing elevates variability in the abundance of exploited species.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Chih-Hao; Reiss, Christian S; Hunter, John R; Beddington, John R; May, Robert M; Sugihara, George

2006-10-19

The separation of the effects of environmental variability from the impacts of fishing has been elusive, but is essential for sound fisheries management. We distinguish environmental effects from fishing effects by comparing the temporal variability of exploited versus unexploited fish stocks living in the same environments. Using the unique suite of 50-year-long larval fish surveys from the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations we analyse fishing as a treatment effect in a long-term ecological experiment. Here we present evidence from the marine environment that exploited species exhibit higher temporal variability in abundance than unexploited species. This remains true after accounting for life-history effects, abundance, ecological traits and phylogeny. The increased variability of exploited populations is probably caused by fishery-induced truncation of the age structure, which reduces the capacity of populations to buffer environmental events. Therefore, to avoid collapse, fisheries must be managed not only to sustain the total viable biomass but also to prevent the significant truncation of age structure. The double jeopardy of fishing to potentially deplete stock sizes and, more immediately, to amplify the peaks and valleys of population variability, calls for a precautionary management approach.

Weak lensing in the Dark Energy Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Troxel, Michael

2016-03-01

I will present the current status of weak lensing results from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). DES will survey 5000 square degrees in five photometric bands (grizY), and has already provided a competitive weak lensing catalog from Science Verification data covering just 3% of the final survey footprint. I will summarize the status of shear catalog production using observations from the first year of the survey and discuss recent weak lensing science results from DES. Finally, I will report on the outlook for future cosmological analyses in DES including the two-point cosmic shear correlation function and discuss challenges that DES and future surveys will face in achieving a control of systematics that allows us to take full advantage of the available statistical power of our shear catalogs.

Weak layer fracture: facets and depth hoar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Reiweger

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Understanding failure initiation within weak snow layers is essential for modeling and predicting dry-snow slab avalanches. We therefore performed laboratory experiments with snow samples containing a weak layer consisting of either faceted crystals or depth hoar. During these experiments the samples were loaded with different loading rates and at various tilt angles until fracture. The strength of the samples decreased with increasing loading rate and increasing tilt angle. Additionally, we took pictures of the side of four samples with a high-speed video camera and calculated the displacement using a particle image velocimetry (PIV algorithm. The fracture process within the weak layer could thus be observed in detail. Catastrophic failure started due to a shear fracture just above the interface between the depth hoar layer and the underlying crust.

The Maslov index in weak symplectic functional analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Booss-Bavnbek, Bernhelm; Zhu, Chaofeng

2013-01-01

We recall the Chernoff-Marsden definition of weak symplectic structure and give a rigorous treatment of the functional analysis and geometry of weak symplectic Banach spaces. We define the Maslov index of a continuous path of Fredholm pairs of Lagrangian subspaces in continuously varying Banach...

CONSUMERS’ BRAND EQUITY PERCEPTIONS OF TRADITIONAL AND NON-TRADITIONAL BRANDS

OpenAIRE

Catli, Ozlem; Ermec Sertoglu, Aysegul; Ors, Husniye

2017-01-01

Thisstudy aims to compare consumers' brand perception of traditional brands withbrand perceptions of non-traditional brands.  Consumers livingin Ankara constitute the universe of work, and data were gathered in aface-to-face interview using the survey method. the demographic characteristicsof the participants was prepared with the aim of evaluating and comparing onetraditional brand and one non traditional brand of brand equity related to thebrand equity by the participants. According to...

Information flow between weakly interacting lattices of coupled maps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dobyns, York [PEAR, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-5263 (United States); Atmanspacher, Harald [Institut fuer Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene, Wilhelmstr. 3a, 79098 Freiburg (Germany)]. E-mail: haa@igpp.de

2006-05-15

Weakly interacting lattices of coupled maps can be modeled as ordinary coupled map lattices separated from each other by boundary regions with small coupling parameters. We demonstrate that such weakly interacting lattices can nevertheless have unexpected and striking effects on each other. Under specific conditions, particular stability properties of the lattices are significantly influenced by their weak mutual interaction. This observation is tantamount to an efficacious information flow across the boundary.

Information flow between weakly interacting lattices of coupled maps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobyns, York; Atmanspacher, Harald

2006-01-01

Weakly interacting lattices of coupled maps can be modeled as ordinary coupled map lattices separated from each other by boundary regions with small coupling parameters. We demonstrate that such weakly interacting lattices can nevertheless have unexpected and striking effects on each other. Under specific conditions, particular stability properties of the lattices are significantly influenced by their weak mutual interaction. This observation is tantamount to an efficacious information flow across the boundary

Weak interaction and nucleus: the relationship keeps on

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martino, J.; Frere, J.M.; Naviliat-Cuncic, O.; Volpe, C.; Marteau, J.; Lhuillier, D.; Vignaud, D.; Legac, R.; Marteau, J.; Legac, R.

2003-01-01

This document gathers the lectures made at the Joliot-Curie international summer school in 2003 whose theme, that year, was the relationship between weak interaction and nucleus. There were 8 contributions whose titles are: 1) before the standard model: from beta decay to neutral currents; 2) the electro-weak theory and beyond; 3) testing of the standard model at low energies; 4) description of weak processes in nuclei; 5) 20.000 tonnes underground, an approach to the neutrino-nucleus interaction; 6) parity violation from atom to nucleon; 7) how neutrinos got their masses; and 8) CP symmetry

Tight Bell Inequalities and Nonlocality in Weak Measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Waegell, Mordecai

A general class of Bell inequalities is derived based on strict adherence to probabilistic entanglement correlations observed in nature. This derivation gives significantly tighter bounds on local hidden variable theories for the well-known Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality, and also leads to new proofs of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) theorem. This method is applied to weak measurements and reveals nonlocal correlations between the weak value and the post-selection, which rules out various classical models of weak measurement. Implications of these results are discussed. Fetzer-Franklin Fund of the John E. Fetzer Memorial Trust.

Hypernuclear weak decay and the ΔI = 1/2 rule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, P.D.

1987-01-01

Recent measurements of the weak decay of Λ hypernuclei are reported and discussed in the context of the weak hyperon-baryon effective Hamiltonian. The results are compared to predictions of both meson exchange and quark-quark weak interaction models. 14 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs

Administrative, institutional and legislative issues on agricultural waste exploitation in Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaya, Durmus; Baban, Ahmet; Dikec, Stephanie; Canka Kilic, Fatma

2008-01-01

In this study, the influence of non-technical issues on the exploitation of agricultural waste in Turkey was investigated in accordance with the work program requirements for the project entitled ''Exploitation of Agricultural Waste in Turkey'' under the EU Life Third Countries Program. The study has been organized and presented according to the following four phases: (i) study of existing Turkish legislation and the administrative and institutional framework, (ii) review and analysis of the EU policy and legislation relevant to agricultural waste, including identification of potential market instruments, (iii) identification of barriers to the promotion of agricultural waste exploitation in Turkey, and (iv) Identification of gaps and formulation of recommendations. An ultimate objective of this study is to transfer the European experience and practices relative to the overall framework of managing agricultural waste. (author)

Exploiting Thread Parallelism for Ocean Modeling on Cray XC Supercomputers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sarje, Abhinav [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Jacobsen, Douglas W. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Williams, Samuel W. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Ringler, Todd [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Oliker, Leonid [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2016-05-01

The incorporation of increasing core counts in modern processors used to build state-of-the-art supercomputers is driving application development towards exploitation of thread parallelism, in addition to distributed memory parallelism, with the goal of delivering efficient high-performance codes. In this work we describe the exploitation of threading and our experiences with it with respect to a real-world ocean modeling application code, MPAS-Ocean. We present detailed performance analysis and comparisons of various approaches and configurations for threading on the Cray XC series supercomputers.

[Discussion on exploitation of foreign traditional chinese medicine resources based on "the Belt and Road"].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiao-Bo; Lyu, Dong-Mei; Huang, Lu-Qi; Li, Meng; Guo, Lan-Ping; Peng, Hua-Sheng

2018-04-01

At the beginning of the ancient "Silk Road", traditional Chinese medicine resources (TCM resources) have long been integrated into it, and it was once the "important part" of the ancient "Silk Road" in Chinese history, benefited from this, the political connections was strengthened, the economic and trade was developed, and Chinese medicine culture was spread. Before Qing Dynasty, people took out the "silk" and brought back "herbs" on the "Silk Road", which enriched China's medicinal resources. While in the later Qing Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China, more scientific and technological methods were brought back from abroad, and this in turn enriched the medical research methods. With more than 2 000 years' development, China's boundaries have changed countless times, therefore the word "Foreign" has different meanings in different historical periods. The import, development and utilization of foreign TCM resources is different in different historical periods, at present, with the continuous enhancement of China's comprehensiv national strength，especially the "Belt And Road" strategy, the communication and import of TCM resources with countries that participating in the "Belt and Road" initiativ became much easier. In order to actively respond to the "Belt and Road" initiative promote the development and utilization of foreign medicinal resources; serve people from the countries participating in the "Belt and Road" initiative we sorted out the foreign TCM resources from different periods in ancient and modern China, and based on this, we proposed the strategy of import of foreign TCM resources under the new situation, those are: "three levels, four steps, one support and one key". And "three levels" refers to intelligence collection level, field investigation level, scientific research level, "Four steps" refers to the original identification research, safety evaluation research, functional positioning research and medicinal properties research; "One

Transition from weak wave turbulence regime to solitonic regime

Science.gov (United States)

Hassani, Roumaissa; Mordant, Nicolas

2017-11-01

The Weak Turbulence Theory (WTT) is a statistical theory describing the interaction of a large ensemble of random waves characterized by very different length scales. For both weak non-linearity and weak dispersion a different regime is predicted where solitons propagate while keeping their shape unchanged. The question under investigation here is which regime between weak turbulence or soliton gas does the system choose ? We report an experimental investigation of wave turbulence at the surface of finite depth water in the gravity-capillary range. We tune the wave dispersion and the level of nonlinearity by modifying the depth of water and the forcing respectively. We use space-time resolved profilometry to reconstruct the deformed surface of water. When decreasing the water depth, we observe a drastic transition between weak turbulence at the weakest forcing and a solitonic regime at stronger forcing. We characterize the transition between both states by studying their Fourier Spectra. We also study the efficiency of energy transfer in the weak turbulence regime. We report a loss of efficiency of angular transfer as the dispersion of the wave is reduced until the system bifurcates into the solitonic regime. This project has recieved funding from the European Research Council (ERC, Grant Agreement No. 647018-WATU).

Equilibration and hydrodynamics at strong and weak coupling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schee, Wilke van der

2017-01-01

We give an updated overview of both weak and strong coupling methods to describe the approach to a plasma described by viscous hydrodynamics, a process now called hydrodynamisation. At weak coupling the very first moments after a heavy ion collision is described by the colour-glass condensate

Detection of radionuclides from weak and poorly resolved spectra using Lasso and subsampling techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bai, Er-Wei, E-mail: er-wei-bai@uiowa.edu [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States); Chan, Kung-sik, E-mail: kung-sik-chan@uiowa.edu [Department of Statistical and Actuarial Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States); Eichinger, William, E-mail: william-eichinger@uiowa.edu [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States); Kump, Paul [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States)

2011-10-15

We consider a problem of identification of nuclides from weak and poorly resolved spectra. A two stage algorithm is proposed and tested based on the principle of majority voting. The idea is to model gamma-ray counts as Poisson processes. Then, the average part is taken to be the model and the difference between the observed gamma-ray counts and the average is considered as random noise. In the linear part, the unknown coefficients correspond to if isotopes of interest are present or absent. Lasso types of algorithms are applied to find non-vanishing coefficients. Since Lasso or any prediction error based algorithm is inconsistent with variable selection for finite data length, an estimate of parameter distribution based on subsampling techniques is added in addition to Lasso. Simulation examples are provided in which the traditional peak detection algorithms fail to work and the proposed two stage algorithm performs well in terms of both the False Negative and False Positive errors. - Highlights: > Identification of nuclides from weak and poorly resolved spectra. > An algorithm is proposed and tested based on the principle of majority voting. > Lasso types of algorithms are applied to find non-vanishing coefficients. > An estimate of parameter distribution based on sub-sampling techniques is included. > Simulations compare the results of the proposed method with those of peak detection.

Detection of radionuclides from weak and poorly resolved spectra using Lasso and subsampling techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, Er-Wei; Chan, Kung-sik; Eichinger, William; Kump, Paul

2011-01-01

We consider a problem of identification of nuclides from weak and poorly resolved spectra. A two stage algorithm is proposed and tested based on the principle of majority voting. The idea is to model gamma-ray counts as Poisson processes. Then, the average part is taken to be the model and the difference between the observed gamma-ray counts and the average is considered as random noise. In the linear part, the unknown coefficients correspond to if isotopes of interest are present or absent. Lasso types of algorithms are applied to find non-vanishing coefficients. Since Lasso or any prediction error based algorithm is inconsistent with variable selection for finite data length, an estimate of parameter distribution based on subsampling techniques is added in addition to Lasso. Simulation examples are provided in which the traditional peak detection algorithms fail to work and the proposed two stage algorithm performs well in terms of both the False Negative and False Positive errors. - Highlights: → Identification of nuclides from weak and poorly resolved spectra. → An algorithm is proposed and tested based on the principle of majority voting. → Lasso types of algorithms are applied to find non-vanishing coefficients. → An estimate of parameter distribution based on sub-sampling techniques is included. → Simulations compare the results of the proposed method with those of peak detection.

Exploiting Wireless Received Signal Strength Indicators to Detect Evil-Twin Attacks in Smart Homes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhanyong Tang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Evil-Twin is becoming a common attack in smart home environments where an attacker can set up a fake AP to compromise the security of the connected devices. To identify the fake APs, The current approaches of detecting Evil-Twin attacks all rely on information such as SSIDs, the MAC address of the genuine AP, or network traffic patterns. However, such information can be faked by the attacker, often leading to low detection rates and weak protection. This paper presents a novel Evil-Twin attack detection method based on the received signal strength indicator (RSSI. Our approach considers the RSSI as a fingerprint of APs and uses the fingerprint of the genuine AP to identify fake ones. We provide two schemes to detect a fake AP in two different scenarios where the genuine AP can be located at either a single or multiple locations in the property, by exploiting the multipath effect of the Wi-Fi signal. As a departure from prior work, our approach does not rely on any professional measurement devices. Experimental results show that our approach can successfully detect 90% of the fake APs, at the cost of a one-off, modest connection delay.

Improving the transparency of a rehabilitation robot by exploiting the cyclic behaviour of walking.

Science.gov (United States)

van Dijk, W; van der Kooij, H; Koopman, B; van Asseldonk, E H F; van der Kooij, H

2013-06-01

To promote active participation of neurological patients during robotic gait training, controllers, such as "assist as needed" or "cooperative control", are suggested. Apart from providing support, these controllers also require that the robot should be capable of resembling natural, unsupported, walking. This means that they should have a transparent mode, where the interaction forces between the human and the robot are minimal. Traditional feedback-control algorithms do not exploit the cyclic nature of walking to improve the transparency of the robot. The purpose of this study was to improve the transparent mode of robotic devices, by developing two controllers that use the rhythmic behavior of gait. Both controllers use adaptive frequency oscillators and kernel-based non-linear filters. Kernelbased non-linear filters can be used to estimate signals and their time derivatives, as a function of the gait phase. The first controller learns the motor angle, associated with a certain joint angle pattern, and acts as a feed-forward controller to improve the torque tracking (including the zero-torque mode). The second controller learns the state of the mechanical system and compensates for the dynamical effects (e.g. the acceleration of robot masses). Both controllers have been tested separately and in combination on a small subject population. Using the feedforward controller resulted in an improved torque tracking of at least 52 percent at the hip joint, and 61 percent at the knee joint. When both controllers were active simultaneously, the interaction power between the robot and the human leg was reduced by at least 40 percent at the thigh, and 43 percent at the shank. These results indicate that: if a robotic task is cyclic, the torque tracking and transparency can be improved by exploiting the predictions of adaptive frequency oscillator and kernel-based nonlinear filters.

Understanding traditional African healing

OpenAIRE

MOKGOBI, M.G.

2014-01-01

Traditional African healing has been in existence for many centuries yet many people still seem not to understand how it relates to God and religion/spirituality. Some people seem to believe that traditional healers worship the ancestors and not God. It is therefore the aim of this paper to clarify this relationship by discussing a chain of communication between the worshipers and the Almighty God. Other aspects of traditional healing namely types of traditional healers, training of tradition...

Herbal Medicines for Leucorrhea According to Iranian Traditional Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Dehdari, Sahar; Hajimehdipoor, Homa

2016-05-01

Leucorrhea or vaginal discharge is a conventional complaint. It is generally whitish, yellowish, or greenish vaginal discharge in females that might be normal or a symptom of infection. It is almost mucus discharge, which exhibit exfoliation of vaginal epithelial cells due to estrogen influence on the vaginal mucosa. It is important to identify the differences between physiologic and pathologic discharges. Leucorrhea is a well-known disease in Iranian traditional medicine (ITM). In their manuscripts, the word "Sayalan-e rahem" was used by Avicenna and some other Iranian traditional practitioners to describe this condition. Ancient practitioners believed that excessive residue (kesrate fozool) and weakness of digestion (Za'afe hazm) were the main causes of leucorrhea, for which herbal therapy was the main proposed treatment. In the present study, medicinal plants used in ITM for leucorrhea are introduced. In this research, six Iranian traditional textbooks including Canon of Medicine (Avicena 980-1037 AD), A-Hawi (Razes 865-925 AD), Tuhfat ul-Momineen (Mo'men tonekaboni, 17th century), Makhzan-ul-Adwiah (Aghili 18th century), Ikhtiarat Badi'i (Ansari 1329-1404 AD), and al-jāmi li-mufradāt al-adwiyawa al-aghdhiy (Ibn al-Baitar 1197 AD) were studied and searched for anti-leucorrhea medicines. Then the herbal medicines were selected and scored depending on their frequency in the above-mentioned textbooks. Additional attention was paid to provide the most suitable scientific name for each plant. This study introduced many Materia Medica with anti-leucorrhea activity and among them seven herbs including Rubus fruticosus L., Rhus coriaria L., Phoenix dactylifera L., Pimpinella anisum L., Rumex acetosa L., Olea europaea L. and Quercus lusitanica Lam. showed the most repetition in ITM prescriptions. These herbs can be introduced as new anti-leucorrhea herbal medicines for clinical research.

Time-dependent weak values and their intrinsic phases of evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parks, A D

2008-01-01

The equation of motion for a time-dependent weak value of a quantum-mechanical observable is known to contain a complex valued energy factor (the weak energy of evolution) that is defined by the dynamics of the pre-selected and post-selected states which specify the observable's weak value. In this paper, the mechanism responsible for the creation of this energy is identified and it is shown that the cumulative effect over time of this energy is manifested as dynamical phases and pure geometric phases (the intrinsic phases of evolution) which govern the evolution of the weak value during its measurement process. These phases are simply related to a Pancharatnam phase and Fubini-Study metric distance defined by the Hilbert space evolution of the associated pre-selected and post-selected states. A characterization of time-dependent weak value evolution as Pancharatnam phase angle rotations and Fubini-Study distance scalings of a vector in the Argand plane is discussed as an application of this relationship. The theory of weak values is also reviewed and simple 'gedanken experiments' are used to illustrate both the time-independent and the time-dependent versions of the theory. It is noted that the direct experimental observation of the weak energy of evolution would strongly support the time-symmetric paradigm of quantum mechanics and it is suggested that weak value equations of motion represent a new category of nonlocal equations of motion

On the dynamics of exploited fish populations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Beverton, R. J. H; Holt, Sidney J

1993-01-01

...-brooding cichlids, and viviparity in many sharks and toothcarps. Moreover, fish are of considerable importance to the survival of the human species in the form of nutritious, delicious and diverse food. Rational exploitation and management of our global stocks of fishes must rely upon a detailed and precise insight of their biology. The...

Building the Knowledge Base to Support the Automatic Animation Generation of Chinese Traditional Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Gongjin; Bai, Weijing; Yin, Meifang; Zhang, Songmao

We present a practice of applying the Semantic Web technologies in the domain of Chinese traditional architecture. A knowledge base consisting of one ontology and four rule bases is built to support the automatic generation of animations that demonstrate the construction of various Chinese timber structures based on the user's input. Different Semantic Web formalisms are used, e.g., OWL DL, SWRL and Jess, to capture the domain knowledge, including the wooden components needed for a given building, construction sequence, and the 3D size and position of every piece of wood. Our experience in exploiting the current Semantic Web technologies in real-world application systems indicates their prominent advantages (such as the reasoning facilities and modeling tools) as well as the limitations (such as low efficiency).

Weak Localisation in Clean and Highly Disordered Graphene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilke, Michael; Massicotte, Mathieu; Whiteway, Eric; Yu, Victor

2013-01-01

We look at the magnetic field induced weak localisation peak of graphene samples with different mobilities. At very low temperatures, low mobility samples exhibit a very broad peak as a function of the magnetic field, in contrast to higher mobility samples, where the weak localisation peak is very sharp. We analyze the experimental data in the context of the localisation length, which allows us to extract, both the localisation length and the phase coherence length of the samples, regardless of their mobilities. This analysis is made possible by the observation that the localisation length undergoes a generic weak localisation dependence with striking universal properties

Genome-wide population structure and admixture analysis reveals weak differentiation among Ugandan goat breeds.

Science.gov (United States)

Onzima, R B; Upadhyay, M R; Mukiibi, R; Kanis, E; Groenen, M A M; Crooijmans, R P M A

2018-02-01

Uganda has a large population of goats, predominantly from indigenous breeds reared in diverse production systems, whose existence is threatened by crossbreeding with exotic Boer goats. Knowledge about the genetic characteristics and relationships among these Ugandan goat breeds and the potential admixture with Boer goats is still limited. Using a medium-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel, we assessed the genetic diversity, population structure and admixture in six goat breeds in Uganda: Boer, Karamojong, Kigezi, Mubende, Small East African and Sebei. All the animals had genotypes for about 46 105 SNPs after quality control. We found high proportions of polymorphic SNPs ranging from 0.885 (Kigezi) to 0.928 (Sebei). The overall mean observed (H O ) and expected (H E ) heterozygosity across breeds was 0.355 ± 0.147 and 0.384 ± 0.143 respectively. Principal components, genetic distances and admixture analyses revealed weak population sub-structuring among the breeds. Principal components separated Kigezi and weakly Small East African from other indigenous goats. Sebei and Karamojong were tightly entangled together, whereas Mubende occupied a more central position with high admixture from all other local breeds. The Boer breed showed a unique cluster from the Ugandan indigenous goat breeds. The results reflect common ancestry but also some level of geographical differentiation. admixture and f 4 statistics revealed gene flow from Boer and varying levels of genetic admixture among the breeds. Generally, moderate to high levels of genetic variability were observed. Our findings provide useful insights into maintaining genetic diversity and designing appropriate breeding programs to exploit within-breed diversity and heterozygote advantage in crossbreeding schemes. © 2018 The Authors. Animal Genetics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.

Weak Measurement and Quantum Correlation

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Arun Kumar Pati

Entanglement: Two quantum systems can be in a strongly correlated state even if .... These are resources which can be used to design quantum computer, quantum ...... Weak measurements have found numerous applications starting from the ...

Subsidy Competition for FDI: Fierce or Weak?

OpenAIRE

Tomáš Havránek

2009-01-01

The objective of this paper is to empirically assess the recently introduced models of subsidy competition based on the classical oligopoly theories, using both cross-sectional and panel data. Three crucial scenarios (including coordination, weak competition, and fierce competition) are tested employing OLS, iteratively re-weighted least squares, fixed effects, and Blundell-Bond estimator. The results suggest that none of the scenarios can be strongly supported—although there is some weak sup...

High-redshift SDSS Quasars with Weak Emission Lines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar M.; Fan, Xiaohui; Brandt, W. N.

2009-01-01

We identify a sample of 74 high-redshift quasars (z > 3) with weak emission lines from the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and present infrared, optical, and radio observations of a subsample of four objects at z > 4. These weak emission-line quasars (WLQs) constitute a promine...

A young woman with weakness of the legs

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A previously well 22-year-old woman presented with progressive weakness of her legs and urinary incontinence over 7 days. Clinically she was healthy, with no skin rashes. On neurological examination she had profound bilateral weakness of the lower limbs, hypertonia, hyperreflexia, a positive Babinski sign and a T6 ...

25 CFR 20.516 - How are child abuse, neglect or exploitation cases to be handled?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How are child abuse, neglect or exploitation cases to be... FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AND SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAMS Child Assistance Foster Care § 20.516 How are child abuse, neglect or exploitation cases to be handled? Reported child abuse, neglect or exploitation cases and the...

Administrative, institutional and legislative issues on agricultural waste exploitation in Turkey

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaya, Durmus; Baban, Ahmet; Dikec, Stephanie [TUBITAK MRC Chemistry and Enviorenment Institute, P.O. Box 21, 41470 Gebze-Kocaeli (Turkey); Canka Kilic, Fatma [Kocaeli University, KMYO, Department of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Kullar/Kocaeli (Turkey)

2008-02-15

In this study, the influence of non-technical issues on the exploitation of agricultural waste in Turkey was investigated in accordance with the work program requirements for the project entitled ''Exploitation of Agricultural Waste in Turkey'' under the EU Life Third Countries Program. The study has been organized and presented according to the following four phases: (i) study of existing Turkish legislation and the administrative and institutional framework, (ii) review and analysis of the EU policy and legislation relevant to agricultural waste, including identification of potential market instruments, (iii) identification of barriers to the promotion of agricultural waste exploitation in Turkey, and (iv) Identification of gaps and formulation of recommendations. An ultimate objective of this study is to transfer the European experience and practices relative to the overall framework of managing agricultural waste. (author)

A longer-term perspective on human exploitation and management of peat wetlands: the Hula Valley, Israel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R.J. Payne

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The influence of non-recent human activities on the structure and functioning of wetlands is frequently overlooked. The Hula wetland in northern Israel was exploited for a variety of resources over thousands of years prior to near-total destruction by drainage in the 1950s. These pre-drainage human impacts created a mosaic of anthropogenic habitats which should be considered in attempting to re-create and rehabilitate the wetlands. Here we take an environmental history approach, using the documentary record to identify the numerous ways in which the ecosystem was shaped by human activity. The major traditional activities in the wetland included reed-harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry and limited arable agriculture. The corpus of material examined illustrates that drainage of the wetlands has a longer history than is frequently supposed. Activities such as papyrus harvesting, buffalo husbandry and fishing shaped the ecosystem and their replication may be desirable to re-create lost anthropogenic niches in contemporary conservation management.

A kind of balance between exploitation and exploration on kriging for global optimization of expensive functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dong, Huachao; Song, Baowei; Wang, Peng; Huang, Shuai

2015-01-01

In this paper, a novel kriging-based algorithm for global optimization of computationally expensive black-box functions is presented. This algorithm utilizes a multi-start approach to find all of the local optimal values of the surrogate model and performs searches within the neighboring area around these local optimal positions. Compared with traditional surrogate-based global optimization method, this algorithm provides another kind of balance between exploitation and exploration on kriging-based model. In addition, a new search strategy is proposed and coupled into this optimization process. The local search strategy employs a kind of improved 'Minimizing the predictor' method, which dynamically adjusts search direction and radius until finds the optimal value. Furthermore, the global search strategy utilizes the advantage of kriging-based model in predicting unexplored regions to guarantee the reliability of the algorithm. Finally, experiments on 13 test functions with six algorithms are set up and the results show that the proposed algorithm is very promising.

Probing finite coarse-grained virtual Feynman histories with sequential weak values

Science.gov (United States)

Georgiev, Danko; Cohen, Eliahu

2018-05-01

Feynman's sum-over-histories formulation of quantum mechanics has been considered a useful calculational tool in which virtual Feynman histories entering into a coherent quantum superposition cannot be individually measured. Here we show that sequential weak values, inferred by consecutive weak measurements of projectors, allow direct experimental probing of individual virtual Feynman histories, thereby revealing the exact nature of quantum interference of coherently superposed histories. Because the total sum of sequential weak values of multitime projection operators for a complete set of orthogonal quantum histories is unity, complete sets of weak values could be interpreted in agreement with the standard quantum mechanical picture. We also elucidate the relationship between sequential weak values of quantum histories with different coarse graining in time and establish the incompatibility of weak values for nonorthogonal quantum histories in history Hilbert space. Bridging theory and experiment, the presented results may enhance our understanding of both weak values and quantum histories.

A planning of exploitation to electric systems approach considering environmental criteria Description of a multicriteria optimization paradigm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schweickardt, Gustavo Alejandro; Gimenez Alvarez, Juan Manuel

2012-01-01

This work presents a context and a Model to approach the Planning of Exploitation of Electric Systems problem, in the medium term, considering environmental criteria. A decision making process from a Multicriteria Paradigm is introduced. In the past, environmental criteria just were considered or they were ignored. Due to the growing consciousness about environmental impacts of productive processes, a new orientation to the problem is required: a bigger integral quality of the planning process, instead of searching an optimal solution, based in a minimum investment cost. The Application Model considers the Total Cost of Energy Production and the Environmental Impact produced by emissions of CO 2 , SO 2 y NO x from Thermal Units, and is based in a Fuzzy Sets decision-making to represent the uncertainties in the system decision variables and satisfaction degree of solutions. The results obtained from the Traditional and Multicriteria Model, are finally presented.

Environmental Impacts of Sand Exploitation. Analysis of Sand Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius Dan Gavriletea

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sand is an indispensable natural resource for any society. Despite society’s increasing dependence on sand, there are major challenges that this industry needs to deal with: limited sand resources, illegal mining, and environmental impact of sand mining. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to present an overview of the sand market, highlighting the main trends and actors for production, export and import, and to review the main environmental impacts associated with sand exploitation process. Based on these findings, we recommend different measures to be followed to reduce negative impacts. Sand mining should be done in a way that limits environmental damage during exploitation and restores the land after mining operations are completed.

Uncertainty avoidance and the exploration-exploitation trade-off

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broekhuizen, Thijs; Giarratana, Marco S.; Torres, Anna

2017-01-01

Purpose - This study aims to investigate how a firm's uncertainty avoidance - as indicated by the headquarters' national culture - impacts firm performance by affecting exploratory (product innovation) and exploitative (brand trademark protection) activities. It aims to show that firms characterized

On Characterizing weak defining hyperplanes (weak Facets in DEA with Constant Returns to Scale Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dariush Akbarian

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The Production Possibility Set (PPS is defined as a set of inputs and outputs of a system in which inputs can produce outputs. The Production Possibility Set of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA model is contain of two types defining hyperplanes (facets; strong and weak efficient facets. In this paper, the problem of finding weak defining hyperplanes of the PPS of the CCR model is dealt with. However, the equation of strong defining hyperplanes of the PPS of the CCR model can be found in this paper. We state and prove some properties relative to our method. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed model, some numerical examples are finally provided. Our algorithm can easily be implemented using existing packages for operation research, such as GAMS.

Un premier service mobile en Égypte qui relie les petits exploitants ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Un premier service mobile en Égypte qui relie les petits exploitants aux acheteurs. Un homme qui parle sur un téléphone mobile. Les petits exploitants agricoles dominent l'agriculture égyptienne, mais leur manque de connaissances en matière de commercialisation et de compétences techniques, ainsi qu'une mauvaise ...