bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Management Quality, Financial and Investment Policies, and Asymmetric Information
Authors: Chemmanur Thomas J. , Paeglis Imants , Simonyan Karen
Published: September 2009

We develop measures of the management quality of firms and make use of a unique sample of hand-collected data to examine the relationship between the reputation and quality of a firm’s management and its financial and investment policies, a relationship that has so far received little attention in the literature. We hypothesize that better and more reputable managers are able to convey the intrinsic value of their firm more credibly to outsiders, thus reducing the information asymmetry facing their firm in the equity market. Given this, firms with better and more reputable managers will have more access to the equity market, so that we expect lower leverage ratios for these firms. In addition, they will have less need to signal using dividends, so that they will have lower dividend payout ratios. Further, since better managers are likely to select better projects (having a larger net present value (NPV) for any given scale) and to implement them more ably, higher management quality will also be associated with higher levels of investment. We present evidence consistent with the above hypotheses. Our direct tests of the relationship between management quality and asymmetric information also indicate that higher management quality leads to a reduction in the extent of information asymmetry facing a firm in the equity market.
Effects of free-stream turbulence on rough surface turbulent boundary layers
Authors: BRZEK BRIAN , TORRES-NIEVES SHEILLA , LEBRÓN JOSÉ , CAL RAÚL , MENEVEAU CHARLES , CASTILLO LUCIANO
Published: September 2009

Several effects of nearly isotropic free-stream turbulence in transitionally rough turbulent boundary layers are studied using data obtained from laser Doppler anemometry measurements. The free-stream turbulence is generated with the use of an active grid, resulting in free-stream turbulence levels of up to 6.2%. The rough surface is characterized by a roughness parameterk+≈ 53, and measurements are performed at Reynolds numbers of up toReθ= 11300. It is confirmed that the free-stream turbulence significantly alters the mean velocity deficit profiles in the outer region of the boundary layer. Consequently, the previously observed ability of the Zagarola & Smits (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 373, 1998, p. 33) velocity scaleU∞δ*/δ to collapse results from both smooth and rough surface boundary layers, no longer applies in this boundary layer subjected to high free-stream turbulence. In inner variables, the wake region is significantly reduced with increasing free-stream turbulence, leading to decreased mean velocity gradient and production of Reynolds stress components. The effects of free-stream turbulence are clearly identifiable and significant augmentation of the streamwise Reynolds stress profiles throughout the entire boundary layer are observed, all the way down to the inner region. In contrast, the Reynolds wall-normal and shear stress profiles increase due to free-stream turbulence only in the outer part of the boundary layer due to the blocking effect of the wall. As a consequence, there is a significant portion of the boundary layer in which the addition of nearly isotropic turbulence in the free-stream, results in significant increases in anisotropy of the turbulence. To quantify which turbulence length scales contribute to this trend, second-order structure functions are examined at various distances from the wall. Results show that the anisotropy created by adding nearly isotropic turbulence in the free-stream resides mostly in the larger scales of the flow. Furthermore, by analysing the streamwise Reynolds stress equation, it can be predicted that it is the wall-normal gradient of 〈u2v〉 term that is responsible for the increase in 〈u2〉 profiles throughout the boundary layer (i.e. an efficient turbulent transport of turbulence away from the wall). Furthermore, a noticeable difference between the triple correlations for smooth and rough surfaces exists in the inner region, but no significant differences are seen due to free-stream turbulence. In addition, the boundary layer parameters δ*/δ95,Handcfare also evaluated from the experimental data. The flow parameters δ*/δ95andHare found to increase due to roughness, but decrease due to free-stream turbulence, which has significance for flow control, particularly in delaying separation. Increases incfdue to high free-stream turbulence are also observed, associated with increased momentum flux towards the wall.
Stability of convection in a horizontal channel subjected to a longitudinal temperature gradient. Part 2. Effect of a magnetic field
Authors: LYUBIMOV D. V. , LYUBIMOVA T. P. , PERMINOV A. B. , HENRY D. , HADID H. BEN
Published: September 2009

The stabilization of buoyant flows by a magnetic field is an important matter for crystal growth applications. It is studied here when the cavity is an infinite channel with rectangular cross-section typical of horizontal Bridgman configurations and when the magnetic field is applied in the vertical and transverse directions. The steady basic flow solution is first calculated: the usual counter flow structure is modified by the magnetic field and evolves towards jets in the cross-section corners when the magnetic field is vertical and towards a more uniform structure in the transverse direction when the magnetic field is transverse. The stability results show a very good stabilization of the convective flows for a vertical magnetic field with exponential increases of the thresholds for any width of the channel and for various Prandtl numbers Pr. The results for a transverse magnetic field are more surprising as a destabilizing effect corresponding to an initial decrease of the thresholds is obtained at Pr=0 and for small channel widths. A kinetic energy budget at the thresholds reveals that the main destabilizing factor is connected to the vertical shear of the longitudinal basic flow and that it is the modifications affecting this shear energy which are mainly responsible for the variation of the thresholds when a magnetic field is applied.
Stability of convection in a horizontal channel subjected to a longitudinal temperature gradient. Part 1. Effect of aspect ratio and Prandtl number
Authors: LYUBIMOVA T. P. , LYUBIMOV D. V. , MOROZOV V. A. , SCURIDIN R. V. , HADID H. BEN , HENRY D.
Published: September 2009

The paper deals with the numerical investigation of the steady convective flow in a horizontal channel of rectangular cross-section subjected to a uniform longitudinal temperature gradient imposed at the walls. It is shown that at zero Prandtl number the solution of the problem corresponds to a plane-parallel flow along the channel axis. In this case, the fluid moves in the direction of the imposed temperature gradient in the upper part of the channel and in the opposite direction in the lower part. At non-zero values of the Prandtl number, such solution does not exist. At any small values of Pr all three components of the flow velocity differ from zero and in the channel cross-section four vortices develop. The direction of these vortices is such that the fluid moves from the centre to the periphery in the vertical direction and returns to the centre in the horizontal direction. The stability of these convective flows (uniform along the channel axis) with regard to small three-dimensional perturbations periodical in the direction of the channel axis is studied. It is shown that at low values of the Prandtl number the basic state loses its stability due to the steady hydrodynamic mode related to the development of vortices at the boundary of the counter flows. The growth of the Prandtl number results in the strong stabilization of this instability mode and, beyond a certain value of the Prandtl number depending on the cross-section aspect ratio, a new steady hydrodynamic instability mode becomes the most dangerous. This mode is characterized by the localization of the perturbations near the sidewalls of the channel. At still higher values of the Prandtl number, the spiral perturbations (rolls with axis parallel to the temperature gradient) become the most dangerous modes, at first the oscillatory spiral perturbations and then the Rayleigh-type steady spiral perturbations. The influence of the channel width on these different instabilities is also emphasized.
Unsteady aspects of an incident shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction
Authors: HUMBLE R. A. , SCARANO F. , van OUDHEUSDEN B. W.
Published: September 2009

An incident shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interaction at Mach 2.1 is investigated using particle image velocimetry in combination with data processing using the proper orthogonal decomposition, to obtain an instantaneous and statistical description of the unsteady flow organization. The global structure of the interaction is observed to vary considerably in time. Although reversed flow is often measured instantaneously, on average no reversed flow is observed. On an instantaneous basis, the interaction exhibits a multi-layered structure, characterized by a relatively high-velocity outer region and low-velocity inner region. Discrete vortical structures are prevalent along their interface, which create an intermittent fluid exchange as they propagate downstream. A statistical analysis suggests that the instantaneous fullness of the incoming boundary layer velocity profile is (weakly) correlated with the size of the separation bubble and position of the reflected shock wave. The eigenmodes show an energetic association between velocity fluctuations within the incoming boundary layer, separated flow region and across the reflected shock wave, and portray subspace features that represent the phenomenology observed within the instantaneous realizations.
Hot-wire spatial resolution issues in wall-bounded turbulence
Authors: HUTCHINS N. , NICKELS T. B. , MARUSIC I. , CHONG M. S.
Published: September 2009

Careful reassessment of new and pre-existing data shows that recorded scatter in the hot-wire-measured near-wall peak in viscous-scaled streamwise turbulence intensity is due in large part to the simultaneous competing effects of the Reynolds number and viscous-scaled wire length l+. An empirical expression is given to account for these effects. These competing factors can explain much of the disparity in existing literature, in particular explaining how previous studies have incorrectly concluded that the inner-scaled near-wall peak is independent of the Reynolds number. We also investigate the appearance of the so-called outer peak in the broadband streamwise intensity, found by some researchers to occur within the log region of high-Reynolds-number boundary layers. We show that the ‘outer peak’ is consistent with the attenuation of small scales due to large l+. For turbulent boundary layers, in the absence of spatial resolution problems, there is no outer peak up to the Reynolds numbers investigated here (Reτ = 18830). Beyond these Reynolds numbers – and for internal geometries – the existence of such peaks remains open to debate. Fully mapped energy spectra, obtained with a range of l+, are used to demonstrate this phenomenon. We also establish the basis for a ‘maximum flow frequency’, a minimum time scale that the full experimental system must be capable of resolving, in order to ensure that the energetic scales are not attenuated. It is shown that where this criterion is not met (in this instance due to insufficient anemometer/probe response), an outer peak can be reproduced in the streamwise intensity even in the absence of spatial resolution problems. It is also shown that attenuation due to wire length can erode the region of the streamwise energy spectra in which we would normally expect to see kx−1 scaling. In doing so, we are able to rationalize much of the disparity in pre-existing literature over the kx−1 region of self-similarity. Not surprisingly, the attenuated spectra also indicate that Kolmogorov-scaled spectra are subject to substantial errors due to wire spatial resolution issues. These errors persist to wavelengths far beyond those which we might otherwise assume from simple isotropic assumptions of small-scale motions. The effects of hot-wire length-to-diameter ratio (l/d) are also briefly investigated. For the moderate wire Reynolds numbers investigated here, reducing l/d from 200 to 100 has a detrimental effect on measured turbulent fluctuations at a wide range of energetic scales, affecting both the broadband intensity and the energy spectra.
New intermediate models for rotating shallow water and an investigation of the preference for anticyclones
Authors: REMMEL MARK , SMITH LESLIE
Published: September 2009

New intermediate models for the rotating shallow water (RSW) equations are derived by considering the nonlinear interactions between subsets of the eigenmodes for the linearized equations. It is well-known that the two-dimensional quasi-geostrophic (QG) equation results when the nonlinear interactions are restricted to include only the vortical eigenmodes. Continuing past QG in a non-perturbative manner, the new models result by including subsets of interactions which include inertial-gravity wave (IG) modes. The such simplest model adds nonlinear interactions between one IG mode and two vortical modes. In sharp contrast to QG, the latter model behaves similar to the full RSW equations for decay from balanced initial conditions as well as unbalanced random initial conditions with divergence-free velocity. Quantitative agreement is observed for statistics that measure structure size, intermittency and cyclone/anticyclone asymmetry. In particular, dominance of anticyclones is observed for Rossby numbersRoin the range 0.1 <Ro< 1 (away from the QG parameter regimeRo→ 0). A hierarchy of models is explored to determine the effects of wave-vortical and wave–wave interactions on statistics such as the skewness of vorticity in decaying turbulence. Possible advantages over previously derived intermediate models include (i) the non-perturbative nature of the new models (not restricting thema priorito any particular parameter regime) and (ii) insight into the physical and mathematical consequences of vortical–wave interactions.
Interaction of two tandem deformable bodies in a viscous incompressible flow
Authors: ZHU LUODING
Published: September 2009

Previous laboratory measurements on drag of tandem rigid bodies moving in viscous incompressible fluids found that a following body experienced less drag than a leading one. Very recently a laboratory experiment (Ristroph & Zhang, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 101, 2008) with deformable bodies (rubble threads) revealed just the opposite – the leading body had less drag than the following one. The Reynolds numbers in the experiment were around 104. To find out how this qualitatively different phenomenon may depend on the Reynolds number, a series of numerical simulations are designed and performed on the interaction of a pair of tandem flexible flags separated by a dimensionless vertical distance (0 ≤ D ≤ 5.5) in a flowing viscous incompressible fluid at lower Reynolds numbers (40 ≤ Re ≤ 220) using the immersed boundary (IB) method. The dimensionless bending rigidity b and dimensionless flag mass density used in our work are as follows: 8.6 × 10−5 ≤ b ≤ 1.8 × 10−3, 0.8 ≤ ≤ 1.0. We obtain an interesting result within these ranges of dimensionless parameters: when Re is large enough so that the flapping of the two flags is self-sustained, the leading flag has less drag than the following one; when Re is small enough so that the flags maintain two nearly static line segments aligned with the mainstream flow, the following flag has less drag than the leading one. The transitional range of Re separating the two differing phenomena depends on the value of b. With Re in this range, both the flapping and static states are observed depending on the separation distance D. When D is small enough, the flags are in the static state and the following flag has less drag; when D is large enough the flags are in the constant flapping state and the leading flag has less drag. The critical value of D depends on b.
Suppression of runaway electrons during electron cyclotron resonance heating on HL-2A tokamak
Authors: YANG JIN-WEI , ZHANG YI-PO , LI XU , SONG XIAN-YING , YUAN GUO-LIANG , LIAO MIN , HU LI-QUN , LIN SHI-YAO , YANG QING-WEI
Published: September 2009

The statistical analysis of heating effect and the cross-correlation analysis of both electron temperature and loop voltage have been done during electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH). The behavior of runaway electrons in the flat-top phase during ECRH are analyzed using experimental data. It is shown that the runaway population is indeed suppressed or even quenched when the toroidal electric field ET is reduced below the threshold electric field Eth by high-power and long-duration ECRH. The physical mechanism of runaway suppression is explored by the resonant interaction between the electron cyclotron waves and the energetic runaway electrons.
Second language acquisition, teacher education and language pedagogy
Authors: Ellis Rod
Published: September 2009

Various positions regarding the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) – Language Pedagogy (LP) nexus have been advanced. Taking these as a starting point, this article will examine the nature of the SLA/LP relationship both more generally and more concretely. First, it will place the debates evident in the different positions regarding the relationship in a broader educational and professional context by examining the nature of the theory/practice nexus – because the issues at stake do not just concern SLA. Second, it will examine critically a number of options for bridging the divide (e.g. through presenting the pedagogical implications of research, engaging teachers in researching their own classroom or promoting research–teacher collaboration). Third, it will probe the relationship in terms of a framework that links (i) SLA researchers, (ii) classroom researchers, (iii) teacher educators and (iv) language teachers. This framework will serve as a basis for formulating a set of eleven principles that can guide attempts to use SLA theory and research in teacher education programmes.
Sweet talking: Food, language, and democracy
Authors: Cook Guy
Published: September 2009

At a time of diminishing resources, the sum of apparently minor personal decisions about food can have immense impact. These individual choices are heavily influenced by language, as those with vested interests seek to persuade individuals to act in certain ways. This makes the language of food politics a fitting area for an expanding applied linguistics oriented towards real-world language-related problems of global and social importance. The paper draws upon five consecutive research projects to show how applied linguistics research may contribute to public policy and debate, and also how, by entering such new arenas, it can develop its own methods and understanding of contemporary language use.
Fuelling the Dragon: China's Rise and Its Energy and Resources Extraction in Africa
Authors: Jiang Wenran
Published: September 2009

China's rapidly expanding role in Africa as an energy and resource extractor reveals much of the dynamics and complexities of its growing ties with the continent. Rather than studying the subject in the framework of bilateral interactions, as most existing literature does, this article explores the impact of China's domestic development process on the behaviour of Chinese foreign policy and business operations in Africa. Based on the author's extensive field research in Africa and China, the article argues that much of what the Chinese government, Chinese companies and individual entrepreneurs are doing today in Africa is an externalization of China's own modernization experiences in the past three decades. China's interactions with African countries are reflective of its own development contradictions, and major patterns of Chinese behavour in Africa can be attributed to complex motivations and objectives of the actors involved.
In It for the Long Term? Governance and Learning among Chinese Investors in Zambia's Copper Sector
Authors: Haglund Dan
Published: September 2009

The literature on Chinese economic engagement with Africa reflects widely-held views that Chinese investment is strategic, politically motivated and therefore more stable and long-term than “Western” foreign capital. In contrast this article argues that various factors underpinning the governance of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in fact serve to promote short-term strategies. It contributes to the literature by empirically exploring this proposition through a case study of a Chinese SOE operating in Zambia's mining sector, and by examining two sets of corporate governance characteristics of Chinese SOEs: investors' relationships with the Chinese state, and firm-level strategy, structure and norms. The article finds that these governance characteristics lead to short-term strategies, including excessive cost-cutting and segregated management practices. These short-term strategies reduce the incentives as well as ability of investors to address local environmental and social concerns, thus questioning the contribution of Chinese investment to Africa's long-term development.
Raw Encounters: Chinese Managers, African Workers and the Politics of Casualization in Africa's Chinese Enclaves
Authors: Lee Ching Kwan
Published: September 2009

This article examines one of the pre-eminent logics of global capital flow – the pursuit of flexible labour regimes – as a window to explore the interaction between Chinese investments and African communities. It analyses the respective “politics of casualization” in the Chambishi mine on the Zambian Copperbelt and the Tanzania–China Friendship Mill in the port city of Dar es Salaam. Both Zambian and Tanzanian workers have witnessed and resisted precipitous “informalization” of employment since the Chinese assumed full or majority ownership in the late 1990s. Wildcat strikes were staged by workers in both cases. Nevertheless, Zambian copper miners, but not Tanzanian textile workers, seem to have successfully halted this tendency of casualization. After several years of struggle, in 2007 they signed new collective agreements with the Chinese management, who agreed gradually to convert all casual and contract jobs into “permanent” pensionable ones. By explaining the divergent outcomes of these two cases of labour resistance, I hope to identify the major factors shaping the encounter between Chinese managers and African workers.
China's Engagement in African Agriculture: “Down to the Countryside”
Authors: Bräutigam Deborah A. , Xiaoyang Tang
Published: September 2009

Agriculture is a rapidly growing arena for China's economic engagement in Africa. Drawing on new field research in East and West Africa, and in Beijing and Baoding, China, as well as earlier archival research, this article investigates the dimensions of China's agricultural engagement, placing it in historical perspective. It traces the changes and continuities in China's policies in rural Africa since the 1960s, as Chinese policies moved from fraternal socialism to amicable capitalism. Beginning in the 1980s, the emphasis on aid as mutual benefit began to blur the lines between aid, south–south co-operation and investment. Today, Beijing has established at least 14 new agro-technical demonstration stations using an unusual public–private model that policy makers hope will assist sustainability. At the same time, a stirring of interest among land-scarce Chinese farmers and investors in developing farms in sub-Saharan Africa evokes a mix of anticipation and unease.
“Only united can we escape certain ruin”: Rural Protest at the Close of the Weimar Republic
Authors: OTTO-MORRIS ALEX
Published: September 2009

The level of rural unrest in the late Weimar Republic was much higher than has previously been assumed and did not simply decline after peaking in 1928. The agricultural crisis and Great Depression triggered a second wave of protest in the northern German countryside that continued from the autumn of 1931 until early 1933. Banding together, farmers established organisations to prevent compulsory tax and debt collection, and thwarted bailiffs and bidders at confiscations and compulsory auctions of farms and farm property with demonstrations, boycott measures and violence. The article focuses on these developments in Germany's northernmost province, Schleswig-Holstein, but also presents evidence revealing that the level of rural unrest has almost certainly been underestimated in other regions as well. The rural protest of this period was particularly significant for the involvement of parties of both political extremes which sought to win farmers' approval. Ultimately it was the Nazi Party that successfully exploited the second wave of rural unrest to promote its dynamic and activist profile and secure support in the countryside.
The Commercialisation of British Turkey Production
Authors: MARTIN JOHN
Published: September 2009

Since the 1930s turkey production in the United Kingdom has been transformed from a small scale, seasonal activity catering exclusively for the Christmas market, to an intensive mass production sector dominated by all year round producers, of which Bernard Matthews is the best known. This revolution in production methods reflects improved methods of disease control, enhanced nutritional understanding, and the development of more productive strains of turkeys with better conformation. These supply side changes have been accompanied by a succession of very successful marketing campaigns to persuade consumers of the merits of eating turkey throughout the year. This article investigates the reasons for the commercialisation of the turkey industry since the 1930s.
Different cognitive profiles between mild cognitive impairment due to cerebral small vessel disease and mild cognitive impairment of Alzheimer’s disease origin
Authors: ZHOU AIHONG , JIA JIANPING
Published: September 2009

Controversy surrounds the differences of the cognitive profile between mild cognitive impairment resulting from cerebral small vessel disease (MCI-SVD) and mild cognitive impairment associated with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (MCI-AD). The aim of this study was to explore and compare the cognitive features of MCI-SVD and MCI-AD. MCI-SVD patients (n = 56), MCI-AD patients (n = 30), and normal control subjects (n = 80) were comprehensively evaluated with neuropsychological tests covering five cognitive domains. The performance was compared between groups. Tests that discriminated between MCI-SVD and MCI-AD were identified. Multiple cognitive domains were impaired in MCI-SVD group, while memory and executive function were mainly impaired in MCI-AD group. Compared with MCI-SVD, MCI-AD patients performed relatively worse on memory tasks, but better on processing speed measures. The AVLT Long Delay Free Recall, Digit Symbol Test, and Stroop Test Part A (performance time) in combination categorized 91.1% of MCI-SVD patients and 86.7% of MCI-AD patients correctly. Current study suggested a nonspecific neuropsychological profile for MCI-SVD and a more specific cognitive pattern in MCI-AD. MCI-AD patients demonstrated greater memory impairment with relatively preserved mental processing speed compared with MCI-SVD patients. Tests tapping these two domains might be potentially useful for differentiating MCI-SVD and MCI-AD patients. (JINS, 2009, 15, 898–905.)
Beyond Lambeth 2008 and ACC14: Tuning a Polity of Persuasion to the Twenty-first Century
Authors: Driver Jeffrey
Published: September 2009

Recent tensions within Anglicanism have brought about an intense re-visiting of some of the debates that surrounded its emergence as a worldwide Communion in the nineteenth century. Then, as now, there were a number of suggestions for stronger structures at the centre. With Lambeth 2008 and the recent ACC 14 (Anglican Consultative Council 14), the Anglican Communion has effectively reaffirmed its commitment to a voluntarist, relational way of being together; dealing with differences through mutual self-limiting rather than by central control. Beyond specific proposals, such as that for an Anglican Covenant, this continued commitment to a ‘polity of persuasion’ will require time and patience as well as a quality of ongoing engagement to succeed. What is at stake is more than Anglican unity. It is the capacity for Anglicanism to witness with integrity to the world about living under God in community, sharing power, and co-existing interdependently on a tiny and increasingly conflicted planet.
The absorption of grave breaches into war crimes law
Authors: Öberg Marko Divac
Published: September 2009

This article compares the concepts, scopes of application and procedural regimes of war crimes and grave breaches, while considering what role remains for the latter in international criminal law. In addition to their original conception as international obligations to enact and enforce domestic crimes, grave breaches have taken on a new meaning as international crimes, similar to war crimes. Only in few regards does the scope of application of these new grave breaches surpass that of war crimes. The procedural regime of grave breaches differs in theory significantly from that of war crimes, though less so in practice. Although it is too early to discount grave breaches, they are likely to become confined to history.
Classifying the conflict: a soldier's dilemma
Authors: Carswell Andrew J.
Published: September 2009

Modern armed forces are employed in a wide array of operations that range from peacetime riot control to outright international armed conflict. Classifying these various scenarios to determine the applicable international law is rendered difficult by both the lack of clarity inherent in the law and the political factors that tend to enter the decision-making process. The author describes the major challenges of legal classification facing the military leadership, and proposes a solution to ensure that the intended beneficiaries of the law – from soldiers to civilians – do indeed receive its protection.
The impurity of war
Authors: Huyghe François-Bernard
Published: September 2009

Progressive democratization, the presence of a military superpower and the dream of an international order maintained by an international authority do not enhance the appearance of conventional armed conflicts. However, the discovery of new frailties that can be exploited by aggressors, the proliferation of motives – including ideological motives – for waging war, and the spread of technologies that can be used in new forms of warfare have led to war and armed conflicts breaking out of their classic mould, becoming hybrid and going beyond their previous boundaries. The author argues for an updated polemology which endeavours to explain the mechanisms of these new types of warfare.
Asymmetrical war and the notion of armed conflict – a tentative conceptualization
Authors: Paulus Andreas , Vashakmadze Mindia
Published: September 2009

States across the globe are increasingly involved in violent conflicts with non-state groups both within and across borders. This new situation challenges the classic distinction in international humanitarian law between international and non-international armed conflicts. However, the changing face of warfare does not diminish the importance of IHL. The essence of this body of law – to protect civilians and personshors de combatand to lessen unnecessary harm during armed conflict – remains the same. The applicability of IHL must therefore be determined according to objective criteria and must not be left to the discretion of the warring parties. This article seeks to conceptualize the notion of armed conflict and examines the extent to which the existing body of humanitarian law applies to the new asymmetrical conflicts. It finds that the definition given by the ICTY Appeals Chamber in itsTadićDecision on Jurisdiction, which was taken up by Article 8(2)(f) of the Rome Statute, is a useful starting point for an analysis of the ‘triggering mechanism’ of international humanitarian law in asymmetrical conflicts.
Sink mechanism for significantly low level of ozone over the Arabian Sea during monsoon
Authors: Ali Kaushar , Beig G. , Chate D. M. , Momin G. A. , Sahu S. K. , Safai P. D.
Published: September 2009

Measurement of surface ozone over the Arabian Sea during the southwest monsoon season (June–September) of 2002 has shown an unusually low level of ozone with an overall average of 9 nmol/mol. Such a low level of ozone could not be explained by simulations using a three‐dimensional chemistry transport model, Model for Ozone and Related Tracers (MOZART), which accounts for the known processes of advective transport and includes a standard photochemical mechanism. Thus, for the Arabian Sea region, we propose for the first time that destruction of ozone by reactive halides released from sea salt aerosols is the sink mechanism which played a crucial role in ensuring the significantly low ozone level over the Arabian Sea. Theoretical calculations constrained by observations have shown that, on average, ozone losses due to catalytic action of halogens and due to photolysis plus chemical reaction amount to 2.15 nmol mol−1d−1 and 4.64 nmol mol−1d−1, respectively.
Cloudiness characteristics over Southeast Asia from satellite FY‐2C and their comparison to three other cloud data sets
Authors: Jin Xia , Wu Tongwen , Li Laurent , Shi Chunxiang
Published: September 2009

Fengyun‐2C (FY‐2C), launched in October 2004, is the first operational geostationary meteorological satellite in China. It can provide 1‐h interval cloudiness products with a spatial resolution of 0.04° latitude × 0.04° longitude. The main characteristics of the regional‐scale clouds from a 2‐year FY‐2C data set (from July 2005 to June 2007) are presented, including the spatial distribution and the annual and diurnal cycles of cloudiness. The reliability of FY‐2C cloud products over Southeast Asia is investigated through comparisons to cloud cover from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on board Terra and Aqua satellites, and conventional ground observations. It is shown that the FY‐2C cloud mask performs consistently with other cloud mask products over Southeast Asia. In the boreal winter, the whole domain is dry with little cloudiness. More extensive cloudiness can be observed over the Sichuan Basin, in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, along the northwestern border of China, and around the ITCZ in the Southern Hemisphere. In the boreal summer, the summer monsoon is the dominant system for the studied domain, which is generally humid with extensive cloudiness, corresponding to zones of strong convective activities. Results also reveal considerable discrepancies among different cloud products over extended areas of north China and Mongolia. The Sichuan Basin is another region of large discrepancies among the four cloud products. Diurnal cycles of FY‐2C cloudiness for the four seasons of a year are analyzed. The diurnal range of cloudiness is generally larger over land than over ocean. Remarkable diurnal variation is found over the Tibetan Plateau, the northern part of the Indian Peninsula, and central Asia where there is generally less precipitation. The peaks of diurnal cycle of cloudiness appear around local noon over the subtropical land, in the morning over the Indian Peninsula, and in the afternoon near the equator.
Global nitrogen and phosphate in urban wastewater for the period 1970 to 2050
Authors: Van Drecht G. , Bouwman A. F. , Harrison J. , Knoop J. M.
Published: September 2009

This paper presents estimates for global N and P emissions from sewage for the period 1970–2050 for the four Millennium Ecosystem Assessment scenarios. Using country‐specific projections for population and economic growth, urbanization, development of sewage systems, and wastewater treatment installations, a rapid increase in global sewage emissions is predicted, from 6.4 Tg of N and 1.3 Tg of P per year in 2000 to 12.0–15.5 Tg of N and 2.4–3.1 Tg of P per year in 2050. While North America (strong increase), Oceania (moderate increase), Europe (decrease), and North Asia (decrease) show contrasting developments, in the developing countries, sewage N and P discharge will likely increase by a factor of 2.5 to 3.5 between 2000 and 2050. This is a combined effect of increasing population, urbanization, and development of sewage systems. Even in optimistic scenarios for the development of wastewater treatment systems, global N and P flows are not likely to decline.
Can we measure snow depth with GPS receivers?
Authors: Larson Kristine M. , Gutmann Ethan D. , Zavorotny Valery U. , Braun John J. , Williams Mark W. , Nievinski Felipe G.
Published: September 2009

Snow is an important component of the climate system and a critical storage component in the hydrologic cycle. However,in situobservations of snow distribution are sparse, and remotely sensed products are imprecise and only available at a coarse spatial scale. GPS geodesists have long recognized that snow can affect a GPS signal, but it has not been shown that a GPS receiver placed in a standard geodetic orientation can be used to measure snow depth. In this paper, it is shown that changes in snow depth can be clearly tracked in the corresponding multipath modulation of the GPS signal. Results for two spring 2009 snowstorms in Colorado show strong agreement between GPS snow depth estimates, field measurements, and nearby ultrasonic snow depth sensors. Because there are hundreds of geodetic GPS receivers operating in snowy regions of the U.S., it is possible that GPS receivers installed for plate deformation studies, surveying, and weather monitoring could be used to also estimate snow depth.
Response of convection electric fields in the magnetosphere to IMF orientation change
Authors: Nishimura Y. , Kikuchi T. , Wygant J. , Shinbori A. , Ono T. , Matsuoka A. , Nagatsuma T. , Brautigam D.
Published: September 2009

The transient response of convection electric fields in the inner magnetosphere to southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is investigated using in‐situ electric field observations by the CRRES and Akebono spacecraft. Electric fields earthward of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet show quick responses simultaneously with change in ionospheric electric fields, which indicates the arrival of the first signal related to southward turning. A coordinated observation of the electric field by the CRRES and Akebono spacecraft separated by 5 RE reveals a simultaneous increase in the dawn‐dusk electric field in a wide region of the inner magnetosphere. A quick response associated with the southward turning of the IMF is also identified in in‐situ magnetic fields. It indicates that the southward turning of the IMF initiates simultaneous (less than 1 min) enhancements of ionospheric electric fields, convection electric fields in the inner magnetosphere, and the ring or tail current and region 2 FACs. In contrast, a quick response of convection electric fields is not identified in the electron plasma sheet. A statistical study using 161 events of IMF orientation change in 1991 confirms a prompt response within 5 min for 80% of events earthward of the electron plasma sheet, while a large time lag of more than 30 min is identified in electric fields in the electron plasma sheet. The remarkable difference in the response of electric fields indicates that electric fields in the electron plasma sheet are weakened by high conductance in the magnetically conjugated auroral ionosphere.
Atmospheric effects and spurious signals in GPS analyses
Authors: Tregoning P. , Watson C.
Published: September 2009

Improvements in the analyses of Global Positioning System (GPS) observations yield resolvable millimeter to submillimeter differences in coordinate estimates, thus providing sufficient resolution to distinguish subtle differences in analysis methodologies. Here we investigate the effects on site coordinates of using different approaches to modeling atmospheric loading deformation (ATML) and handling of tropospheric delays. The rigorous approach of using the time‐varying Vienna Mapping Function 1 yields solutions with lower noise at a range of frequencies compared with solutions generated using empirical mapping functions. This is particularly evident when ATML is accounted for. Some improvement also arises from using improved a priori zenith hydrostatic delays (ZHD), with the combined effect being site‐specific. Importantly, inadequacies in both mapping functions and a priori ZHDs not only introduce time‐correlated noise but significant periodic terms at solar annual and semiannual periods. We find no significant difference between solutions where nontidal ATML is applied at the observation level rather than as a daily averaged value, but failing to model diurnal and semidiurnal tidal ATML at the observation level can introduce anomalous propagated signals with periods that closely match the GPS draconitic annual (∼351.4 days) and semiannual period (∼175.7 days). Exacerbated by not fixing ambiguities, these signals are evident in both stacked and single‐site power spectra, with each tide contributing roughly equally to the dominant semiannual peak. The amplitude of the propagated signal reaches a maximum of 0.8 mm with a clear latitudinal dependence that is not correlated directly with locations of maximum tidal amplitude.
Forcing and response in simulated 20th and 21st century surface energy and precipitation trends
Authors: Andrews Timothy
Published: September 2009

A simple methodology is applied to a transient integration of the Met Office Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version1 (UKMO‐HadGEM1) fully coupled atmosphere‐ocean general circulation model in order to separate forcing from climate response in simulated 20th century and future global mean surface energy and precipitation trends. Forcings include any fast responses that are caused by the forcing agent and that are independent of global temperature change. Results reveal that surface radiative forcing is dominated by shortwave forcing over the 20th and 21st centuries, which is strongly negative. However, when fast responses of surface turbulent heat fluxes are separated from climate feedbacks, and included in the forcing, net surface forcing becomes positive. The nonradiative forcings are the result of rapid surface and tropospheric adjustments and impact 20th century, as well as future, evaporation and precipitation trends. A comparison of energy balance changes in eight different climate models finds that all models exhibit a positive surface energy imbalance by the late 20th century. However, there is considerable disagreement in how this imbalance is partitioned between the longwave, shortwave, latent heat and sensible heat fluxes. In particular, all models show reductions in shortwave radiation absorbed at the surface by the late 20th century compared to the pre‐industrial control state, but the spread of this reduction leads to differences in the sign of their latent heat flux changes and thus in the sign of their hydrological responses.
Substrate specificity and inhibitors of LRRK2, a protein kinase mutated in Parkinson's disease
Authors: Nichols R. Jeremy , Dzamko Nicolas , Hutti Jessica E. , Cantley Lewis C. , Deak Maria , Moran Jennifer , Bamborough Paul , Reith Alastair D. , Alessi Dario R.
Published: September 2009

The LRRK2 (leucine-rich repeat protein kinase-2) is mutated in a significant number of Parkinson's disease patients, but little is known about its regulation and function. A common mutation changing Gly2019 to serine enhances catalytic activity, suggesting that small-molecule inhibitors might have utility in treating Parkinson's disease. We employed various approaches to explore the substrate-specificity requirements of LRRK2 and elaborated a peptide substrate termed Nictide, that had 20-fold lower Km and nearly 2-fold higher Vmax than the widely deployed LRRKtide substrate. We demonstrate that LRRK2 has marked preference for phosphorylating threonine over serine. We also observed that several ROCK (Rho kinase) inhibitors such as Y-27632 and H-1152, suppressed LRRK2 with similar potency to which they inhibited ROCK2. In contrast, GSK429286A, a selective ROCK inhibitor, did not significantly inhibit LRRK2. We also identified a mutant LRRK2[A2016T] that was normally active, but resistant to H-1152 and Y-27632, as well as sunitinib, a structurally unrelated multikinase inhibitor that, in contrast with other compounds, suppresses LRRK2, but not ROCK. We have also developed the first sensitive antibody that enables measurement of endogenous LRRK2 protein levels and kinase activity as well as shRNA (short hairpin RNA) methods to reduce LRRK2 expression. Finally, we describe a pharmacological approach to validate whether substrates are phosphorylated by LRRK2 and use this to provide evidence that LRRK2 may not be rate-limiting for the phosphorylation of the proposed substrate moesin. The findings of the present study will aid with the investigation of LRRK2.
Nafion®-based polymer actuators with ionic liquids as solvent incorporated at room temperature
Authors: Kikuchi Kunitomo , Tsuchitani Shigeki
Published: September 2009

Nafion®-based ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs), with ionic liquids as solvent, were fabricated by exchanging counterions to ionic liquids at room temperature. Ion exchange is performed by only immersing IPMC in a mixture of de-ionized water and ionic liquids at room temperature for 48 h. The fabricated IPMCs exhibited a bending curvature the same as or larger than that of conventional IPMCs with ionic liquids, formed by ion exchange to ionic liquids at an elevated temperature up to about 100 °C, and also had long-term stability in operation in air, with a fluctuation smaller than 21% in bending curvature during a 180 min operation. The effective ion exchange to ionic liquids in the present method is probably due to an increase in diffusion speed of ionic liquids into IPMC by adsorption of water in a Nafion® membrane. It is a surprise that among IPMCs with ionic liquids 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate, 1-buthyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIBF4), and 1-buthyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIPF6), IPMC with water-insoluble BMIPF6 exhibited a larger bending curvature than that IPMC with water-miscible BMIBF4. This might be due to effective incorporation of BMIPF6 into IPMC, since BMIPF6 has a higher affinity with IPMC than with water in the mixture of water and BMIPF6. From measurements of complex impedance and step voltage response of the driving current of IPMCs with ionic liquid, they are expressed by an equivalent circuit of a parallel combination of a serial circuit of membrane resistance of Nafion® and electric double layer capacitance at metal electrodes, with membrane capacitance of Nafion®, in a frequency range higher than about 0.1 Hz. The difference in magnitude of bending curvature in three kinds of IPMCs with ionic liquids is mainly due to the difference in bending response speed coming from the difference in the membrane resistance.
Controlling the directional emission of holey organic microlasers
Authors: Djellali N. , Gozhyk I. , Owens D. , Lozenko S. , Lebental M. , Lautru J. , Ulysse C. , Kippelen B. , Zyss J.
Published: September 2009

The far-field pattern of stadium-shaped organic microlasers is strongly modified by introducing circular air vacancies within the cavity, so as to control it in a predictive way. Experimental results are in good agreement with geometrical optics predictions whereas spectral properties of emission are investigated to improve the understanding of the lasing modes.