bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Untangling the Intersectional Biopolitics of Neoliberal Globalization: Asia, Asian, and the Asia-Pacific Rim
Authors: Zhang Charlie Yi
Published: December 2014

The article argues that the biopolitical stratification of human beings through the intersection of race, gender, and class is a central neoliberal governing technique to facilitate the global division and migration of labor. Also, the intersectional cultural contours of race, gender, and class provide a fundamental discursive repository for the justification of the globalizing process. These governing parameters are not simply the essential conduits to enable neoliberal globalization, but they are also crucial sites to normalize it. Focusing on the Asia-Pacific Rim in general and China in particular, the article attempts to unpack the different values laden with the discourses about Asia and Asian to illustrate how the intersection of race, gender, and class is invoked to facilitate and justify the transnational movement of capital and labor in this area. In an interlocking relationship with one another, these categories create a matrix of power that sustains the dominance of neoliberalism as the single world order. As the article suggests, within this matrix, any attempt to challenge one form of oppression without considering the overarching structure would reproduce other forms of domination and reinforce neoliberal global control on a different level.
Work, Sex, and Cigarettes: Gender and the “Good Citizen” in Orientation Classes for Immigrants in Germany
Authors: Brown Jessica Autumn
Published: December 2014

The article, based on ethnographic and interview-based research in Germany, looks at how citizenship classes for adult immigrants use normative messages about gender practice and ideology to discipline prospective citizens and to draw symbolic boundaries that define the nation. These gendered practices and ideologies fall into three categories: those linked with work; those associated with sex, relationships, and body display; and those connected to smoking. Each of these sets of behaviors has become salient in response to Germany’s largest migrant group, Muslims, but each has also been used as a gendered resource in past citizen-making projects. The article thus explores how discipline and exclusion in modern Germany are twinned, historically situated processes that draw heavily on gender and racialized framings of religion and culture. It concludes with an examination of the strategic ways that immigrant students themselves use gendered rhetoric to make their own inclusion and exclusion claims, and a discussion of both the benefits and pitfalls of embracing feminist principles as features of national identity.
Gathering Our Sages, Mentors, and Healers: Postcolonial Women Writers and Narratives of Healing
Authors: Hua Anh
Published: December 2014

By thinking through the relation between racialized women’s writing, spirituality, and sensuality, the article explores how creative and critical writing can offer a kind of “spiritual medicine” for women in general and ethnic minority women in particular, and how creative expressions can serve to develop individual and collective consciousness around healing, political resistance, and social transformation. The article is concerned with how writing and the creative arts can help women make sense of individual and collective pain by offering profound relief for the writer, the reader, and the larger community. Here, it will examine the different narratives of healing by postcolonial women writers in order to reflect on their sensual spiritual interconnection in the global, material, interdependent world. It argues that it is critical for women, particularly ethnic minority women, to take the stance of self-love and self-care, including the active seeking of affirmative self-actualization and liberation. The article suggests that in order to create ethical cultures of positive transformation, recovery, respect, and dignity, women need to gather their sages, mentors, and healers to produce knowledge that can transform them into more holistic, organic, sensual, spiritual, intellectual, interconnected, and accountable beings.
The Altar of Great Gratitude: A Korean Memory of Ming China under Manchu Dominance, 1704–1894*
Authors: Kye Seung B.
Published: December 2014

With emphasis on the Korean performance at a special altar designed to pay tribute to the memory of Ming emperors, this paper looks at the way in which Korean elites under Manchu dominance recalled Ming China and actually summoned the ghosts of Ming emperors unto their political stage. From the early sixteenth century, Ming China had been honored in Chosŏn as the suzerain-father, with the result that the Ming became the object for Chosŏn filial piety as well as loyalty. Chosŏn’s submission to the Manchus in 1637, however, forced an ideological crisis upon the Chosŏn leadership since the country’s compromise with the Manchus meant that the Chosŏn king and court officials had violated two primary Confucian values, those of loyalty and filial piety, on which the ruling mechanism of the dynasty had been based. The establishment of the Altar of Great Gratitude (Taebodan) within a Chosŏn royal palace in 1704 was designed to offset the violation and visibly demonstrate Chosŏn’s righteous obligations to the fallen Ming regardless of the real geopolitical circumstances. Thereafter, Chosŏn kings regularly performed sacrifices for three Ming emperors on the anniversaries of those emperors’ deaths. These rituals continued until Seoul was occupied by the Japanese in 1894 on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, implying that mainstream Chosŏn elites under Manchu dominance still sought to live spiritually under an imaginary Ming order.
The Confucian Systematization of the Royal Ancestral Cult: On Chosŏn’s Hamhŭng Pon’gung
Authors: Lee Wook
Published: December 2014

Hamhŭng Pon’gung was the house in Hamhŭng that Yi Sŏnggye inhabited prior to founding the Chosŏn dynasty. After assuming the kingship, Yi Sŏnggye posthumously crowned his direct patrilineal ancestors going back four generations. In addition to enshrining their spirit tablets at the Chongmyo (Royal Ancestral Shrine) for official rites, he also had their tablets installed at Hamhŭng Pon’gung. After Yi Sŏnggye’s own death the tablets of him and his first wife were added to the altar at Hamhŭng Pon’gung, making it a shrine for five generations of kings and queens. Initially a source of great controversy and nearly abolished, the rites at Hamhŭng Pon’gung ultimately gained official acceptance during the reign of King Chŏngjo (r. 1776–1800), though they continued to be omitted from the sajŏn 祀典 (state register of sacrifices). This paper discusses the history of the Hamhŭng Pon’gung rites and examines the process through which a non-Confucian royal rite was transformed into an official state rite. In so doing, it also highlights the way in which autochthonous religious rites in Korea that predated the transmission of Confucianism were marginalized or altered by Confucianism. Additionally, it illustrates the process through which unofficial royal rites unconnected to official state events were transformed into official rites of the state. It concludes with a discussion of the dual character of royal rites that preserved both Confucian and autochthonous beliefs and combined the public with the private.
The Confucian Transformation of Mountain Space: Travels by Late-Chosŏn Confucian Scholars and the Attempted Confucianization of Mountains
Authors: Lee Kyungsoon
Published: December 2014

In Late Chosŏn, touring mountain locales, and penning travelogues of such journeys, came into vogue among sajok (Confucian literati elite). But by the Late Chosŏn period, mountains were also one of the few places where Buddhism and shamanism could survive, thus the Confucian sajok foray into mountains naturally resulted in a cultural collision between the forces of Confucianism on the one hand, and Buddhism and shamanism (musok) on the other. This project on the part of sajok to “Confucianize” mountain space took three strategic approaches: the critique of traditional beliefs embodied in mountains; the injection of Confucian interpretations into mountain narratives; and the reclamation of mountains as something fundamentally Confucian. Ultimately, however, the project of Confucianizing mountain space came face to face with its limits as the authority and cohesiveness necessary for completing the Confucianization of mountain space eroded even as deep-rooted Buddhist and shamanist traditions prevailed. Nevertheless, the attempted Confucianization of mountain space, as expressed in the process of travel writing, place-name changing, and the establishment of noted sŏwŏn by Confucian scholars, has significance in the study of changes in the religious environment of Late Chosŏn, while highlighting the aspect of mountain space as an arena for competing intellectual and religious discourses.
Seoul and Salem: Contrasts in How States Treated Female Performers of Licentious Rituals
Authors: Baker Don
Published: December 2014

If one feature of modernity is the degree of tolerance a state or society affords a religious minority, then for much of the Chosŏn dynasty Korea was more modern than Western Europe or North America. In contrast with the witch-hunts we see in the West, which took the lives of tens of thousands, Korea marginalized but did not usually kill its shamans. The Chosŏn state exercised ritual hegemony over its subjects, but that meant it attempted only to control their religious activities. Unlike in the West until a few centuries ago, Korea did not execute many religious non-conformists for their nonconformity. This changed in the late eighteenth century, when the Chosŏn government began killing members of Korea’s emerging Catholic community for being Catholic. Moreover, when Korea began killing Catholics, it tortured and executed women as well as men, though in the past any legal attacks on nonconformists were usually limited to men. In Korea today, we find the legacy of pre-eighteenth-century Korea to be stronger than the legacy of the nineteenth-century persecutions. Nevertheless, Korea continues to differ from the West in its relationship between the state and religious communities.
Reading Genre in Sulpicius Severus’ Letters
Authors: Yuzwa Zachary
Published: December 2014

This paper argues that we can understand Sulpicius’ series of three letters on Martin’s death as a kind of epistolary fiction conceived especially as a means of continuing the narrative begun in the earlier Life. The decision to delay this essential biographical component and cast it in letter-form demands explanation. This paper shows what the author gains by that decision: the opportunity to write model readers into the text as recipients of the letters. In this epistolary corpus, Sulpicius outlines a strategy for reading Martin (and his own text) faithfully. Those who set Martin in the context of exemplary Christian models will trust the veracity of Sulpicius’ account and thereby receive the attendant benefits, namely the holy man’s protection.
Letter Writing, Materiality, and Gifts in Late Antiquity: Some Perspectives on Material Culture
Authors: Williams Joe
Published: December 2014

The study of late antique letters in today’s world often overlooks the materiality of these documents in their original forms. In many cases senders were primarily concerned with the transmission of a message from one person to another through words, and the epistolary medium was chosen as the most efficient way to do this. However, a letter could have numerous other functions, such as serving as a record of a transaction or as a means for the cementing of social bonds, and in these instances the physical existence of the letter was arguably more important than its textual content. Gift exchange also played an important role in creating and reinforcing relationships in Late Antiquity. This exchange often took place over considerable distances, and the short letter accompanying a gift forms a distinct category of correspondence that is attested across the late antique social spectrum. Little information about the practicalities of sending letters of this nature is directly available from the texts themselves, but through inference it is possible to draw some tentative conclusions about the material and social environments of the places through which these documents passed.
The Ghost of Cicero’s Letters: Epistolography and Historiography in Senatorial Letter-Writing
Authors: Sogno Cristiana
Published: December 2014

This paper investigates the privileged but fraught relationship between historiography and epistolography in the tradition of senatorial letter writing and explores the role that the ghost of Cicero’s letters plays in shaping that tradition. Even though Cicero is often invoked as the unachievable example, his letters became the model against which later letter-writers redefined the boundaries of the genre and of their own epistolary project. In so doing, they were able to offer new epistolary models to future generations of letter-writers.
Bridging the Cultural Divide: Libanius, Ellebichus, and Letters to “Barbarian” Generals
Authors: McLaughlin Jonathan J.
Published: December 2014

Roman elite society was changing rapidly in the late fourth century. Increasingly, military men of foreign origin acquired positions of power. Despite differences in education and background, members of the civilian and “barbarian” military elite managed to bridge this often stark cultural divide by exchanging letters, a key practice of traditional aristocratic, status–based culture. This study focuses on the friendship of Libanius and Ellebichus, magister militum of the East, as found in the letters and orations of Libanius composed between 385 and 390. As one of the few well–documented relationships between an educated civilian and a “barbarian” general, their friendship offers insight into the broader pattern of letter exchanges between these seemingly disparate groups. Libanius clearly valued this relationship, as did Ellebichus, who requested orations from the famous rhetor. Libanius’s letters conformed to generic conventions and maintained the semblance of a shared cultural background. When the relationship broke down, Libanius could criticize his friend’s foreign origin only in an oration, not a letter. Whatever the true feelings of the correspondents, the very act of exchanging letters helped unite the Roman Empire and, in effect, carefully mitigated the differences in culture, education, and power between the civilian and “barbarian” military elite.
Jerome’s Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women: Some Remarks about Their Alleged Multilingualism
Authors: Moretti Paola Francesca
Published: December 2014

This paper considers women either directly or indirectly portrayed in Jerome’s letters with a focus on the culture with which they are endowed and especially their knowledge of languages. Their multilingualism obviously serves Jerome’s purpose of implicitly legitimating himself as a spiritual guide, and enhancing his own scriptural and doctrinal authority. Nonetheless it should not be considered a strictly literary topos, stemming from the classical tradition of the rhetorical praise of paideia . Moreover, if the knowledge of Greek stands out as a feature common to both Christians and pagans of the fourth-century aristocratic elite, Jerome’s women’s multilingualism in some respects must be related to a specifically Christian cultural background.
Becoming Bishop in the Letters of Basil and Synesius: Tracing Patterns of Social Signaling across Two Full Epistolary Collections
Authors: Schor Adam M.
Published: December 2014

To explore the social significance of clerical office, this article compares the correspondence of Basil of Caesarea with that of Synesius of Cyrene, treating each as an archive of socio-rhetorical “data.” It examines all dateable letters in each collection for the author’s social signals to various recipients—such as Biblical or classical literary references, patronage requests or indications of intimacy. It then graphically depicts each man’s attested communication for two periods, before and after his becoming bishop. Such socio-rhetorical mapping affords a new perspective on the two authors. For Basil it reveals a segmented social life, in which he discussed classical culture, Nicene doctrine, and asceticism with different groups of contacts. While usually cast as a clerical/ascetic convert, Basil continued all his segmented conversations after he was consecrated. For Synesius, rhetorical mapping showcases a mixed social life, in which he widely discussed his patronage, literary interests, and philosophy. In contrast with the prevailing portrayal of Synesius as an unbending Neo-platonist, the article shows how he interwove Christian discourse with familiar social signals after his selection as bishop. Basil and Synesius lived differing lives, but their patterns of social signaling look like related approaches to pressures faced by most fourth- and early fifth-century local notable men who became bishops.
Institutional Merit-Based Aid and Student Departure: A Longitudinal Analysis
Authors: Gross Jacob P. K. , Hossler Don , Ziskin Mary , Berry Matthew S.
Published: December 2014

The use of merit criteria in awarding institutional aid has grown considerably and, some argue, is supplanting need as the central factor in awarding aid. Concurrently, the accountability movement in higher education has placed greater emphasis on retention and graduation as indicators of institutional success and quality. In this context, this study explores the relationship between institutional merit aid and student departure from a statewide system of higher education. We found that, once we account for self-selection to the extent possible, there was no significant relationship. By contrast, need-based aid was consistently related to decreased odds of departure.
Undocumented Immigrants and Higher Education Policy: The Policymaking Environment of New York State
Authors: Nienhusser H. Kenny
Published: December 2014

This research presents findings of the policymaking environment in the area of postsecondary education benefits for undocumented immigrants in New York. In addition to describing the response to ever-changing federal, state, and local actions, this investigation also identifies five political forces (power of the governor, pressure of advocacy groups, role of Latino policymakers, legislators’ geographic affiliations, and legislators’ political party membership) that shaped the passage of New York’s in-state resident tuition policy. Last, it discusses the possible future of postsecondary education benefits for the state’s undocumented immigrants.
Using Propensity Score Matching to Test the Community College Penalty Assumption
Authors: Dietrich Cecile C. , Lichtenberger Eric J.
Published: December 2014

Research studies have been ambivalent about whether enrolling in community college makes completing a bachelor’s degree less likely than directly enrolling in a four-year institution. This study uses propensity score matching with a posttreatment adjustment to determine the treatment effect associated with taking the community college to four-year college transfer pathway. Each transfer student was matched to a four-year college junior from the same high school who enrolled at an equally selective four-year college. We found no significant difference between transfers and native juniors, demonstrating the viability of the community college to four-year pathway. Policy implications are provided.
Modal Transpositions toward Theatres of Encounter, or, in Praise of “Media Intermultimodality”
Authors: Lavender Andy
Published: December 2014

In many contemporary theatre productions, a mixing of modes of performance, presentation, and participation is observed. In this scenario, change and adaptation occur within specific media precisely through their interrelation with other media. Lars Elleström describes intermediality as “intermodal relations in media,” or “media intermultimodality.” This essay explores Elleström’s account of modes and modalities in order to address the adaptation of media form and function in contemporary theatre and performance. It proposes that the notion of modal transposition across media helps to account for both the technical efficacy and aesthetic affordances of contemporary intermedial performance, particularly in “reality trend” work that aims to provide lived and felt encounters and draws on actual lives and experiences. By way of example, the essay examines Before I Sleep (dreamthinkspeak), Hotel Medea (Zecora Ura Theatre), The Drowned Man (Punchdrunk), Situation Rooms (Rimini Protokoll), and The Pixelated Revolution (Rabih Mroué). Taken together, these productions suggest that modal transposition serves a characteristic agenda: the provision of encounters with actuality, where both artwork and experience are pluralized, segmented, and synthesized.
Hayloft’s Thyestes : Adapting Seneca for the Australian Stage and Context
Authors: Hamilton Margaret
Published: December 2014

This essay examines The Hayloft Project’s theatre production Thyestes , first performed at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne in 2010. It takes as its starting point public criticism of the practice of adaptation as a derivative form. Contrary to this position, the essay applies recent theorizations of theatre as a hypermedium in order to argue that adaptation is an integral, structural component of theatre rather than simply an intertextual, representational strategy. In doing so, it positions Brechtian approaches to the medium as a historical precedent through which to consider the dramaturgical strategies at work in the production, and it extrapolates on Walter Benjamin’s idea of citation as a formative interruption to critique scholarly conceptions of the practice as a “second,” palimpsestic form. The essay thus extends the discussion of adaptation beyond the language of alteration and re-creation. Finally, it explores the misapprehensions that result from reading adaptation purely in representational terms in its discussion of adaptation in an Australian context.
All Shook Up and the Unannounced Adaptation: Engaging with Twelfth Night ’s Unstable Identities
Authors: Severn John R.
Published: December 2014

The jukebox musical All Shook Up challenges current definitions of what constitutes an adaptation. Not only have most productions refrained from announcing the musical as an adaptation, but the question of what All Shook Up is an adaptation of is almost infinitely contestable, given the sheer number of potential combinations of source texts that any one audience member is capable of recognizing. This essay argues that All Shook Up engages with the unstable identities of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night by playing with its own status as an unannounced adaptation: by inviting audiences to recognize All Shook Up ’s status as an adaptation—not only of Twelfth Night , but of multiple other works—as the work unfolds itself, the musical reveals the queer potential of adaptation, its potential to destabilize categories of identity. All Shook Up , ostensibly a light-hearted Elvis Presley vehicle, carries out quiet political work, harnessing this queer potential and expanding on Twelfth Night ’s unstable identities in order to destabilize various forms of modern identity-markers, including gender, sexuality, race, class, region, and age. All Shook Up thus makes a claim for the adaptation as an art form in itself, with its own particular aesthetic and political strengths and values.
Gentlemen Prefer Adaptations: Addressing Industry and Gender in Adaptation Studies
Authors: Wood Bethany
Published: December 2014

Adaptation studies’ dominant mode has tended to focus on textual analysis. Such an approach neglects the processes of production, a lacuna that works to mask underlying systems of industry and capital. The absence of attention to industry has resulted in an occluding of the ways in which gender in for-profit entertainment has been represented and shaped. This essay intervenes in adaptation and gender studies through a detailed historical analysis of the interrelationships of industries affecting 1920s print, stage, and film versions of Anita Loos’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes . Through this analysis, the essay demonstrates the efficacy of a more broadly configured form of adaptation in examining the interrelated industrial complex affecting representations of gender in commercial entertainment. It explores individual interventions in the process of constructing gender in adaptations.
Aspiring to Greatness: WVU Since World War II and the Struggle for Self-Governance
Authors: Lewis Ronald L.
Published: December 2014

This lecture was presented by WVU professor of history emeritus Ronald L. Lewis on November 5, 2013, as part of the Festival of Ideas Lecture Series at West Virginia University. In 1966, when David C. Hardesty was student body president, he inaugurated the series as a forum for new and innovative ideas. Newly appointed WVU president Hardesty brought the series back to life in 1995. The lecture is taken from Professor Lewis’s research for his book, Aspiring to Greatness: West Virginia University Since World War II (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2013), the first study of the university in the modern era. Unless otherwise cited, all information presented in this lecture is cited in or quoted from Aspiring to Greatness .
The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom
Authors: Dewaele Jean-Marc , MacIntyre Peter D.
Published: December 2014

The present study investigates Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) in the classroom. Participants were 1746 current FL learners from around the world. We used a measure of FLE, based on Likert scale ratings of 21 items (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014), and a measure of FLCA based on 8 items extracted from the FLCAS (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Statistical analyses revealed that levels of FLE were significantly higher than those of FLCA. FLE and FLCA were linked to a number of independent variables: participants’ perception of their relative level of proficiency within the FL classroom, number of languages known, education level, number of FLs under study, age group and general level of the FL (ranging from lower-intermediate to advanced). Female participants reported both more FLE and more FLCA. Cultural background of participants also had a significant effect on their scores. Participants’ views on episodes of enjoyment in the FL class revealed the importance of teachers’ professional and emotional skills and of a supportive peer group. Many participants mentioned the moment at which they realised that their long effort in mastering an aspect of the FL paid off.
APPLICATION OF SOFT COMPUTING TECHNIQUES TO MOTION CONTROL OF UNDERWATER ROBOTIC VEHICLE
Authors: Garus Jerzy , Małecki Józef
Published: December 2014

Using of artificial intelligence techniques to steering of underwater robotic vehicle along a reference path is considered in the paper. For the tracking, the way-point line of sight scheme is applied. Command signals are generated by an autopilot consisting of four independent controllers with a fuzzy control law implemented. Parameters of the controllers are tuned by means of genetic algorithms. A quality of control is tested without and in presence of environmental disturbances. Selected results of computer simulations are inserted to demonstrate quality of the approach.
PROPERTIES OF MULTICOMPONENT BIOFUEL BLENDS, CONTAINING RAPESEED OIL BUTYL ESTERS, BIOBUTANOL AND FOSSIL DIESEL FUEL
Authors: Kazanceva Irina , Sendžikienė Eglė , Gumbytė Milda , Kazancev Kiril
Published: December 2014

Chemical and physical properties (density, kinematic viscosity, flash point, copper strip corrosion, calorific value) of multicomponent biofuel blends, containing rapeseed oil butyl or methyl esters, biobutanol and fossil diesel fuel are discussed in this paper. Ester, water and partial glycerides contents were determinated in multicomponent biofuel blends. These properties were compared with the same properties of pure biodiesel (rapeseed oil butyl and methyl esters) and pure diesel fuel. As there are no standards for blends fuel, containing more than 7  of biocomponents, that is why, density and viscosity were evaluated according standards EN 14214 and EN 590.It is determined that the addition of butanol and rapeseed oil butyl esters should improve the cold flow properties, such as cloud point and cold filter plugging point.As rapeseed oil butyl esters were produced from high acidity rapeseed oil (4%), much attention was deviated for oxidation stability and acidity of pure rapeseed oil butylesters and it blends with butanol and diesel fuel.
THE EFFECT OF THE BIOFUEL PROPERTIES ON THE AUTOIGNITION DELAY IN A DIESE ENGINE
Authors: Mažeika Marius , Labeckas Gvidonas , Klyus Oleg , Kanapkienė Irena
Published: December 2014

The article presents the test results of a four-stroke, four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, DI 60 kW diesel engine operating on diesel fuel (DF) and its 5 vol% (E5), 10 vol% (E10), and 15 vol% (E15) blends with anhydrous (99.8%) ethanol (E). An additional ethanol–diesel–biodiesel blend E15B was prepared by adding the 15 vol% of ethanol and 5 vol% of biodiesel (B) to diesel fuel (80 vol%). The purpose of the research was to examine the influence of the ethanol and RME addition to diesel fuel on the start of injection and autoignition delay. The widely differing physical and chemical properties of the biofuel blends along with engine load and speed modes were taken into account to provide sound analysis of the experimental test results. Studies showed that the density of biofuel blends E5, E10, E15 and E15B was 0.33%, 0.65%, 0.95% and 0.56% lower at the temperature of 40 °C than the corresponding value (0.828 kg/m3) of diesel fuel. Kinematic viscosity of biofuel blends E5, E10, E15 and E15B also decreased by 7.8%, 11.0%, 13.0% and 10.8% at the temperature of 40 °C and the cetane number was 3%, 9%, 14% and 12% lower, respectively, compared to commercial diesel fuel. The use of biofuel blends E15 and E15B the autoignition delay increased by 4.4% and 9.5% compared to normal diesel operation at full pe = 0.67 MPa (100%) load and 1400 rpm speed at which maximum torque occurs.
NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECTS OF GASOLINE AND HYDROGEN BLENDS ON SI ENGINE COMBUSTION
Authors: Pukalskas Saugirdas , Rimkus Alfredas , Melaika Mindaugas , Bogdanovičius Zenonas , Matijošius Jonas
Published: December 2014

Even small amount additive (10…15% by volume from whole air amount) of hydrogen (H2) into spark ignition (SI) engines obviously effects ecological parameters and engine efficiency because of H2 exclusive properties. SI engine work process simulation was made using AVL Boost simulation software. Analysis of results showed that engine power depends a lot on H2 supply technique into engine; NOx amount in exhaust gases directly proportional to the amount of H2, however, making mixture leaner up to λ = 1.6, it is possible to reach significant NOx decrease. Increased amount of H2 as an additive in fuel, changes H/C ratio in fuel mixture, also hydrogen improves properties of the mixture (particularly lean) and combustion of hydrocarbons what can be a reason of decreased HC emissions in exhaust gases. Keyword(s): Hydrogen and gasoline mixture, engine efficiency, exhaust gases, nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons, simulation.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NATURAL GAS ENGINE PARAMETERS WITH QUALITY AND QUANTITY CONTROL
Authors: Shatrov Mikhail , Khatchiyan Aleksej , Sinyavskiy Vladimir , Shishlov Ivan , Vakulenko Andrey
Published: December 2014

Parameters of natural gas engines were calculated with the aim to determine the optimal way of their working process organization. Analysis of calculations results demonstrated that quality power level control ensured the improvement of parameters of investigated engines. Calculations showed that compared with the diesel engine, the gas engine with quantity power level control, internal mixture formation and glow plug ignition of the gas-air mixture ensured the decrease of СО2 emissions by 26.8%, and the natural gas engine with quality power level control, external mixture formation and gas-air mixture ignition by a small pilot portion of fine atomized diesel fuel supplied by a Common Rail fuel system – by 25.5%. Therefore, one can choose one or another method of diesel engine conversion for operation on gas fuel considering available technical opportunities and with minimal expenses.
RESEARCH OF THE SI ENGINE WITH MULTISPARK CAPACITOR DISCHARGE IGNITION SYSTEM
Authors: Šimakauskas Audris
Published: December 2014

Modern ignition systems for spark ignition (SI) engine management systems require an extended (adaptive) spark with regulated spark discharge duration for reliable ignition of fuel mixture and elimination of misfired-cycles. Lean air-fuel mixtures and alternative fuels also require an improved ignition system. In order to meet the increased requirements for ignition systems there is a multispark capacitor discharge ignition (CDI) system developed with prolonged spark duration. Block diagram of CDI system is presented; the principle of the operation of the system elements is explained. Mathematical model of the processes of the CDI system are developed. Calculations of the CDI system, test data with four-stroke SI engine GA14DS (Nissan Sunny) and conclusions are presented.
SEMI-ACTIVE SUSPENSION INFLUENCE ON COMFORT SENSATION OF A VEHICLE OCCUPANT
Authors: Žuraulis Vidas , Pečeliūnas Robertas , Jakutis Ginas
Published: December 2014

This article presents an analysis of a modern-day vehicle semi-active suspension performance impact on comfort properties of its occupant. Vehicles chosen for the investigation had two different suspension-driving options, characterized as Comfort and Sport modes. These options change such vehicle parameters as suspension stiffness, algorithm of gearbox operation, and sensitivity of the steering system. Altering these two modes while driving at different speeds and on different road surfaces, vertical accelerations, affecting the occupant seat, were measured. Experiments and data processing were carried out according to ISO 2631-1 standard. After filtering the aforementioned vertical accelerations, the occupant comfort sensation was expressed as the vibration dose value (VDV) and the root mean square (RMS) of vibration acceleration value. Once the fast Fourier transform (FFT) was applied and vertical accelerations were converted to the frequency domain, spectral analysis of accumulated measurements was performed. After evaluating the comfort of an occupant, a summary of the vehicle suspension-driving mode influence is presented.
EFFECT OF THE PILOT CHARGE INJECTION ADVANCE ANGLE ON THE OPERATING PARAMETERS OF A DUAL-FUEL COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINE FUELLED WITH BIOGAS
Authors: Wierzbicki Sławomir , Śmieja Michał , Piętak Andrzej
Published: December 2014

One of the ways of increasing the share of renewable fuels in the overall energy balance is to develop effective methods for using low calorific gaseous fuels, including biogas, to fuel combustion engines. This paper presents the results of research on the effect of changing the diesel fuel pilot charge injection advance angle on the operating parameters of a dual-fuel compression-ignition engine. The obtained results confirm the significant effect of the pilot charge injection advance angle on the engine torque value at a constant engine speed.
Information flow between medical and social sciences
Authors: Schubert András , Somogyi Anikó
Published: December 2014

In order to reveal impacts of natural and social sciences on each other, the authors examined connections between fields of medical and social sciences using a search for references and citations of scientific publication. 1. The largest affinity between the medical and social sciences was found between neurosciences and psychology, but there was a significant affinity between clinical sciences and general social sciences, as well. 2. The example of General & Internal Medicine papers in the topics of “diabetes” suggests that in the period 2001–2010 the share of references to social sciences was significantly increased. In the meantime, social science papers in the same topics contained references to Clinical Medicine papers in a constantly high percentage. 3. In the sample under study, the age distribution of social science papers in the references did not differ significantly from that of the other sources. 4. Share of references to social science papers was found to be extremely high among Hungarian General & Internal Medicine papers in the topics of “diabetes”. This finding still requires clarification, nevertheless, since e.g. it was not supported by an institutional comparison including the largest Hungarian medical research university. 5. The intensity of the reference/citation mediated information flows between the Hungarian Medical Journal, Orvosi Hetilap and social sciences appears to be in accordance with the current international trends. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(52), 2093–2096.
Obstructive sleep apnea in women
Authors: Turányi Csilla Zita , Pintér Nóra , Dunai Andrea , Novák Márta
Published: December 2014

The prevalence of sleep disturbances and their symptomatic manifestations may be different in men and women. Women with obstructive sleep apnea are less likely to be diagnosed with sleep apnea compared to men, probably due to atypical symptoms such as morning headaches, symptoms of depression and daytime fatigue. There is a great importance of diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders regarding quality of life, co-morbidity and mortality in both genders. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(52), 2067–2073.
Growth and Characterization of a-plane In0.2Ga0.8N/ GaN hetrostructures on r-Sapphire
Authors: Mukundan Shruti , Mohan Lokesh , Chandan Greeshma , Roul Basanta , S.B.Krupanidhi
Published: December 2014

Non-polar a-plane InGaN films were grown on a r-plane sapphire substrate by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE). The growth temperature and Indium flux were varied to optimize the desired composition of In0.23Ga0.77N on the (11-20) a-plane GaN epilayer grown on a (1-102) r-plane sapphire substrate. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the optimized composition have been studied. It was found that highly a-axis oriented InGaN epilayers with no phase separation can be grown at 540 °C with In/Ga flux ratio of 0.72. The composition of indium incorporation in single phase InGaN films was found to be 23% as estimated by high resolution X-ray diffraction. The room temperature band gap energy of single phase InGaN layers was determined by photoluminescence measurement and found to be around 2.56 eV.
Black Shank Resistance and Agronomic Performance of Flue‐Cured Tobacco Lines and Hybrids Carrying the Introgressed Nicotiana rustica Region, Wz
Authors: Drake Katherine E. , Moore J. Michael , Bertrand Paul , Fortnum Bruce , Peterson Paul , Lewis Ramsey S.
Published: December 2014

Black shank, caused by Phytophthora nicotianae, is one of the most important diseases affecting tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) production in the United States. Genetic mechanisms are needed that provide resistance to current races and that can be combined into cultivars that provide high yields of cured leaf with acceptable quality. Previous research identified DNA markers associated with an introgressed N. rustica genomic region (designated as Wz) found to contribute to resistance to race 0 and race 1 isolates. Objectives of the current research were to use DNA markers to transfer Wz into the elite genetic background of flue‐cured tobacco cultivar K 326 and to develop nearly isogenic lines and hybrids with and without the race 0 immunity gene Php. These materials were evaluated in multiple environments for black shank resistance, yield, and quality characteristics. Wz was observed to positively affect resistance in the seven diverse disease environments tested. Genotypes in which Wz was combined with Php exhibited the greatest levels of resistance. No evidence of a negative relationship between Wz and yield and/or quality was observed. Data suggest commercial value for Wz in flue‐cured tobacco‐breeding programs with the goal of developing high‐yielding tobacco cultivars with resistance to race 0 and race 1. Further studies are necessary to determine the durability of Wz‐mediated resistance, however.
Knowledge of unconventional gas mining among decision-makers in South Africa: exploring the requirements for fact-based water policy development
Authors: Esterhuyse Surina , Redelinghuys Nola
Published: December 2014

Water policy and regulation are of vital importance for unconventional gas mining, which may have large impacts on water availability and water quality. However, various studies indicate that regulators have insufficient knowledge to make informed policy decisions on unconventional gas mining. Based on this observation we conducted a study on the availability of knowledge of unconventional gas mining of attendees at the 4th and 5th Orange River Basin symposiums that are held annually in South Africa. The study focused on knowledge and perceptions of unconventional gas mining over the 2-year period from 2012 to 2013 due to important developments with regard to unconventional gas mining that took place in South Africa over this period, which could affect decision-makers' policy decisions on unconventional gas mining. Our results indicate that knowledge of this mining technique among decision-makers is limited, primarily because fact-based research is not readily available. Reliable facts on unconventional gas mining are required in order to effectively regulate this activity in South Africa. This paper argues for fact-based regulation and adaptive management as the science and technology of shale gas mining evolves.
Use of ionic liquids in extraction
Authors: Steltenpohl Pavol , Graczová Elena
Published: December 2014

In order to separate liquid mixtures, common distillation is not always suitable, especially if relative volatility of the mixture components is close to or equals unity, thus avoiding separation based on the vapor enrichment by more volatile component. To overcome this limitation of distillation, several alternatives were suggested including pressure swing and extraction distillation. Another, principally different, separation method used for the liquid mixtures separation is liquid-liquid extraction. Separation efficiency of this method is closely related to the basic extraction solvent characteristics, capacity and selectivity. In order to minimize costs connected with extraction, new extraction solvents are developed, among which ionic liquids show high potential due to their tunable properties. Here, efficiency of traditional extraction solvent, benzene, was compared to that of tetradecyltrihexylphosphonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ionic liquid in separation of ethanol from its aqueous solution. The comparison was assessed on the base of results of a counter-current extractor simulation. Further, some economic aspects of this separation procedure were discussed. Optimum consumption of extraction solvent was identified taking into account alcohol-to-water molar (mass) ratio in the final extract as optimization criterion.
The influence of weather conditions on annual height increments of Scots pine
Authors: Kaźmierczak Katarzyna , Zawieja Bogna
Published: December 2014

Annual height increments are a very important characteristic of Scots pine. They have a direct effect on the determination of the dendrometric properties of a stand, such as volume increment. In the present study the data concern height increments of the main shoot in selected age classes of trees (age 72 to 92 years). A relationship is determined between the values of the increments and meteorological conditions such as temperature, precipitation and sunshine. On the basis of lasso regression analysis, precipitation in the year preceding the incremental season was shown to have the greatest effect on height increments of Scots pine.
Bio and Nanomaterials Based on Fe3O4
Authors: Xu Jia-Kun , Zhang Fang-Fang , Sun Jing-Jing , Sheng Jun , Wang Fang , Sun Mi
Published: December 2014

During the past few years, nanoparticles have been used for various applications including, but not limited to, protein immobilization, bioseparation, environmental treatment, biomedical and bioengineering usage, and food analysis. Among all types of nanoparticles, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, especially Fe3O4, have attracted a great deal of attention due to their unique magnetic properties and the ability of being easily chemical modified for improved biocompatibility, dispersibility. This review covers recent advances in the fabrication of functional materials based on Fe3O4 nanoparticles together with their possibilities and limitations for application in different fields.
Effect of storage on physical and functional properties of extracellular vesicles derived from neutrophilic granulocytes
Authors: Lőrincz Ákos M. , Timár Csaba I. , Marosvári Krisztina A. , Veres Dániel S. , Otrokocsi Lilla , Kittel Ágnes , Ligeti Erzsébet
Published: December 2014

Aim

To carry out a systematic study on the effect of different storage conditions on the number as well as the physical and functional properties of antibacterial extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from human neutrophilic granulocytes.

Methods

Production of EVs with antibacterial properties was initiated by opsonized Zymosan A particles. The number of released fluorescent EVs was determined by flow cytometry following careful calibration. Physical properties and size of EVs were investigated by flow cytometry, dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy. Functional properties of EVs were tested by bacterial survival assay.

Results

Storage at +20°C or +4°C resulted in a significant decrease of EV number and antibacterial effect after 1 day. Storage at −20°C did not influence the EV number up to 28 days, but induced a shift in EV size and almost complete loss of antibacterial function by 28 days. Storage at −80°C had no significant effect either on EV number or size and allowed partial preservation of the antibacterial function up to 28 days. Snap‐freezing did not improve the results, whereas the widely used cryoprotectants induced EV lysis.

Conclusion

Storage significantly alters both the physical and functional properties of EVs even if the number of EVs stays constant. If storage is needed, EVs should be kept at −80°C, preferably not longer than 7 days. For functional tests, freshly prepared EVs are recommended.
Enantioselective synthesis of polyhydroxyindolizidinone and quinolizidinone derivatives from a common precursor
Authors: Saha Nemai , Chattopadhyay Shital K
Published: December 2014

A concise asymmetric synthetic route to two new tetrahydroxyindolizidinone and quinolizidinone derivatives has been developed from a common intermediate which featured a highly selective dihydroxylation reaction and a RCM reaction as key steps.
Solitary Fibrous Tumor of the Infratemporal Fossa
Authors: Freiser Monika E. , Castaño Johnathan E. , Whittington Elizabeth E. , Arnold David J. , Sidani Charif A.
Published: December 2014

Solitary fibrous tumors represent fewer than 2% of all soft tissue tumors, and only about 12-15% of them occur in the head and neck. We report a case of a 38-year-old male who presented with a six-month history of increasing right cheek swelling. Computed tomography of the paranasal sinuses with contrast demonstrated a well-circumscribed avidly enhancing mass in the right retroantral fat. On magnetic resonance imaging the lesion was homogenously slightly hyperintense to muscle on T1 weighted and T2 weighted images and enhanced avidly with contrast. Surgical resection was performed and pathology was consistent with solitary fibrous tumor. There have been very few reported cases of solitary fibrous tumors in the infratemporal fossa and none described as originating in the retroantral fat.