bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of stochastic modulation of inter-pulse interval during stimulated isokinetic leg extension
Authors: Aksöz Efe Anil , Laubacher Marco , Binder-Macleod Stuart , Hunt Kenneth J.
Published: November 2016

Recumbent cycling exercise achieved by functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the paralyzed leg muscles is effective for cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal conditioning after spinal cord injury, but its full potential has not yet been realized. Mechanical power output and efficiency is very low and endurance is limited due to early onset of muscle fatigue. The aim of this work was to compare stochastic modulation of the inter-pulse interval (IPI) to constant-frequency stimulation during an isokinetic leg extension task similar to FES-cycling. Seven able-bodied subjects participated: both quadriceps muscles were stimulated (n = 14) with two activation patterns (P1-constant frequency, P2-stochastic IPI). There was significantly higher power output with P2 during the first 30 s (p = 0.0092), the last 30 s (p = 0.018) and overall (p = 0.0057), but there was no overall effect on fatiguability when stimulation frequency was randomly modulated.
Feedback error learning controller for functional electrical stimulation assistance in a hybrid robotic system for reaching rehabilitation
Authors: Resquín Francisco , Gonzalez-Vargas Jose , Ibáñez Jaime , Brunetti Fernando , Pons José Luis
Published: November 2016

Hybrid robotic systems represent a novel research field, where functional electrical stimulation (FES) is combined with a robotic device for rehabilitation of motor impairment. Under this approach, the design of robust FES controllers still remains an open challenge. In this work, we aimed at developing a learning FES controller to assist in the performance of reaching movements in a simple hybrid robotic system setting. We implemented a Feedback Error Learning (FEL) control strategy consisting of a feedback PID controller and a feedforward controller based on a neural network. A passive exoskeleton complemented the FES controller by compensating the effects of gravity. We carried out experiments with healthy subjects to validate the performance of the system. Results show that the FEL control strategy is able to adjust the FES intensity to track the desired trajectory accurately without the need of a previous mathematical model.
Spatial analysis and prediction of the flow of patients to public health centres in a middle-sized Spanish city
Authors: Ramos Isabel , Cubillas Juan J. , Feito Francisco R. , Ureña Tomas
Published: November 2016

Human and medical resources in the Spanish primary health care centres are usually planned and managed on the basis of the average number of patients in previous years. However, sudden increases in patient demand leading to delays and slip-ups can occur at any time without warning. This paper describes a predictive model capable of calculating patient demand in advance using geospatial data, whose values depend directly on weather variables and location of the health centre people are assigned to. The results obtained here show that outcomes differ from one centre to another depending on variations in the variables measured. For example, patients aged 25-34 and 55-65 years visited health centres less often than all other groups. It was also observed that the higher the economic level, the fewer visits to health centres. From the temporal point of view, Monday was the day of greatest demand, while Friday the least. On a monthly basis, February had the highest influx of patients. Also, air quality and humidity influenced the number of visits; more visits during poor air quality and high relative humidity. The addition of spatial variables minimised the average error the predictive model from 7.4 to 2.4% and the error without considering spatial variables varied from the high of 11.8% in to the low of 2.5%. The new model reduces the values in the predictive model, which are more homogeneous than previously.
A comparison of temporal and location-based sampling strategies for global positioning system-triggered electronic diaries
Authors: Törnros Tobias , Dorn Helen , Reichert Markus , Ebner-Priemer Ulrich , Salize Hans-Joachim , Tost Heike , Meyer-Lindenberg Andreas , Zipf Alexander
Published: November 2016

Self-reporting is a well-established approach within the medical and psychological sciences. In order to avoid recall bias, i.e. past events being remembered inaccurately, the reports can be filled out on a smartphone in real-time and in the natural environment. This is often referred to as ambulatory assessment and the reports are usually triggered at regular time intervals. With this sampling scheme, however, rare events (e.g. a visit to a park or recreation area) are likely to be missed. When addressing the correlation between mood and the environment, it may therefore be beneficial to include participant locations within the ambulatory assessment sampling scheme. Based on the geographical coordinates, the database query system then decides if a self-report should be triggered or not. We simulated four different ambulatory assessment sampling schemes based on movement data (coordinates by minute) from 143 voluntary participants tracked for seven consecutive days. Two location-based sampling schemes incorporating the environmental characteristics (land use and population density) at each participant’s location were introduced and compared to a time-based sampling scheme triggering a report on the hour as well as to a sampling scheme incorporating physical activity. We show that location-based sampling schemes trigger a report less often, but we obtain more unique trigger positions and a greater spatial spread in comparison to sampling strategies based on time and distance. Additionally, the location-based methods trigger significantly more often at rarely visited types of land use and less often outside the study region where no underlying environmental data are available.
A young woman with abrupt changes in skin and mucosa
Authors: Dos Santos Vitorino Modesto
Published: November 2016

Cutaneous and mucosal changes due to adverse drug effects are relatively common in clinical daily practice; however, the etiology often follows unsuspected, undetermined and underreported. More severe lesions like the Stevens-Johnson syndrome should be early recognized and treated. As the entity is potentially lethal if not properly managed, and diagnosis is imminently clinical, the characteristic images might contribute to enhance the suspicion index about this syndrome.
Health assessment of taxi drivers in the city of Tshwane
Authors: Ramukumba Tendani S. , Mathikhi Makwena S.
Published: November 2016

Background: Taxi driving seems to be a strenuous occupation. There was evidence-based paucity of literature on health assessment of taxi drivers. Meanwhile taxi drivers of South Africa were burdened by communicable and non-communicable diseases including high-level exposure to injuries and criminal attacks. Health assessment of this cohort group enables mitigation to engage in appropriation of relevant interventions related to the occupational needs of taxi drivers.Objectives: The objective of the study was to conduct health assessment of taxi drivers in the city of Tshwane to identify health risk factors.Method: An exploratory, descriptive and quantitative survey was conducted and anthropometric measurements of blood pressure, body mass index and waist circumference were monitored and recorded on a convenience sample of 69 taxi drivers in Tshwane Municipality. Consent was sought from individual taxi drivers who participated in the study, while taxi rank queue marshals assisted with smooth running of the process. Data were gathered using a questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using statistical STATA II with the assistance of a statistician.Results: The study found that taxi drivers were obese, hypertensive, had type II diabetes-related risk factors, including unhealthy life style practices. The results indicate that the general health of taxi drivers impacts their occupation.Conclusion: The findings implicate that the health status of taxi operators in Tshwane was a serious concern and urgent concerted effort is needed to engage in lifestyle modification of taxi drivers. The need for health promotion and formalised occupational health services was recommended.
The use of spiritual resources to cope with trauma in daily existence
Authors: Magezi Vhumani , Manda Charles
Published: November 2016

The article explores the link between trauma and spirituality, and investigates whether and how spirituality can be used as a resource to address the needs of people in traumatic situations. The authors address the following questions: Why is it that spirituality and God himself may seem to make little or no sense to people who are experiencing trauma? Is spirituality an abstract concept that lacks practical relevance in crisis situations? Do peoples’ understanding of God and what they believe about his nature and power affect their spirituality and determine how they understand God’s intervention in coping with trauma? To answer these questions, the authors make use of the life history research method to analyse the case of Nokwazi Chiya, a Zulu woman who abandoned God and all spiritual support systems after the traumatic death of her fiancé. The findings demonstrate how traumatic events destroy not only the psychosocial aspects, but also the survivor’s faith in a natural or divine order and cast the survivor into a state of existential crisis. The findings further show the role spirituality plays in enhancing the healing, recovery and developing resilience of trauma survivors. The study subsequently argues for an integrated approach to working through trauma, which brings spirituality into the psychotherapeutic dialogue – particularly in the South African context, where the majority of the population is exposed to various types of trauma. This integrated psychotherapy approach will have implications for the disciplines of practical theology and psychology or psychiatry, especially with regard to how we understand, assess and treat the needs of different people exposed to trauma and other existential crises.
Critical literacy: The encounter between Western secularism and Islamic spirituality in selected young adult novels – An approach
Authors: Romylos Salome
Published: November 2016

This article aims to show how selected young adult novels may be potentially powerful locations for creating an awareness and better understanding of Muslims, Islam, and veiling practices in particular. Critical literacy as a methodology will be employed to demonstrate how learners may be guided towards critically engaging with texts. This is essential as mere surface knowledge is not enough when learners are confronted with complex issues, such as race, spirituality and culture. Western TV, newspapers, and magazines are responsible for painting a very monolithic image of Muslims as a seamless homogeneous group. Many young adults are actively engaging in conversations on digital media, such as Twitter and Facebook, where issues of culture and diversity are commented on regularly. Westerners may form very negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims when inundated with a deluge of images of atrocities performed by extremist groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The consequence is that all Muslims are stereotyped as being fundamentalists, terrorists and oppressing their women. Thus knowledge construction is manipulated by Western media. An understanding of the reasons for donning a piece of cloth – the headscarf – may serve as a starting point in changing perceptions about Muslims and their diverse practices. Educators should be wary of only advocating tolerance among different cultural groups, as tolerance implies a mere managing of one’s feelings of aversion for that which is to be tolerated. Critical literacy questions on texts, such as The breadwinner trilogy by Deborah Ellis and The girl in the tangerine scarf by Mohja Kahf, are discussed as examples for use in classrooms. These texts are very different in their portrayals of Muslim girls/women and may be read comparatively. The complexity of the encounter between Western secularism and Islamic spirituality emerges either subtly or explicitly in the novels discussed.
Differences in achievement between home language and language of learning in South Africa: Evidence from prePIRLS 2011
Authors: Van Staden Surette , Bosker Roel , Bergbauer Annika
Published: November 2016

This study utilised regression methods to explain Grade 4 reading literacy achievement taking into account discrepancies between the language of the test and home language for learners who participated in the South African preProgress in International Reading Literacy Study (prePIRLS) 2011. Grade 4 learners were tested across all 11 official languages. The language of testing did not always coincide with the learner’s home language; therefore, prePIRLS 2011 test results reveal achievement for learners who in many cases did the test in a second or third language. Results from the current analyses show that testing in African languages predicts significantly lower results as compared to English, but that exponentially worse results by as much as 0.29 points lower of a standard deviation can be expected when the African language of the test did not coincide with the learners’ home language. Findings from the current study provide evidence that African children stand to be disadvantaged the most when a strong mother tongue base has not been developed and when education for children between Grade 1 and 3 is only available through a medium of instruction other than the mother tongue. Evidence that exposure to a language that at least shares linguistic similarities to the home language could have a positive effect.
Large systems with Coulomb interactions: Variational study and statistical mechanics
Authors: Serfaty Sylvia
Published: November 2016

Systems with Coulomb and logarithmic interactions arise in various settings: an instance is the classical Coulomb gas which in some cases happens to be a random matrix ensemble, another is vortices in the Ginzburg-Landau model of superconductivity, where one observes in certain regimes the emergence of densely packed point vortices forming perfect triangular lattice patterns named Abrikosov lattices, a third is the study of Fekete points which arise in approximation theory. In this review, we describe tools to study such systems and derive a next order (beyond mean field limit) ‘‘renormalized energy’’ that governs microscopic patterns of points. We present the derivation of the limiting problem and the question of its minimization and its link with the Abrikosov lattice and crystallization questions. We also discuss generalizations to Riesz interaction energies and the statistical mechanics of such systems. This is based on joint works with Etienne Sandier, Nicolas Rougerie, Simona Rota Nodari, Mircea Petrache, and Thomas Leblé.
Modelo de Evaluación para Ciudades Sensibles
Authors: Fergnani Brion Mª Florencia
Published: November 2016

En este artículo realizamos una investigación teórica sobre las Sentient Cities (Ciudades Sensibles) y diseñamos una metodología para analizar si una ciudad reúne las características suficientes para ser considerada como tal.

Este modelo sirve para evaluar la situación de las ciudades a la hora de implementar políticas urbanas basadas en dinámicas de participación ciudadana en entornos híbridos (físicos y digitales). Para ello, elaboramos tablas de evaluación con los elementos que creímos determinantes de una Ciudad Sensible y establecimos parámetros de medición para cada categoría.

La Sentient City es una variación del modelo de ciudad Smart City, que también se apoya en el desarrollo tecnológico pero dando protagonismo a sus ciudadanos. En ella, la eficiencia se consigue a través de un sistema sostenible y participativo, fortaleciendo la Inteligencia Colectiva y los canales de comunicación entre los ciudadanos y la Administración.
Museo de Arraiolos en Vimieiro. Arraiolos. Portugal
Authors: Fátima Fernandes y Michele Cannatà Arquitectos
Published: November 2016

El Centro de Interpretación del Mundo Rural en Arraiolos, de los arquitectos Fátima Fernandes y Michele Cannatá es un buen ejemplo de integración con las preexistencias en base al uso de la abstracción como método de trabajo. 
House O en Chiba. Japón
Authors: Sou Fujimoto Arquitecto
Published: November 2016

La casa O es parte de la investigación de Sou Fujimoto sobre un nuevo concepto de cueva-casa, en Chiba, en la costa sureste de Tokio, realizada en el año 2007. Dicha casa plantea la construcción de un lugar mediante la inserción de unos muros de hormigón, unos planos de vidrio, una cubierta y un plano del suelo estableciendo unas nuevas distancias con la naturaleza existente -una topografía accidentada y el océano-. Genera un espacio continuo donde desarrollar el habitar y constituye una de las obras ejemplares de Sou Fujimoto donde investiga el signifi cado esencial de la arquitectura.
Arquitectura para el deporte: el estadio
Authors: Cruz Antonio , Ortiz Antonio
Published: November 2016

El título de este escrito podría haber sido una pregunta: ¿Es posible definir unas características propias de la arquitectura deportiva? Vamos a intentarlo desde tres aspectos clásicos: la función, la construcción y la forma y lo haremos concentrándonos en el tipo deportivo por excelencia, el estadio.
New insights into atmospherically relevant reaction systems using direct analysis
in real time-mass spectrometry (DART-MS)
Authors: Zhao Yue , Fairhurst Michelle C. , Wingen Lisa M. , Perraud Véronique , Ezell Michael J. , Finlayson-Pitts Barbara J.
Published: November 2016

Abstract. The application of direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS), which is finding increasing use in atmospheric chemistry, to two different laboratory model systems for airborne particles is investigated: (1) submicron C3-C7 dicarboxylic acid (diacid) particles reacted with gas phase trimethylamine (TMA) or butylamine (BA); (2) secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles from the ozonolysis of α-cedrene. The diacid particles exhibit a clear odd-even pattern in their chemical reactivity toward TMA and BA, with the odd-carbon diacid particles being substantially more reactive than even ones. The ratio of base to acids in reacted particles, determined using known acid-base mixtures, was compared to that measured by high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometry (HR-ToF-AMS), which vaporizes the whole particle. Results show that DART-MS probes mainly surface layers, consistent with other studies on different systems. For α-cedrene SOA particles, it is shown that varying the temperature of the particle stream as it enters the DART-MS ionization region can distinguish between specific components with the same molecular mass but different vapor pressures. These results demonstrate the utility of DART-MS for (1) examining reactivity of heterogeneous model systems for atmospheric particles and (2) probing components of SOA particles based on volatility.
Measurement of ambient NO3 reactivity: Design, characterization and first deployment of a new instrument
Authors: Liebmann Jonathan M. , Schuster Gerhard , Schuladen Jan B. , Sobanski Nicolas , Lelieveld Jos , Crowley John N.
Published: November 2016

Abstract. We describe the first instrument for measurement of the rate constant (s−1) for reactive loss (i.e. the total reactivity) of NO3 in ambient air. Cavity-ring-down spectroscopy is used to monitor the mixing ratio of synthetically generated NO3 (≈ 30–50 pptv) after passing through a flow-tube reactor with variable residence time (generally 10.5 s). The change in concentration of NO3 upon modulation of the bath gas between zero-air and ambient air is used to derive its loss rate constant, which is then corrected for formation and decomposition of N2O5 via numerical simulation. The instrument is calibrated and characterized using known amounts of NO and NO2 and tested in the laboratory with an isoprene standard. The lowest reactivity that can be detected (defined by the stability of the NO3 source, instrumental parameters and NO2 mixing ratios) is 0.005 s−1. An automated dilution procedure enables measurement of NO3 reactivities up to 45 s−1, this upper limit being defined mainly by the dilution accuracy. The typical total uncertainty associated with the reactivity measurement at the centre of its dynamic range is 16 %, though this is dependent on ambient NO2 levels. Results from the first successful deployment of the instrument at a forested mountain site with urban influence are shown and future developments outlined.
Data driven clustering of rain events: microphysics information
derived from macro scale observations
Authors: Dilmi Mohamed Djallel , Mallet Cécile , Barthes Laurent , Chazottes Aymeric
Published: November 2016

Abstract. The study of rain time series records is mainly carried out using rainfall rate or rain accumulation parameters estimated on a fixed duration (typically 1 min, 1 hour or 1 day). In this paper we used the concept of rain event. Among the numerous existing variables dedicated to the characterisation of rain events, the first part of this paper aims to obtain a parsimonious characterisation of these events using a minimal set of variables. In this context an algorithm based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Self Organising Maps (SOM) is proposed. The use of SOM is justify by the fact that it allows to maps a high dimensional data space to a two dimensional space while preserving as much as possible the initial space topology in an unsupervised way. The obtained 2D maps allow to provide the dependencies between variables and consequently to remove redundant variables leading to a minimal subset of variables. The ability of the obtained 2D map to deduce all events characteristics from only five features (the event duration, the rain rate peak, the rain event depth, the event rain rate standard deviation and the absolute rain rate variation of order 0.5) is verified. From this minimal subset of variables hierarchical cluster analysis were conducted. We show that a clustering in two classes allows finding the classic convective and stratiform classes while a classification in five classes allows refining this convective/stratiform classification. Finally, the last objective of this paper is to study the possible relationship between these five classes and their associated rain event microphysics. Some relationship between these classes and microphysics parameters are highlighted.
Validation of INSAT-3D sounder data with in situ measurements and other similar satellite observations over India
Authors: Venkat Ratnam Madineni , Hemanth Kumar Alladi , Jayaraman Achuthan
Published: November 2016

Abstract. To date, several satellites measurements are available which can provide profiles of temperature and water vapour with reasonable accuracies. However, the temporal resolution has remained poor, particularly over the tropics, as most of them are polar orbiting. At this juncture, the launch of INSAT-3D (Indian National Satellite System) by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 26 July 2013 carrying a multi-spectral imager covering visible to long-wave infrared made it possible to obtain profiles of temperature and water vapour over India with higher temporal and vertical resolutions and altitude coverage, besides other parameters. The initial validation of INSAT-3D data is made with the high temporal (3 h) resolution radiosonde observations launched over Gadanki (13.5° N, 79.2° E) during a special campaign and routine evening soundings obtained at 12:00 UTC (17:30 LT). We also compared INSAT-3D data with the radiosonde observations obtained from 34 India Meteorological Department stations. Comparisons were also made over India with data from other satellites like AIRS, MLS and SAPHIR and from ERA-Interim and NCEP reanalysis data sets. INSAT-3D is able to show better coverage over India with high spatial and temporal resolutions as expected. Good correlation in temperature between INSAT-3D and in situ measurements is noticed except in the upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric regions (positive bias of 2–3 K). There is a mean dry bias of 20–30 % in the water vapour mixing ratio. Similar biases are noticed when compared to other satellites and reanalysis data sets. INSAT-3D shows a large positive bias in temperature above 25° N in the lower troposphere. Thus, caution is advised when using these data for tropospheric studies. Finally it is concluded that temperature data from INSAT-3D are of high quality and can be directly assimilated for better forecasts over India.
Interannual variability in Australia's terrestrial carbon cycle constrained by multiple observation types
Authors: Trudinger Cathy M. , Haverd Vanessa , Briggs Peter R. , Canadell Josep G.
Published: November 2016

Abstract. Recent studies have shown that semi-arid ecosystems in Australia may be responsible for a significant part of the interannual variability in the global concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Here we use a multiple constraints approach to calibrate a land surface model of Australian terrestrial carbon and water cycles, with a focus on interannual variability. We use observations of carbon and water fluxes at 14 OzFlux sites, as well as data on carbon pools, litterfall and streamflow. We include calibration of the function describing the response of heterotrophic respiration to soil moisture. We also explore the effect on modelled interannual variability of parameter equifinality, whereby multiple combinations of parameters can give an equally acceptable fit to the calibration data. We estimate interannual variability of Australian net ecosystem production (NEP) of 0.12–0.21 PgC yr−1 (1σ) over 1982–2013, with a high anomaly of 0.43–0.67 PgC yr−1 in 2011 relative to this period associated with exceptionally wet conditions following a prolonged drought. The ranges are due to the effect on calculated NEP anomaly of parameter equifinality, with similar contributions from equifinality in parameters associated with net primary production (NPP) and heterotrophic respiration. Our range of results due to parameter equifinality demonstrates how errors can be underestimated when a single parameter set is used.
Source, composition, and environmental implication of neutral
carbohydrates in sediment cores of subtropical reservoirs, South China
Authors: Duan Dandan , Zhang Dainan , Yang Yu , Wang Jingfu , Chen Jian'an , Ran Yong
Published: November 2016

Abstract. Neutral carbohydrates along with algal organic matter (AOM) content, carbon isotopic composition, and elemental C/N ratios were investigated in three sediment cores of various trophic reservoirs in South China. Neutral monosaccharides, AOM, and carbon stable isotope ratios were determined by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, and Finnigan Delta Plus XL mass spectrometry, respectively.The carbon isotopic compositions were corrected via the Suess effect. The concentrations of total neutral carbohydrates (TCHO) range from 0.51 to 6.4 mg/g at mesotrophic reservoirs, and from 0.83 to 2.56 mg/g at an oligotrophic reservoir. Monosaccharide compositions and diagnostic parameters indicate a predominant contribution of phytoplankton in each of the three cores, which is consistent with the results inferred by the corrected carbon isotopic composition and C/N ratios. The sedimentary neutral carbohydrates are largely structural polysaccharides and, thus, are resistant to degradation in the sediments. Moreover, the single neutral carbohydrate content is highly related with the carbon isotopic composition, algal productivity (hydrogen index), and increasing mean air temperature during the past 60 years. The nutrient input, however, is not a key factor affecting the primary productivity in the three reservoirs. The above evidence shows that neutral carbohydrates have been significantly elevated by climate change even at low latitude regions.
C-GLORSv5: an improved multipurpose global ocean eddy-permitting physical reanalysis
Authors: Storto Andrea , Masina Simona
Published: November 2016

Abstract. Global ocean reanalyses combine in situ and satellite ocean observations with a general circulation ocean model to estimate the time-evolving state of the ocean, and they represent a valuable tool for a variety of applications, ranging from climate monitoring and process studies to downstream applications, initialization of long-range forecasts and regional studies. The purpose of this paper is to document the recent upgrade of C-GLORS (version 5), the latest ocean reanalysis produced at the Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) that covers the meteorological satellite era (1980–present) and it is being updated in delayed time mode. The reanalysis is run at eddy-permitting resolution (1∕4° horizontal resolution and 50 vertical levels) and consists of a three-dimensional variational data assimilation system, a surface nudging and a bias correction scheme. With respect to the previous version (v4), C-GLORSv5 contains a number of improvements. In particular, background- and observation-error covariances have been retuned, allowing a flow-dependent inflation in the globally averaged background-error variance. An additional constraint on the Arctic sea-ice thickness was introduced, leading to a realistic ice volume evolution. Finally, the bias correction scheme and the initialization strategy were retuned. Results document that the new reanalysis outperforms the previous version in many aspects, especially in representing the variability of global heat content and associated steric sea level in the last decade, the top 80 m ocean temperature biases and root mean square errors, and the Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation; slight worsening in the high-latitude salinity and deep ocean temperature emerge though, providing the motivation for further tuning of the reanalysis system. The dataset is available in NetCDF format at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.857995.
Assessment of the effectiveness of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in the delivery of desired Ecosystem Services in Sasumua catchment, Kenya
Authors: Nduhiu Charles , Gathenya John Mwangi , Mwangi John Kimani , Aman Malik , Mutisya Titus
Published: November 2016

Abstract. The study was conducted in Sasumua watershed in Nyandarua County, Kenya where a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) pilot project was initiated in June 2015 with the aim of promoting sustainable land management practices (SLM) that would lead to improved water quality. This study which was conducted after one year of PES implementation, seeks to establish what effect the SLM technologies being promoted under PES would have on the water quality. A representative sub-watershed was established where 42.3 ha were under intensive cultivation. Baseline status on Total Suspended Solids (TSS) was established during the rainy season of March–May 2015 just before the onset of PES project. Baseline status on SLM technologies in the study site was also established. Two V-notches were installed to record flow in the rainy season of March–May 2016 for purposes of soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) calibration. Data collection involved water sampling at selected points during two major rainy seasons of October–December 2015 and March–May 2016. Water samples were tested for TSS by photometric determination method using Lovibond water quality testing kit. The SWAT model was applied to generate two scenarios (Worst and Best scenarios) of the study site. The scenarios before and after PES project (determined from actual field measurements) were fitted in between the SWAT scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of the PES approach after one year of PES project. The baseline status for TSS was an average of 71.05 mg/L. After one year of PES project implementation, the TSS improved to an average of 42.73 mg/L. SWAT model predicts a worst scenario for TSS at an average of 124.15 mg/L and best scenario at an average of 12.76 mg/L. Watershed management through PES approach can be effective in improving downstream water quality as shown by increase in adoption of SLM technologies from 11 % to approximately 32 % within the first year. However, long term research data is highly recommended to validate the effectiveness of PES over number of years especially on ecosystem services that manifest after long periods and establishing whether PES incentives actually maintain best conditions at farm level. More ecosystem services should also be monitored to validate the TSS results.
Roadway backfill method to prevent geohazards induced by room and pillar mining: a case study in Changxing coal mine, China
Authors: Zhou Nan , Li Meng , Zhang Jixiong , Gao Rui
Published: November 2016

Abstract. Coal mines in the western areas of China experience low mining rates and induce many geohazards when using the room and pillar mining method. In this research, we proposed a roadway backfill method during longwall mining to target these problems. We tested the mechanical properties of the backfill materials to determine a reasonable ratio of backfill materials for the driving roadway during longwall mining. We also introduced the roadway layout and the backfill mining technique required for this method. Based on the effects of the abutment stress from a single roadway driving task, we designed the distance between roadways and a driving and filling sequence for multiple-roadway driving. By doing so, we found the movement characteristics of the strata with quadratic stabilization for backfill mining during roadway driving. Based on this research, the driving and filling sequence of the 3101 working face in Changxing coal mine was optimized to avoid the superimposed influence of mining-induced stress. According to the analysis of the surface monitoring data, the accumulated maximum subsidence is 15 mm and the maximum horizontal deformation is 0.8 mm m−1, which indicated that the ground basically had no obvious deformation after the implementation of the roadway backfill method at 3101 working face.
The analysis of H/V curve from different ellipticity retrieval technique for a single 3c-station recording
Authors: Ullah Irfan , Prado Renato Luiz
Published: November 2016

Abstract. In the last two decades or so the H/V (Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio) technique remained very popular, and are extensively used for the site fundamental frequency estimation. H/V curve are also used with dispersion curve to jointly invert and retrieved the shear wave velocity of relatively deep soil deposit. Although a full theoretical explanation of H/V technique is not been presented yet, There are two main assumptions used generally that H/V curves can be explained by considering Rayleigh wave of noise wavefield only while the other newly presented approach utilized the whole noise wavefield known as diffuse field approach (DFA), However in case of Rayleigh wave approach for H/V, it is almost impossible to the remove the fraction of Love wave to the horizontal component of H/V. Here in this study, we aim to test different approaches adopted for the removal of Love wave fraction from the horizontal component for a borehole test site at the University of Sao Paulo. The result from different approaches is compared with borehole ellipticity curve. The result shows that around the fundamental frequency of curve obtained in either way(DFA or ellipticity approach) is dominated by Rayleigh waves.
How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness?
Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison
eXperiment
Authors: Farinotti Daniel , Brinkerhoff Douglas , Clarke Garry K.C. , Fürst Johannes J. , Frey Holger , Gantayat Prateek , Gillet-Chaulet Fabien , Girard Claire , Huss Matthias , Leclercq Paul W. , Linsbauer Andreas , Machguth Horst , Martin Carlos , Maussion Fabien , Morlighem Mathieu , Mosbeux Cyrille , Pandit Ankur , Portmann Andrea , Rabatel Antoine , Ramsankaran RAAJ , Reerink Thomas J. , Sanchez Olivier , Stentoft Peter A. , Singh Kumari Sangita , van Pelt Ward J.J. , Anderson Brian , Benham Toby , Binder Daniel , Dowdeswell Julian A. , Fischer Andrea , Helfricht Kay , Kutuzov Stanislav , Lavrentiev Ivan , McNabb Robert , Gudmundsson G. Hilmar , Li Huilin , Andreassen Liss M.
Published: November 2016

Abstract. Knowledge of the ice thickness distribution of glaciers and ice caps is an important prerequisite for many glaciological and hydrological investigations. A wealth of approaches has recently been presented for inferring ice thickness from characteristics of the surface. With the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment (ITMIX) we performed the first coordinated assessment quantifying individual model performance. A set of 17 different models showed that individual ice thickness estimates can differ considerably – locally by a spread comparable to the observed thickness. Averaging the results of multiple models, however, significantly improved the results: On average over the 21 considered test cases, comparison against direct ice thickness measurements revealed deviations in the order of 10 ± 24% of the mean ice thickness (1-sigma estimate). For models relying on multiple data sets -- such as surface ice velocity fields, surface mass balance, or rates of ice thickness change – the results highlighted the sensitivity to input data consistency. Together with the requirement of being able to handle large regions in an automated fashion, the capacity of better accounting for uncertainties in the input data will be a key for an improved next generation of ice thickness estimation approaches.
Documenting the Invisible: Political Agency in Trevor Paglen’s Limit Telephotography
Authors: Kafer Gary
Published: November 2016

Taken from up to forty miles away, Trevor Paglen's limit telephotography images of covert military bases in the American Southwest are blurred by dense atmopshere, dust and debris. In effect, his photographs are highly illegible, and thus the military bases escape any sort of revelation. Following this logic, if one cannot see these top secret locations, then these images are in fact not politically effective at disclosing confidential federal information. Rather, Paglen asserts that the political agency of his can be located not in the image, but in the practice of performing limit telephotography - standing on public land and excercising the right to photograph. In turn, Paglen relocates the documentarian potential of his images into an agency formulated by a relational aesthetic, one in which the communal effects of creating the image and interpreting it generate the possibilities of enacting further practices of political resistance.
Machiavellian Intellectual Property
Authors: Frye Brian L.
Published: November 2016

In his controversial essay, “Faith-Based Intellectual Property,” Mark Lemley argues that moral theories of intellectual property are wrong because they are based on faith, rather than evidence. This article suggests that Lemley’s argument is controversial at least in part because it explicitly acknowledges that consequentialist and deontological theories of intellectual property rely on incompatible normative premises: consequentialist theories hold that intellectual property is justified only if it increases social welfare; deontological theories hold that intellectual property is justified even if it decreases social welfare. According to Berlin, the genius of Machiavelli was to recognize that when two moral theories have incompatible normative premises, societies may be forced to choose between the theories. But Berlin observed that it is possible to adopt different moral theories in different contexts. This article suggests that we can reconcile consequentialist and deontological theories of intellectual property by adopting a consequentialist public theory and deontological private theories
La regulación política de la familia. Ideología, desigualdad y género en el "Plan Integral de Apoyo a la Familia"
Authors: Comas d'Argemir Dolors , Marre Cifola Diana , San Roman Sobrino Beatriz
Published: November 2016

La familia es la institución privada por excelencia y, sin embargo, es objeto de intervención política. En este artículo reflexionamos acerca de los componentes ideológicos que subyacen en las políticas públicas que afectan a la familia y el significado que tienen en el contexto en que se activan. Para ello, analizamos el Plan Integral de Apoyo a la Familia 2014-2017. Borrador de trabajo, elaborado por el gobierno español. En la actual fase de reactivación de las políticas neoliberales, se pretende que la familia fortalezca sus funciones de protección y cuidado de sus miembros, en correspondencia con la progresiva disminución de las responsabilidades públicas por parte del Estado. En este contexto, la protección de la maternidad resulta fundamental, pues focaliza el papel de las mujeres como madres y cuidadoras. Los cambios en la agenda de la familia se corresponden, pues, con cambios en la agenda de igualdad.
Los universitarios en la tormenta del capitalismo kafkaïano. El caso francés.
Authors: Darbus Fanny , Fanny Jedlicki
Published: November 2016

Así como las telecomunicaciones, el sistema francés de Educación Superior e Investigación (ESI) esta profundamente reestructurada desde el Pacto de Bolonia (1999). En nombre de una modernización permanente de los servicios públicos y de una política de austeridad económica, la ESI fue desmantelada y remodelada en un tiempo récord. Las reformas iniciadas en 2005, junto con una política de disminución drástica de puestos de docentes y investigadores titulares, tienen una serie de efectos sobre la universidad, sus condiciones de trabajo y empleo y luego sobre el homo academicus. Las reorganizaciones inducidas por estas reformas eran -y siguen siendo- para todo el personal sinónimo de aumento de sus tareas e intensificación constante de su carga de trabajo. Sin embargo, junto con la disminución constante de los recursos y la proliferación de mandatos contradictorios, los academicos se enfrentan a la incapacidad crónica de hacer bien su trabajo. La degradación del medio universitario tanto como la erosión de la ética laboral, sumados al desaliento y el agotamiento, son factores de riesgo psicosocial. Pero la multiplicación de las formas de sufrimiento y señales de advertencia en las universidades suelen ser poco visibles en el paisaje académico francés, que, al igual que el resto del país, poco a poco se está “latinoamericanizando”.
Staging Nothing: The Figure of Das Ding in Poe's “The Raven”
Authors: Kelly Sean James
Published: November 2016

Within a Lacanian psychoanalytic framework, this paper examines the aesthetic effects of Edgar Allan Poe's poem “The Raven” (1845), specifically those effects produced by the poem's sublime architectonics of present-absence. While critics have examined the role of the sublime and uncanny in the poem, most of these studies have focused on providing an historical context for Poe's aesthetics or establishing cultural sources for the poem's symbolic imagery. By contrast, I aim to demonstrate that both the form and content of “The Raven” anticipate the psychoanalytic, specifically Freudian-Lacanian, concept of das Ding—the mythical “Thing”—which Jacques Lacan, in Seminar VII, argues is the lost object “attached to whatever is open, lacking, or gaping at the center of our desire.” Because, according to Lacan's theory, this concept names the void around which human subjectivity forms and all subsequent desire turns, art functions, in essence, to “creat[e] the void and thereby introduce[e] the possibility of filling it.” In this paper, I examine both how the void is staged through aesthetic means in “The Raven” and “filled” by the enigmatic raven, which takes on the function of a sublime object in the speaker's fantasy.
Anticausatives are semantically reflexive in Norwegian, but not in English
Authors: Lundquist Björn , Corley Martin , Tungseth Mai , Sorace Antonella , Ramchand Gillian
Published: November 2016

In this paper we will discuss cross-linguistic variation in semantic entailment patterns in causative alternations. Previous work has probed this issue with data from elicited semantic judgements on paired linguistic forms, often involving linguistic negation and contradiction. We contribute to the debate in the form of a related psycholinguistic experiment that taps into direct judgements of truth conditions based on visualized scenarios. The stimulus consisted of video sequences of agents causing events, and the task involved answering a Yes-No question based on the anticausative/inchoative alternant. We were therefore able to test two languages, Norwegian and English, with the very same stimuli and directly compare the judgements. Based on our results, we will argue that the causative alternation is qualitatively different in the two languages. More specifically, the results support an entailment relation between the causative and its anticausative counterpart in English, as predicted by the whole class of “causer-less” analyses (Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995; Ramchand 2008; Reinhart & Siloni 2005) in the literature. In contrast to this, our results support a reflexive analysis of anticausatives in Norwegian (Chierchia 2004; Koontz-Garboden 2009), where no such entailment holds.
Ontología y epistemología en la filosofía latinoamericana de Alejandro Serrano Caldera como fundamento de la Cultura de Paz
Authors: Lovo Anastasio
Published: November 2016

Anastasio Lovo en este texto, dimensiona y destaca los elementos de una estructura profunda de sentido -ontológica y epistémica- en la filosofía latinoamericana del Maestro Alejandro Serrano Caldera.Para el autor, la filosofía de Serrano Caldera también contiene una valiosa y pertinente indagación de nuestro ser latinoamericano y sus formas de sentir, conocer, reflexionar y expresarse, que proporciona una valiosa veta teórica y práctica para fundamentar una cultura de paz desde América Latina para el mundo.El pensamiento filosófico de Alejandro Serrano Caldera, marca aquellos desafíos vividos en la historia latinoamericana, como proceso dialéctico de construcción de un ser particular y al mismo tiempo, universal.
Rubén Darío y la condición humana de Pablo Kraudy Medina
Authors: Arellano Jorge Eduardo
Published: November 2016

Rubén Darío y la condición humana1 de Pablo Kraudy Medina - Año del centenario de su muerte (1916-2016)
The Concept of Villain in Shakespeare’s Othello
Authors: Alqaryouti Marwan , Sadeq Ala
Published: November 2016

The concept of evil has been researched since the Medieval era, leading to the conclusion that human beings have the freedom to choose good from bad, or evil from good. The origin of evil based on the religious teachings is Satan, who is described as the Rebel Angel, as explained by Dante in The Divine Comedy (Alighieri, 1957). Satan tempts human beings into sinning, as revenge against God for placing him in Hell. Based on the psychological point of view developed by Sigmund Freud, the source of evil is id which is distinctive (Freud, 1966). Villain motivations are driven by the tendency of the ego to make realistic decisions about meeting the unrealistic and unreasonable desires by the id. The other aspect that motivates villain actions include jealousy, anger and revenge, as indicated in the play. Shakespeare presents the villain character perfectly in his play Othello (1604) through Iago, whose main focus in life is to destroy others “So will I turn her virtue into pitch And out of her own goodness make the net That shall enmesh them all” (Shakespeare, 1993, p. 99). Through his manipulative skills, he makes the other characters trust him “Iago most honest” (Shakespeare, 1993, p. 75) and then fuel conflicts among them. Iago is motivated by anger, revenge and jealousy to commit the evil acts.