bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Legal In/Security of Temporary Migrant Agricultural Work: Case Studies from Canada and Australia
Authors: Newman Andrew
Published: April 2016

Despite differing labour law systems and program structures, temporary migrant agricultural workers under the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and Australian Seasonal Worker Program often possess minimal security of employment rights and protections, despite potentially lengthy periods of consecutive seasonal service to the same employer. Such lesser rights and protections are partly due to the central role played by continuity of service in determining the length of reasonable notice periods and the strength of unfair dismissal protections and stand-down/recall rights. Although it is often presumed that the temporary duration of the seasonal work visa necessarily severs the legal continuity of the employment relationship, such is not the case. This article argues that security of employment rights and protections can be re-conceptualised to recognise non-continuous seasonal service within the current parameters of a fixed-term work visa. In both Canada and Australia this could be accomplished through contractual or collective agreement terms or through the amendment of labour law legislation. Such reforms would recognise a form of unpaid ‘migrant worker leave’, whereby the legal continuity of employment would be preserved despite periods of mandatory repatriation, thus allowing accrual of security of employment rights and protections.
Multiple Layers of Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards: To Force or Not to Force?
Authors: Du Plessis Jean , O'Sullivan James , Rentschler Ruth
Published: April 2016

This article examines diversity on corporate boards, focussing on gender diversity and taking both contemporary and historical perspectives. Australia forms a particular focus of this article, but, as far as mandatory quota legislation is concerned, other jurisdictions provide comparisons. The authors illustrate how Australian corporate board gender diversity is starting from a low base in contrast to some other types of boards. Arguments for and against more women on boards are analysed in order to provide a comprehensive examination of extant research. The article also examines briefly whether a business case can be made for board gender diversity within the wider framework of board diversity. The authors acknowledge that there are unanswered questions about the right gender balance on boards and whether, without mandatory quota legislation, a voluntary system can achieve best practice targets. They explore the notion of critical mass - the idea that, upon board representation reaching approximately 15 per cent, efforts to further redress the imbalance may lose momentum. Their conclusion is that, in the Australian jurisdiction, progress is being made belatedly towards increasing gender diversity on corporate boards. However, substantial challenges are envisaged if significant progress is not made imminently to increase the number of women serving on corporate boards.
The Constitutionality of Queensland's Recent (Legal) War on 'Bikies'
Authors: Gray Anthony
Published: April 2016

The Queensland government has responded to a perceived ‘criminal problem’ with motorcycle clubs by directly naming and declaring 26 motorcycle clubs. It supplements earlier legislation that provided for a court to make such an order, upon defined criteria. The effect of the declaration is that it becomes a criminal offence for participants in the declared organisation to associate. The legislation provides for minimum mandatory gaol terms for various offences, including the act of associating. This article argues that there are serious constitutional questions surrounding such legislation, including on the basis of Chapter III of the Constitution, and the extent to which a court’s institutional integrity is compromised by legislation of this nature.
Family Provision, The Family Farm and Rural Patriarchy: Three Actors in Search of a Play?
Authors: Voyce Malcolm
Published: April 2016

This article describes how rural claimants have had their claims dealt with under family provision legislation. This legislation provides that, where a testator does not provide adequate provision for the proper maintenance and support of certain dependants, the court in its discretion may make further provision out of the estate. As regards this legislation, this article concentrates on the expectations of farming sons who have worked on farms and who may expect to receive a major share of a family property. Their claim is compared against the claims of daughters and widows. The article contends that family provision legislation, which in many cases works to the advantage of farming sons, reflects forms of patriarchy which overlap with and incorporate rural ideas of labour and the place of women on farms.

 
Board Diversity: More Than a Gender Issue?
Authors: Adams Michael
Published: April 2016

There has been extensive research conducted on the importance of corporate governance around the world. The research seems to demonstrate that, regardless of whether corporations are based in common law or civil code systems, their longevity and sustainability arise from good corporate governance. However, the evidence does not clearly demonstrate a correlation between a particular organisation’s governance structure and practices and its share price. Around the world the question of board diversity is gaining in importance. The beginning of the debate in the 1960s centred on gender. While it is essential to conduct a debate on gender diversity, other aspects of diversity should also be considered. Race, culture and even age may have a direct impact on the performance of a board. Australian companies, particularly those listed on the ASX, have a poor record of instituting any type of diversity. The USA and European Union have a much wider range of policies to promote diversity on corporate boards. The key question is how best to regulate to promote diversity across gender, race, culture and age. The historical approach of regulating diversity by setting targets and requiring disclosure does not seem to have delivered substantial change. Is it the right time to impose mandatory requirements, or are there other alternative strategies? Without doubt change is required, but there will be opposition.
Women In The Boardroom: A Reappraisal
Authors: Carrigan Frank
Published: April 2016

The purpose of this article is to explore the economic logic of the market in relation to the gender composition of Australian boardrooms. It argues that the benefits that could flow from more women occupying senior positions in Australian corporations will not overcome the laws of the market and the inherent competitive pressures that determine the trajectory of corporations. Placing more women on corporate boards must be supported as a matter of equity. However, it is unlikely that such a democratisation of corporations will impact on the internal structures that foster the broader inequality that is the taproot of the system and constitutes the day to day relationships of business.
Responding To Cyberbullying: The Case For Family Conferencing
Authors: Langos Colette , Sarre Rick
Published: April 2016

Cyberbullying is a form of anti-social conduct which is best understood as an online social relationship problem. Because of our growing understanding of the phenomenon, we can now see that any socio-legal response should envisage, therefore, a relationship solution. This article considers how one diversionary criminal justice process is particularly well suited to responding to incidents of cyberbullying where juveniles are involved yet which are deemed to be sufficiently serious to attract a potential criminal penalty. It explores, specifically, the option of family conferences (facilitated by youth justice co-ordinators) within the South Australian youth court framework. It concludes that both young cyberbullies and young victims of cyberbullying may benefit from alternatives to a retributive justice process, given that the primary focus of family conferencing is the repair of harm and the restoration of relationships.
THE LIABILITY OF PROVIDERS OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN NEGLIGENCE
Authors: Gray Anthony
Published: April 2016

In Hunter and New England Local Health District v McKenna the High Court considered the question of the liability in tort of a mental health provider for the actions of someone whom it had briefly treated. After involuntarily detaining the individual under relevant legislation, the service released the individual into the care of a friend. The person released killed his friend. The High Court allowed an appeal against a finding of the New South Wales Court of Appeal that the mental health service provider had owed, and had breached, legal obligations to the family of the person killed, denying compensation to the family on the basis that the service provider did not owe family members a duty of care. It will be argued that the High Court was wrong to deny that a mental health service provider could owe, or did owe, a duty of care to victims of those to whom the service provider provided services. The Court reached its decision utilising reasoning contrary to that of other cases which have involved questions of the liability of public authorities. The decision travels the well-worn path of denying that a public authority owes a duty of care to the public that it serves by asserting the inconsistency of obligations more apparent than real. The decision shows judicial reluctance to hold public authorities to the legal standards expected of other service providers, a reluctance that must be challenged.
The Carer Persona: Masking Individual Identities
Authors: Broady Timothy R.
Published: April 2016

According to Jungian theory, ‘persona’ is a concept reflecting a compromise between the individual and society. In mediating between a person’s subjective inner world and the external social world, the persona represents a generalised idea of the self which builds up from experiences of interacting with society. Such reflections of self-identity can therefore develop across multiple domains of a person’s life, culminating in understandings of self in a variety of specific roles. The existence of multiple personas can be clearly demonstrated in the context of people providing unpaid care for a family member or friend who has a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, or who is frail. Carers are likely to possess multiple roles as an individual, existing across various social and personal domains. This paper argues that in caring for loved one, a compromise takes place between individual selves and the social caring role. That is, the ‘carer persona’ can mask a carer’s individual identities and their associated needs. The potential complexity of caring roles is therefore explored, with an emphasis on acknowledging the personal needs and identities of carers beyond their caring roles. This acknowledgment has implications for service delivery and policy development regarding carers and those for whom they care.
Learning to Circumvent the Limitations of the Written-Self: The Rhetorical Benefits of Poetic Fragmentation and Internet ‘Catfishing’
Authors: Nolan Meghan Punschke
Published: April 2016

One of the most complex relationships we have to convey as humans is the written identification of that which we call the self. Despite the fact that we are multifaceted beings, contemporary lingual limitations often force the perception of the individual as a definitive entity through three fundamental normative communication standards: authority, authenticity and moral accountability. This essay examines the resulting paradoxes of writerly identity in relation to these constructs, and simultaneously proposes that the way to rectify such issues is to embrace disparate identity performances of writings past and present.Using research from multiple disciplines, including sociolinguistics, literary theory, and composition studies, this essay asserts that there is a great deal to be learned from the practices of two unlikely genres of written communication— Specifically, it draws a parallel between current internet culture and poetics, as the phenomenon of “catfishing” (or creating and portraying complex fictional identities through online profiles) parallels earlier Modernist acts of fragmentation through poetry. Therefore, this paper argues that although their motives may differ considerably, both endeavours are useful rhetorical performances in that they provide a practical framework for circumventing common lingual identity traps. Ultimately, it suggests that these unconventional perspectives of the “impersonal” in and through writing can help us to (re)approach the methodology of lingual identification and those written performances of the self (professional and everyday) that may not properly serve us.
Forming Persona Through Metrics: Can We Think Freely in the Shadow of Our Data?
Authors: Jethani Suneel , Raydan Nadine
Published: April 2016

The use of biosensors in wearable activity tracking devices to measure, record and share many aspects of life has been received with great enthusiasm for their potential to enhance conceptions of self through measuring variables relating to an individual’s health and productivity. In 2012, readers of the Economist were introduced to the idea of using numbers on oneself in the same way that charting progress towards a goal is commonplace in business. A new culture of self-improvement termed ‘self-tracking’ was beginning to gain currency. At the time that self-tracking was becoming mainstream it was estimated that the mobile health and diagnostics market was worth approximately US$640 million, which would grow to US$8.03 billion by 2019. In popular culture (news items and blogs), people who track their activity using technology are seen as heroic figures who are insightful, actualised, virtuous, and in control. Experimentation (trial and error), active intervention (a health kick, diet or detox), preventative self monitoring (blood pressure, glucose levels, heart rate) or the conscious foregrounding of habits (hydration, caffeine intake, counting steps) are constructed as rewarding. This can be seen as a manifestation of applying management principles to personal healthcare, and by extension the practice of applying an exacting science to the management of everyday life. Focusing on three current consumer technologies: Fitbit, Jawbone UP and Apple’s HealthKit application and developer platform, we argue that using such devices fixes individuals to symbolic discourses, permissions, limits, and thresholds, which prefigure and enclose energies directed towards the formation of self-knowledge and conception of selfhood.
Love Me; Self Portrait 1-3; Self Portrait
Authors: Graham John
Published: April 2016

These self-portraits explore the artist’s changing conception of self by presenting the self as a mutable entity without an essential core. The works also function as an index of the artist’s self-image, which spans a wide range of moods, emotions and dispositions. Love Me is characterized by bold, emotive phantasmagorias that explore the artist as a monstrous entity, a beast motivated by primal drives and appetites. Self Portrait 1-3 also induces a primordial resonance through its references to tribal art. These sculptures present the artist as an idol or effigy with mystical properties. This particular investigation into the artistic self references the inflated artistic ego, and role it plays in giving the artist special, almost shamanic, powers. Self-Portrait comprises of drawings manipulated to produce a video animation that tracks the artist’s perception of himself over a period of three years. This work reveals an ongoing interrogation of the relationship between self and artistic personae, which is evident in the animation that dramatizes the connections between the artist’s paintings and drawings.
Thank You
Authors: Barbour Kim , Lee Katja , Marshall P. David
Published: April 2016

The launch of a journal is no small task, and this monumental effort was the work of many.
We are very grateful for the support and assistance of the journal’s editorial board and international advisory board; the members of the Persona cluster of the Persona Celebrity Publics (PCP) Research Group; the national and international colleagues involved in the peer-review process, and the participants of the Persona Studies Working Papers Syposium and Exhibition hosted at Deakin University in February 2015.
It would also be amiss of us if we did not flag the particular contributions of Pat Scott and Josipa Crnic from the Deakin University Library, who worked closely with the editors to set up the online systems. Their expertise in OJS, and their unflagging support and enthusiasm has been of tremendous value. We are grateful for the intellectual and financial support offered by PCP and thank the leadership team—Sean Redmond, Toija Cinque, Glenn D’Cruz, and Kristen Demitrious—for advocating on the project’s behalf. Glenn D’Cruz has been the linchpin to the creative portion of this issue: his efforts in curating the exhibition and co-ordinating the reproduction of that work here are very much appreciated.
The business and busyness of hosting the Symposium, setting up and managing this open-access journal, and editing this issue, has been, for us, deeply satisfying. Thank you, all, for your help in making it so. We look forward to working with you again on the next issue.
Crafting a Work Persona in 1970s Petroleum Geology
Authors: Beaton Brian
Published: April 2016

Taking inspiration from a 1972 study by Allan Sekula that concerned everyday shifts in subjectivity among a set of industrial and technical workers, this paper looks at work persona production in petroleum geology, a profession at the centre of the global oil industries and oil capitalism. Persona production is part of how petroleum geologists explain themselves and their controversial work to one another, and how they manage individual celebrity within their expert community. Taking as its data source obituaries and death notices that circulated inside the profession over the course of the 1970s, the paper concentrates on a specific persona created by petroleum geologists as part of their ritualized mourning practices. Findings presented within the paper show that obituaries and death notices were used to collaboratively craft a work persona that is thoroughly disconnected from energy politics and controversy: the imagined figure of the petroleum geologist that emerges is someone who is rugged, righteous, loving, fraternal, and deeply connected to nature. The stakes of this research concern not only work personas and their histories, but also the material underpinnings of contemporary cultural production and ongoing debates over energy forms and futures.
Working Through Hunter S. Thompson's Strange and Terrible Saga
Authors: Forsberg Jennifer Hagen
Published: April 2016

The subjective and participatory method of New Journalism provides practitioner Hunter S. Thompson access to the kinds of creative, cultural   entrepreneurship seen in postwar American narratives. In his reported and written “work,” Thompson not only self-consciously performs class personas, but markets those identities as a model of enterprise through creative economy. Thompson’s critical perspective and status position approximates what sociologists call a “cultural omnivore,” someone who consumes all forms of culture, but who reproduces a position of privilege in doing so. In Hell’s Angels (1966), Thompson uses the privilege granted by omnivoracity to transform the limitations of the worker-writer into a commodifiable and safe identity that can access and reign over other social groups.  By prioritizing his status as “pro,” Thompson manipulates the symbolic and cultural capital of class identity, providing himself an opportunity to feature individual over collective politics. Yet to accomplish this, Thompson relies on representing—and exploiting—the working class. Thompson exemplifies the class performative aspect of a working persona that is able to attain cultural domination through the manipulation of working-class identities in literary markets.
A Rehearsal for Revolution: The Hybrid Persona of the Graduate Student Teacher
Authors: Sant Andrea
Published: April 2016

This mixed-form essay examines the graduate student teacher (GST) by utilizing Augusto Boal’s concept of the spect-actor. This theatre concept is used to illuminate two distinct aspects of the graduate student-teachers’ persona: first their initiation into theoretical literacy, and second, their opportunity for vigorous critical, even revolutionary activism.  An embedded graduate student essay explores the author’s personal GST experience within a larger frame of current U.S. university employment trends and against the author’s current university experiences and performances.  This work asks: What kinds of power do GSTs command? What kinds of power are they bound by, in their simultaneous, hybrid performance of students and teachers? And, in light of the growing numbers of part-time and temporary faculty teaching at U.S. institutions, what are the ramifications of a shrinking minority of university faculty (the tenured) wielding primacy in institutional policy making and the creation and maintenance of the social and workplace culture?  The essay concludes by exploring these issues at the author’s institution, the University of Guam.
Staging Nancy Cunard: The Question of Persona in Dramatizing Her Life and Work
Authors: Colby Sasha
Published: April 2016

Nancy Cunard presents us with one of modernism’s most concentrated examples of the role of persona in shaping the reception of a literary figure.  A writer, publisher, and activist, Cunard was firmly entrenched in the working world, an attachment that she makes clear in her varied autobiographical writings. By contrast, the tabloid press, other modernists, and critics have deployed various versions of Cunard – a series of personas marked by their variety (racist vs. race reformer; dilettante vs. pioneering intellectual);  the intensity of the debate as to which one constitutes the ‘real’ Nancy Cunard; and, frequently, the marked exclusion of many of Cunard’s working activities.  In this process-based account, the author considers the range and scope of the personas that have circulated around Cunard, Cunard’s establishment of a working counter-persona in her autobiographical writing, and the processes of working with these competing iterations in her play about Cunard’s life and work, These Were the Hours.
Neuroprotective Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Polyherbal Formulation on Streptozotocin Induced Alzheimer’s Disease in Mice
Authors: Bakshi Vasudha , Kumar K Sharath , Begum Nazia , Kakalij Rahul M
Published: April 2016

Objective: To investigate the effect of Polyherbal Formulation on cholinergic dysfunction in STZ induced Alzheimer‟s disease (AD). Methodoloy: The current study was designed to investigate the protective effect of Polyherbal Formulation (PHF) 200 and 400mg/kg for 21days. Swiss albino mice were injected with STZ (0.5mg/kg) on 14th day of pretreatment with PHF. Behavior pattern was assessed using Morris water maze, Y maze and Open field test. Biochemical estimations, namely brain Acetylcholinesterase (AchE), reduced glutathione (GSH), Catalase, Super oxide dismutase (SOD) and TBARS levels were performed. Results: The study showed that STZ significantly impaired learning and memory with a significant enhancement in brain AChE, TBARS and reduction in brain GSH, Catalase and SOD levels. Treatment of PHF significantly attenuated STZ induced behavioral and biochemical changes. The inhibitory effect of PHF on STZ induced dementia of AD type might be associated with its AchE inhibition and Free radical scavenging activity. Conclusion: The present study revealed that Polyherbal formulation significantly reduced AchE levels, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation and cognitive impairment. The neuroprotective effect of Polyherbal Formulation might be associated with its antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activities.
The effect of lime-dried sewage sludge on the heat-resistance of eco-cement
Authors: Li Wen-quan , Liu Wei , Cao Hai-hua , Xu Jing-cheng , Liu Jia , Li Guang-ming , Huang Juwen
Published: April 2016

The treatment and disposal of sewage sludge is a growing problem for sewage treatment plants. One method of disposal is to use sewage sludge as partial replacement for raw material in cement manufacture. Although this process has been well researched, little attention has been given to the thermal properties of cement that has had sewage sludge incorporated in the manufacturing process. This study investigated the fire endurance of eco-cement to which lime-dried sludge (LDS) had been added. LDS was added in proportions of 0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, and 12% (by weight) to the raw material. The eco-cement was exposed to 200, 400, or 600 °C for 3 h. The residual strength and the microstructural properties of eco-cement were then studied. Results showed that the eco-cement samples suffered less damage than conventional cement at 600 °C. The microstructural studies showed that LDS incorporation could reduce Ca(OH)2 content. It was concluded that LDS has the potential to improve the heat resistance of eco-cement products.
State Ideology and Female School Enrollment in Iran
Authors: Aghajanian Akbar , Thompson Vaida , Moqadas Ali A.
Published: April 2016

There are two forces that drive attitudes and behaviors in Iran. Strong Islamic, religious traditions that continue to dominate the culture exist in the presence of an emerging pattern of developmental idealism. This idealism, seen first in western societies, is associated with beliefs about and a striving toward such modern attributes as individualism, autonomy of children, nuclear families, equality between women and men, and planned family formation. It is thought that diffusion of this idealism occurs over time and cannot be fully controlled by traditional institutions and conservative governments. Because religious traditions in Iran have been most defined and restricted for females, we reasoned that an important and strong indicator of evidence of diffusion would be increases in female school enrollment. To explore these changes, we examined public record data for the period between 1976 and 2006. The data demonstrated clear advancements in education for women. The strong educational attainment of women during the period of study is parallel to findings in other areas, particularly in the realms of increase in age of marriage, control over reproductive behaviors including birth timing and family size, and are thus supportive of a strong trend toward developmental idealism [1 - 9]. This trend was facilitated by extensive expansion of access to educational institutions by the government.
Predicting political conflicts from polarized social media
Authors: Makrehchi Masoud
Published: April 2016

In a polarized society, rhetorical arguments are usually expressed by strong, extreme terms which by themselves carry a positive or negative sentiment in favor or against one side of a social debate or conflict. In a divided society, by detecting extreme terms in a document such as a blog post which is reflecting some political opinion, we are potentially able to automatically detect the sentiment of the text about the polarizing issue. On the other hand, during any social and political conflict in a polarized society, we can observe a shift from mainstream to extreme language or rhetoric. In this paper, a new metric called “language gap” is introduced to estimate the distance between mainstream and rhetoric in a social-political debate. Then we illustrate that there is a correlation between the language shift and social conflicts. In other words, the language shift can be used as a signal for predicting social conflicts in a divided society.
Accurate and efficient query clustering via top ranked search results
Authors: Hong Yuan , Vaidya Jaideep , Lu Haibing , Liu Wen Ming
Published: April 2016

To make the search engine more user-friendly, commercial search engines commonly develop applications to provide suggestion or recommendation for every posed query. Clustering semantically similar queries acts as an essential prerequisite to function well in those applications. However, clustering queries effectively is quite challenging, since they are usually short, incomplete and ambiguous. Existing prevalent clustering methods, such as K-Means or DBSCAN cannot guarantee good performance in such a highly dimensional environment. Through analyzing users’ click-through query logs, hierarchical agglomerative clustering gives good results but is computationally quite expensive.

This paper identifies a novel feature for clustering search queries based on a key insight – queries’ top ranked search results can themselves be used to quantify query similarity. After investigating such feature, we propose a new similarity metric for comparing those diverse queries. This facilitates us to develop two very efficient and accurate algorithms integrated in query clustering. We conduct comprehensive experiments to compare the accuracy of our approach against the known baselines along two dimensions: 1) quantifying the cohesion/separation of clustered queries, and 2) justifying the results by real-world Internet users. The experimental results demonstrate that our two algorithms and the similarity metric can generate more accurate results within a significantly shorter time.
Normative positions in multi-agent systems
Authors: Hjelmblom Magnus
Published: April 2016

The Kanger-Lindahl theory of normative positions has great potential of serving as a logical foundation for normative systems for MAS, and its generality allows for great freedom when interpreting the theory. As a first step towards a typology of interpretations of the theory, the application of normative positions is studied in the context of a class of transition systems in which transitions are deterministic and associated with a single agent performing an act. By an interpretation of different types of normative positions in terms of permitting or prohibiting different state transition types in this context, lexicons for two different systems of types of normative positions are suggested and discussed. It is demonstrated that both interpretations are useful foundations for normative systems semantics in a MAS context.
Comment on: On the Kung-Traub Conjecture for Iterative Methods for Solving Quadratic Equations. Algorithms 2016, 9, 1
Authors: Ahmad Fayyaz
Published: April 2016

Kung-Traub conjecture states that an iterative method without memory for finding the simple zero of a scalar equation could achieve convergence order 2 d − 1 , and d is the total number of function evaluations. In an article “Babajee, D.K.R. On the Kung-Traub Conjecture for Iterative Methods for Solving Quadratic Equations, Algorithms 2016, 9, 1, doi:10.3390/a9010001”, the author has shown that Kung-Traub conjecture is not valid for the quadratic equation and proposed an iterative method for the scalar and vector quadratic equations. In this comment, we have shown that we first reported the aforementioned iterative method.
Piezoelectric Transformers: An Historical Review
Authors: Vazquez Carazo Alfredo
Published: April 2016

Piezoelectric transformers (PTs) are solid-state devices that transform electrical energy into electrical energy by means of a mechanical vibration. These devices are manufactured using piezoelectric materials that are driven at resonance. With appropriate design and circuitry, it is possible to step up and step down the voltages between the input and output sections of the piezoelectric transformer, without making use of magnetic materials and obtaining excellent conversion efficiencies. The initial concept of a piezoelectric ceramic transformer was proposed by Charles A. Rosen in 1954. Since then, the evolution of piezoelectric transformers through history has been linked to the relevant work of some excellent researchers as well as to the evolution in materials, manufacturing processes, and driving circuit techniques. This paper summarizes the historical evolution of the technology.
Unlocking the Energy Potential of Manure—An Assessment of the Biogas Production Potential at the Farm Level in Germany
Authors: Scheftelowitz Mattes , Thrän Daniela
Published: April 2016

Residues from animal husbandry are one of the major greenhouse gas (GHG) emission sources in agriculture. The production of biogas from agricultural residues can reduce GHG emissions through an improved handling of the material streams such as manure storage. Additionally, biogas can substitute fossil energy carriers in the provision of heat, power, and transport fuels. The aim of this work is to estimate the manure potential for biogas production in Germany under the consideration of the farm size of livestock production. In Germany, cattle and pig farming is of major relevance with more than 130,000 farms throughout the country. To unlock the biogas potential of manure, the low energy density of manure, depending on the dry matter content, needs to be considered, meaning that biogas installations need to be built close to the manure production on the farm site. This not only results in a high number of biogas plants, but also due to the wide range of farm sizes in Germany, a huge number of very small biogas plants. Small biogas installations have higher specific investment costs. Together with the relatively low methane yields from manure, costs for power generation would be very high. Co-substrates with higher methane yield can lower the costs for biogas. Thus, the use of a co-substrate could help to use small manure potentials. Biogas plants with the necessary minimum size of 50 kWel installed power could be established at farms representing 12% of all cattle and 16.5% of all pigs respectively in Germany. Using excrement from pigs, farms representing 16.5% of the total amount of pigs could establish a biogas plant. The use of manure in combination with energy crops can increase the size of biogas plants on a farm site significantly. At cattle farms, the share would increase to 31.1% with 40% co-substrate and to 40.8% with 60% co-substrate. At pig farms, the share would increase to 36% if co-substrates were used.
Development of Analytical Impact Force Models for Floor Impact Vibration and Acoustic Numerical Analysis
Authors: Park Sangki , Kim Haseog
Published: April 2016

Apartment houses have been continuously constructed in Korea to solve overcrowding in large cities. The interlayer noise arising from these apartment houses has now become a critical social problem which requires an urgent solution. In recent years, studies applying numerical analysis techniques with respect to the structural type and floor plane have been carried out to effectively reduce the heavy weight impact noise, which is a cause for the interlayer noise. This study proposes analytical impact force models based on the actual measurement data regarding the heavy weight impact noise, which is mandatory input data for performing a numerical analysis. Additionally, the appropriateness of the proposed models has been verified through a comparative review with Korean standards. With the use of the proposed model, a numerical analysis has been conducted using a wall-type specimen, and a comparative analysis has been also performed with respect to the field measurement data. The applicability of the proposed model to the numerical analysis shows the possibility to resolve the interlayer noise problems numerically posing difficulties due to both the limited costs and time. Finally, it is expected that more information can be provided to resolve the interlayer noise problem based on the numerical analysis of various boundary conditions.
Characterising Lithium-Ion Battery Degradation through the Identification and Tracking of Electrochemical Battery Model Parameters
Authors: Uddin Kotub , Perera Surak , Widanage W. , Somerville Limhi , Marco James
Published: April 2016

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries undergo complex electrochemical and mechanical degradation. This complexity is pronounced in applications such as electric vehicles, where highly demanding cycles of operation and varying environmental conditions lead to non-trivial interactions of ageing stress factors. This work presents the framework for an ageing diagnostic tool based on identifying and then tracking the evolution of model parameters of a fundamental electrochemistry-based battery model from non-invasive voltage/current cycling tests. In addition to understanding the underlying mechanisms for degradation, the optimisation algorithm developed in this work allows for rapid parametrisation of the pseudo-two dimensional (P2D), Doyle-Fuller-Newman, battery model. This is achieved through exploiting the embedded symbolic manipulation capabilities and global optimisation methods within MapleSim. Results are presented that highlight the significant reductions in the computational resources required for solving systems of coupled non-linear partial differential equations.
Scotch Whisky: History, Heritage and the Stock Cycle
Authors: Bower Julie
Published: April 2016

This article is concerned with one of the UK’s major export successes of the last century, Scotch whisky. The economics of the production process place considerable onus on firms to forecast demand for up to a decade ahead. History reveals the difficulty in achieving this, with clear cycles of over-production and under-production as firms attempt to adjust their stock portfolios. No sooner has leadership emerged to encourage a more strategic approach to the stock cycle than market forces encourage some firms to break ranks in pursuit of alternative objectives. With the industry having consolidated further following the large mergers of the late 1990s and 2000s, it is tempting to assume the vagaries of the past are over. Current record production and stock levels, however, are set to test this proposition as Scotch sales are now below the peak level of 2011.
The Use of Biobased Surfactant Obtained by Enzymatic Syntheses for Wax Deposition Inhibition and Drag Reduction in Crude Oil Pipelines
Authors: Wang Zhihua , Yu Xueying , Li Jiaxu , Wang Jigang , Zhang Lei
Published: April 2016

Crude oil plays an important role in providing the energy supply of the world, and pipelines have long been recognized as the safest and most efficient means of transporting oil and its products. However, the transportation process also faces the challenges of asphaltene-paraffin structural interactions, pipeline pressure losses and energy consumption. In order to determine the role of drag-reducing surfactant additives in the transportation of crude oils, experiments of wax deposition inhibition and drag reduction of different oil in pipelines with a biobased surfactant obtained by enzymatic syntheses were carried out. The results indicated that heavy oil transportation in the pipeline is remarkably enhanced by creating stable oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion with the surfactant additive. The wax appearance temperature (WAT) and pour point were modified, and the formation of a space-filling network of interlocking wax crystals was prevented at low temperature by adding a small concentration of the surfactant additive. A maximum viscosity reduction of 70% and a drag reduction of 40% for light crude oil flows in pipelines were obtained with the surfactant additive at a concentration of 100 mg/L. Furthermore, a successful field application of the drag-reducing surfactant in a light crude oil pipeline in Daqing Oilfield was demonstrated. Hence, the use of biobased surfactant obtained by enzymatic syntheses in oil transportation is a potential method to address the current challenges, which could result in a significant energy savings and a considerable reduction of the operating cost.
Carbon Supported Oxide-Rich Pd-Cu Bimetallic Electrocatalysts for Ethanol Electrooxidation in Alkaline Media Enhanced by Cu/CuOx
Authors: Guo Zengfeng , Liu Tengfei , Li Wenpeng , Zhang Cai , Zhang Dong , Pang Zongjie
Published: April 2016

Different proportions of oxide-rich PdCu/C nanoparticle catalysts were prepared by the NaBH4 reduction method, and their compositions were tuned by the molar ratios of the metal precursors. Among them, oxide-rich Pd0.9Cu0.1/C (Pd:Cu = 9:1, metal atomic ratio) exhibits the highest electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in alkaline media. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) confirmed the existence of both Cu and CuOx in the as-prepared Pd0.9Cu0.1/C. About 74% of the Cu atoms are in their oxide form (CuO or Cu2O). Besides the synergistic effect of Cu, CuOx existed in the Pd-Cu bimetallic nanoparticles works as a promoter for the EOR. The decreased Pd 3d electron density disclosed by XPS is ascribed to the formation of CuOx and the spill-over of oxygen-containing species from CuOx to Pd. The low Pd 3d electron density will decrease the adsorption of CH3COads intermediates. As a result, the electrocatalytic activity is enhanced. The onset potential of oxide-rich Pd0.9Cu0.1/C is negative shifted 150 mV compared to Pd/C. The oxide-rich Pd0.9Cu0.1/C also exhibited high stability, which indicated that it is a candidate for the anode of direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs).
Trimester-Specific Reference Intervals of Thyroid Function Testing in Pregnant Women from Basrah, Iraq Using Electrochemiluminescent Immunoassay
Authors: Almomin Ammar , Mansour Abbas , Sharief Maysoon
Published: April 2016

Background: Thyroid function test results of healthy pregnant women differ from those of healthy non-pregnant women. This study aimed to determine trimester-specific reference ranges for total tetraiodothyronin (T4), free T4, total triiodothyronin (T3) and thyroid stimulation hormone (TSH) using electrochemiluminescence techniques from apparently healthy pregnant women in Basrah. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted between January 2014 and June 2015. The total enrolled pregnant women were 893. Clinical examination, estimation of free T4, total T4, total T3, TSH, and anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) using electrochemiluminescence technique done for each. Results: Trimester specific normal range of TSH in μIU/mL was 0.04–3.77, 0.30–3.21 and 0.60–4.50 μIU/mL respectively, for each trimester. For FreeT4, the trimester specific reference range was 0.8–1.53, 0.7–1.20 and 0.7–1.20 ng/dL for each trimester, respectively. The reference range for total T4 for the first, second and third trimester was 7.31–15.00, 8.92–17.38, and 7.98–17.70 μg/dL, respectively. Furthermore, last trimester specific reference range for total T3 was 0.90–2.51, 1.99–2.87 and 1.20–2.70 ng/mL, respectively. Conclusion: Using this thyroid function study, we established for first time trimester-specific reference ranges for each thyroid function test and thyroid antibody status for the first time in Iraq. The reference ranges are different from all previous studies outside Iraq and the reference kit range from the method we used.
On the Measurement of Randomness (Uncertainty): A More Informative Entropy
Authors: Kvålseth Tarald
Published: April 2016

As a measure of randomness or uncertainty, the Boltzmann–Shannon entropy H has become one of the most widely used summary measures of a variety of attributes (characteristics) in different disciplines. This paper points out an often overlooked limitation of H: comparisons between differences in H-values are not valid. An alternative entropy H K is introduced as a preferred member of a new family of entropies for which difference comparisons are proved to be valid by satisfying a given value-validity condition. The H K is shown to have the appropriate properties for a randomness (uncertainty) measure, including a close linear relationship to a measurement criterion based on the Euclidean distance between probability distributions. This last point is demonstrated by means of computer generated random distributions. The results are also compared with those of another member of the entropy family. A statistical inference procedure for the entropy H K is formulated.
Fractal Information by Means of Harmonic Mappings and Some Physical Implications
Authors: Agop Maricel , Gavriluţ Alina , Păun Viorel , Filipeanu Dumitru , Luca Florin , Grecea Constantin , Topliceanu Liliana
Published: April 2016

Considering that the motions of the complex system structural units take place on continuous, but non-differentiable curves, in the frame of the extended scale relativity model (in its Schrödinger-type variant), it is proven that the imaginary part of a scalar potential of velocities can be correlated with the fractal information and, implicitly, with a tensor of “tensions”, which is fundamental in the construction of the constitutive laws of material. In this way, a specific differential geometry based on a Poincaré-type metric of the Lobachevsky plane (which is invariant to the homographic group of transformations) and also a specific variational principle (whose field equations represent an harmonic map from the usual space into the Lobachevsky plane) are generated. Moreover, fractal information (which is made explicit at any scale resolution) is produced, so that the field variables define a gravitational field. This latter situation is specific to a variational principle in the sense of Matzner–Misner and to certain Ernst-type field equations, the fractal information being contained in the material structure and, thus, in its own space associated with it.
Multi-Stage Silicification of Pliocene Wood: Re-Examination of an 1895 Discovery from Idaho, USA
Authors: Viney Mike , Dietrich Dagmar , Mustoe George , Link Paul , Lampke Thomas , Götze Jens , Rößler Ronny
Published: April 2016

The 1895 discovery of a petrified tree near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA, attracted worldwide attention and resulted in the naming of a new species of ancient oak, Quercinium pliocaenicum Schuster. For more than a century, the discovery has largely been forgotten, even though specimens reside in reputable museums. Reinvestigation of the locality in 2014/2015 resulted in newly-collected specimens and a wealth of new data. Optical microscopy confirms the cellular anatomy used for the original taxonomic study. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive electron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence microscopy reveal details of the mineralization, showing the presence of opal-CT as the primary component, with chalcedony as a lesser constituent. This mineralogy suggests petrifaction occurred in at least two stages, beginning with opalization of cellular tissue, leaving open vessels that became filled with chalcedony during a later mineralization episode. Clover Creek oak represents relict flora growing in a wetter climate before the uplift of the Cascade Range created a rain shadow that caused profound desertification of the inland Pacific Northwest.
Transculturalism and the Meaning of Life
Authors: Tartaglia James
Published: April 2016

I begin by introducing the standoff between the transculturalist aim of moving beyond cultural inheritances, and the worry that this project is itself a product of cultural inheritances. I argue that this is rooted in concerns about the meaning of life, and in particular, the prospect of nihilism. I then distinguish two diametrically opposed humanistic responses to nihilism, post-Nietzschean rejections of objective truth, and the moral objectivism favoured by some analytic philosophers, claiming that both attempt, in different ways, to break down the distinction between description and evaluation. I argue that the evaluative sense of a “meaningful life” favoured by moral objectivists cannot track objective meaningfulness in human lives, and that there are manifest dangers to treating social meaning judgements as a secular substitute for the meaning of life. I then conclude that the problems of the post-Nietzscheans and moral objectivists can be avoided, and the transculturalist standoff alleviated, if we recognise that nihilism is descriptive, and maintain a principled distinction between description and evaluation.