bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Design and optimisation of the external load bearing carry through structure of a columned multi bubble fuselage
Authors: Cho S. H. , Bil C. , Adams R. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe blended wing-body configuration holds a major structural design challenge at the centre-body where the structure must support both wing bending loads and internal cabin pressure. A membrane approach is proposed which decouples the loads to allow their resistance by two independent structures: an inner membrane for cabin pressure and an outer structure to resist wing loads. A columned multi-bubble fuselage is proposed for the inner membrane structure, which are multispherical configuration to efficiently withstand the pressure loads. Considering this configuration, the carry-through structure can be designed and optimised. Finite element results show a significant reduction of stress level in this design over that for a conventional multi-bubble fuselage. Up to 30% weight reduction is achieved for a military cargo application that requires an extensive area with no structural interruption. For the outer carry-through structure, the topology and shape optimisations of finite element models were performed on the given design domain. The results from the shape and topology optimisations were complementary demonstrating a consistent design approach. The optimisation theory is briefly presented along with the results.
Guided bomb release planning based on Monte Carlo in a distributed virtual environment
Authors: Wang Z. , Wang J. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractAir-to-ground strike has become one of main forms of modern warfare, and the guided bomb release is an important and key part of the attack. The guided bomb release planning aims to accomplish a precise target hit in enemy’s region while guarantee the pilot’s safety. We propose a robust Monte Carlo method by taking error perturbations into consideration, comparing to the traditional sequential quadratic programming method under extreme conditions. At the same time using a distributed virtual physics environment we can obtain much more detailed realism relative to the conventional simulator running on a single machine. The experimental results verify that Monte Carlo methods can improve hit probability and weapon efficiency significantly. Furthermore, the 3D visualised environment plays a very important role in training pilots, so this simulator will decrease the cost and time requirements of physical experiment that are not always compatible with strict military task.
Design, test and evaluation of an actively stabilised drogue refuelling system
Authors: Kuk T. , Ro K. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractA scale model of aerial refuelling drogue is built and tested to investigate active drogue stabilisation and control concepts. A set of aerodynamic control surfaces is implemented to a conventional, aerodynamically stabilised refuelling drogue. The control surfaces are designed to reduce the response of the drogue motion to atmospheric disturbance and tanker motion. This paper presents the details of design concept and experimental results based on wind-tunnel testing of a ⅓ scale model fabricated for this study. To investigate the proposed active control concept, a dynamic test rig is built for wind-tunnel experiment. The rig basically represents a hose-drogue system in terms of a 4 degree-of-freedom (DoF), single link pendulum model. System identification technique is used to obtain a drogue dynamic model, based on which a feedback control law is developed. Closed-loop dynamic testing is carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the aerodynamic surface control module and feedback control law.
On the effectiveness of active aeroelastic structures for morphing aircraft
Authors: Ajaj R. M. , Friswell M. I. , Flores E. I. Saavedra 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis note assesses the benefits of active aeroelastic structures (AAS) in enhancing flight performance and control authority. A representative AAS concept, whose torsional stiffness and shear centre position can be altered depending on the instantaneous flight condition, is employed in the wing of a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV. A multidisciplinary design optimisation (MDO) suite is used in this study. It turns out that AAS can be very effective when used for enhancing control authority of the vehicle but have limited benefits in terms of flight performance (lift to drag).
Is the effect of topical intranasal steroids on obstructive adenoids transient or long-lasting? Case series and systematic review of literature
Authors: Bitar M A , Nassar J , Dana R 
Published: February 2016

AbstractObjectives:To study and review the short- and long-term effects of intranasal steroids on obstructive adenoids.Methods:In this prospective cohort study, 19 children previously treated with mometasone furoate for 3 months were contacted at 3, 6 and 12 months after cessation of treatment. Main outcome measures included: change in severity of nasal obstruction, allergic rhinitis and obstructive symptoms. A systematic review of literature was also performed.Results:By one year, 25 per cent of patients required adenoidectomy; the remaining children had no significant change in clinical score (p= 0.464), obstruction severity (p= 0.191) or allergic symptoms (p= 0.284). Fourteen pertinent studies were identified; all but one study showed improvement in the patients’ symptoms and/or degree of obstruction. Two studies with follow up reaching 25 months showed positive effects.Conclusion:The short-term positive effect of some intranasal steroids on obstructive adenoids seems to persist in a significant number of patients after the cessation of treatment.
Connective processing by bilingual children and monolinguals with specific language impairment: distinct profiles
Authors: MAK WILLEM M. , TRIBUSHININA ELENA , LOMAKO JULIA , GAGARINA NATALIA , ABROSOVA EKATERINA , SANDERS TED 
Published: February 2016

AbstractProduction studies show that both Russian-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and bilingual children for whom Russian is a non-dominant language have difficulty distinguishing between the near-synonymous connectivesi‘and’ anda‘and/but’.Iis a preferred connective when reference is maintained, whereasais normally used for reference shift. We report an eye-tracking experiment comparing connective processing by Russian-speaking monolinguals with typical language development (TLD) with that of Russian–Dutch bilinguals and Russian-speaking monolinguals with SLI (age 5–6). The results demonstrate that the processing profiles of monolinguals with TLD and bilinguals are similar: both groups use connective semantics immediately for predicting further discourse. In contrast, children with SLI do not show sensitivity to these semantic differences. Despite similar production profiles, bilinguals and monolinguals with SLI are clearly different in connective processing. We discuss the implications of these results for the possible causes of the errors in the two populations.
The Right To Be Different: Homosexuality, Orthodoxy And The Politics Of Global Legal Pluralism In Orthodoxprotestant Schools In The Netherlands
Authors: Oomen Barbara , Rijke Niels 
Published: February 2016

In the summer of 2011, Dutch teacher Duran Renkema was dismissed from the orthodox Reformed school in Oegstgeest because he had left his wife and family, and decided to openly live together with his boyfriend. In the court case that followed, the judge ruled that the publicly funded denominational school did not have the right to dismiss a teacher who otherwise functioned well, merely because of his sexual identity. In collecting funds so it could take the case to the Equal Treatment Commission, the Dutch gay rights organization Coc emphasized that this was the first time that a teacher at a religious school publicly dared to contest his dismissal.Although the teacher himself also initially threatened to put the issue before the Equal Treatment Commission (ETC), he later withdrew the case, stating, “my family, partner and I need rest to come to terms with what happened.” He indicated that he hoped that “the discussion and dialogue in the Reformed churches will not come to a halt here, but that they will take this opportunity to show the gay community in the Netherlands that the message in the Bible is one of love.
Battles Over Symbols: The “Religion” of the Minority Versus the “Culture” of the Majority
Authors: Beaman Lori G. 
Published: February 2016

Moreover, with the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to identify in the constant central core of Christian faith, despite the inquisition, despite anti-Semitism and despite the crusades, the principles of human dignity, tolerance and freedom, including religious freedom, and therefore, in the last analysis, the foundations of the secular State.A European court should not be called upon to bankrupt centuries of European tradition. No court, certainly not this Court, should rob the Italians of part of their cultural personality.In March, 2011, after five years of working its way through various levels of national and European courts, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights decided that a crucifix hanging at the front of a classroom did not violate the right to religious freedom under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Specifically, Ms. Soile Lautsi had complained that the presence of the crucifix violated her and her children's right to religious freedom and that its presence amounted to an enforced religious regime. The Grand Chamber, reversing the lower Chamber's decision, held that while admittedly a religious symbol, the crucifix also represented the cultural heritage of Italians.
Law, Religion, and Restorative Justice in New Zealand
Authors: Shriver Donald W. , Shriver Peggy L. 
Published: February 2016

A former police chief and a criminologist confirm a famous remark by Margaret Mead when they write: “The initiation of restorative reforms is often based upon the conversion of one key professional in a criminal justice agency.”New Zealand district court judge Fred W.M. McElrea personalized this rule in his account of how he stumbled on a restorative procedure in the case of a young man in Auckland, who was a Maori and son of a bishop, and who confessed to the crime of robbing a woman's purse. She happened to be a Quaker, and she appeared in court as a gesture of friendship for the offender. When the time came for sentencing, McElrea wondered out loud if there were a way for the young man to be monitored, without imprisonment, by some competent person who knew him. At that, Douglas Mansil, local Presbyterian minister, also present in the courtroom, stood and volunteered his services. Mansil had been the longtime “streetwise” pastor of a congregation in that Auckland neighborhood, known for furnishing the courts with more than a few youth offenders. Together with the Quaker victim of the crime, he kept track of the young man and reported regularly to the court. It was the beginning of McElrea's dedication to restorative justice (RJ) for young offenders in New Zealand. He and other judiciary leaders pay tribute to the influence of Howard Zehr's visit to New Zealand (NZ) in 1994 and Zehr's book, Changing Lenses, which McElrea first read during a sabbatical leave at Cambridge University. Zehr's book and his work in the U.S. had great impact on New Zealand legal officials, many of whom, like McElrea, often give him credit for inspiring shifts to RJ in their thinking about law, judicial process, and ethics.
The “Gatekeepers” of Jewish Family Law: Marriage Annulment as a Test Case
Authors: Westreich Avishalom 
Published: February 2016

Jewish law is normally characterized by a pluralist discourse and, even when controversies are acrimonious, the merits of competitive arguments are recognized and receive some legitimacy. By contrast, Jewish family law, especially in the case of marriage annulment, is characterized quite differently, patently diverging from the pluralist hermeneutic discourse normally characterizing Jewish law. This divergence is the subject of this article.From the work of early classic commentators to modern Jewish Law scholars, the character of marriage annulment in Jewish law has been much debated. Questions about both the authority of the Sages to annul a marriage and the meaning of annulment have arisen. Commentators have probed famous passages in the Babylonian Talmud mentioning the concept of marriage annulment (Heb. hafka'at kiddushin), often simply with the words “the Sages annulled the betrothal.” Similarly, discussing a case where a Jewish writ of divorce (get) was formally void but validated by the Sages, the Palestinian Talmud states “their [i.e., the Sages'] words uproot the words of the Torah,” which implies that the Sages have the authority according to Jewish law to annul a marriage in certain circumstances.
Religion in the Abortion Discourse in Singapore: A Case Study of the Relevance of Religious Arguments in Law-Making in Multi-Religious Democracies
Authors: Tan Seow Hon 
Published: February 2016

I … appeal to hon. Members to face up to the challenge on this important social issue and give their full support to the Bill. I do hope that they will not falter just because of some pressure, social or otherwise, brought to bear on them by some minority groups outside who, on account of their religious dogmas, desire to impose their will on the majority… I am certain that the opposing stand to this Bill taken by this minority group will also in the course of time end up in the dustbins of history.Abortion, along with same-sex unions, is perhaps one of the world's most polarizing issues today. Laws on abortion vary across different jurisdictions, from prohibiting abortion under all circumstances to freely allowing it without restriction as to reason. Unlike rights such as freedom from torture or of speech, failure to recognize abortion rights is not necessarily the product of illiberal governments known to abuse human rights, nor is allowing abortion indicative of a good human rights record. Extensive rights to terminate a pregnancy may be symptomatic of a government's policy for population control, as in the case of China, or it may be an expression of the liberal philosophy of autonomy, as in the case of Canada.
“I am one of the People”: A Survey and Analysis of Legal Arguments on Woman-Led Prayer in Islam
Authors: Elewa Ahmed , Silvers Laury 
Published: February 2016

For Muslims, prayer leadership is necessary to fulfill the confirmed sunnah of congregational prayer, as well as the obligatory Friday sermon and prayer. The majority of jurists consider the role of imam to be better than any other duty associated with the prayer including that of the muezzin.In New York City on March 18, 2005 Dr. Amina Wadud shocked the Muslim world when she led a mixed-gender congregation in the Friday prayer. The Friday congregational prayer is at the center of Muslim religiosity. On Friday mid-day, Muslims come together as a community and turn collectively toward God. The form of the prayer affirms the community's identity; Muslims pray as brothers and sisters equal before God. They stand in straight lines, shoulder to shoulder. No one has a reserved spot. The rich stand next to the poor.
The Religious Perspective of the Judge's Role in Talmudic Law
Authors: Sinai Yuval 
Published: February 2016

Unlike modern Western law, which is generally assumed to be the product of human deliberation about the common good, at least in democratic countries, Jewish law is a normative system in which adjudication is subject to religious commandments. The judge bears responsibility not only to the litigants standing before him but also to God, an allegiance which most modern Western judges do not, at least explicitly, recognize.Because of the systems' assumptions that law is made by humans and thus can be understood by human judges given the appropriate information, modern Western legal systems infer that judges are under obligation to render a decision on any legal question brought before them, even in doubtful cases. Secular-civil law views the resolution of a dispute as preferable to its non-resolution, even if the judge has reservations about his decision. The judge who is hesitant to decide a case is considered to have failed to properly discharge his judicial role, the very essence of which is the regulation of human conduct in one form or other. The obligation of the judge to render a decision on every legal question both implies and requires that a judge exercise creative discretion in at least some cases where the law or its intended application are not clear to ensure the rendering of a clear and unequivocal decision on any legal question brought before him. As a consequence of this unequivocal demand that the judge decide, most judges must make peace with the possibility that their rulings may later be discovered or determined to have been mistaken.
The Freedoms of Religion and Culture under the South African Constitution: Do Traditional African Religions Enjoy Equal Treatment?
Authors: Amoah Jewel , Bennett Tom 
Published: February 2016

On Sunday, January 20, 2007, Tony Yengeni, former Chief Whip of South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), celebrated his early release from a four-year prison sentence by slaughtering a bull at his father's house in the Cape Town township of Gugulethu. This time-honored African ritual was performed in order to appease the Yengeni family ancestors. Animal rights activists, however, decried the sacrifice as an act of unnecessary cruelty to the bull, and a public outcry ensued. Leading figures in government circles, including the Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan, entered the fray, calling for a proper understanding of African cultural practices. Jody Kollapen, the Chair of the Human Rights Commission, said: “the slaughter of animals by cultures in South Africa was an issue that needed to be dealt with in context. Cultural liberty is an important right. …”That the sacrifice was defended on the ground of African culture was to be expected. More surprising was the way in which everyone involved in the affair ignored what could have been regarded as an event of religious significance. Admittedly, it is far from easy to separate the concepts of religion and culture, and, in certain societies, notably those of pre-colonial Africa, this distinction was unknown. Today in South Africa, however, it is clearly necessary to make such a distinction for human rights litigation, partly because the Constitution specifies religion and culture as two separate rights and partly because it seems that those working under the influence of modern human rights seem to take religion more seriously than culture.
When Religious Practices become Legal Obligations: Extending the Foreign Compulsion Defense
Authors: Helfand Michael A. 
Published: February 2016

Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary [of the law] because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become alaw unto himself.In 1990, the Supreme Court faced the Free Exercise claim of Alfred Smith and Galen Black, both of whom were denied unemployment compensation because they had been fired for misconduct. Smith and Black, however, argued that such a denial violated their First Amendment rights because the alleged misconduct—smoking peyote—was part of a Native American Church ceremony. Overturning the Oregon Supreme Court, the Court struck down theSherbertbalancing test, arguing that an individual cannot excuse himself from a law merely because it “contradicts” his “religious convictions.” To do so, the Court continued,would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.Such a conclusion would “contradict[] both constitutional tradition and common sense.”This article explores whether United States law, in actuality, does not allow individuals to become “laws unto themselves.” While legal scholars in exploring this question have typically focused on the Supreme Court's decision inBoy Scouts of America v. Dale, this article will focus on a more obscure and rarely discussed area of United States law: the foreign compulsion defense. I will argue that it is the foreign compulsion defense which demonstrates that the law does allow individuals to raise themselves above facially neutral and generally applicable laws when they are faced with an irreconcilable legal conflict between foreign and domestic law.
Biblical Tax Systems and the Case for Progressive Taxation
Authors: Chodorow Adam S. 
Published: February 2016

The political rise of the religious right has brought to the fore the question of whether and to what extent religious values and beliefs should be taken into account when developing public policy. Policymakers have increasingly, or perhaps only more overtly, turned to religion for guidance on important public policy matters, such as abortion, stem cell research, and punishment, including the death penalty. Given the decidedly moral flavor of the debate over distributive justice, it is not surprising that many Americans and a growing number of policymakers have begun to look to religion for guidance on the question of how best to allocate tax burdens.While tax scholars have long debated questions of equity and distributive justice, with one notable exception, they have largely ignored religious arguments. Given the large number of Americans who identify themselves as religious, to say nothing of most politicians, limiting the inquiry into tax equity to secular arguments runs the risk of relegating academic debate to the sidelines, as decision-makers look to the Bible and other religious texts for guidance and support.
Asking the Right Questions: Harnessing the Insights of Bernard Lonergan for the Rule of Law
Authors: Brennan Patrick McKinley 
Published: February 2016

“We cannot endow people with intelligence. Intelligence fundamentally is this capacity to ask questions, and this capacity is entirely from nature.”My concern here is the rule of law, in all itsoperations. I select the unexpected word “operations” in order to telegraph a difference from much other natural law jurisprudence. The rule of law is notjusta battery of operations; however, failure to appreciate the place of operations in the rule of law leads to a straw-man rule of law—and we know too well the fate of straw men. It is flesh-and-blood men and women whose operations bring about the rule of law, if a rule of law there is to be.