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Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
Get PDFPrevious analytical studies show that most of Northern Italian glass has been heavily recycled and that mixing of natron and plant ash glass was occurring (Verità and Toninato 1990; Verità et al. 2002; Uboldi and Verità 2003; Andreescu-Treadgold and Henderson 2006; Silvestri and Marcante 2011). The re-use of “old Roman glass” has been interpreted as stagnation in glass trade from the primary production areas. However, the reintroduction of plant ash glass on sites such as Torcello, Nogara, and in Lombardy at the same time as it was reintroduced in the Levant, strongly indicates long-distance contacts with the Levant at least from the eighth century CE. This paper addresses the key issue of recycling by focusing on the compositional nature of glass traded and reworked in Northern Italy after the seventh century CE set in a broad Mediterranean context by analysing major, minor, and trace elements in eighty-nine glass samples (seventh to the eleventh century AD) from the glass workshop of Piazza XX Settembre, Comacchio. Five major previously proposed compositional groups of glass have been identified from Comacchio (Levantine Apollonia and Jalame types, HIMT, Foy-2, and plant ash glass). The impact of recycling and mixing practices in Comacchio glass is also discussed with the help of known recycling markers and selected ratios (major and trace elements). The mixing between Levantine, HIMT, and plant ash glass is highlighted and end-members of potential natron to natron mixing compositional groups have been identified. The compositional nature of plant ash glass from Northern Italy is discussed in light of their trace element content and production areas
Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014
Get PDFWith the rapid economic development across China over recent decades, examining how urbanization may affect healthcare service use and its implications is more than urgent. This study estimates the association between urbanization and primary healthcare services use in China. We construct a prefecture-level dataset on healthcare services utilization and urbanization. We regress the proportion of residents using healthcare services in primary healthcare centers versus secondary or tertiary hospitals on a set of prefecture-level control variables. Results suggest that use of primary healthcare centers outpatient service is positively associated with being in the proximity of a provincial capital, but negatively correlated with the percentage of the urban population and the availability of public transportation. Higher likelihood of seeking care in major hospitals instead of primary healthcare centers is associated with urbanization, justifying a need for primary care physicians as gatekeepers in China’s healthcare delivery system
Regression test case prioritization by code combinations coverage
Get PDFRegression test case prioritization (RTCP) aims to improve the rate of fault detection by executing more important test cases as early as possible. Various RTCP techniques have been proposed based on different coverage criteria. Among them, a majority of techniques leverage code coverage information to guide the prioritization process, with code units being considered individually, and in isolation. In this paper, we propose a new coverage criterion, code combinations coverage, that combines the concepts of code coverage and combination coverage. We apply this coverage criterion to RTCP, as a new prioritization technique, code combinations coverage based prioritization (CCCP). We report on empirical studies conducted to compare the testing effectiveness and efficiency of CCCP with four popular RTCP techniques: total, additional, adaptive random, and search-based test prioritization. The experimental results show that even when the lowest combination strength is assigned, overall, the CCCP fault detection rates are greater than those of the other four prioritization techniques. The CCCP prioritization costs are also found to be comparable to the additional test prioritization technique. Moreover, our results also show that when the combination strength is increased, CCCP provides higher fault detection rates than the state-of-the-art, regardless of the levels of code coverage
A preliminary numerical investigation of airborne droplet dispersion in aircraft cabins
Get PDFThe emergence of the novel coronavirus has led to a global pandemic which has led to the airline industry facing severe losses. For air travel to recover, airlines need to ensure safe air travel. In this paper, the authors have modelled droplet dispersion after a single breath from an index patient. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are conducted using the k-w SST turbulence model in ANSYS Fluent. The authors have taken into consideration several parameters such as the size of the mouth opening, the velocity of the cabin air as well as the number of droplets being exhaled by the index patient to ensure a realistic simulation. Preliminary results indicate that after a duration of 20s, droplets from the index patient disperse within a 10 m2 cabin area. About 75% of the droplets are found the disperse for up to 2m axially behind the index patient. This could possess an enhanced risk to passengers sitting behind the index patient. Ultimately, this paper provides an insight into the potential of CFD to visualise droplet dispersal and give impetus to ensuring necessary mitigating measures can be taken to reduce the risk of infection through droplet dispersal
Analyticity of free boundary in an optimal harvesting problem
Get PDFThis note revisits an optimisation problem pertaining to the optimal harvesting of a marine species. The existence of solutions and the corresponding optimal conditions they satisfy have already been proved. It is known that the optimal solutions can be identified with n-dimensional shapes. We will obtain an interesting result concerning the free boundary of the optimal shapes. Indeed, we will prove that if a parameter in the admissible set is kept sufficiently small then the free boundaries will be real analytic hypersurfaces
Evolving social capital and networks in the post‐disaster rebuilding process: the case of Typhoon Yolanda
Get PDFTyphoon Yolanda brought major devastation to the local communities and infrastructure and also reshaped social structures and networks in the Philippines. During the immediate recovery process, bridging, bonding and linking social capital have had differential impacts and outcomes on how communities cope with the aftermath of the disaster. This paper investigates the interplay between the various types of social capital and their contributions to immediate coping strategies of Typhoon Yolanda communities. This paper also evaluates the complexity of defining social capital in a disaster context. In particular, it unpacks the blurring of the bridging and linking social capital at the immediate stage of rehabilitation in a post disaster context and its impacts on the social fabric of the communities. We deduce from this case study the social capital strategies necessary for a speedy recovery process both economically and socially for disaster-affected communities
Inside/Outside and around: complexity and the relational ethics of global life
Get PDFIt has become expected of policy-makers, pundits, and scholars to refer to a whole raft of global dilemmas—from the economic downturn to climate change—as complex. The complexity of these challenges intimates a pattern of interactions marked by sharp discontinuities and exponential transformations triggered by incremental changes. How can one act ethically and politically in such a turbulent environment? Proponents of Complexity Thinking (CT) have responded to this query by drawing attention to the radical relationality of global life, which contests the Eurocentrism and anthropocentrism informing the IR mainstream. The study demonstrates that the ethical models inherent in such a “complexified” outlook are relational. Therefore, the ethical understanding of political action on the world stage—both cognitively and affectively—is simultaneously shaped and mediated by ethical obligations and commitments to others, the structure and content of which is acquired through the very relationships by which ethical obligations and commitments are formed and justified. Such relational ethics simultaneously critiques the atomistic individualism dominating the IR mainstream and reimagine the international as a dynamic space for dialogical learning, which promises a world that is less hegemonic, more democratic, and equitable
Theorizing China-world integration: sociospatial reconfigurations and the modern silk roads
Get PDFThis paper develops a spatial perspective to examine the nature of China’s transnational influence, focusing on the implications of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for international relations. Drawing upon political economy, regional studies and critical geopolitics, we argue that the most interesting puzzle concerning the BRI pertains to the ongoing reconfigurations of political space. Contemporary sociospatial reconfigurations as analyzed through a multidimensional framework offer key insights into the operations and the extent of China’s growing global power in general and with respect to the BRI in particular. We draw on a broad range of materials such as maps, Chinese academic and policy discourse as well as observations about corridor projects to theorize a) how the spatiality of global and regional connectivity is reconfigured through the process of China’s integration with the world; and b) how corridorization as a dominant physical and ideational process shapes Chinese investment projects and reconfigures state spatiality along the BRI. The results indicate that the main territorial pattern is not the nation or the region but the corridor. Furthermore, expansionist and unidirectional stories of China’s growing power overlook the local encounters and negotiations necessary for infrastructure projects to succeed. In addition, China’s economic statecraft is contextualized within the ongoing post-financial crisis political-economic restructuring of territories, places, and scales within the global capitalist system
Competition network as a source of competitive advantage: the dynamic capability perspective and evidence from China
Get PDFThe search for competitive advantage is the defining inquiry of strategic management research. In this study, we draw on the dynamic capability lens to develop a counterintuitive view that positions competitors of a firm as an important source of competitive advantage. We argue that a firm's competitors form a competition network from which it can collect information about innovative ideas, product market, and related industries. Such information helps it calibrate market opportunities, update the resource base, and, eventually, strengthen its competitive advantage. This positive effect of competition network on competitive advantage will reasonably be contingent upon the proactive information search by the firm. The empirical results based on the survey data of 631 Chinese firms strongly support our theoretical model. This study identifies another distinctive source of competitive advantage than industry context or organizational resources as well as advancing our understanding of competition network
Research response to coronavirus disease 2019 needed better coordination and collaboration: a living mapping of registered trials
Get PDFObjectives: Researchers worldwide are actively engaging in research activities to search for preventive and therapeutic interventions against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Our aim was to describe the planning of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in terms of timing related to the course of the COVID-19 epidemic and research question evaluated. Study Design and Setting: We performed a living mapping of RCTs registered in the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. We systematically search the platform every week for all RCTs evaluating preventive interventions and treatments for COVID-19 and created a publicly available interactive mapping tool at https://covid-nma.com to visualize all trials registered. Results: By August 12, 2020, 1,568 trials for COVID-19 were registered worldwide. Overall, the median ([Q1–Q3]; range) delay between the first case recorded in each country and the first RCT registered was 47 days ([33–67]; 15–163). For the 9 countries with the highest number of trials registered, most trials were registered after the peak of the epidemic (from 100% trials in Italy to 38% in the United States). Most trials evaluated treatments (1,333 trials; 85%); only 223 (14%) evaluated preventive strategies and 12 postacute period intervention. A total of 254 trials were planned to assess different regimens of hydroxychloroquine with an expected sample size of 110,883 patients. Conclusion: This living mapping analysis showed that COVID-19 trials have relatively small sample size with certain redundancy in research questions. Most trials were registered when the first peak of the pandemic has passed
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