240 research outputs found
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full text|COURAGE, GRATITUDE AND LOUD VOICES |St. Martin of Tours, like other soldiers-to-become-saints, had a flair for courage, generosity and the flashy gesture. In his case, he famously used his sword to slash in half his cape, giving one part to a beggar. Presumably he kept the other half.|Similarly transforming was the gesture of St. Francis of Assisi kissing a leper, thus overcoming his fear of contagion, and strong desire to avoid the leprous man, with a courageous act of love.|Social distancing to avoid disease is nothing new. Long before the germ theory of disease, isolation and fear of contagion kept anyone with visible skin disease "unclean," on the outskirts of society. According to custom, one could re-enter society only after a priest certified a cure.|The ten lepers in today's Gospel needed to raise their voices to be heard from their (socially safe) distance. "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" Jesus only instructs them to show themselves to the priests.|As they were going, all were cured, but like St. Martin of Tours' kept half-cloak, only one – a foreigner – returned to thank Jesus. |Again a raising of the voice – a loud voice giving glory to God, and the cured one no longer distanced himself but courageously and with great faith approached Jesus, threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him.|For me it takes courage to raise my voice to God, to ask for a felt closeness, a sure knowledge of his love for me. But when I do, it is in the going that he answers me. God's love for me becomes felt in acts of kindness toward those he presents to me throughout the day. Isolated as we are during Covid-19, a phone call, a letter, a prayer for others all manifest God's love for us. I can feel it.|May we all throw ourselves at Jesus' feet and thank him
Interview with Bradley Quinn
No full textSarah E. Braddock Clarke is an author, curator and consultant who lectures at University College Falmouth in Cornwall, where she works on the Fashion Design and\ud
Performance Sportswear Design B.A. (Hons) Degrees. Co-author of SportsTech and coauthor of Techno Textiles 1 and 11, Braddock Clarke is a leading expert in the field of\ud
fashion and performance sportswear. Her research focuses on emerging technologies and new materials, and explores the impact of digital media on textiles created for both\ud
fashion and sportswear. Often called upon to identify the materials and designs that are taking clothing into the future, Braddock Clarke has looked to film and science-fiction to predict what humans will be wearing in the decades to come. When interviewed for this book, Braddock Clarke described how innovation and tradition will work together in future, pointing out how cutting-edge materials can be paired with natural fabrics, and how time-honoured tailoring techniques can underpin innovative technologies
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
Comparison of four expert elicitation methods: for Bayesian logistic regression and classification trees
No full textIn the ecological field, expert opinion has been acknowledged as providing valuable information in modelling, particularly when the observed data are limited or unreliable. Indeed international recommendations are that expert-driven models are to be preferred to statistical models for habitat modelling (Langhammer et al., 2007). However expert-driven models are not calibrated to empirical data and therefore rely entirely on the credibility and expertise of the experts. Bayesian statistical modelling provides a useful bridge between purely expert-driven models and data-driven statistical models. Several methods are available for eliciting expert knowledge into Bayesian statistical models in a variety of contexts, in general (O'Hagan et al., 2006) and in ecology (Low Choy et al., 2009). For example logistic regression (LR) is a common choice for modelling the probability of presence or absence for a species and how this relates to a number of habitat covariates, e.g. vegetation, geology, topography and climate (Guisan and Zimmermann 2000). Recently the authors compared three elicitation methods for Bayesian regression in the context of habitat modelling (O'Leary et al., 2008a). These included a questionnaire-based method (similar to Kuhnert et al., 2005; Martin et al., 2005), which simply asks experts whether each covariate x increases, decreases or has essentially no effect on the response y. Alternatively using a software tool (Kynn 2005), experts could also be asked to draw a species response curve showing how the probability of presence (on the y-axis) changed with a particular habitat covariate such as geology type (on the x-axis), with all other covariates held at their optimum. Finally an elicitation tool embedded within a GIS (Denham and Mengersen 2007) could be used to help experts select sites on a map, inspect the habitat characteristics at and surrounding each site, and then assess the probability of presence at each site. These three approaches were compared for habitat suitability modelling of the threatened Australian brush-tailed rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata (O'Leary et al., 2008a). This comparison found substantial differences in the three elicitation approaches in how the expert knowledge translated into the Bayesian statistical model. In this paper we extend this comparison to consider a method, newly developed by the authors (O'Leary et al., 2008b), for elicitation of expert opinion into Bayesian classification trees. Logistic regression and classification trees are obvious contenders for modelling the relationship between a binary response (e.g. presence/absence) and several covariates. Indeed classification trees are another statistical modelling approach often applied in the habitat modelling context (Murray et al., 2008), popular since they provide an easily understood graphical representation of a decision tree. Until recently, however, no method was available for incorporating expert knowledge into classification trees. Using the new approach, elicitation questions focus on the size of the tree representing the number of decisions; the relative importance of the covariates; and the splitting rules for the most important covariates which quantify how decisions relate to variables (O'Leary et al., 2008b). Hence this paper compares four elicitation approaches for modelling the habitat suitability of the rockwallaby, using the same dataset: three Bayesian logistic regression methods and one Bayesian classification tree method. We found that there were some dissimilarities between the expert informed priors formulated using the different methods, but all approaches identified that northern aspects have the highest probability of presence. This paper demonstrates that combining expert informed priors with limited observed data using one or more of the elicitation approaches may improve scientific understanding and therefore contribute to conservation management planning
Chapter 5.2 The Future of Biomedical Imaging: Synthesis and Chemical Properties of the DTPA and DOTA Derivative Ligands and Their Complexes
No full textThe chelate complexes of lanthanides and some other trivalent metal ions are widely used in medical diagnosis and therapy (MRI contrast agents, Optical Imaging, Nuclear Medicine). The chelating agents are mostly aminopolycarboxylate ligands, the open-chain DTPA, the macrocyclic DOTA and their derivatives. This Chapter describes the most important synthetic methods used for the preparation of the ligands (including some bifunctional chelators) and their complexes. The behaviour of the metal complexes in biological systems strongly depends on their equilibrium and kinetic properties. A short review on the methods used to determine the protonation constants of ligands, the stability constants of the complexes and the stability data reported, help to understand the in vivo equilibrium behaviour of metal chelates. The safety of gadolinium based MRI contrast agents strongly depends on the kinetic inertness of the complexes which is characterized with the rate data reported for the transmetallation reactions occurring between the complexes and Zn2+ or Cu2+ ions. The summary on transmetallation kinetics of the complexes formed with DTPA and DOTA derivative ligands are also summarized in the current Chapter. The rate data obtained in the presence of the endogenous citrate are in harmony with the results of biodistribution studies, indicating that the amount of retained Gd is largest for the Gd(DTPA-BMA)
Ontwerp en uitvoering stuw te braddock
No full textHet United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) heeft in 1998 een openbare aanbesteding gehouden voor de sloop van de huidige en de bouw van de nieuwe stuw 2 in de Monongahela River (Pennsylvania, Verenigde Staten) op basis van een door henzelf vervaardigd ontwerp. De nieuwe stuw 2 bestaat in het ontwerp van het USACE uit een vaste drempel aan de rechteroever, drempels in het middengedeelte en een nooddrempel aan de Iinkeroever (zie Figuur 1). Het middengedeelte bestaat uit een hoge drempel en drie lage drempels. Vier segmentschuiven tussen vijf pijlers vormen de bovenbouw van de drempels in het middengedeelte. De nieuwe stuw 2 wordt in twee constructie-elementen geprefabriceerd in een bouwdok te Leetsdale, getransporteerd over de Ohio en Monongahela River en op de projectlocatie afgezonken. Het eerste constructie-element bestaat uit de vaste drempel, de hoge drempel en een lage drempel. Het tweede constructie-element bestaat uit de overige twee lage drempels. De joint venture bestaande uit Misener, Lane en Interbeton heeft een aanbieding gedaan op de openbare aanbesteding. Delta Marine Consultants bv. (DMC) hebben namens de joint venture het ontwerp van het USACE kritisch bekeken om de aanbieding te doen. De voornaamste punten van kritiek betroffen het constructief ontwerp, het afbouwen aan een steiger en het afzinken op een paalfundering van de twee constructie elementen. In de uitvoeringsplanning van de joint venture wordt het eerste constructie-element in april 2000 en het tweede constructie-element in mei 2001 afgezonken. Het project zou 1 oktober 2002 aan de klant overgeleverd worden. Door het constructief systeem en de uitvoeringsmethode binnen de randvoorwaarden aan te passen wordt in dit afstudeerrapport getracht de door DMC gesignaleerde problemen op te lossen en de totale bouwtijd te verkorten. De randvoorwaarden voor dit afstudeerproject worden gevormd door het ruimtelijk functioneel ontwerp, de hydraulische vormgeving en het stuwprogramma van het USAGE. De basisgedachte van prefabricage van het USAGE wordt aangehouden. Gezien de problematiek rond de paalfundering in het ontwerp van het USAGE wordt er gestreefd naar een fundering op staal. Dit systeem voldoet, na enige constructieve aanpassingen, gevuld met ballastbeton ruim aan alle grenstoestanden voor een fundering op staal. Scheefstand door ongelijke zettingen kan worden opgevangen door de U-vormen, zodat het functioneren van de segmentschuiven mogelijk blijft. De U-vormen worden afgezonken op grindribben. De grindribben fungeren als fundering en in de uitvoeringsfasen als bodembescherming. Door de grindribben wordt voldoende oppervlakte verkregen om het gewicht over te brengen naar de rivierbodem zonder dat de spanningen in de U-vormen en de ondergrond te hoog worden. Een 100% aansluiting tussen het funderingsvlak van de U-vormen en de grindribben wordt gerealiseerd door de holle kamers tussen de grindribben te vullen met mortel. Piping wordt voorkomen door een damwand bovenstrooms tot in de (ondoorlatende) siltsteenlaag en een korte damwand benedenstrooms. Tussen twee U-vormen worden aan de boven- en benedenstroomse zijde damwanden in sponningen geplaatst. De ruimte tussen de damwanden wordt volgegrout.Hydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Ensemble predictions of hydro-biogeochemical fluxes at the landscape scale
No full textModel predictions of biogeochemical fluxes on the landscape scale are highly uncertain, both with respect to stochastic (parameter) and structural uncertainty. The idea of our ensemble modelling approach is to reduce the predictive uncertainty by covering part of the parameter and model structural uncertainty. In this study 4 different models (LASCAM, a modified INCA model, SWAT and HBV-N-D) designed to simulate hydrological fluxes as well as mobilization and transport of one or several nitrogen species are applied over the meso-scaled River Fyris catchment in Mid-Eastern Sweden. Hydrological calibration against 5 years of recorded discharge at two stations gives highly variable results from Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values above 0.80 to values around 0.50. SWAT and HBV-N-D gives alternatively the best simulation result at each station respectively. Alteration of nitrogen parameters following Monte-Carlo or Latin-Hypercube stratified sampling schemes is realized in order to cover the parameter uncertainty of predictions for 3 nitrogen species: nitrate (NO3), ammonium (NH4) and total nitrogen (Tot-N) in terms of exported loads. For each model and each nitrogen species, predictions are ranked in two different ways regarding the performance indicated by two different objective functions: the coefficient of determination R2 and the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE). Model ensembles were compiled in various ways. A total of 396 Single Model Ensembles (SME) are generated using an increasing number of model members. Finally, 78 Multi-Model Ensembles (MME) are combined by using the best SME for each model, nitrogen species and station. The evolution of the two aforementioned objective functions is used as performance descriptor of the ensemble procedure. In each studied case, there is always at least one compilation scheme which outperforms any of its members. The best SME are multiple-linear regression models with R2 selected members, increasing the best NSE values from negativity up to very high ones (0.83). The uncertainty bounds of the SME are almost always smaller than the one introduced by the whole set of selected single model runs still including most of measurements and even more (half of the cases) than the bounds of the selected single runs set. In the same way, there is always at least one MME combination scheme which outperforms all the SME, but the increase in model performance is pronounced than the difference between single model runs and SME. The best MME are the ones with the most members and both R2 and NSE values are reaching 0.89 in the best case. Uncertainty areas described by MME are alternatively increased or reduced compared to the bounds delineated by their members. No general trend is deduced for the studied cases.Water Resource
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