HW Implementation of a Optimized Algorithm for the Application of Active Rules in a Transition P-system

P systems or Membrane Computing are a type of a distributed, massively parallel and non deterministic system based on biological membranes. They are inspired in the way cells process chemical compounds, energy and information. These systems perform a computation through transition between two consecutive configurations. As it is well known in membrane computing, a configuration consists in a m-tuple of multisets present at any moment in the existing m regions of the system at that moment time. Transitions between two configurations are performed by using evolution rules which are in each region of the system in a non-deterministic maximally parallel manner. This work is part of an exhaustive investigation line. The final objective is to implement a HW system that evolves as it makes a transition P-system. To achieve this objective, it has been carried out a division of this generic system in several stages, each of them with concrete matters. In this paper the stage is developed by obtaining the part of the system that is in charge of the application of the active rules. To count the number of times that the active rules is applied exist different algorithms. Here, it is presents an algorithm with improved aspects: the number of necessary iterations to reach the final values is smaller than the case of applying step to step each rule. Hence, the whole process requires a minor number of steps and, therefore, the end of the process will be reached in a shorter length of time.

Model of Active Structural Monitoring and Decision-making for Dynamic Identification of Buildings, Monuments and Engineering Facilities

Structural monitoring and dynamic identification of the manmade and natural hazard objects is under consideration. Math model of testing object by set of weak stationary dynamic actions is offered. The response of structures to the set of signals is under processing for getting important information about object condition in high frequency band. Making decision procedure into active monitoring system is discussed as well. As an example the monitoring outcome of pillar-type monument is given.

Identification of the degradation mechanisms of organic solar cells:active layer and interfacial layers

Organic Solar Cells (OSCs) represent a photovoltaic technology with multiple interesting application properties. However, the establishment of this technology into the market is subject to the achievement of operational lifetimes appropriate to their application purposes. Thus, comprehensive understanding of the degradation mechanisms occurring in OSCs is mandatory in both selecting more intrinsically stable components and/or device architectures and implementing strategies that mitigate the encountered stability issues. Inverted devices can suffer from mechanical stress and delamination at the interface between the active layer, e.g. poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM), and the hole transport layer, e.g. poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(p-styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). This work proposes the incorporation of a thin adhesive interlayer, consisting of a diblock copolymer composed of a P3HT block and a thermally-triggerable, alkyl-protected PSS block. In this context, the synthesis of poly(neopentyl p-styrene sulfonate) (PNSS) with controlled molar mass and low dispersity (Ð ≤ 1.50) via Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) polymerisation has been extensively studied. Subsequently, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was explored to characterise the thermal deprotection of P3HT-b-PNSS thin layers to yield amphiphilic P3HT-b-PSS, indicating that surface deprotection prior to thermal treatment could occur. Finally, structural variation of the alkyl protecting group in PSS allowed reducing the thermal treatment duration from 3 hours (P3HT-b-PNSS) to 45 minutes for the poly(isobutyl p-styrene sulfonate) (PiBSS) analogous copolymer. Another critical issue regarding the stability of OSCs is the sunlight-driven chemical degradation of the active layer. In the study herein, the combination of experimental techniques and theoretical calculations has allowed identification of the structural weaknesses of poly[(4,4’- bis(2-ethylhexyl) dithieno [3,2-b:2’,3’-d]silole)-2,6-diyl-alt-(4,7-bis(2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)-5,5’-diyl], Si-PCPDTBT, upon photochemical treatment in air. Additionally, the study of the relative photodegradation rates in air of a series of polymers with systematically modified backbones and/or alkyl side chains has shown no direct correlation between chemical structure and stability. It is proposed instead that photostability is highly dependent on the crystalline character of the deposited films. Furthermore, it was verified that photostability of blends based on these polymers is dictated by the (de)stabilising effect that [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) has over each polymer. Finally, a multiscale analysis on the degradation of solar cells based on poly[4,4' bis(2- ethylhexyl) dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]silole)-2,6-diyl-alt-[2,5 bis(3 tetradecylthiophen 2-yl)thiazole[5,4-d]thiazole)-1,8-diyl] and PCBM, indicated that by judicious selection of device layers, architectures, and encapsulation materials, operational lifetimes up to 3.3 years with no efficiency losses can be successfully achieved.

Implicit metaphysis of the Visuddhimagga : assāsa-passāsa as a vital animating force

This research examines how assasa-passisa and its surrounding concepts are discussed in Buddhaghossa's 5th century Theravada work, the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification) to determine if there is metaphysical use of the term in the text and to determine if the concept of assasa-passasa is similar to the better-known Indian concept of prana (metaphysical vital animating force), indicating whether Theravada Buddhism more closely resembles other Indian religions in terms of metaphysical content. Text analysis reveals how assasa-passasa is described in the Visuddhimagga as an animating vital force, suggesting that Theravada Buddhism has an implicit ontology similar to other Indian schools of philosophy. Secondarily, this paper argues that because assisa-passasa plays a similar role to prana in the Visuddhimagga, it is also operationally similar and could be functioning as the implicit intermediary between links in the chain of dependent co-arising-as the vehicle of paticcasamuppada.

Monitoring of active layer dynamics at two transects on Svalbard using multi-channel ground-penetrating radar

Multi-channel ground-penetrating radar is used to investigate the late-summer evolution of the thaw depth and the average soil water content of the thawed active layer at a high-arctic continuous permafrost site on Svalbard, Norway. Between mid of August and mid of September 2008, five surveys have been conducted over transect lengths of 130 and 175 m each. The maximum thaw depths range from 1.6 m to 2.0 m, so that they are among the deepest thaw depths recorded for Svalbard so far. The thaw depths increase by approximately 0.2 m between mid of August and beginning of September and subsequently remain constant until mid of September. The thaw rates are approximately constant over the entire length of the transects within the measurement accuracy of about 5 to 10 cm. The average volumetric soil water content of the thawed soil varies between 0.18 and 0.27 along the investigated transects. While the measurements do not show significant changes in soil water content over the first four weeks of the study, strong precipitation causes an increase in average soil water content of up to 0.04 during the last week. These values are in good agreement with evapotranspiration and precipitation rates measured in the vicinity of the the study site. While we cannot provide conclusive reasons for the detected spatial variability of the thaw depth at the study site, our measurements show that thaw depth and average soil water content are not directly correlated. The study demonstrates the potential of multi-channel ground-penetrating radar for mapping thaw depth in permafrost areas. The novel non-invasive technique is particularly useful when the thaw depth exceeds 1.5 m, so that it is hardly accessible by manual probing. In addition, multi-channel ground-penetrating radar holds potential for mapping the latent heat content of the active layer and for estimating weekly to monthly averages of the ground heat flux during the thaw period.

Pollen records of five sediment cores from northern Germany

Within a larger program research work is being done on the history of settlement and landscape of the 'Siedlungskammer' Flögeln and the adjacent area. The 'Siedlungskammer' consists of an isolated pleistocene sand ground (Geest-island) surroundet by bogs. Starting from the edge of the Geest, near which large-scale archaeological excavations are carried out, three raised bog profiles were taken at 300, 500 and 4000 m off the prehistoric settlement. They were investigated by means of pollen analysis, and reflect in a decreasing way the activities of man on the Geestisland. Another pollen diagram from the nearby fen peat was worked out for comparison. At the same time it helped to date back a prehistoric sand path to the Roman period. The pollen diagrams cover the vegetational history without gaps from the early Atlantic period to modern times. The vegetation was decisively determined by the poor soils of this area. T'he pollen diagrams give evidence of the activity of settlers since the Neolithic age, with some gaps in the beginning, but later continuously from the middle of the Bronze age until the early migration period. The influence of the nearby settlement, which existed from the Birth of Christ to the 4/5th century, comes out distinctly. Among the cereals which were then cultivated here, there also was rye, at least in the 4/5th century, but most probably already during the Roman period. Besides that people cultivated barley, oats, and flax. The settlement break during the so-called dark ages between the 4/5th century and the time about 800 A.D. was confirmed by pollen analysis. During this time the area was once more covered by forests. The fluctuations of man's activities during the late Middle Ages and modern times, as they are made visible by pollen analysis, correspond to historically wellknown developments.

On the Origin of the Right to Copy: Charting the Movement of Copyright Law in Eighteenth Century Britain (1695-1775)

Taking as its point of departure the lapse of the 1662 Licensing Act in 1695, this book examines the lead up to the passage of the Statute of Anne 1710 and charts the movement of copyright law throughout the eighteenth century, culminating in the House of Lords decision in Donaldson v Becket (1774). The established reading of copyright's development throughout this period, from the 1710 Act to the pronouncement in Donaldson, is that it was transformed from a publisher's right to an author's right; that is, legislation initially designed to regulate the marketplace of the bookseller and publisher evolved into an instrument that functioned to recognise the proprietary inevitability of an author's intellectual labour. The historical narrative which unfolds within this book presents a challenge to that accepted orthodoxy. The traditional analysis of the development of copyright in eighteenth-century Britain is revealed to exhibit the character of long-standing myth, and the centrality of the modern proprietary author as the raison d'etre of the modern copyright regime is displaced.

Leave a light on – Terracotta lamps from Agia Paraskevi of Arachamitai, from the Classical period until Roman times

This thesis deals with terracotta lamps found at the archaeological site of Agia Paraskevi of Arachamitai during the years 2010–2014. The research questions are: What kind of lamps were used on the site and when? For what purposes were the lamps used? Where were they manufactured? In order to address these questions, a total of fifty lamps have been chosen to form the body of research material. To answer the first research question, a typology for these lamps has been created with twenty-one types and one variant, after examining various lamp typologies and previous publications. The find contexts and distribution of the lamps are both examined to test the dates for the different lamp types gathered from other publications, and to answer the question on what purposes the lamps were used on the site. Visual observation of the clay of the lamps and information on clay materials from other sites are both examined to determine the lamps' origins. The lamps in this study date from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century AD. The find contexts allow the dating of the lamps according to the other publications, but suggestions of more site-specific dates are given to some lamps. The distribution of the lamps indicates that while most were used for everyday lighting at the sanctuary, some may have had ritual connections. Most of the lamps were manufactured locally or at a nearby Arcadian site. Few lamps can be regarded as imports.

The cultural policy in Italy and the innovations of the XXI century

The paper analyzes the development of the first experiences of the sixteenth century cultural policy in Italy until the beginning of the twenty-first century with the institutional reform initiated by the Minister Dario Franceschini. In the pre-unification State it has been many important contributions of several local rulers who imposed conservation policies to prevent the dispersal of works of art. After the unification of Italy (1861) the laws of protection of the national heritage have helped to initiate the first important initiatives that have developed in practice only at the end of the twentieth century. Great institutional innovations and regulatory activated in the twenty-first century and of which this paper provides some important insights and deepening.

"Secretary in Fashion" and "Love-Letters": a study of socio-cultural and pragmatic-linguistic features in the late 17th century English language

Epistolary manuals are conspicuous historical documents for the pedagogy of letter writing; however, their actual usage as manuals by letter writers is unknown. "Secretary in Fashion" by Serre (1668), an epistolary manual, and "Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister" (1684), an epistolary novel attributed to Behn, both give insights into epistolary conventions. Their inception and nature is interesting, considering their historical context. Despite the Restoration of Charles II, 17th century England was in a confused political state; as a result, texts regarding social convention or politics interested contemporary readers (the novel is inspired by a scandal of Lord Grey, an ardent Whig opposing Charles II). Past epistolary studies focus on 18th rather than 17th century manuals; the latter is typically used as supplementary information. Similarly, past epistolary fiction studies focus on 18th century texts; moreover, linguistic studies on Behn and the novel are deficient. Thus, this study addresses the research questions: 1) What are the socio-cultural and pragmaticlinguistic features represented in "Secretary in Fashion"? 2) What are the socio-cultural and pragmatic-linguistic features represented in "Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister", and do any of these features correlate with the features represented in "Secretary in Fashion"? How far do the characteristic linguistic features of "Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister" correlate with the practices recommended by the manual? Both texts were qualitatively analysed from an historical pragmatic perspective, which observes the potential effects of the socio-cultural and historical context. Also, as the texts concern shared discourses, comparisons were made with Gricean and Politeness Theory. The results show that the manual is a typical 17th century epistolary manual, aligning particularly with the "Academies of Complements", as it concerns the social conventions of the gentry. The novel mainly upheld instructions on form and matter; deviations occurred due to the amatory nature of some letters, and the narrative force affecting the style. Unfortunately, neither research question elucidates the actual usage of manuals. However, this study does show the epistolary practices of two writers, within specific contexts. It reveals that their 17th century English language use is affected by socialisation, in terms of social conventions concerning social rank, age, and gender; therefore, context varies language use. Also, their popularity reveals the interests of the 17th century society. Interest in epistolary-related texts, surely piques the interest of the modern reader as to why such epistolary-related texts were interesting.

Map of the city of Brooklyn.

General-content double-line street map of Brooklyn city (Kings County, N.Y.) showing municipal ward numbers and horsecar lines.

Map of the city of Brooklyn.

General-content double-line street map of Brooklyn city (Kings County, N.Y.) showing municipal ward numbers and horsecar lines.

Plan of a tract of land (marked in the General Plan no. 7), containing in the whole 5000 acres, & divided into 20 plantations of 250 acres each, situate on a left hand branch of Elk River, & on the head waters of Salt Lick Creek, in Harrison County, State of Virginia /

Covers part of Harrison County (W.Va.)

Fringe Types and KOS Systematics: Examining the Limits of the Population Perspective of Knowledge Organization Systems

We find ourselves, after the close of the twentieth century, looking back at a mass of responses to the knowledge organization problem. Many institutions, such as the Dewey Decimal Classification (Furner, 2007), have grown up to address it. Increasingly, many diverse discourses are appropriating the problem and crafting a wide variety of responses. This includes many artistic interpretations of the act and products of knowledge organization. These surface as responses to the expressive power or limits of the Library and Information Studies institutions (e.g., DDC) and their often primarily utilitarian gaze.One way to make sense of this diversity is to approach the study from a descriptive stance, inventorying the population of types of KOS. This population perspective approaches the phenomenon of types and boundaries of Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) as one that develops out of particular discourses, for particular purposes. For example, both DDC and Martianus Capella, a 5th Century encyclopedist, are KOS in this worldview. Both are part of the population of KOS. Approaching the study of KOS from the population perspective allows the researcher a systematic look at the diversity emergent at the constellation of different factors of design and implementation. However, it is not enough to render a model of core types, but we have to also consider the borders of KOS. Fringe types of KOS inform research, specifically to the basic principles of design and implementation used by others outside of the scholarly and professional discourse of Library and Information Studies.Four examples of fringe types of KOS are presented in this paper. Applying a rubric developed in previous papers, our aim here is to show how the conceptual anatomy of these fringe types relates to more established KOS, thereby laying bare the definitions of domain, purpose, structure, and practice. Fringe types, like Beghtol’s examples (2003), are drawn from areas outside of Library and Information Studies proper, and reflect the reinvention of structures to fit particular purposes in particular domains. The four fringe types discussed in this paper are (1) Roland Barthes’ text S/Z which “indexes” a text of an essay with particular “codes” that are meant to expose the literary rhythm of the work; (2) Mary Daly’s Wickedary, a reference work crafted for radical liberation theology – and specifically designed to remove patriarchy from the language used by what the author calls “wild women”; (3) Luigi Serafini’s Codex Seraphinianus a work of book art that plays on the trope of universal encyclopedia and back-of- the book index; and (4) Martinaus Capella – and his Marriage of Mercury and Philology, a fifth century encyclopedia. We compared these using previous analytic taxonomies (Wright, 2008; Tennis, 2006; Tudhope, 2006, Soergel, 2001, Hodge, 2000).

Characterization of the glaze and in-glaze pigments of the nineteenth-century relief tiles from the Pena National Palace, Sintra, Portugal

The glaze and in-glaze pigments of the historical nineteenth-century glazed tiles from the Pena National Palace (Sintra, Portugal) were characterized using a multi-analytical approach. Chemical composition and microstructural characterization were ascertained by µ-PIXE, µ-Raman, optical microscopy and VP-SEM–EDS. The manufacturing technique and colour palette in these tiles were found to be close to the ceramic pigments used in traditional majolica. The blue and purple colours derive from cobalt oxide and manganese oxide, respectively. A mixture of Pb–Sn–Sb yellow with cobalt oxide and iron oxide was used for green and dark yellow, respectively, while grey tonalities consist of a complex mixture of cobalt oxide, manganese oxide and Pb–Sn–Sb yellow in different proportions. Results obtained allowed the determination of the oxides and elements used in pigments as well as production techniques, resorting to traditional majolica manufacture, although the tiles were produced by the end of the nineteenth century.