Low Voltage Firing Characteristics of a Simple Triggered Vacuum Gap

The firing characteristics of the simple triggered vacuum gap (TVG) using lead zirconate titanate as dielectric material in the triggered gap are described. This TVG has a long life of about 2000 firings without appreciable deterioration of the electrical properties for main discharge currents upto 3 kA and is much superior to these made with Supramica (Mycalex Corporation of America) and silicon carbide as used in our earlier investigations. The effects of the variation of trigger voltage, trigger curcit, trigger pulse duration, trigger pulse energy, main gap voltage, main gap separation and main circuit energy on the firing characteristics have been studied. Trigger resistance progressively decreases with the number of firings of the trigger gap and as well as of the main gap. This decrease in the trigger resistance is more pronounced for main discharge currents exceeding 10 kA. The minimum trigger current required for reliable firing decreases with increase of trigger voltage upto a threshold value of 1.2 kV and there-onwards saturates at 3.0 A. This value is less than that obtained with Supramica as dielectric material. One hundred percent firing probability of the TVG at main gap voltages as low as 50 V is possible and this low voltage breakdown of the main gap appears to be similar to the breakdown at low pressures between moving plasma by other workers. and the cold electrodes immersed in it, as reported.

Clinging to royalty: Ropalidia marginata queens can employ both pheromone and aggression

Queens of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata are behaviourally docile and maintain their reproductive monopoly by rubbing their abdomen and applying a pheromone to the nest surface. We argued that the queen should be overthrown if she is prevented from applying her pheromone. To test this prediction we introduced the queen and her workers into a cage without the nest, thereby removing the substrate for pheromone application. Contrary to our expectation, queens maintained their status (in six out of seven experiments), by continuing to rub their abdomens (and presumably applying pheromone) to cage walls even in absence of the nest. Such attempts to apply pheromone to the cage are expected to be relatively inefficient as the surface area would be very large. Thus we found that the queens were aggressively challenged by the workers and they in turn reciprocated with aggression toward their workers. Such aggressive queen-worker interactions are almost nonexistent in natural colonies and were also not recorded in the control experiments (with nests present). Our results reinforce the idea that pheromone helps R. marginata queens maintain their status and more importantly, they also show that, if necessary, queens can also supplement the pheromone with physical aggression.

Males, but not females, mate with multiple partners: a laboratory study of a primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata

The intense interest in social Hymenoptera, on account of their elaborate sociality and the paradox of altruism, has often suffered from considerable gender imbalance. This is partly due to the fact that worker behaviour and altruism are restricted to the females and partly because males often live off the nest. Yet, understanding the males, especially in the context of mating biology is essential even for understanding the evolution of sociality. Mating patterns have a direct bearing on the levels of intra-colony genetic relatedness, which in turn, along with the associated costs and benefits of worker behaviour, are central to our understanding of the evolution of sociality. Although mating takes place away from the nest in natural colonies of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata, mating can be observed in the laboratory if a male and a female are placed in a transparent, aerated plastic container, and both wasps are in the range of 5-20 days of age. Here, we use this setup and show that males, but not females, mate serially with multiple partners. The multiple mating behaviour of the males is not surprising because in nature males have to mate with a number of females, only a few of whom will go on to lay eggs. The reluctance of R. marginata females to mate with multiple partners is consistent with the expectation of monogamy in primitively eusocial species with totipotent females, although the apparent discrepancy with a previous work with allozyme markers in natural colonies suggesting that females may sometimes mate with two or three different males remains to be resolved.

Queen signal should be honest to be involved in maintenance of eusociality: chemical correlates of fertility in Ropalidia marginata

Queens of many social insect species are known to maintain reproductive monopoly by pheromonal signalling of fecundity. Queens of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata appear to do so using secretions from their Dufour's glands, whose hydrocarbon composition is correlated with fertility. Solitary nest foundresses of R. marginata are without nestmates; hence expressing a queen signal can be redundant, since there is no one to receive the signal. But if queen pheromone is an honest signal inextricably linked with fertility, it should correlate with fertility and be expressed irrespective of the presence or absence of receivers of the signal, by virtue of being a byproduct of the state of fertility. Hence we compared the Dufour's gland hydrocarbons and ovaries of solitary foundresses with queens and workers of post-emergence nests. Our results suggest that queen pheromone composition in R. marginata is a byproduct of fertility and hence can honestly signal fertility. This provides important new evidence for the honest signalling hypothesis.

Virgin wasps develop ovaries on par with mated females, but lay fewer eggs

In the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata, mating is not necessary for a female wasp to develop her ovaries, lay eggs, and even to become the sole egg layer of her colony despite the presence of other mated nestmates. Here, we show that virgin wasps do not differ from their mated counterparts in the extent and rapidity of their ovarian development, in the proportion of individuals that build a nest and laid eggs, and in the time taken to do so. However, a significantly larger proportion of virgin females showed resorbing oocytes, and laid fewer eggs as compared to mated individuals. Thus, virgin females have the ability to develop ovaries and lay eggs but also to refrain from necessarily laying all mature eggs produced, before mating opportunities arise. This dual ability would be adaptive in haplodiploid, tropical species with perennial nesting cycles and frequent opportunities for workers to become replacement queens or solitary nest foundresses throughout the year.

Males and females of the social wasp Ropalidia marginata do not differ in their cuticular hydrocarbon profiles and do not seem to use any long-distance volatile mate attraction cues

Sex pheromones are vital in communication between individuals belonging to opposite sexes and form an integral part of the reproductive biology of various species. Among insects, sexual dimorphism in CHCs has been reported from diverse taxa spanning seven different orders, and thereby CHCs have been implicated as sex pheromones. Because males and females of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata touch each other with their antennae during mating, before engaging in sperm transfer, a sex pheromone that is perceived via contact chemosensation through the antennae can possibly exist in this species. Since CHCs have been implied as sex pheromones in various insects (including hymenopterans), and since sexual dimorphism of CHCs should be an obligatory prerequisite for them to act as sex pheromones, we investigated whether males and females of R. marginata differ in their CHC profiles. We found only nonvolatile CHCs, and our results show absence of sexual dimorphism in CHCs, suggesting that CHCs do not function as sex pheromone in this species. A behavioral assay failed to show presence of mate attraction at a distance, thereby showing the absence of volatile long-distance mate attraction cues (that may originate from sources other than and in addition to CHCs).

Développement des méthodes de stabilisation pour la conception des circuits hyperfréquences : application à l'optimisation d'un amplificateur de puissance spatial

209 p. : graf.

EH36-A514异种钢焊接接头多次补焊熔修的疲劳性能

本文对海洋平台桩腿用高强度钢EH36-A514焊接接头经多次补焊熔修后的疲劳性能进行了大量的试验研究,给出了采用对数正态分布的寿命估算式及R—S—N概率寿命曲线。试验结果表明,多次补焊后进行多次TIG熔修在低周时显著提高了试件的疲劳寿命,而高周时则得到相反的结果,因此建议对易裂部位的裂纹采用TIG进行修复,而高周疲劳裂纹则采用其它方式。

Experiencia, pragmatismo y líneas de actuación comunes, bases del nuevo modelo de desarrollo rural del País Vasco

[ES] En el año 1998 el País Vasco pone en marcha un modelo de desarrollo rural fundamentado en la colaboración entre administraciones locales y regionales frente a la dependencia de las subvenciones comunitarias. Con objeto de la necesaria renovación de los Planes Comarcales se produce una reflexión sobre los errores cometidos y se plantean diferentes alternativas que quedan recogidas en unas propuestas metodológicas que van a primar planteamientos inductivos, prácticos y ejecutables y un modo de funcionar que permite llegar con facilidad de la propuesta local a la puesta en común regional. Como resultado obtenemos una interesante propuesta de desarrollo, a tener en cuenta, en un momento en el que muchas Comunidades Autónomas han de reorganizar sus redes de desarrollo rural ante la anunciada reducción de aportaciones comunitarias.

Dependência de álcool e outras drogas: debate conceitual, políticas públicas e a inserção do serviço social nessa área

Este estudo buscou identificar a inserção do Serviço Social na intervenção profissional junto à dependência de álcool e outras drogas na década de 1980, no Rio de Janeiro, a partir do debate conceitual acerca dessa temática e da análise das políticas públicas formuladas pelo Estado brasileiro para o seu enfrentamento. Caracteriza-se como uma pesquisa de natureza exploratória face à parca existência de produções científicas no Serviço Social sobre tal questão. Assim, constituindo-se como uma contribuição em termos de subsídios à ação profissional dos assistentes sociais. Os dados coletados junto aos representantes e assistentes sociais de instituições em funcionamento na década de 1980 permitiram delinear um perfil sobre a implantação do Serviço Social na intervenção profissional junto a essa problemática. Inicialmente, as entidades sem fins lucrativos e os programas de dependência química de empresa foram os principais espaços ocupados pelos profissionais de Serviço Social, havendo uma inexpressiva presença nos órgãos estatais. A partir dos anos noventa, com as políticas públicas de atenção ao consumo de drogas, amplia-se o número de assistentes sociais com atuação nessa área, cabendo, portanto, ao Serviço Social contribuir mais intensamente com estudos científicos, visando melhor instrumentalizá-los de forma teórico-metodológica e técnico-operativa.

Legitimaciones sociales de las políticas patrimoniales y museísticas

Cap. 1. Proyectos patrimoniales y museísticos en las sociedades democráticas y capitalistas: entre la legitimación formal y la vinculación social. Iñaki Arrieta Urtizberea. Cap. 2. Musées et patrimoine immatériel au Québec : enjeux politiques et sociaux. Laurier Turgeon. Cap. 3. “El patrimonio pertenece a todos”. De la universalidad a la identidad, ¿cuál es el lugar de la participación social? Victoria Quintero Morón. Cap. 4. La legitimación social y política de los museos: dos casos del estado de Oaxaca, México. Teresa Morales Lersch y Cuauhtémoc Camarena Ocampo. Cap. 5. Reinterpretaciones de la misión social de los museos: políticas de la cultura en la red de museos de Loures, Portugal. Marta Anico. Cap. 6. La comunicación de los museos y sus relaciones con las políticas culturales de las ciudades. Entre la repetición de estrategias y la innovación. Daniel Paül i Agustí. Cap. 7. El Patrimonio de la Guerra Civil como útil de concienciación social al amparo de la Ley de la Memoria Histórica. Óscar Navajas Corral y Julián González Fraile. Cap. 8. Política y planificación museística, y participación social en Cataluña: un breve recorrido histórico y algunas reflexiones. Daniel Solé i Lladós. Cap. 9. Diagnóstico de las acciones de los museos catalanes como parte de las políticas de integración. Fabien Van Geert. Cap. 10. Los inexistentes alcornocaleños y las experiencias museísticas etnográficas en el Parque Natural Los Alcornocales. Agustín Coca Pérez.

Museos y parques naturales: comunidades locales, administraciones públicas y patrimonialización de la cultura y la naturaleza

Cap. 1. Patrimonialización cultural y natural: un proceso, múltiples aproximaciones. Cap. 2. Comment un musée de ville peut-il être au service des citoyens? Un parcours et quelques pistes d’action. Jean-François Leclerc. Cap. 3. Los museos comunitarios de Kuna Yala y la memoria histórica. Anelio Merry López Cap. 4. Turismo y museos en la ciudad de Valencia. Javier Martí. Cap. 5. La Red de Museos Etnográficos de Asturias: proyecto y realidad. Juaco López Álvarez. Cap. 6. Culturas campesinas y conservación del patrimonio natur-rural. Jaime Izquierdo. Cap. 7. Faire et savoir faire un « territoire patrimonial » : Parc naturel régional du Haut-Jura (France). Olivier Givre. Cap. 8. Espacios naturales y especies salvajes. La construcción de la naturaleza como patrimonio en el Pallars Sobirà, Pirineo catalán. Oriol Beltran e Ismael Vaccaro. Cap. 9. L’histoire au cœur de la cité : l’exemple du laboratoire d’histoire et de patrimoine de Montréal. Joanne Burgess.

Barrios con privación y exclusión social. Estructura de oportunidades y aislamiento institucional

El número de la revista en el que está incluido este artículo ha sido publicado como monografía con el título de: Ciudades globales y culturas locales 2

Poder Judiciário: Espaço Público de integração entre Direito e Política através dos Movimentos Sociais na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Os moradores das Ocupações Zumbi dos Palmares e Quilombo das Guerreiras, no centro da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, se definem como atores sociais que agem segundo representações adquiridas do contexto histórico-social do modo de produção capitalista de fins do século XX. Sob a ideologia de que a qualidade de vida é ser morador no centro da cidade, atuam ilegalmente a fim de pressionar o Poder Público a efetivar políticas públicas de direito à moradia, positivadas na Constituição Federal. Buscam a legitimação dessas condutas e o reconhecimento de suas ações coletivas e de suas identidades no Poder Judiciário, instituição do Estado democrático de direito que se torna espaço público de discussão entre a esfera privada e a esfera pública, cujos limites se reorganizam na crise na pós-modernidade. Investiga-se se a função de intermediador do poder judiciário refere-se a legitimador dessas discussões ou de efetivo solucionador das demandas que lhe chegam. O trabalho conta com três partes: uma prática, onde são descritos as ocupações e os processos judiciais respectivos; uma parte teórica, onde são apresentadas as categorias de pensamentos utilizados para pensar a realidade apresentada na parte prática; e uma terceira parte, de análise da parte prática à luz da parte teórica, a fim de se observar e testar a hipótese construída.