Maps and acoustic profiles of free gas distribution, Western Baltic Sea and Kattgat-Skagerrak area

A shallow gas depth-contour map covering the Skagerrak-western Baltic Sea region has been constructed using a relatively dense grid of existing shallow seismic lines. The digital map is stored as an ESRI shape file in order to facilitate comparison with other data from the region. Free gas usually occurs in mud and sandy mud but is observed only when sediment thickness exceeds a certain threshold value, depending on the water depth of the area in question. Gassy sediments exist at all water depths from approx. 20 m in the coastal waters of the Kattegat to 360 m in the Skagerrak. In spite of the large difference in water depths, the depth of free gas below seabed varies only little within the region, indicating a relatively fast movement of methane in the gas phase towards the seabed compared to the rate of diffusion of dissolved methane. Seeps of old microbial methane occur in the northern Kattegat where a relatively thin cover of sandy sediments exists over shallow, glacially deformed Pleistocene marine sediments. Previous estimates of total methane escape from the area may be correct but the extrapolation of local methane seepage rate data to much larger areas on the continental shelf is probably not justified. Preliminary data on porewater chemistry were compared with the free gas depth contours in the Aarhus Bay area, which occasionally suffers from oxygen deficiency, in order to examine if acoustic gas mapping may be used for monitoring the condition of the bay.

Avian occupancy probabilities, vegetation structure, and presence of Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) in eastern and central Oklahoma (2009-2011)

Changes in land use and land cover throughout the eastern half of North America have caused substantial declines in populations of birds that rely on grassland and shrubland vegetation types, including socially and economically important game birds such as the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter bobwhites). As much attention is focused on habitat management and restoration for bobwhites, they may act as an umbrella species for other bird species with similar habitat requirements. We quantified the relationship of bobwhites to the overall bird community and evaluated the potential for bobwhites to act as an umbrella species for grassland and shrubland birds. We monitored bobwhite presence and bird community composition within 31 sample units on selected private lands in the south-central United States from 2009 to 2011. Bobwhites were strongly associated with other grassland and shrubland birds and were a significant positive predictor for 9 species. Seven of these, including Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii), Dicksissel (Spiza americana), and Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), are listed as species of conservation concern. Species richness and occupancy probability of grassland and shrubland birds were higher relative to the overall bird community in sample units occupied by bobwhites. Our results show that bobwhites can act as an umbrella species for grassland and shrubland birds, although the specific species in any given situation will depend on region and management objectives. These results suggest that efficiency in conservation funding can be increased by using public interest in popular game species to leverage resources to meet multiple conservation objectives.

Eemian temperature reconstruction for European sites

Botanical data are widely used as terrestrial proxy data for climate reconstructions. Using a newly established method based on probability density functions (pdf-method), the temperature development throughout the last interglacial, the Eemian, is reconstructed for the two German sites Bispingen and Grobern and the French site La Grande Pile. The results are compared with previous reconstructions using other methods. After a steep increase in January as well as July temperatures in the early phase of the interglacial, the reconstructed most probable climate appears to be slightly warmer than today. While the temperature is reconstructed as relatively stable throughout the Eemian, a certain tendency towards cooler January temperatures is evident. January temperatures decreased from approx. 2-3° C in the early part to approx. -3° C in the later part at Bispingen, and from approx. 2° C to approx. -1° C at Grobern and La Grande Pile. A major drop to about -8° C marks the very end of the interglacial at all three sites. While these results agree well with other proxy data and former reconstructions based on the indicator species method, the results differ significantly from reconstructions based on the modern pollen analogue technique ("pollen transfer functions"). The lack of modern analogues is assumed to be the main reason for the discrepancies. It is concluded that any reconstruction method needs to be evaluated carefully in this respect if used for periods lacking modern analogous plant communities.

Development and institutionalization of communitarian thought in Thailand

In Thailand, communitarian ideas have been widely accepted and even institutionalized as a principle of national development plans and the Constitution of Thailand. This paper examines how and why the communitarian body of thought, described as "community culture thought," and originally created and shared within a small circle of social activists and academics in the early 1980s, came to be disseminated and authorized in Thai society. Contributors and participants, ways of expression, and avenues for disseminating this paradigm are the main topics in this paper. The paper reveals that these thoughts and concepts have been diversified and used as guiding principles by state elites, anti-state activists, and social reformists since the late 1980s. These people with such different political ideologies were connected through some key individuals. These critical connections networked them onto the same side for promoting communitarian thought in Thailand. When such leading advocates assumed key political positions, it was easy for them to push communitarian ideas into the guidelines and principles of state administration.

The Irregular Ribbed Vault of the Sacristy of the Cathedral of Saint-Jean Baptiste in Perpignan

The vault of the sacristy of the Cathedral of Saint-Jean Baptiste in Perpignan (France), constructed by the Majorcan architect Guillem Sagrera between 1433 and 1447, is an outstanding, yet strikingly unknown, example of rib vaulting. This paper analyzes the overall construction of the form of the vault, characterized by its highly irregular perimeter, with particular attention to an isolated decorated corbel which solves the problem of the wall support of a group of six ribs and is in stark contrast with the rest of the supports, which are completely unadorned. Given the extreme rigour of Sagrera in all his works (and this one in particular), this apparent “capriccio” must be justified not only by decorative or formal requirements, but also by the constructive logic of Gothic vaulting system

Un "organismo" evolutivo. El pabellón de Barcelona visto por Sota, Cabrero, (Aburto) y Navarro Baldeweg

El texto plantea la visión del pabellón de Barcelona como un organismo evolutivo a partir de las opiniones y obras de los arquitectos seleccionados.

Generating context-aware recommendations using banking data in a mobile recommender system

The increasing adoption of smartphones by the society has created a new area of research in recommender systems. This new domain is based on using location and context-awareness to provide personalization. This paper describes a model to generate context-aware recommendations for mobile recommender systems using banking data in order to recommend places where the bank customers have previously spent their money. In this work we have used real data provided by a well know Spanish bank. The mobile prototype deployed in the bank Labs environment was evaluated in a survey among 100 users with good results regarding usefulness and effectiveness. The results also showed that test users had a high confidence in a recommender system based on real banking data.

Test on Tile Vaults in France in the 19th Century

Durante el s. XIX las bóvedas tabicadas se desarrollan enormemente, ampliando sus usos a nuevos tipos y extendiendose por zonas dónde no se habían utilizado tradicionalmente. Además, comienza a utilizarse el cemento como aglomerante en lugar del yeso. En este contexto se realizan muchos ensayos sobre ellas, con el objeto de validar un sistema que resultaba nuevo por estas razones. Se estudian a continuación una serie de ensayos de resistencia realizados en Francia entre 1837 y 1865, todos ellos sobre bóvedas de tamaño y geometría similar: entre 4 y 5 m de luz, y con flecha 1/10 de la luz, un tipo muy empleado en ese momento para la construcción de fábricas. El primero de ellos busca medir experimentalmente el empuje de una de estas bóvedas, para cerrar un debate sobre la existencia o no de empujes en las bóvedas tabicadas. Los siguientes quieren obtener la carga de rotura de las bóvedas, con el objeto de construir después unas similares.

La analogía ‘rossiana’ en los proyectos de Herzog y de Meuron: una revitalización de la arquitectura.

Esta comunicación presenta el estudio del uso que hacen Herzog y de Meuron en sus proyectos del concepto de analogía propuesto por Aldo Rossi. La analogía es una operación fundamental de la teoría del proyecto planteada por Rossi, cuyas características se distinguen reiteradamente en algunos de los proyectos más novedosos de Herzog y de Meuron. Estos arquitectos han reconocido abiertamente la influencia de las ideas de Rossi en su concepción de la arquitectura y su utilización de este procedimiento en sus proyectos está vinculada a la repercusión de dichas ideas en su manera de enfrentarse a la evolución y la actualización de la arquitectura. Como muestra se estudia la serie de proyectos en los que se repite el objetivo de subvertir el arquetipo de la casa unifamiliar con cubiertas inclinadas, que abarca un gran arco temporal entre la Casa Azul (1979-1980) y el proyecto para la Fundación Feltrinelli (2008-). A través del análisis de estos proyectos se muestra el uso que estos arquitectos hacen de la analogía y se comprende el papel que tiene este procedimiento en su revisión de lo convencional, proponiendo nuevas percepciones y experiencias, para revitalizar la Arquitectura, manteniendo su compromiso con la especificidad de esta disciplina.

Construction of a Pendentive Grid Crossing Vault

Nuts & bolts of construction history : culture, technology and society :[proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on Construction History, Paris, 3-7 July 2012. ISBN: 978-2-7084-0929-3 . Vol 1 págs 81 a 88

Machinability Study of an aluminum-copper alloy

Machinability of materials is one of the factors that make us wonder what tools to use and what material is best suited for a particular cutting tool and which process is more efficient in the production of a component. In the case of parts for the aerospace industry, manufacturing processes assume greater importance due to the extreme demands on reliability and quality.

Incorporating equity into transport planning: utility, priority and sufficiency approaches

The analysis addresses the issue of transport equity and explores three different approaches to equity in transport: utilitarianism, sufficientarianism and prioritarianism. Each approach calls for a different treatment of the benefits reaped by different population groups in the assessment of transport investments or policies. In utilitarianism, which underlies much of the current practice of transport project appraisal, all benefits receive the same weight, irrespective of the recipient of the benefits. In both sufficientarianism and prioritarianism, benefits are weighed in distinct ways, depending on the characteristics of the recipients. The three approaches are illustrated using a fictive case study, in which three different transport investment are assessed and compared to each other. Finally, the assessment of transport investments will be explored using the cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). The CEA assesses the distributional effects of transport investments for utilitarism, sufficientarism and prioritarism approaches and addresses distinct needs associated with different population groups in respect to their transport

Recombinant interleukin-1β dilates steelhead trout coronary microvessels : effect of temperature and role of the endothelium, nitric oxide and prostaglandins

© 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. Acknowledgements We thank Wenjuan Xu and Xin Xu (Hein Lab) for their excellent instruction in microvessel techniques, Dr David Heeley (Biochemistry Department, MUN) for assistance with selecting an appropriate (non-vasoactive) protein stabilizer, Dr Zou (SFIRC, Aberdeen) for advice with regards to the use of rIL-1β and Gordon Nash (Gamperl Lab) for his assistance with the rIL-1β purification protocol. Funding This research was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant [RGPIN249926] and Accelerator Supplement [RGPAS412325-2011] to A.K.G. a National Institutes of Health Grant [EY018420] to T.W.H., and a doctoral fellowship from Fundaçã o para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal [SFRH/BD/27497/2006] to I.A.S.F.C. Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.

Reducing Stigma toward Sexual Minorities: Acceptance-Based versus Traditional Safe Zone Training.

Homophobia continues to exist in society. Homonegative attitudes are often implicit and can be acquired without direct training, which makes them particularly resistant to change. Relational Frame Theory (RFT) is a behavior analytic account of learning processes and can explain these processes of indirect learning. RFT also suggests therapeutic processes for dismantling stigma using a therapy model named Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This paper reviews previous research on traditional multicultural training, and addresses its shortcomings. Specifically, this paper makes the argument that traditional models encourage experiential avoidance and thus further perpetuate the processes that maintain stigma. While a handful of studies have examined stigma interventions using ACT, no ACT studies have been completed specifically on the stigma towards gay and lesbian individuals. This paper concludes with a research proposal for such a study.

One of Us: Joseph Conrad's Under Western Eyes and A Personal Record

Author: Torgeir Ehler Title: One of Us: Joseph Conrad's Under Western Eyes and A Personal Record Advisor: Jan Gorak Degree Date: June 2009 Abstract This present work explores the relationship of Joseph Conrad's status as a Polish exile to his creative and biographical work. Its main focus is on the tandem publications of the novel Under Western Eyes and his autobiographical volume A Personal Record, both published within a year of each other and written contemporaneously. The first chapter is a short biographical survey of Conrad's life and addresses some later biographical works by his wife, among others. An overview of critical works that deal with Under Western Eyes is presented in the second chapter. An investigation into narrative structure and its use in creating a heteroglossic text is investigated in the third chapter. How this strategy reflects Conrad's personal stake in the novel and how the novel and its creation affected the author's ability to cope with his own homo-duplex geographies is also addressed herein. The fourth chapter then concerns itself with Conrad's attempt to create a truly heteroglossic, autobiographically based persona for public consumption in Britain, while keeping true to his function as a `cultural bridge'. An early effort at communicating the exile's predicament and failure to bridge the cultural divide in the story `Amy Foster' is taken up in the fifth and final chapter. The legacy of Conrad's effort is also discussed herein as relevant to the work of Milan Kundera and Erich Maria Remarque.