"Do Not Celebrate Your Feast without Your Neighbours" : A Study of References to Feasts and Festivals in Non-Literary Documents from Ramesside Period Deir el-Medina

This dissertation is a study of the forms and functions of feasts and feasting in the ancient Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina in Thebes (modern Luxor). This particular village, during the New Kingdom (c. 1550 1069 BC), was inhabited by the men (and their families) who constructed the Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. The royal artisans were probably more literate than the average Egyptians and the numerous Ramesside Period (c. 1295 1069 BC) non-literary texts found in the excavations of the village and its surroundings form the source material for this study. In this study, the methods used are mainly Egyptological and the references to feasts and feasting are considered in view of what is known of New Kingdom Egypt, Thebes, and Deir el-Medina. Nevertheless, it is the use of the methodological concept local vernacular religion that has resulted in the division of the research findings into two sections, i.e., references to feasts celebrated both in and outside the community and other references to feasts and feasting in the village. When considering the function of the feasts celebrated at Deir el-Medina, a functional approach to feasts introduced by anthropologists and archaeologists is utilized. The Deir el-Medina feasts which were associated with the official religion form a festival calendar of feasts celebrated annually on the same civil calendar day. The reconstructed festival calendar of Deir el-Medina reflects the feasts celebrated around Thebes or, at least, in Western Thebes. The function of the nationally and regionally observed feasts (which, at least at Deir el-Medina, resulted in a work-free day) may have been to keep people content so that they would continue to work which was to the advantage of the king and the elite surrounding him. Local feasts appear to have been observed more irregularly at Deir el-Medina or perhaps according to the lunar calendar. Feasts celebrated by the community as a whole served to maintain the unity of the group. In addition to feasts celebrated by the entire community, the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina could mark their own personal feasts and organize small gatherings during public feasts. Through such feasts, an individual man might form alliances and advance his chances of a favourable marriage or of acquiring a position on the work crew.

Non-linear flapping vibrations of rotating blades

The non-linear equations of motion of a rotating blade undergoing extensional and flapwise bending vibration are derived, including non-linearities up to O (ε3). The strain-displacement relationship derived is compared with expressions derived by earlier investigators and the errors and the approximations made in some of those are brought out. The equations of motion are solved under the inextensionality condition to obtain the influence of the amplitude on the fundamental flapwise natural frequency of the rotating blade. It is found that large finite amplitudes have a softening effect on the flapwise frequency and that this influence becomes stronger at higher speeds of rotation.

Intra and Inter-Molecular Communications Through Protein Structure Network

Communication within and across proteins is crucial for the biological functioning of proteins. Experiments such as mutational studies on proteins provide important information on the amino acids, which are crucial for their function. However, the protein structures are complex and it is unlikely that the entire responsibility of the function rests on only a few amino acids. A large fraction of the protein is expected to participate in its function at some level or other. Thus, it is relevant to consider the protein structures as a completely connected network and then deduce the properties, which are related to the global network features. In this direction, our laboratory has been engaged in representing the protein structure as a network of non-covalent connections and we have investigated a variety of problems in structural biology, such as the identification of functional and folding clusters, determinants of quaternary association and characterization of the network properties of protein structures. We have also addressed a few important issues related to protein dynamics, such as the process of oligomerization in multimers, mechanism on protein folding, and ligand induced communications (allosteric effect). In this review we highlight some of the investigations which we have carried out in the recent past. A review on protein structure graphs was presented earlier, in which the focus was on the graphs and graph spectral properties and their implementation in the study of protein structure graphs/networks (PSN). In this article, we briefly summarize the relevant parts of the methodology and the focus is on the advancement brought out in the understanding of protein structure-function relationships through structure networks. The investigations of structural/biological problems are divided into two parts, in which the first part deals with the analysis of PSNs based on static structures obtained from x-ray crystallography. The second part highlights the changes in the network, associated with biological functions, which are deduced from the network analysis on the structures obtained from molecular dynamics simulations.

Non-finite constructions in Old English : with special reference to syntactic borrowing from Latin

My dissertation is a corpus-based study of non-finite constructions in Old English (OE). It revisits the question of Latin influence on the OE syntax, offering a new evaluation of syntactic interference between Latin and OE, and, more generally, of the contact situation in the OE period, drawing on methods used in studying grammaticalization and language contact. I address three non-finite constructions: absolute participial construction, accusative-and-infinitive construction, and nominative-and-infinitive construction, exemplified respectively in present-day English as - She looked like a pixie sometimes, her eyes darting here and there, forever watchful (BNC CCM 98); - My first acquaintance with her was when I heard her sing (BNC CFY 2215); - Charles the Bald was said to resemble his grandfather physically (BNC HPT 175). This study compares data from translated texts against the background of original OE writings, establishing dependencies and differences between the two. Although the contrastive analysis of source and target texts is one of the major methods employed in the study, translation and translation strategies as such are only my secondary foci. The emphasis is rather on what source/target comparison can tell us about the OE non-finite syntax and the typological differences between Latin and OE in this domain, and on whether contact-induced change can originate in translation. In terms of theoretical framework, I have adopted functional-typological approach, which rests on the principles of iconicity and event integration, and to the best of my knowledge, has not been applied systematically to OE non-finite constructions. Therefore one more aim of the dissertation is to test this framework and to see how OE fits into the cross-linguistic picture of non-finites. My research corpus consists of two samples: 1) written OE closely dependent on the Latin originals, based on editions of two gloss texts, five translations, and Latin originals of these texts, representing four text types: hymns, religious regulations, homily/life narrative, and biblical narrative (180,622 words); and 2) written OE as far independent from Latin as possible, based on a selection from the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose (YCOE) and representing five text types: laws, charters, correspondence, chronicle narrative, and homily/life narrative (274,757 words).

Non-invasive assessment of pineapple and mango fruit quality using near infra-red spectroscopy

The potential of near infra-red (NIR) spectroscopy for non-invasive measurement of fruit quality of pineapple (Ananas comosus var. Smooth Cayenne) and mango (Magnifera indica var. Kensington) fruit was assessed. A remote reflectance fibre optic probe, placed in contact with the fruit skin surface in a light-proof box, was used to deliver monochromatic light to the fruit, and to collect NIR reflectance spectra (760–2500 nm). The probe illuminated and collected reflected radiation from an area of about 16 cm2. The NIR spectral attributes were correlated with pineapple juice Brix and with mango flesh dry matter (DM) measured from fruit flesh directly underlying the scanned area. The highest correlations for both fruit were found using the second derivative of the spectra (d2 log 1/R) and an additive calibration equation. Multiple linear regression (MLR) on pineapple fruit spectra (n = 85) gave a calibration equation using d2 log 1/R at wavelengths of 866, 760, 1232 and 832 nm with a multiple coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.75, and a standard error of calibration (SEC) of 1.21 °Brix. Modified partial least squares (MPLS) regression analysis yielded a calibration equation with R2 = 0.91, SEC = 0.69, and a standard error of cross validation (SECV) of 1.09 oBrix. For mango, MLR gave a calibration equation using d2 log 1/R at 904, 872, 1660 and 1516 nm with R2 = 0.90, and SEC = 0.85% DM and a bias of 0.39. Using MPLS analysis, a calibration equation with R2 = 0.98, SEC = 0.54 and SECV = 1.19 was obtained. We conclude that NIR technology offers the potential to assess fruit sweetness in intact whole pineapple and DM in mango fruit, respectively, to within 1° Brix and 1% DM, and could be used for the grading of fruit in fruit packing sheds.

Non-melanoma skin cancer: Ten years of cancer-registry-based surveillance

The Tasmanian Cancer Registry carried out population-based surveillance of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) from 1978 to 1987. A total of 8,651 NMSC were recorded in 7,160 individuals, representing an age-standardized rate of 161/100,000 per year. Ninety-four percent of cases were based on histological diagnosis. Incidence of basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) was higher than the incidence of squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC). The incidence of NMSC was twice as high in men as in women. Incidence increased substantially with age, more markedly for SCC than BCC. For most body sites, BCC was more frequent, but on highly exposed sites such as the backs of hands, lower limbs in women and ears in men, the incidence of SCC was higher. There was an overall increase of 7% per year in the age-standardized incidence rate of NMSC. The increase was more marked for BCC than for SCC, and was consistent across age groups and both sexes. A first NMSC during the study period was associated with a 12-fold increase among men and a 15-fold increase among women in the risk of development of a new NMSC within 5 years, when compared with the NMSC incidence recorded for the population as a whole.

Non-stationary signal analysis by least mean fourth (LMF) adaptive algorithm

A modified least mean fourth (LMF) adaptive algorithm applicable to non-stationary signals is presented. The performance of the proposed algorithm is studied by simulation for non-stationarities in bandwidth, centre frequency and gain of a stochastic signal. These non-stationarities are in the form of linear, sinusoidal and jump variations of the parameters. The proposed LMF adaptation is found to have better parameter tracking capability than the LMS adaptation for the same speed of convergence.

Drink and drug driving in Australian young adult users and non-users of illicit stimulants

- Introduction There is limited understanding of how young adults’ driving behaviour varies according to long-term substance involvement. It is possible that regular users of amphetamine-type stimulants (i.e. ecstasy (MDMA) and methamphetamine) may have a greater predisposition to engage in drink/drug driving compared to non-users. We compare offence rates, and self-reported drink/drug driving rates, for stimulant users and non-users in Queensland, and examine contributing factors. - Methods The Natural History Study of Drug Use is a prospective longitudinal study using population screening to recruit a probabilistic sample of amphetamine-type stimulant users and non-users aged 19-23 years. At the 4 ½ year follow-up, consent was obtained to extract data from participants’ Queensland driver records (ATS users: n=217, non-users: n=135). Prediction models were developed of offence rates in stimulant users controlling for factors such as aggression and delinquency. - Results Stimulant users were more likely than non-users to have had a drink-driving offence (8.7% vs. 0.8%, p < 0.001). Further, about 26% of ATS users and 14% of non-users self-reported driving under the influence of alcohol during the last 12 months. Among stimulant users, drink-driving was independently associated with last month high-volume alcohol consumption (Incident Rate Ratio (IRR): 5.70, 95% CI: 2.24-14.52), depression (IRR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.07-1.52), low income (IRR: 3.57, 95% CI: 1.12-11.38), and male gender (IRR: 5.40, 95% CI: 2.05-14.21). - Conclusions Amphetamine-type stimulant use is associated with increased long-term risk of drink-driving, due to a number of behavioural and social factors. Inter-sectoral approaches which target long-term behaviours may reduce offending rates.

A non-linear analogue-to-digital converter for linearization of transducer input-output relationships

Analogue and digital techniques for linearization of non-linear input-output relationship of transducers are briefly reviewed. The condition required for linearizing a non-linear function y = f(x) using a non-linear analogue-to-digital converter, is explained. A simple technique to construct a non-linear digital-to-analogue converter, based on ' segments of equal digital interval ' is described. The technique was used to build an N-DAC which can be employed in a successive approximation or counter-ramp type ADC to linearize the non-linear transfer function of a thermistor-resistor combination. The possibility of achieving an order of magnitude higher accuracy in the measurement of temperature is shown.

Natural convection from a vertical cone in a porous medium due to the combined effects of heat and mass diffusion with non-uniform wall temperature/concentration or heat/mass flux and suction/injection

An analysis has been carried out to study the non-Darcy natural convention flow of Newtonian fluids on a vertical cone embedded in a saturated porous medium with power-law variation of the wall temperature/concentration or heat/mass flux and suction/injection with the streamwise distance x. Both non-similar and self-similar solutions have been obtained. The effects of non-Darcy parameter, ratio of the buoyancy forces due to mass and heat diffusion, variation of wall temperature/concentration or heat/mass flux and suction/injection on the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers have been studied.

Closed-form solutions for low-rank non-rigid reconstruction

Recovering the motion of a non-rigid body from a set of monocular images permits the analysis of dynamic scenes in uncontrolled environments. However, the extension of factorisation algorithms for rigid structure from motion to the low-rank non-rigid case has proved challenging. This stems from the comparatively hard problem of finding a linear “corrective transform” which recovers the projection and structure matrices from an ambiguous factorisation. We elucidate that this greater difficulty is due to the need to find multiple solutions to a non-trivial problem, casting a number of previous approaches as alleviating this issue by either a) introducing constraints on the basis, making the problems nonidentical, or b) incorporating heuristics to encourage a diverse set of solutions, making the problems inter-dependent. While it has previously been recognised that finding a single solution to this problem is sufficient to estimate cameras, we show that it is possible to bootstrap this partial solution to find the complete transform in closed-form. However, we acknowledge that our method minimises an algebraic error and is thus inherently sensitive to deviation from the low-rank model. We compare our closed-form solution for non-rigid structure with known cameras to the closed-form solution of Dai et al. [1], which we find to produce only coplanar reconstructions. We therefore make the recommendation that 3D reconstruction error always be measured relative to a trivial reconstruction such as a planar one.

Leveraging Lean Production Philosophy for Rationalising a Non-Linear Representation of Construction Specifications

This paper presents an approach, based on Lean production philosophy, for rationalising the processes involved in the production of specification documents for construction projects. Current construction literature erroneously depicts the process for the creation of construction specifications as a linear one. This traditional understanding of the specification process often culminates in process-wastes. On the contrary, the evidence suggests that though generalised, the activities involved in producing specification documents are nonlinear. Drawing on the outcome of participant observation, this paper presents an optimised approach for representing construction specifications. Consequently, the actors typically involved in producing specification documents are identified, the processes suitable for automation are highlighted and the central role of tacit knowledge is integrated into a conceptual template of construction specifications. By applying the transformation, flow, value (TFV) theory of Lean production the paper argues that value creation can be realised by eliminating the wastes associated with the traditional preparation of specification documents with a view to integrating specifications in digital models such as Building Information Models (BIM). Therefore, the paper presents an approach for rationalising the TFV theory as a method for optimising current approaches for generating construction specifications based on a revised specification writing model.

Effect of the Queensland Shark Control Program on non target species : whale, dugong, turtle and dolphin : a review

The Queensland Shark Control Program (QSCP) aims to protect swimmers at ten beach areas on the east coast of Queensland between Cairns (17°S) and the Gold coast (28°S). Since its inception in 1962 it has deployed shark nets and baited drumlines in a `mixed gear strategy' that adapts the type of gear to the characteristics of a site (e .g . extreme tidal range, high energy wave action, or proximity of turtle breeding areas) . The policy has provided swimmer protection, and the incidental capture of non-target species has been lower than that resulting from deployment of nets alone (Dudley 1997; Gribble et al. 1998b). The QSCP is the only major public-safety shark-control program to routinely use mixed gear. Both the New South Wales (Holt 1998) and KwaZulu-Natal (Dudley 1998) programs use nets exclusively, although the KwaZulu-Natal program has recently tested drumlines on an experimental basis (Dudley 1998; Dudley, personal communication).

Evaluation of residence time on nitrogen oxides removal in non-thermal plasma reactor

Non-thermal plasma (NTP) has been introduced over the last few years as a promising after- treatment system for nitrogen oxides and particulate matter removal from diesel exhaust. NTP technology has not been commercialised as yet, due to its high rate of energy consumption. Therefore, it is important to seek out new methods to improve NTP performance. Residence time is a crucial parameter in engine exhaust emissions treatment. In this paper, different electrode shapes are analysed and the corresponding residence time and NOx removal efficiency are studied. An axisymmetric laminar model is used for obtaining residence time distribution numerically using FLUENT software. If the mean residence time in a NTP plasma reactor increases, there will be a corresponding increase in the reaction time and consequently the pollutant removal efficiency increases. Three different screw thread electrodes and a rod electrode are examined. The results show the advantage of screw thread electrodes in comparison with the rod electrode. Furthermore, between the screw thread electrodes, the electrode with the thread width of 1 mm has the highest NOx removal due to higher residence time and a greater number of micro-discharges. The results show that the residence time of the screw thread electrode with a thread width of 1 mm is 21% more than for the rod electrode.