Minimal structures for the implementation of digital rational lossless systems

Digital lossless transfer matrices and vectors (power-complementary vectors) are discussed for applications in digital filter bank systems, both single rate and multirate. Two structures for the implementation of rational lossless systems are presented. The first structure represents a characterization of single-input, multioutput lossless systems in terms of complex planar rotations, whereas the second structure offers a representation of M-input, M-output lossless systems in terms of unit-norm vectors. This property makes the second structure desirable in applications that involve optimization of the parameters. Modifications of the second structure for implementing single-input, multioutput, and lossless bounded real (LBR) systems are also included. The main importance of the structures is that they are completely general, i.e. they span the entire set of M×1 and M×M lossless systems. This is demonstrated by showing that any such system can be synthesized using these structures. The structures are also minimal in the sense that they use the smallest number of scalar delays and parameters to implement a lossless system of given degree and dimensions. A design example to demonstrate the main results is included

Opening the Black Box: Understanding Adult Inpatient Falls

Within the United States, falls are the largest category of adverse events reported in hospitals. Injuries associated with falls include increased costs, extended length of stays, increased mortality and morbidity, and liability to hospitals. The purpose of this study was to discover, describe, and systematically analyze universal and diverse care meanings and expressions of adults experiencing a fall while hospitalized. The research was conceptualized with the ethnographic theoretical framework of Culture Care Diversity and Universality (Leininger 2001, 2006). Data collection took place in a large academic medical center, over a five month period and included 24 participants: eight adult inpatients experiencing a fall event and sixteen registered nurses with direct knowledge about the adult inpatient fall event. Observation, participation, and ethnographic interviews were used to collect data in the research context of the participants. A systematic, rigorous, and in-depth data analysis was completed using the Data Analysis Guide (Leininger 2001, 2006) along with the Ethnograph qualitative software program (Qualis Research, 2006). Three themes emerged from the data regarding the culture of care of adults experiencing a fall while hospitalized: blaming despite vulnerability, mitigating risk, and diversity in the efficacy of staffing patterns. These findings were embedded within the social structure dimension of the hospital setting. These findings and their sociocultural influences have implications for nursing practice, administration, and education

The Imperial Silk Factories of Kangxi in China, 1661-1722 A mirror for Louis XIV’s Royal Factories?

Programa de Doctorado en Historia y Estudios Humanísticos: Europa, América, Arte y LenguasLínea de Investigación: Historia y Estudios Humanísticos: Europa, América, Arte y GeografíaClave Programa: DHHCódigo Línea: 121This thesis explains the theoretical background and development of contemporary global and consumer historiography; it examines the interactions and connections between a then seemingly closed China and the outside world through missionaries, the tribute system and overseas trade during the Qing empire. It examines the forms of business organisation, production processes, sources of finance, personnel management, the income and social status of artisans, products and trade channels of the imperial silk factories in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century China and those court-supplying silk factories of Louis XIV in France. Comparisons and correlations reveal the links established through the exchange of missionaries and goods between these two distant monarchical territories, and the impact of these cultural contacts. The jesuits sent by Louis XIV arrived at the court of the Kangxi emperor with a well-thought-out research programme and the best equipment of the time to investigate almost all areas of China, such as history, geography, medicine, flora and fauna, handicrafts and so on. The missionaries left behind abundant letters, diaries and translations that built bridges for western research and understanding of China, as well as completing Colbert’s global information-gathering project, thus contributing to his mercantilist strategy. Both the imperial silk factories of Kangxi and those court supplying factories of Louis XIV were the expression of the will of the central power, which, by virtue of its economic control and administrative power, planned, designed, produced and marketed silk production at the highest level throughout its territory. The Chinese imperial silk factories, which flourished under the Kangxi period, were entirely subordinate to the central power and catered entirely to the needs of the court and the bureaucratic administrative system, and were not market-oriented for profit. The mercantilist economic line of Louis XIV also brought a strong influence of royal power over the state silk industry, with the difference that the court-supplying silk factories were mostly privately owned and the royal family was their main customer. The imperial silk factories of Kangxi were under strict control of a centralised feudal system, with countless laws and regulations, inscriptions warning of common faults and defects in the weaving industry, and even severe punishments, all of which served to guarantee the quality and efficiency of production in the imperial silk mills. In France, on the other hand, during the same period, in order to promote the development of the country’s silk weaving industry, Colbert produced an unprecedented number of decrees and specific regulations on production processes and quality control, as well as corresponding punitive mechanisms. A wealth of historical sources has been used in this thesis, such as the imperial archives of the First Historical Archives of Chinese, “archival collections” and old books, local gazetteers, municipal archives, archive of “Fonds de la Grande Fabrique de soie 1563-1791”, and other works and essays. The cross-reference of historical sources and the biases created by cultural differences could stimulate new perspectives and understandings. Although more direct evidence is lacking, in the context of missionary activity at the Chinese court and the encyclopaedic global research of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, and the well-documented collateral evidence of commercial espionage in the manufacture of ceramics, it would be inferred that information about the silk factories of the Kangxi emperor must have served Colbert’s mercantilist economic strategy. Comparing the imperial silk factories of Kangxi with those court-supplying silk factories of Louis XIV, this thesis examines the connections and integration, the extensive central intervention in the national silk industry, the flow of silk production, the separation of production and distribution, and the specific decrees and regulations for quality control. All of this suggests that the Chinese imperial silk factories of Kangxi may well have influenced the French silk industry, thanks to the role of the missionary bridge, and that the court-supplying silk factories of Louis XIV can be presumed to be a mirror reflection image of the Kangxi imperial silk mills.Esta tesis explica los antecedentes teóricos y el desarrollo de la historiografía global y del consumo contemporánea; examina las interacciones y conexiones entre una China entonces aparentemente cerrada y el mundo exterior a través de los misioneros, el sistema de tributos y el comercio de ultramar durante el imperio Qing. Examina las formas de organización empresarial, los procesos de producción, las fuentes de financiación, la gestión del personal, los ingresos y el estatus social de los artesanos, los productos y los canales comerciales de las fábricas de seda imperiales de la China de finales del siglo XVII y del XVIII y de las fábricas de seda que abastecían a la corte de Luis XIV en Francia. Las comparaciones y correlaciones revelan los vínculos establecidos a través del intercambio de misioneros y mercancías entre estos dos distantes territorios monárquicos, así como el impacto de estos contactos culturales. Los jesuitas enviados por Luis XIV llegaron a la corte del emperador Kangxi con un estudiado programa de investigación y el mejor equipamiento de la época para investigar casi todos los ámbitos de China, como la historia, la geografía, la medicina, la flora y la fauna, la artesanía, etcétera. Los misioneros dejaron abundantes cartas, diarios y traducciones que tendieron puentes para la investigación y comprensión occidentales de China, además de completar el proyecto de recopilación de información global de Colbert, contribuyendo así a su estrategia mercantilista. En esta tesis se han utilizado abundantes fuentes históricas, como los archivos imperiales del Primer Archivo Histórico de China, “colecciones de archivos” y libros antiguos, nomenclátores locales, archivos municipales, archivo del “Fonds de la Grande Fabrique de soie 1563-1791”, y otras obras y ensayos. El cruce de fuentes históricas y los sesgos creados por las diferencias culturales podrían estimular nuevas perspectivas y comprensiones. Tanto las fábricas de seda imperiales de Kangxi como las que abastecían a la corte de Luis XIV eran la expresión de la voluntad del poder central, que, en virtud de su control económico y su poder administrativo, planificaba, diseñaba, producía y comercializaba la producción de seda al más alto nivel en todo su territorio. Las fábricas de seda imperiales chinas, que florecieron bajo el periodo de Kangxi, estaban totalmente subordinadas al poder central y atendían enteramente a las necesidades de la corte y del sistema administrativo burocrático, y no estaban orientadas al mercado con ánimo de lucro. La línea económica mercantilista de Luis XIV también supuso una fuerte influencia del poder real sobre la industria estatal de la seda, con la diferencia de que las fábricas de seda proveedoras de la corte eran en su mayoría de propiedad privada y la familia real era su principal cliente. Las fábricas de seda imperiales de Kangxi estaban bajo el estricto control de un sistema feudal centralizado, con innumerables leyes y reglamentos, inscripciones que advertían de las faltas y defectos comunes en la industria del tejido e incluso severos castigos, todo lo cual servía para garantizar la calidad y la eficacia de la producción en las fábricas de seda imperiales. En Francia, por su parte, durante el mismo periodo, con el fin de promover el desarrollo de la industria del tejido de la seda del país, Colbert elaboró un número sin precedentes de decretos y reglamentos específicos sobre los procesos de producción y el control de calidad, así como los correspondientes mecanismos punitivos. Aunque faltan pruebas más directas, en el contexto de la actividad misionera en la corte china y la enciclopédica investigación global de la Real Academia de Ciencias francesa, y las bien documentadas pruebas colaterales de espionaje comercial en la fabricación de cerámica, cabría deducir que la información sobre las fábricas de seda del emperador Kangxi debió de servir a la estrategia económica mercantilista de Colbert. Comparando las fábricas de seda imperiales de Kangxi con las fábricas de seda proveedoras de la corte de Luis XIV, esta tesis examina las conexiones y la integración, la amplia intervención central en la industria nacional de la seda, el flujo de la producción de seda, la separación de la producción y la distribución, y los decretos y reglamentos específicos para el control de calidad. Todo ello sugiere que las fábricas de seda imperiales chinas de Kangxi bien pudieron influir en la industria francesa de la seda, gracias al papel del puente misionero, y que las fábricas proveedoras de la corte de Luis XIV pueden presumirse un reflejo especular de las sederías imperiales de Kangxi.Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla. Departamento de Geografía, Historia y Filosofí

Collectors and collecting in England c. 1600 - c. 1660

EMBARGOED - expected end date 26.08.1

Essays in the History of Ideas

Originally published in 1948. In the first essay of this collection, Lovejoy reflects on the nature, methods, and difficulties of the historiography of ideas. He maps out recurring phenomena in the history of ideas, which the essays illustrate. One phenomenon is the presence and influence of the same presuppositions or other operative "ideas" in very diverse provinces of thought and in different periods. Another is the role of semantic transitions and confusions, of shifts and of ambiguities in the meanings of terms, in the history of thought and taste. A third phenomenon is the internal tensions or waverings in the mind of almost every individual writer—sometimes discernible even in a single writing or on a single page—arising from conflicting ideas or incongruous propensities of feeling or taste to which the writer is susceptible. These essays do not contribute to metaphysical and epistemological questions; they are primarily historical