23,886 research outputs found
The place where curses are manufactured : four poets of the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was unique among American wars. To pinpoint its uniqueness, it was necessary to look for a non-American voice that would enable me to articulate its distinctiveness and explore the American character as observed by an Asian. Takeshi Kaiko proved to be most helpful. From his novel, Into a Black Sun, I was able to establish a working pair of 'bookends' from which to approach the poetry of Walter McDonald, Bruce Weigl, Basil T. Paquet and Steve Mason. Chapter One is devoted to those seemingly mismatched 'bookends,' Walt Whitman and General William C. Westmoreland, and their respective anthropocentric and technocentric visions of progress and the peculiarly American concept of the "open road" as they manifest themselves in Vietnam. In Chapter, Two, I analyze the war poems of Walter McDonald. As a pilot, writing primarily about flying, his poetry manifests General Westmoreland's technocentric vision of the 'road' as determined by and manifest through technology. Chapter Three focuses on the poems of Bruce Weigl. The poems analyzed portray the literal and metaphorical descent from the technocentric, 'numbed' distance of aerial warfare to the world of ground warfare, and the initiation of a 'fucking new guy,' who discovers the contours of the self's interior through a set of experiences that lead from from aerial insertion into the jungle to the degradation of burning human
feces. Chapter Four, devoted to the thirteen poems of Basil T. Paquet, focuses on the continuation of the descent begun in Chapter Two. In his capacity as a medic, Paquet's entire body of poems details his quotidian tasks which entail tending the maimed, the mortally wounded and the dead. The final chapter deals with Steve Mason's JohnnY's Song, and his depiction of the plight of Vietnam veterans back in "The World" who are still trapped inside the interior landscape of their individual "ghettoes" of the soul created by their war-time experiences
Modelling uncertainties for measurements of the H → γγ Channel with the ATLAS Detector at the LHC
The Higgs boson to diphoton (H → γγ) branching ratio is only 0.227 %, but this
final state has yielded some of the most precise measurements of the particle. As
measurements of the Higgs boson become increasingly precise, greater import is
placed on the factors that constitute the uncertainty. Reducing the effects of these
uncertainties requires an understanding of their causes. The research presented
in this thesis aims to illuminate how uncertainties on simulation modelling are
determined and proffers novel techniques in deriving them.
The upgrade of the FastCaloSim tool is described, used for simulating events in
the ATLAS calorimeter at a rate far exceeding the nominal detector simulation,
Geant4. The integration of a method that allows the toolbox to emulate the
accordion geometry of the liquid argon calorimeters is detailed. This tool allows
for the production of larger samples while using significantly fewer computing
resources.
A measurement of the total Higgs boson production cross-section multiplied
by the diphoton branching ratio (σ × Bγγ) is presented, where this value was
determined to be (σ × Bγγ)obs = 127 ± 7 (stat.) ± 7 (syst.) fb, within agreement
with the Standard Model prediction. The signal and background shape modelling
is described, and the contribution of the background modelling uncertainty to the
total uncertainty ranges from 18–2.4 %, depending on the Higgs boson production
mechanism.
A method for estimating the number of events in a Monte Carlo background
sample required to model the shape is detailed. It was found that the size of
the nominal γγ background events sample required a multiplicative increase by
a factor of 3.60 to adequately model the background with a confidence level of
68 %, or a factor of 7.20 for a confidence level of 95 %. Based on this estimate,
0.5 billion additional simulated events were produced, substantially reducing the
background modelling uncertainty.
A technique is detailed for emulating the effects of Monte Carlo event generator
differences using multivariate reweighting. The technique is used to estimate the
event generator uncertainty on the signal modelling of tHqb events, improving the
reliability of estimating the tHqb production cross-section. Then this multivariate
reweighting technique is used to estimate the generator modelling uncertainties
on background V γγ samples for the first time. The estimated uncertainties were
found to be covered by the currently assumed background modelling uncertainty
Patterns and driving factors of leaf C, N, and P stoichiometry in two forest types with different stand ages in a mid-subtropical zone
Background: Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry is a key indicator of nutrient utilization in plants, and C/N/P ratios are related to the life histories and adaptation strategies of tree species. However, no consensus has been reached on how leaf stoichiometric characteristics are affected by forest type and stand ages. The relationships between leaf stoichiometry and geographical, meteorological, and soil factors also remain
poorly understood.
Methods: Leaf and soil were sampled from forest stands of different age groups (young, middle-aged, near-mature,
and mature) in two forest types (Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) forests and evergreen broadleaved forests). The relationships between leaf C, N, and P stoichiometric parameters and geographical, meteorological, and soil factors were analysed by using redundancy analysis (RDA) and stepwise linear regression analysis.
Results: Leaf C concentrations peaked in the near-mature stands with increasing age irrespective of forest type.
Leaf N and P concentrations fluctuated with a rising trend in Chinese fir forests, while decreased first and
increased later from young to mature phases in natural evergreen broadleaved forests. Chinese fir forests were
primarily limited by N and P, while natural evergreen broadleaved forests were more susceptible to P limitation.
Leaf C, N, and P stoichiometric characteristics in Chinese fir forests were mainly affected by the soil total P
concentration (SP), longitude (LNG), growing season precipitation (GSP) and mean temperature in July (JUT).
The leaf C concentration was mainly affected by GSP and JUT; leaf N and P concentrations were both positively
correlated with LNG; and leaf P was positively correlated with SP. In evergreen broadleaved forests, however, leaf stoichiometric parameters displayed significant correlations with latitude (LAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP).
Conclusions: Leaf stoichiometry differed among forest stands of different age groups and forest types. Leaf C, N,
and P stoichiometry was primarily explained by the combinations of SP, LNG, GSP and JUT in Chinese fir forests.
LAT and MAP were the main controlling factors affecting the variations in the leaf C, N, and P status in natural
evergreen broadleaved forests, which supports the temperature-plant physiological hypothesis. These findings
improve the understanding of the distribution patterns and driving mechanisms of leaf stoichiometry linked with stand age and forest type
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The influence of blockchains and internet of things on global value chain
Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Despite the increasing proliferation of deploying the internet of things (IoT) in the global value chain (GVC), several challenges might lead to a lack of trust among value chain partners, for example, technical challenges (i.e., confidentiality, authenticity, and privacy); and security challenges (i.e., counterfeiting, physical tampering, and data theft). In this study, we argue that blockchain technology (BT), when combined with the IoT ecosystem, will strengthen GVC and enhance value creation and capture among value chain partners. Therefore, we examine the impact of BT combined with the IoT ecosystem and how it can be utilized to enhance value creation and capture among value chain partners. We collected data through an online survey, and 265 U.K. Agri-food retailers completed the survey. Our data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Our finding reveals that BT enhances GVC by improving IoT scalability, security, and traceability combined with the IoT ecosystem. Moreover, the combination of BT and IoT strengthens GVC and creates more value for value chain partners, which serves as a competitive advantage. Finally, our research outlines the theoretical and practical contribution of combining BT and the IoT ecosystem
The Evolution of the Moon’s Orbit Over 100 Million Years and Prospects for the Research in the Moon
As a result of solving the problem of interaction of Solar-system bodies, data on the evolution of the Moon’s orbit were obtained. These data were used as the basis for the development of a mathematical model for the Moon representing its motion over an interval of 100 million years. A program of exploration of the Moon with the aim of creating a permanent base on it is outlined. Such a base is intended for exploring the Earth, the Sun, and outer space
Farm fatalities in Northern Ireland agriculture: What fifty years of data tell us
Publication history: Accepted - 8 March 2022; Published online - 10 March 2022.Agriculture is one of the most hazardous sectors in terms of fatal and non-fatal accidents. This paper utilises an
administrative dataset that recorded farm fatalities in Northern Ireland over a 50 year timeframe (1968–2017) to
undertake an age-period analysis of accident related mortality rates by sex, cause of death, season, and day of the
week. Public policies aimed to improve farm safety should consider that fatalities due to animals have increased
while the incidence of deaths due to vehicles and equipment has substantially decreased over the years although
it is still the primary cause of death. With respect to age, elderly still actively involved in farming and children in
the spring and at week-ends are most exposed to the risk of a fatal accident. Overall, men die on farms five times
more than women.This research was supported by the Department of Agriculture,
Environment, and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland, grant number E-I
18-01-19
The influence of blockchains and internet of things on global value chain
Despite the increasing proliferation of deploying the Internet of Things (IoT) in global value chain (GVC), several challenges might lead to a lack of trust among value chain partners, e.g., technical challenges (i.e., confidentiality, authenticity, and privacy); and security challenges (i.e., counterfeiting, physical tempering, and data theft). In this study, we argue that Blockchain technology, when combined with the IoT ecosystem, will strengthen GVC and enhance value creation and capture among value chain partners. Thus, we examine the impact of Blockchain technology when combined with the IoT ecosystem and how it can be utilized to enhance value creation and capture among value chain partners. We collected data through an online survey, and 265 UK Agri-food retailers completed the survey. Our data were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Our finding reveals that Blockchain technology enhances GVC by improving IoT scalability, security, and traceability when combined with the IoT ecosystem. Which, in turn, strengthens GVC and creates more value for value chain partners – which serves as a competitive advantage. Finally, our research outlines the theoretical and practical contribution of combining Blockchain technology and the IoT ecosystem
Studies of strategic performance management for classical organizations theory & practice
Nowadays, the activities of "Performance Management" have spread very broadly in actually every part of business and management. There are numerous practitioners and researchers from very different disciplines, who are involved in exploring the different contents of performance management. In this thesis, some relevant historic developments in performance management are first reviewed. This includes various theories and frameworks of performance management. Then several management science techniques are developed for assessing performance management, including new methods in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Soft System Methodology (SSM). A theoretical framework for performance management and its practical procedures (five phases) are developed for "classic" organizations using soft system thinking, and the relationship with the existing theories are explored. Eventually these results are applied in three case studies to verify our theoretical development. One of the main contributions of this work is to point out, and to systematically explore the basic idea that the effective forms and structures of performance management for an organization are likely to depend greatly on the organizational configuration, in order to coordinate well with other management activities in the organization, which has seemingly been neglected in the existing literature of performance management research in the sense that there exists little known research that associated particular forms of performance management with the explicit assumptions of organizational configuration. By applying SSM, this thesis logically derives some main functional blocks of performance management in 'classic' organizations and clarifies the relationships between performance management and other management activities. Furthermore, it develops some new tools and procedures, which can hierarchically decompose organizational strategies and produce a practical model of specific implementation steps for "classic" organizations. Our approach integrates popular types of performance management models. Last but not least, this thesis presents findings from three major cases, which are quite different organizations in terms of management styles, ownership, and operating environment, to illustrate the fliexbility of the developed theoretical framework
The empty space in abstract photography: a psychoanalytical perspective
The aim of the research that this thesis is based on is to explore the theoretical problems raised by the concept of photographic abstraction. These consist in the tension between the two aspects of the photographic sign, the indexical and iconic, and are examined in the context of the particular exploration of the empty space in abstract photography which I have pursued through my practice. The investigation draws mainly upon the psychoanalytic theory of transitional phenomena as proposed by Winnicott, as well as other art theories (Deleuze & Guattari, Ehrenzweig, Fer, Fuller, Greenberg, Joselit, Kuspit, Leider, Worringer) of abstraction. It explores the relationship of the abstract photographic image to notions of exteriority and interiority as these relate to the transition from the unconscious to conscious reality. The development of this research suggests the psychoanalytical concept of potential space as a contribution to an aesthetic model of abstraction. This concept is employed as a methodological tool in the development of the practical work and creates a framework for its interpretation. The concept of potential space is based on Winnicott's ideas around "playing with the real" in an intermediate area of experience between the internal and external reality, where creativity originates as a zone of fictive play that facilitates the subject's journey from "what is subjectively conceived of' to "what is objectively perceived. " The outcome of this investigation constitutes the production of a series of photographs describing an empty abstract space, one that is invested with a psychic dimension that produces the effect of ambiguity between its representational and abstract readings. It provides a redefinition of abstraction in a space of tension between the iconic and indexical aspects of the sign and opens up the space of abstraction in photography as one in which the relationship between inner and outer reality can be performed and can become a space of action and intervention
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