A short note on strongly flat covers of acts over monoids

Recently two different concepts of covers of acts over monoids have been studied by a number of authors and many interesting results discovered. One of these concepts is based on coessential epimorphisms and the other is based on Enochs' definition of a flat cover of a module over a ring. Two recent papers have suggested that in the former case, strongly flat covers are not unique. We show that these examples are in fact false and so the question of uniqueness appears to still remain open. In the latter case, we re-present an example due to Kruml that demonstrates that, unlike the case for flat covers of modules, strongly flat covers of S-acts do not always exist

A microtonal wind controller building on Yamaha’s technology to facilitate the performance of music based on the “19-EDO” scale

We describe a project in which several collaborators adapted an existing instrument to make it capable of playing expressively in music based on the microtonal scale characterised by equal divsion of the octave into 19 tones (“19-EDO”). Our objective was not just to build this instrument, however, but also to produce a well-formed piece of music which would exploit it idiomatically, in a performance which would provide listeners with a pleasurable and satisfying musical experience. Hence, consideration of the extent and limits of the playing-techniques of the resulting instrument (a “Wind-Controller”) and of appropriate approaches to the composition of music for it were an integral part of the project from the start. Moreover, the intention was also that the piece, though grounded in the musical characteristics of the 19-EDO scale, would nevertheless have a recognisable relationship with what Dimitri Tymoczko (2010) has called the “Extended Common Practice” of the last millennium. So the article goes on to consider these matters, and to present a score of the resulting new piece, annotated with comments documenting some of the performance issues which it raises. Thus, bringing the project to fruition involved elements of composition, performance, engineering and computing, and the article describes how such an inter-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaboration was co-ordinated in a unified manner to achieve the envisaged outcome. Finally, we consider why the building of microtonal instruments is such a problematic issue in a contemporary (“high-tech”) society like ours

The Effect of Predator Culling on Livestock Losses: Caracal Control in Cooper Hunting Club, 1976 - 1981

This paper investigates the effectiveness of predator culling as a means of reducing livestock losses using hunting club data for Cooper (outside Mossel Bay) for the period 1976 to 1981. Results showed that caracal (Caracal caracal) culling increased subsequent livestock losses when compared to farms where fewer caracals were culled. When controlling for lagged rainfall, remoteness and a proxy for other unobserved farm characteristics, a logit model indicated the marginal effect of culling to be a 17.5% increase in the likelihood of livestock losses during the next year. The corresponding negative binomial model estimated the effect of an additional caracal culled to be a 0.373 unit increase in the number of sheep lost. A lagged rainfall variable was negative and significant in both models. According to the logit results, the marginal millimetre of rain reduced subsequent losses by 1.1%. For the negative binomial model, the marginal effect of rainfall was reduced losses by 0.047 of a sheep, which was about a 5% increase in losses. The average number of livestock lost was 0.94 sheep per farm per year. Distance travelled, used to proxy remoteness, was positive in the negative binomial model and non-significant in the logit model. Lagged livestock losses were not significant in either model. This result is important because it provides support for stricter predator control regulations by showing that livestock farmers are inadvertently harming their own interests through inappropriate culling, a practice which continues to this day

Re-examining the BMW-Rover affair:a case study of corporate, strategic and government failure?

This paper analyses corporate and government strategies during the purchase, period of control and divestment by BMW of the car manufacturer Rover over the period 1994 to 2000. This paper examines three types of ‘failure’. It views BMW’s purchase of Rover as a ‘corporate failure’, with British Aerospace keen to sell Rover to raise cash and with BMW not realising the real condition of Rover. It then moves on to examine BMW’s ‘divide and rule’ strategies with regard to working conditions and subsidy-seeking and its decision to sell Rover as an example of ‘strategic failure’. Finally, it considers the ‘hands-off’ nature of British policy towards such transnational firms, and BMW in particular, as an example of ‘government failure’. This paper concludes by raising the possibility of an EU-wide policy towards transnationals, especially in terms of monitoring the activities of such firms

Globalisation, economic freedom and strategic decision making:a role for industrial policy?

This article links the radical institutionalist approaches of Tool and Dugger with the strategic choice perspective to better understand the linkages between freedom, knowledge and participation in the context of a global economy dominated by transnational firms. A concern by economists with ‘negative’ freedom has been challenged by a renewed interest in the ‘positive’ dimension, drawing on Sen’s pioneering work on capabilities. The authors argue that overemphasis on either type of freedom could lead to strategic failure. Economic freedom thus constitutes consideration of what type(s) of freedom are emphasised, where freedom resides within the system, and how freedoms are realised. Public policy responses are then seen as appropriate in a globalising economy dominated by negatively free strategic decision-makers within transnational firms, tackling both the nature of the firm itself as well as the environment within which such decisions are made. This would constrain negative freedom for some so as to expand freedoms for others, enabling a more democratic form of globalisation to better serve the interests of a wider set of actors

INDOT Hydraulics: Design Guidance

This presentation answers common questions about infiltration design. When do I need a bridge scour? When is a hydraulic analysis required? What to do when I have a cover issue or when the proposed structure size is significantly larger than the existing structure? Come explore these questions with us