Automatic gain control system

Automatic gain control amplifier syste

Mother as curator: performance, family and ethics

This thesis attends to the mother-artist developing a performance-based practice with her family in the home. This is a practice-as-research exploration which integrates areas of maternal ethics and the mother-artist, family and narrative enquiry, the home and sited practices. It consists of a written dissertation, three full (larger) scale installations set within the family home, Trace (2013), Reclaiming the Ritual (2014), 31 Days Old (2016), and a series of smaller works Bed Bound (2014) and Children’s Practice (2014-17), plus digital documentation. The main argument focuses on the role of the mother-artist who initiates an art making practice with her family and considers the personal, professional and ethical questions that can arise. Furthermore, weaving throughout the thesis is the development of what I call, ‘Mother Ethics’ - emphasising a sensitive approach to art-making with children and family, and considering practices and implications of exploring the home as a site for the dissemination of an art practice. The methodology is developed from the position of the mother and uses practice-as research creative methodologies alongside narrative enquiry, and memory work. It employs sensitive approaches to documentation, and anecdotal writing modes. This thesis is situated and contextualised within theoretical fields of maternal studies, maternal ethics, narrative studies, and site-specific dance practices. The key arguments have been developed through engaging with Sara Ruddick, Lisa Baraitser, Iris Marion Young, Llangellier and Peterson, Jerome Bruner, and Mike Pearson. For the purpose of situating my own work and drawing upon the practices of others in the related worlds of maternal, family and home, I have drawn upon current practices and discourses in particular Mary Kelly, Lena Simic, Grace Surman, Lenka Clayon, Jo Spence, and The Institute for Art and Practice of Dissent at Home

Exploring the eradication of code smells: An empirical and theoretical perspective

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund - Copyright @ 2010 Hindawi Publishing CorporationCode smells reflect code decay, and, as such, developers should seek to eradicate such smells through application of “deodorant” in the form of one or more refactorings. However, a relative lack of studies exploring code smells either theoretically or empirically when compared with literature on refactoring suggests that there are reasons why smell eradication is neither being applied in anger, nor the subject of significant research. In this paper, we present three studies as supporting evidence for this stance. The first is an analysis of a set of five, open-source Java systems in which we show very little tendency for smells to be eradicated by developers; the second is an empirical study of a subsystem of a proprietary, C# web-based application where practical problems arise in smell identification and the third, a theoretical enumeration of smell-related refactorings to suggest why smells may be left alone from an effort perspective. Key findings of the study were that first, smells requiring application of simple refactorings were eradicated in favour of smells requiring more complex refactorings; second, a wide range of conflicts and anomalies soon emerged when trying to identify smelly code; an interesting result with respect to comment lines was also observed. Finally, perceived (estimated) effort to eradicate a smell may be a key factor in explaining why smell eradication is avoided by developers. The study thus highlights the need for a clearer research strategy on the issue of code smells and all aspects of their identification and measurement.The research in this paper was supported by a grant from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (Grant no: EP/G031126/1

Investigating the Light Scalar Mesons

We first briefly review a treatment of the scalars in meson meson scattering based on a non-linear chiral Lagrangian, with unitarity implemented by a "local" modification of the scalar propagators. It is shown that the main results are confirmed by a treatment in the SU(3) linear sigma model in which unitarity is implemented "globally". Some remarks are made on the speculative subject of the scalars' quark structure.Comment: 9 pages,3 figures,talk at hadron2001, Protvin

Use of MAGSAT anomaly data for crustal structure and mineral resources in the US midcontinent

Activities concerning the interpretation of processed MAGSAT data and maps are briefly reported. Work involving the identification of long wavelength 'regional' effects that might be associated with varying crustal thickness or Curie temperature depths is processing

Visualizing the underlying trends of component latencies affecting service operation performance

This paper presents a technology agnostic method for extracting the underlying distinct patterns of variations in the overall performance of a service operation for changes to different application components supporting the service operation in a computer based service provider to consumer contract. This short paper advocates that visualizing these patterns would help in early projection of the operation's performance due to modification of the application components/processing catering to the operation, without the need of repetitive performance and load testing of the whole service. Lookup datasets against different component configurations are created to associate the variability of component processing impedances to the service operation's performance and best fit regression types are applied to enable trend extrapolation and interpolation

Physical Activity and Mental Well-being in a Cohort Aged 60–64 Years

Introduction: Although evidence suggests physical activity (PA) may be associated with mental well-being at older ages, it is unclear whether some types of PA are more important than others. The purpose of this study is to investigate associations of monitored total PA under free-living conditions, self-reported leisure-time PA (LTPA), and walking for pleasure with mental well-being at age 60–64 years. Methods: Data on 930 (47%) men and 1,046 (53%) women from the United Kingdom MRC National Survey of Health and Development collected in 2006–2011 at age 60–64 were used in 2013–2014 to test the associations of PA (PA energy expenditure and time spent in different intensities of activity assessed using combined heart rate and acceleration monitors worn for 5 days, self-reported LTPA, and walking for pleasure) with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS; range, 14–70). Results: In linear regression models adjusted for gender, long-term limiting illness, smoking, employment, socioeconomic position, personality, and prior PA, those who walked for >1 hour/week had mean WEMWBS scores 1.47 (95% CI=0.60, 2.34) points higher than those who reported no walking. Those who participated in LTPA at least five times/month had WEMWBS scores 1.25 (95% CI=0.34, 2.16) points higher than those who did not engage in LTPA. There were no statistically significant associations between free-living PA and WEMWBS scores. Conclusions: In adults aged 60–64 years, participation in self-selected activities such as LTPA and walking are positively related to mental well-being, whereas total levels of free-living PA are not

The More the Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Childrens Education

There is an extensive theoretical literature that postulates a trade off between child quantity and quality within a family. However, there is little causal evidence that speaks to this theory. Using a rich dataset on the entire population of Norway over an extended period of time, we examine the effects of family size and birth order on the educational attainment of children. While we find a negative correlation between family size and children's education, when we include indicators for birth order and/or use twin births as an instrument, family size effects become negligible. In addition, birth order has a significant and large negative effect on children's education. We also study adult earnings, employment, and teenage childbearing, and find strong evidence for birth order effects with these outcomes, particularly among women. These findings suggest the need to revisit economic models of fertility and child 'production', focusing not only on differences across families but differences within families as well.