Consociationalism in Lebanon

Should Lebanon abandon the consociational democratic system? This paper attempts to answer the question by examining the pathologies of the current system and then evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, and potential for reform. Theories of consociational democracy and of conflict regulation are used in this analysis. This paper concludes that there is potential for limited reforms that will make the Lebanese consociational system fairer and therefore more robust to international, regional, and internal disturbances

Alien Registration- Thompson, Thelma G. (Caribou, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/25943/thumbnail.jp

Alliances and evidence: Building the capacity and effectiveness of rural health advocacy in Australia

© 2018 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd. This article describes two strategies that have strengthened the capacity and effectiveness of rural health advocacy in Australia over the past nearly three decades. The first is the development of the National Rural Health Alliance, an organisation that grew from strategic efforts to develop relationships between rural and remote health practitioners and organisations. The second is the development, organisation and use of data and evidence to highlight rural health needs. There has been important synergy between these two streams of activity, with research and evidence providing the tools and the National Rural Health Alliance providing the strategy and techniques to influence the rural and remote health care agenda

Conversion of neutral nitrogen-vacancy centers to negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy centers through selective oxidation

The conversion of neutral nitrogen-vacancy centers to negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers is demonstrated for centers created by ion implantation and annealing in high-purity diamond. Conversion occurs with surface exposure to an oxygen atmosphere at 465 C. The spectral properties of the charge-converted centers are investigated. Charge state control of nitrogen-vacancy centers close to the diamond surface is an important step toward the integration of these centers into devices for quantum information and magnetic sensing applications.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Transport processes of particles in dilute suspensions in turbulent water flow—phase II

This work was concerned with an improved and more practical understanding of particle motion in a turbulent fluid field. It is felt that such an increased understanding has been achieved both in an analytical and in an experimental sense. Analytically, a theory simplified by the restrictive constraints of isotropy and Stokesian drag has been developed. Assumption of a reasonable particle energy spectrum allowed calculation of various statistical quantities important in the determination of the particle's turbulent motion. By such an analysis three characterizing parameters were found. Two describe inertial effects due to the particle's size and density. They were found to be of prime importance in the determination of the ratio of the particle's fluctuating velocity variance to that of the fluid. The crossing of the particle from one region of correlated fluid turbulence to another by virtue of its free fall velocity is described by the third parameters. This parameter was shown to be of particular importance in limiting the particle's velocity correlation. The two effects, of inertia and of free fall velocity, together act to determine dispersion. A well parameterized particle experiment was undertaken. Analysis of the particles' behavior in the turbulent flow gave a three dimensional characterization of their motion. In particular calculation of velocity variances, autocorrelations, and energy spectra were made. These measurements in conjunction with measurements on the turbulent fluid field allowed comparison between theory and experiment. Comparison of theoretical prediction to experimental observation showed good agreement provided the underlying assumptions inherent in the theoretical derivation were valid. Agreement suffered when these assumptions proved less valid. In particular non-Stokesian drag and anisotropic effects caused. disagreement between theory and experiment.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Transport processes of particles in non-dilute suspensions in turbulent water flow—phase I: Experimental measurements

Increased utilization of non-dilute, solid-fluid suspensions in transporting materials and in estimating the distribution of particles from atmospheric fallout, demands that the basic fluid-particle interactions be thoroughly understood. Our previous studies of such interactions were conducted on only dilute suspensions, whereas this study has been conducted in the same vertical flows but with solid spherical particle suspensions with concentrations, ɸ, from O to 10 percent by volume, a range of practical interest to sedimentation and erosion as well as in slurry pipelines. Detailed experimental results of the particle-fluid relative mean and rms velocities as well as particle dispersion were obtained for two particle densities and several ɸ values. Both particle types showed a rapid rise of both relative mean and rms velocities as ɸ increased to about 1-2 percent and fell off gradually for higher ɸ values. Dispersion followed a similar behavior. The higher free fall velocity particles exhibited larger rms velocities and increased dispersion from the lighter, lower free fall velocity particles. Analytical models of the ɸ-dependence showed good agreement with the data, suggesting their use in engineering predictions.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Stage-specific risk of colon and rectal cancer in patients presenting with rectal bleeding or change in bowel habit in primary care: A population-based cohort study

INTRODUCTION: Rectal bleeding and change in bowel habit are red-flag symptoms for colon and rectal cancer but how they relate to advanced stage disease is not adequately understood. METHODS: We analysed primary care electronic health records data on patients aged 30-99 years. Using logistic regression, we first examined the risk of colon and rectal cancer within 12 months in patients presenting with change in bowel habit and rectal bleeding, and then the risk of advanced stage at diagnosis within cancer cases. We combined the results to estimate risk of advanced stage colon and rectal cancers at diagnosis. RESULTS: For both symptoms and sexes, risk of cancer (overall and by stage) increased with increasing age. We illustrate the findings for persons at the highest age-specific observed risk (typically aged around 80). In men, change in bowel habit (CIBH) and rectal bleeding were associated with different risk of advanced stage colon and rectal cancers (e.g., for colon, CIBH = 2.7% (95% CI 2.2-3.1) and rectal bleeding = 1.7% (95% CI 1.4-2.0)), but without evidence of risk difference between the two symptoms for non-advanced disease. The opposite pattern was apparent in women, with both symptoms associated with similar risk of advanced disease, but different risk of non-advanced colon and rectal cancers (e.g., for colon, CIBH = 1.0% (95% CI 0.8-1.3) and rectal bleeding = 1.3% (95% CI 1.1-1.6)). DISCUSSION: Change in bowel habit and rectal bleeding have different age-specific associations with advanced stage disease, which vary by sex. A substantial proportion of cases is diagnosed at non-advanced stage, supporting the need for prompt diagnostic assessment of patients who present with those symptoms, taking into account the age-specific nature of risks

Evaluation of Rumble Strip Design and Usage

The objective of this study was to investigate the following aspects of rumble strips: the optimum height and width of elements in a rumble strip pattern, spacing between them, the effect of grouping elements into sets, the effects of speed on design criteria, and driver reaction to the audible and physical stimuli produced by rumble strips. A survey of design and usage in other states was conducted; and the results show that even though 35 of the 44 responding states have installed rumble strips, only five have warrants for usage. Two types of rumble strip design were evaluated -- one with a constant spacing between elements and another with variable spacing between elements. Simulated tests using strips of plywood showed that a distance of 10 feet (3.0 m) between elements, a strip width of 4 inches (102 mm), and a strip height of 1/2 inch (13 mm) produced the best results. Based on audible and physical stimuli, it was determined that the rumble time should not exceed 3/4 second of continuous rumble for any pattern. Evaluation of field installations failed to show a statistically significant difference in speeds for either the constant-spaced pattern or variable-spaced pattern. Based on these installations and controlled-spacing tests, it appears that the constant-spaced pattern should continue to be used. Polyvinyl strips were installed without much success because of adherence problems. A double layer of reflective marking tape performed satisfactorfly with regard to durability and reflectivity; however, the rumble effect was slight

Chip-based microcavities coupled to NV centers in single crystal diamond

Optical coupling of nitrogen vacancy centers in single-crystal diamond to an on-chip microcavity is demonstrated. The microcavity is fabricated from a hybrid gallium phosphide and diamond material system, and supports whispering gallery mode resonances with spectrometer resolution limited Q > 25000