15,908 research outputs found
The Dynamic Impact of Periodic Review on Womenâs Rights
Human rights treaty bodies have been frequently criticized as useless and the regimeâs self-reporting procedure widely viewed as a whitewash. Yet very little research explores what, if any, influence this periodic review process has on governmentsâ implementation of and compliance with treaty obligations. We argue oversight committees may play an important role in improving rights on the ground by providing information for international and primarily domestic audiences. This paper examines the cumulative effects on womenâs rights of self-reporting and oversight review, using original data on the history of state reporting to and review by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CmEDAW). Using a dynamic approach to study the effects of the periodic review process, we find that self-reporting has a significant positive effect on womenâs rights. We explore three clusters of evidence for the domestic mobilization mechanism: information provision through domestic civil society organizations; publicity and critique through the domestic media; and parliamentary attention, debate, and implementation of recommendations. This is the first study to present positive evidence on the effects of self-reporting on rights and to describe the mechanisms that link Geneva bodies with local politics. Our findings challenge the received wisdom that the process of reporting to these treaty bodies is basically useless
Mission oriented study of advanced nuclear system parameters, phase IV, volume I Final report, May 1965 - Dec. 1966
Guidelines and assumptions for manned Mars stopover mission planning analyses - nuclear system parameter
Development of cost-optimized insulation system for use in large solid rocket motors. Volume 4, task 4 - 260 in. dia motor insulation system design and process plan Final report
Design, weight, cost, and tooling concepts for cost optimized insulation system for 260 in. dia solid rocket moto
Color and texture associations in voice-induced synesthesia
Voice-induced synesthesia, a form of synesthesia in which synesthetic perceptions are induced by the sounds of people's voices, appears to be relatively rare and has not been systematically studied. In this study we investigated the synesthetic color and visual texture perceptions experienced in response to different types of âvoice qualityâ (e.g., nasal, whisper, falsetto). Experiences of three different groupsâself-reported voice synesthetes, phoneticians, and controlsâwere compared using both qualitative and quantitative analysis in a study conducted online. Whilst, in the qualitative analysis, synesthetes used more color and texture terms to describe voices than either phoneticians or controls, only weak differences, and many similarities, between groups were found in the quantitative analysis. Notable consistent results between groups were the matching of higher speech fundamental frequencies with lighter and redder colors, the matching of âwhisperyâ voices with smoke-like textures, and the matching of âharshâ and âcreakyâ voices with textures resembling dry cracked soil. These data are discussed in the light of current thinking about definitions and categorizations of synesthesia, especially in cases where individuals apparently have a range of different synesthetic inducers
The Formation of a Bubble from a Submerged Orifice
The formation of a single bubble from an orifice in a solid surface,
submerged in an in- compressible, viscous Newtonian liquid, is simulated. The
finite element method is used to capture the multiscale physics associated with
the problem and to track the evolution of the free surface explicitly. The
results are compared to a recent experimental analysis and then used to obtain
the global characteristics of the process, the formation time and volume of the
bubble, for a range of orifice radii; Ohnesorge numbers, which combine the
material parameters of the liquid; and volumetric gas flow rates. These
benchmark calculations, for the parameter space of interest, are then utilised
to validate a selection of scaling laws found in the literature for two regimes
of bubble formation, the regimes of low and high gas flow rates.Comment: Accepted for publication in the European Journal of Mechanics
B/Fluid
Validating Predictions of Unobserved Quantities
The ultimate purpose of most computational models is to make predictions,
commonly in support of some decision-making process (e.g., for design or
operation of some system). The quantities that need to be predicted (the
quantities of interest or QoIs) are generally not experimentally observable
before the prediction, since otherwise no prediction would be needed. Assessing
the validity of such extrapolative predictions, which is critical to informed
decision-making, is challenging. In classical approaches to validation, model
outputs for observed quantities are compared to observations to determine if
they are consistent. By itself, this consistency only ensures that the model
can predict the observed quantities under the conditions of the observations.
This limitation dramatically reduces the utility of the validation effort for
decision making because it implies nothing about predictions of unobserved QoIs
or for scenarios outside of the range of observations. However, there is no
agreement in the scientific community today regarding best practices for
validation of extrapolative predictions made using computational models. The
purpose of this paper is to propose and explore a validation and predictive
assessment process that supports extrapolative predictions for models with
known sources of error. The process includes stochastic modeling, calibration,
validation, and predictive assessment phases where representations of known
sources of uncertainty and error are built, informed, and tested. The proposed
methodology is applied to an illustrative extrapolation problem involving a
misspecified nonlinear oscillator
Energy storage-boiler tank
Activities performed in an effort to demonstrate heat of fusion energy storage in containerized salts are reported. The properties and cycle life characteristics of a eutectic salt having a boiling point of about 385 C (NaCl, KCl, Mg Cl2) were determined. M-terphenyl was chosen as the heat transfer fluid. Compatibility studies were conducted and mild steel containers were selected. The design and fabrication of a 2MWh storage boiler tank are discussed
Vibrational Fundamentals of CF2N2 from the Ultraviolet Absorption Spectrum
Vibration fundamentals of cyclic difluorodiazirine compound from ultraviolet absorption spectru
Conformal Field Theories in Fractional Dimensions
We study the conformal bootstrap in fractional space-time dimensions,
obtaining rigorous bounds on operator dimensions. Our results show strong
evidence that there is a family of unitary CFTs connecting the 2D Ising model,
the 3D Ising model, and the free scalar theory in 4D. We give numerical
predictions for the leading operator dimensions and central charge in this
family at different values of D and compare these to calculations of phi^4
theory in the epsilon-expansion.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures - references updated - one affiliation modifie
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