Elensa: Finding the Heart of the Labyrinth

This creative research project undertakes the world-building and writing of the first part of a fiction novel with the goal of engaging the reader in a question of priorities. In the story, Elensa, daughter of the king of the dwarves, makes an offer to the dwarves of her father’s kingdom: If they can find their way to the heart of an ancient labyrinth, they will be rewarded with riches, respect, and a chance at being chosen as her husband, the future king of Kulezim. Drawn by Elensa’s promise, many dwarves pursue their desires for power, wealth, and meaning into the labyrinth. Each dwarf enters to gain what he values most, but the perils of the labyrinth may force them all to think twice. What do they treasure above all else? How much are they willing to lose for Elensa? Like the dwarves in Elensa, humans often wrestle with and disagree over the question of what is most important in life. Are riches everything? Friendship? Vitality? The opinions of each person on this question will motivate their decisions and therefore the way they move in the world. Elensa endeavors to provide the reader with time for contemplating what they treasure most through the experiences of the characters in the story. To reach the audience in this way, Elensa needed to be both engaging and meaningful. This required research into how elements of the fantasy world might behave (such as caves, molten rock, blades, etc.) as well as research into the symbolic meaning of certain figures (such as dwarves, jewels, and salamanders.) It also required multiple revisions and re-writings to capture the fantasy world in a way that might grab the reader. This thesis includes a literature review describing how some research was integrated into the project, a methods section overviewing the project process, a final timeline, a bibliography, and the first part of Elensa

On the use of vertically averaged models to simulate CO2 migration in a layered saline aquifer

Geologic and flow characteristics such as permeability and porosity, capillary pressure, geologic structure, and thickness all influence and affect CO2 plume distribution to varying degrees. These parameters do not necessarily act independently. Depending on the variations in these parameters one may dominate the shape and size of the plume. In this master thesis, we consider the long-term fate and migration of a large CO2 plume that takes place in a heterogeneous (two-layer) sloping saline aquifer. We consider a vertical equilibrium (VE) mathematical model to study the effect of two different permeability layers on the shape, speed and migrated distance of the CO2 plume. The layer-permeability-ratio is k2/k1, where k2 and k1 are the permeabilities in the upper and lower layer of the aquifer, respectively. We also study the effect the thickness ratio of the lower permeability(h=H/2, h=H/4, h=H/8), where H is the thickness of the aquifer. We attain these goals by comparing the simulation results of Eclipse and VE simulators, where both simulate the movement of CO2 plume in homogeneous and layered aquifers. A VE model has been built considering one-dimensional flow in the x-direction, due to the big difference in scale length between vertical and horizontal directions. We model a 2D vertical section in Eclipse simulator, taking the vertically averaged of this section ends up with a 1D results that can compared with the VE solution. Our results shows that the variations in the vertical permeability layers may have a dramatic effects on the CO2 plume shape. Relatively lower permeability layer reduces the velocity of CO2 through it, and an increase of CO2 saturation occurs below this layer. At early time, the build up in saturation increases, and the lateral growth of the CO2 immediately below this layer increases. At later time, the saturation decreases and the vertical flow of the CO2 in this layer increases. The k2/k1 ratio and thickness of the lower permeability layer determines the plume shape and distance migrated. In some of our simulations, the results show two connected/disconnected plumes.Master i Anvendt og beregningsorientert matematikkMAMN-MABMAB39

Resultados del tratamiento quirúrgico del pie plano valgo en la infancia

Se revisan los pies planos valgos infantiles que fueron tratados quirúrgicamente mediante la colocación del implante subastragalino tipo Maxwell-Brancheau, en el Servicio de Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología del Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid desde el año 2004 al año 2009. Se han estudiado 55 pies intervenidos, con una edad media de los pacientes de 10 años y medio, y un seguimiento medio de 2 años. Se ha llevado a cabo una valoración de los principales parámetros radiológicos del pie plano valgo, como son el ángulo de Costa-Bartani, el ángulo astrágalo-escafoideo y la línea de Shade o Eje de Meari, concluyendo una normalización estadísticamente significativa de los parámetros antedichos, mantenida a los dos años desde la intervención quirúrgica.The authors review a serie of children with valgus flat feet operated in the Service of Orthophaedic Surgery and Traumatology of the Clinic Universitary Hospital of Valladolid, from 2004 to 2008, and treated surgically by the placement of the Maxwell-Brancheau subastragalin implant. We have valuated 55 feet operated, with a median age of the patients of ten and a half years, and with a follow-up of 2 years average. We performed an evaluation of the principal radiologic parameters of the valgus flatfoot, like Costa-Bartani angle, escafoid astragalin angle and the Shade´s line or Meari axis, concluding a correction of these parameters that was stadistically significant, and that remains to two years of follow-up

Distributed CONGEST Approximation of Weighted Vertex Covers and Matchings

We provide CONGEST model algorithms for approximating minimum weighted vertex cover and the maximum weighted matching. For bipartite graphs, we show that a $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximate weighted vertex cover can be computed deterministically in polylogarithmic time. This generalizes a corresponding result for the unweighted vertex cover problem shown in [Faour, Kuhn; OPODIS '20]. Moreover, we show that in general weighted graph families that are closed under taking subgraphs and in which we can compute an independent set of weight at least a $\lambda$-fraction of the total weight, one can compute a $(2-2\lambda +\varepsilon)$-approximate weighted vertex cover in polylogarithmic time in the CONGEST model. Our result in particular implies that in graphs of arboricity $a$, one can compute a $(2-1/a+\varepsilon)$-approximate weighted vertex cover. For maximum weighted matchings, we show that a $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximate solution can be computed deterministically in polylogarithmic CONGEST rounds (for constant $\varepsilon$). We also provide a more efficient randomized algorithm. Our algorithm generalizes results of [Lotker, Patt-Shamir, Pettie; SPAA '08] and [Bar-Yehuda, Hillel, Ghaffari, Schwartzman; PODC '17] for the unweighted case. Finally, we show that even in the LOCAL model and in bipartite graphs of degree $\leq 3$, if $\varepsilon<\varepsilon_0$ for some constant $\varepsilon_0>0$, then computing a $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximation for the unweighted minimum vertex cover problem requires $\Omega\big(\frac{\log n}{\varepsilon}\big)$ rounds. This generalizes aresult of [G\"o\"os, Suomela; DISC '12], who showed that computing a $(1+\varepsilon_0)$-approximation in such graphs requires $\Omega(\log n)$ rounds

Microbiological quality of ready-to-eat fresh vegetables and their link to food safety environment and handling practices in restaurants

Accepted, unedited manuscript- Published on-line 22-July-2016 Pending copyediting, typesetting, and reviewing of proof, and publishing in its final form.he increased consumption of ready-to-eat salads outside homes as a result of a fast paced lifestyle, awareness on their nutritional attributes and enhanced processing technology is well documented. This study aimed to determine the microbiological quality of fresh-cut salads vegetables in small and medium sized foodservice establishments (SMEs) and to identify risk factors and handling practices through observational assessment in order to investigate if an association between microbiological quality and visual assessment (inspection) scores can be established. A total of 118 samples fresh-cut vegetable salads were collected from 50 inspected locations and analysed microbiologically, in addition to 49 swabs of knives and cutting boards. There was no statistically significant correlation between visual assessment scores and bacteriological counts on vegetables or cutting boards. Nonetheless, the consistent relationship between inspection ratings on cross-contamination and cleaning components and Listeria spp. levels was statistically significant. This study demonstrated that overall visual assessment scores would not directly reflect the safety of salad vegetables and that the significance of microbiological assessment should be considered in relation to individual inspection components. It is necessary to place effective control measures on cleaning standards and risk of cross-contamination to improve the microbiological safety of fresh salad vegetables in SME

An Overview of Job Engagement in Jerash Private University: Job Engagement and its Influence on Job Performance

The purpose of this study mainly  focus  on  testing  the relationship of   job engagement and job performance  In Jerash private university,  The results of this  research  concerned with three dimensions of engagement summarized in physical ,emotional , and cognitive as next; there is no relationship between employee’s physical engagement and employee performance , positive relationship between emotional engagement and employee performance,  no  relationship between cognitive engagement and employee performance, and  positive relationship of employee engagement influences on employee performance . The study is based on exploratory--descriptive research design, with a structured questionnaire is, essentially, verbally administrated, predetermined questions asked, with little or no variation and with no scope for follow-up questions to responses. . A sample of 50 employees had been selected to represent Jerash University Keywords: Job performance, Job engagement, Physical engagement, Emotional engagement, Cognitive engagement