Preservation and conservation decisions in the local library

For a period of years, I have been aware that the decisions regarding preservation which I have made, which I have shared in making, or which have been made by others have not all been of the same nature. The level or levels within the library's staff hierarchy of the persons involved make some decisions differ from other decisions; however, these levels of involvement are not the heart of the problem. The thing lacking was a clear way to designate other distinctions which seemed necessary in attempting to analyze such problems and decisions. I found little help in my reading or sharing experiences with others in attempting to work in this area. In reading the proceedings of the 1976 conference on A National Preservation Program at the Library of Congress, I was therefore quite interested to discover that Daniel Boorstin in opening the conference suggested a division of the questions comprising the problem of preservation. He characterized two rather distinct types of problems as epistemological and technical. He further described the epistemological questions as being social questions, meaning that they are questions relating to the interests of those who will use, administer, and service the materials comprising the collections. I must admit that the term epistemological sent me to the dictionary because it has been some time since I had studied formal philosophical language. At this point, it becomes necessary to understand Boorstin's exact meaning and intention in interjecting this term into the vocabulary of library preservation. Epistemology is defined as "the study of the methods and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity; broadly: the theory of knowledge."published or submitted for publicatio

Grid generation strategies for turbomachinery configurations

Turbomachinery flow fields involve unique grid generation issues due to their geometrical and physical characteristics. Several strategic approaches are discussed to generate quality grids. The grid quality is further enhanced through blending and adapting. Grid blending smooths the grids locally through averaging and diffusion operators. Grid adaptation redistributes the grid points based on a grid quality assessment. These methods are demonstrated with several examples

Digital matched filters for detecting Gaussian signals in Gaussian noise

Digital filters for detecting random signals in random nois

Constraint algebra in LQG reloaded : Toy model of a U(1)^{3} Gauge Theory I

We analyze the issue of anomaly-free representations of the constraint algebra in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) in the context of a diffeomorphism-invariant gauge theory in three spacetime dimensions. We construct a Hamiltonian constraint operator whose commutator matches with a quantization of the classical Poisson bracket involving structure functions. Our quantization scheme is based on a geometric interpretation of the Hamiltonian constraint as a generator of phase space-dependent diffeomorphisms. The resulting Hamiltonian constraint at finite triangulation has a conceptual similarity with the "mu-bar"-scheme in loop quantum cosmology and highly intricate action on the spin-network states of the theory. We construct a subspace of non-normalizable states (distributions) on which the continuum Hamiltonian constraint is defined which leads to an anomaly-free representation of the Poisson bracket of two Hamiltonian constraints in loop quantized framework.Comment: 60 pages, 6 figure

An Audience Centred Approach to Business Process Reengineering

This paper describes a method for process modelling which is designed to provide guidance to the business process modeller. The method has evolved from our experience of attempting to apply software process modelling approaches to business processes. A major influence on the method has been our observations that a pragmatic approach to notation selection is required in order to maintain a meaningful dialogue with end-users. Business process modelling methods typically fall into two camps. General methods attempt to describe the managerial activities which surround the modelling itself (Coulson-Thomas, 94; GISIP, 95). Specific methods, on the other hand, tend to concentrate on the details of a particular notational approach. However, as with programming languages or design methods, no single notational approach is best suited to all problems. Ideally, the process modeller should be able to incorporate the appropriate notational approach into some coherent generic modelling method.This paper addresses the needs of the modeller at the detailed level without prescribing a specific notation. This is achieved by describing categories of modelling activities which the modeller should undertake within process modelling, and suggesting how notations may be used within these categories. Our method is generally applicable, and is illustrated here by models of processes within the Construction industry