The 48th Highlanders in Sicily

Account by Lieutenant-Colonel I.S. Johnston, Officer Commanding 48 Highlanders given on 14 August 1943 at the Battalion Rest Area near SCORDIA

Behavioral modeling of power line communication channels for automotive applications

The black-box modeling of a power line communication channel in a car is addressed in this paper. The proposed behavioral approach is based on the so-called multipath model representation, that describes the transmission of a signal on a possibly complex power network by means of a finite number of delayed echoes. Model parameters are estimated from the frequency-domain response of the channel via a well-defined modeling procedure. A first assessment on the inclusion in the model equation of the variability of the response of the channel is carried out. The effectiveness of the approach has been demonstrated on a set of real measurements carried out on a commercial automobil

Measurements of the indium hyperfine structure in an atmospheric-pressure flame by use of diode-laser-induced fluorescence

We report on what we believe is the first demonstration of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) in flames by use of diode lasers. Indium atoms seeded into an atmospheric-pressure flame at trace concentrations are excited by a blue GaN laser operating near 410 nm. The laser is mounted in an external-cavity configuration, and the hyperfine spectrum of the 5(2)P(1/2) → 6(2)S(1/2) transition is captured at high resolution in single-wavelength sweeps lasting less than one tenth of a second. The research demonstrates the potential of diode-based LIF for practical diagnostics of high-temperature reactive flows

Optimal Parameter Extraction Scheme of Current Sources and Bias Dependent Elements for HBT by searching the whole unknown Parameter Space

New analytical expressions for the dynamic resistance,transconductance,base-collector internal capacitance,and base-emitter internal capacitance are derived.And a new scheme,to extract the current source parameters,thermal parameter,and small signal parameters at multiple bias points on the normal active region,is developed.The proposed parameter extraction method is robust and very fast.Based on these equations, we propose a new scheme to find out the optimal solution by searching for a full-unknown parameter space.The search space corresponds to 1.17x10 8 points on the error surface, and it takes 12.6 hours to get an optimal model parameters using a 2GHz-desktop PC.This scheme is helpful for the modeling of HBT excluding the local minimum problem in the gradient optimization method and the inaccuracies in the direct extraction method

Parametric Macromodels of Digital I/O Ports

This paper addresses the development of macromodels for input and output ports of a digital device. The proposed macromodels consist of parametric representations that can be obtained from port transient waveforms at the device ports via a well established procedure. The models are implementable as SPICE subcircuits and their accuracy and efficiency are verified by applying the approach to the characterization of transistor-level models of commercial devices

Can organic farming help to reduce N-losses? Experiences from Denmark

This study is in two parts. In the first part, nitrogen N)losses per unit of milk and meat in Danish conventional and organic pig and dairy farming were compared on the basis of farm data. In the second part, organic and conventional dairy farming were compared in detail, using modelling. N-surpluses at different livestock densities, fodder intensities, and soil types were simulated. Finally, simulated N-surpluses were used in national scenarios for conversion to organic dairy farming in Denmark. In Part one, pig farming was found to have a higher N-efficiency than dairy farming. Organic pig production had a lower N-efficiency and a higher N-surplus per kg meat than conventional pig production. The possibilities to reduce N-loss by conversion to organic pig production therefore appear to be poor. Organic dairy farming had a higher N-efficiency and a lower N-surplus per kg milk than conventional dairy farming. Conversion from conventional to organic dairy farming may therefore reduce N-losses. In Part two, a positive correlation between livestock density and N-surplus ha−1 was found for dairy farming. For all simulated livestock densities, fodder feeding intensities and soil types, organic systems showed a lower N-surplus per unit of milk produced than conventional systems. National scenarios for dairy farming showed that the present Danish milk production could be achieved with a 24% lower total N-surplus if converted from intensive conventional farming to extensive organic farming. At the same time, N-surplus ha−1 and N-surplus (tmilk) −1 would be lowered by 50% and 25%respectively. Changing from intensive to extensive conventional dairy farming with a livestock density equal to that in the organic scenario resulted in a reduction in N-surplus ha−1 of 15%. It was concluded that a reduction in total N-loss from agriculture is possible by converting from conventional to organic dairy farming but at the cost of either lower production on the present dairy farm area, or the current production on a substantially larger area

A model of information filtration by comparison of randomly chosen sources

We study a simple model of the stochastic information filtering, in a randomly organized information system. For simplest versions of the model it appears to be possible to describe the filtering dynamics in terms of the master equations. Exact analytical results for these equations and results of numerical investigation of the dynamical features of the filter are presented.Comment: 16 page

Clustering methods based on variational analysis in the space of measures

We formulate clustering as a minimisation problem in the space of measures by modelling the cluster centres as a Poisson process with unknown intensity function.We derive a Ward-type clustering criterion which, under the Poisson assumption, can easily be evaluated explicitly in terms of the intensity function. We show that asymptotically, i.e. for increasing total intensity, the optimal intensity function is proportional to a dimension-dependent power of the density of the observations. For fixed finite total intensity, no explicit solution seems available. However, the Ward-type criterion to be minimised is convex in the intensity function, so that the steepest descent method of Molchanov and Zuyev (2001) can be used to approximate the global minimum. It turns out that the gradient is similar in form to the functional to be optimised. If we discretise over a grid, the steepest descent algorithm at each iteration step increases the current intensity function at those points where the gradient is minimal at the expense of regions with a large gradient value. The algorithm is applied to a toy one-dimensional example, a simulation from a popular spatial cluster model and a real-life dataset from Strauss (1975) concerning the positions of redwood seedlings. Finally, we discuss the relative merits of our approach compared to classical hierarchical and partition clustering techniques as well as to modern model based clustering methods using Markov point processes and mixture distributions

Editorial: Corporate board structure, strategy and performance in uncertain times

Corporate managers make choices that seek to improve the performance of their organisation. These decisions involve interpreting and framing the environment, developing and implementing programmes and services, and creating processes and structures to monitor and control resources for optimal impact (Brown & Iverson, 2004). Improved performance results for organisations that systematically addressed these challenges (Miles, Snow, Mathews, Miles, & Coleman, 1997). Board performs a critical function to monitor environmental trends that might affect organisational performance. A misinterpretation of the environment could result in errant policies and programmes. Consequently, boards must have mechanisms in place to ensure understanding of critical environmental trends (Brown & Iverson, 2004). The spread of environmental awareness is guided by the strategic purpose of the organisation, consequently, the structures in place should reflect those purposes. The literature suggests that the composition of the board will be contingent upon the characteristics of the firm's external environment, the demands of its strategy, the salient contextual factors, and the past financial performance of the company (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978). Although research in corporate governance argues that the board of directors' composition and leadership structure can influence a variety of organisational outcomes (Dalton, Daily, Ellstrand, & Johnson, 1998), the academic literature is yet to provide specific guidance on the superiority of specific board composition and leadership structure. These issues are addressed in the collection of high-quality papers in this issue of Corporate Board: Role, Duties and Composition

Haemoglobinopathies and health care provision for ethnic minorities

The level of training and competence in dealing with haemoglobinopathies (which mainly affect ethnic minorities in the UK) may not be totally adequate among nurses. Nurses indicated that they received little or no information in their teaching for working from a multiracial perspective and what they had learned was through experience and personal research since qualifying as nurses. Knowledge of the biological basis of inheritance, methods of acquisition of thalassaemia and sicklecell anaemia and the ethnic profile of people affected by these conditions may not be totally adequate among nurses. Many nurses wanted more training, including those who had already received instruction, since this was described as ‘far too vague’, ‘not constructive’, ‘minimal’, or ‘embarrassingly insufficient’, recommending that instruction be given by a sickle-cell anaemia/thalassaemia counsellor with a contribution from patients. A combination of poor quality, or lack, of instruction, together with time and resource pressures, is responsible for this limited understanding, resulting in insufficient awareness of the health needs of ethnic minorities leading to inequalities in healthcare provision