Quick application/release nut with engagement indicator

A composite nut is shown which permits a fastener to be inserted or removed from either side with an indicator of fastener engagement. The nut has a plurality of segments, preferably at least three segments, which are internally threaded, spring loaded apart by an internal spring, and has detents on opposite sides which force the nut segments into operative engagements with a threaded member when pushed in and release the segments for quick insertion or removal of the nut when moved out. When the nut is installed, end pressure on one of the detents presses the nut segments into operative engagement with a threaded member where continued rotation locks the structure together with the detents depressed to indicate positive locking engagement of the nut. On removal, counterclockwise rotation of the nut relieves the endwise pressure on the detents, permitting internal springs to force the detents outward and allowing the nut segments to move outward and separate to permit quick removal of the fastener

On Becoming a Strategic Partner: The Role of Human Resources in Gaining Competitive Advantage

Although managers cite human resources as a firm\u27s most important asset, many organizational decisions do not reflect this belief. This paper uses the VRIO (value, rareness, imitability, and organization) framework to examine the role that the Human Resource (HR) function plays in developing a sustainable competitive advantage. We discuss why some popularly cited sources of sustainable competitive advantage are not, and what aspects of a firm\u27s human resources can provide a source of sustainable competitive advantage. We also examine the role of the HR executive as a strategic partner in developing and maintaining competitive advantage within the firm

The Creature in The Looking Glass: Miltonic Marriage and The Female Self in Breaking Dawn

Near the close of Breaking Dawn, the final installment of Stephenie Meyer\u27s Twilight saga, Edward asks his new wife Bella a question. “When will you ever see yourself clearly?” (Dawn 744). Bella has no answer for him. Edward\u27s question and, more importantly, Bella\u27s apparent inability to answer is symptomatic of a broader issue throughout Breaking Dawn, in which, even as Bella obtains all that she has desired, her sense of self begins to fracture. Breaking Dawn formalizes Bella’s union with Edward through a series of increasingly binding steps: first through legal marriage, then sexual intimacy and pregnancy, then through vampiric transformation, and finally through her admission of Edward into her mind. Each of these steps grants Bella the power and equality with Edward that she has craved since the series\u27 beginning. But these events also formalize the fracturing of Bella\u27s identity and make her dependent upon Edward for self-definition. Breaking Dawn, therefore, characterizes Bella\u27s marriage to Edward as a simultaneous source of joy and unease. I argue that we can make sense of this apparent paradox by examining Breaking Dawn in light of two of its intertexts: Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Both works grapple with a construction of marriage engendered by John Milton\u27s depiction of Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost, a construction in which two individuals do not just legally unite but also fuse their identities, becoming a sort of plural self. Breaking Dawn, as the daughter-text of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, necessarily wrestles with this same construction of marriage. Bella does not merely become Mrs. Cullen but melds her identity with her husband, losing her independent self completely

Effects of ambient crossflows and density stratification on the characteristic behavior of round turbulent buoyant jets

This investigation considers a round, turbulent buoyant jet in an ambient crossflow that is either of uniform density or with a linear density stratification. The primary emphasis is the development of a fundamental understanding of the jet properties that are of interest in engineering design problems. These include jet trajectories, characteristic dilutions, and in the case of a stratified crossflow, the maximum and equilibrium heights of rise. Most previous studies of similar buoyant jet flows have used the integral method to solve for the jet characteristics. This approach requires an assumed relation for the rate of entrainment of ambient fluid by the jet, and also depends upon experimental evidence to estimate values for the coefficients in the assumed relation. Most previous experimental studies have been directed toward evaluating entrainment coefficients and have not considered a systematic investigation of the effects of the various jet and ambient flow parameters. A major objective of this investigation is to provide a basis for the interpretation and extension of the results from previous theoretical and experimental investigations. A systematic dimensional analysis is performed to define the basic problem and to provide approximate solutions without using the integral equations. The analysis indicates the types of experiments necessary to adequately describe general buoyant jet behavior and also provides a framework for the presentation of experimental data. The approximate solutions for the jet characteristics were derived from the dimensional analysis by considering asymptotic descriptions of a general buoyant jet as different effects become predominant in determining the flow behavior. The limiting cases considered are for the jet behavior controlled by either its initial momentum or by its buoyancy for situations where the ambient velocity either is relatively large or approaches zero. Combinations of these four asymptotic descriptions can be used to approximately describe a general buoyant jet. Several different types of flow behavior can be expected, depending upon the relative magnitudes of various characteristic length scales associated with these buoyant jet flows. These different types of flow can be compared to the theoretical solutions proposed by other researchers, providing a basis for better understanding previous research. Experiments were performed to confirm the asymptotic relations developed in the analysis, to evaluate the coefficients in the relations, and to determine the limits of their applicability. The experimental configuration was a salt water jet discharged downward into a tank of less dense fluid with either uniform density or linear density stratification. The Boussinesq approximation implies that these results will be comparable to a buoyant jet rising in a less dense ambient fluid. The crossflow was simulated by towing the jet source along the water surface in the tank. Jet trajectories and dilutions were measured for the experiments with an unstratified crossflow. For the experiments performed with the tank stratified, maximum and equilibrium heights of rise, a few trajectories, and jet dilutions were measured. The results of these various experimental measurements are presented in a unified manner to facilitate the application to design problems. The experimental evidence indicated that the coefficients in the asymptotic relations were somewhat dependent upon the initial jet volume flux, an observation that has not been previously noted by other researchers. This variation can be expected from the dimensional analysis and is shown to be significant in some instances

Iridium-Catalysed Borylation of Heteroaromatic C-H Bonds

Organoboron compounds are of great importance to organic, medicinal, and materials chemistry, representing key intermediates for the introduction of a wide variety of functional groups. This is best exemplified by the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. In recent years, the direct C-H borylation of arenes has become an attractive method for the synthesis of aryl boronate esters. However, this transformation is more challenging for heteroarenes bearing an azinyl nitrogen atom, where the presence of the nitrogen lone pair can inhibit the reaction. This is particularly evident at the proximal C-H bond, where C-H activation often does not occur. Whilst many heteroarenes have been investigated, aminopyrazoles remain underexplored. This nucleus features in an array of bioactive molecules, such as herbicides, anti-cancer, and anti-parastic drugs. This thesis presents simple methods for the selective C-H functionalisation of 3- and 5-aminopyrazoles

Improved Quick-Release Pin Mechanism

An improved quick-release pin mechanism supplants a prior such mechanism in which the pin bears a shear load to hold two objects together. The prior mechanism, of a ball-locking design, can fail when vibrations cause balls to fall out. The load-bearing pin is an outer tube with a handle at one end (hereafter denoted the near end). Within the outer tube is a spring-loaded inner tube that includes a handle at its near end and a pivoting tab at its far end. The pin is inserted through holes in the objects to be retained and the inner tube is pushed against an offset pivot inside the outer tube to make the tab rotate outward so that it protrudes past the outer diameter of the outer tube, and the spring load maintains this configuration so that the pin cannot be withdrawn through the holes. Pushing the handles together against the spring load moves the locking tab out far enough that the tab becomes free to rotate inward. Then releasing the inner-tube handle causes the tab to be pulled into a resting position inside the outer tube. The pin can then be pulled out through the holes

Radiocarbon dating results from the Beakers and Bodies Project

The Beakers and Bodies Project is a two-year project based in Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. It is assessing the beaker-related evidence from North-East Scotland (between the Moray Firth and the Firth of Tay), including the dating and stable isotope analyses of some 40 human skeletons from museum collections. The project builds on the North-East dates resulting from the Beaker People Project (Parker Pearson, 2006; Sheridan et al., 2006) and earlier programmes and studies (e.g. Shepherd, 1986). It also includes a consideration of beaker typology and manufacture, burial contexts, grave goods, human osteology and evidence for diet from stable isotope analysis