676 research outputs found
Groupoids and an index theorem for conical pseudo-manifolds
We define an analytical index map and a topological index map for conical
pseudomanifolds. These constructions generalize the analogous constructions
used by Atiyah and Singer in the proof of their topological index theorem for a
smooth, compact manifold . A main ingredient is a non-commutative algebra
that plays in our setting the role of . We prove a Thom isomorphism
between non-commutative algebras which gives a new example of wrong way
functoriality in -theory. We then give a new proof of the Atiyah-Singer
index theorem using deformation groupoids and show how it generalizes to
conical pseudomanifolds. We thus prove a topological index theorem for conical
pseudomanifolds
Edging your bets: advantage play, gambling, crime and victimisation
Consumerism, industrial development and regulatory liberalisation have underpinned the ascendance of gambling to a mainstream consumption practice. In particular, the online gambling environment has been marketed as a site of âsafe risksâ where citizens can engage in a multitude of different forms of aleatory consumption. This paper offers a virtual ethnography of an online âadvantage playâ subculture. It demonstrates how advantage players have reinterpreted the online gambling landscape as an environment saturated with crime and victimisation. In this virtual world, advantage play is no longer simply an instrumental act concerned with profit accumulation to finance consumer desires. Rather, it acts as an opportunity for individuals to engage in a unique form of edgework, whereby the threat to oneâs well-being is tested through an ability to avoid crime and victimisation. This paper demonstrates how mediated environments may act as sites for edgeworking and how the potential for victimisation can be something that is actively engaged with
Fentanyl purity, potency, & synthesis: real-time testing of opioid drug products in the United States.
The eventization of leisure and the strange death of alternative Leeds
The communicative potential of city spaces as leisure spaces is a central assumption of political activism and the creation of alternative, counter-cultural and subcultural scenes. However, such potential for city spaces is limited by the gentrification, privatization and eventization of city centres in the wake of wider societal and cultural struggles over leisure, work and identity formation. In this paper, we present research on alternative scenes in the city of Leeds to argue that the eventization of the city centre has led to a marginalization and of alternative scenes on the fringes of the city. Such marginalization has not caused the death of alternative Leeds or political activism associated with those scenesâbut it has changed the leisure spaces (physical, political and social) in which alternative scenes contest the mainstream
Large emergency-response exercises: qualitative characteristics - a survey
Exercises, drills, or simulations are widely used, by governments, agencies and commercial organizations, to simulate serious incidents and train staff how to respond to them. International cooperation has led to increasingly large-scale exercises, often involving hundreds or even thousands of participants in many locations. The difference between âlargeâ and âsmallâ exercises is more than one of size: (a) Large exercises are more âexperientialâ and more likely to undermine any model of reality that single organizations may create; (b) they create a âplay spaceâ in which organizations and individuals act out their own needs and identifications, and a ritual with strong social implications; (c) group-analytic psychotherapy suggests that the emotions aroused in a large group may be stronger and more difficult to control. Feelings are an unacknowledged major factor in the success or failure of exercises; (d) successful large exercises help improve the nature of trust between individuals and the organizations they represent, changing it from a situational trust to a personal trust; (e) it is more difficult to learn from large exercises or to apply the lessons identified; (f) however, large exercises can help develop organizations and individuals. Exercises (and simulation in general) need to be approached from a broader multidisciplinary direction if their full potential is to be realized
Popular music, psychogeography, place identity and tourism: The case of Sheffield
Tourism and cultural agencies in some English provincial cities are promoting their popular music âheritageâ and, in some cases, contemporary musicians through the packaging of trails, sites, âiconicâ venues and festivals. This article focuses on Sheffield, a âpost-industrialâ northern English city which is drawing on its associations with musicians past and present in seeking to attract tourists. This article is based on interviews with, among others, recording artists, promoters, producers and venue managers, along with reflective observational and documentary data. Theoretical remarks are made on the representations of popular musicians through cultural tourism strategies, programmes and products and also on the ways in which musicians convey a âpsychogeographicalâ sense of place in the âsoundscapeâ of the city
Public crises, public futures
This article begins to map out a novel approach to analyzing contemporary contexts of public crisis, relationships between them and possibilities that these scenes hold out for politics. The article illustrates and analyses a small selection of examples of these kinds of contemporary scenes and calls for greater attention to be given to the conditions and consequences of different forms and practices of public and political mediation. In offering a three-fold typology to delineate differences between âabjectâ, âaudienceâ and âagenticâ publics the article begins to draw out how political and public futures may be seen as being bound up with how the potentialities, capacities and qualities that publics are imagined to have and resourced to perform. Public action and future publics are therefore analysed here in relation to different versions of contemporary crisis and the political concerns and publics these crises work to articulate, foreground and imaginatively and practically support
ï»żEffects of Grinding Almond Hulls with a Hammermill on Particle Size and Bulk Density
The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of grinding almond hulls with different screens on subsequent particle size and bulk density. Twenty pounds of almond hulls from the California Central Valley were ground with a laboratory-scale 1.5 HP Bliss Hammermill (Model 6K630B) using a 7/16 in., 3/4 in., 1 in., or no screen. Each screen size treatment was ground at three separate time points to provide three replications per treatment. For each replication, two samples were collected and analyzed for particle size geometric mean and standard deviation and bulk density. Geometric mean particle size was greater (P \u3c 0.01) when no screen was used to grind almond hulls compared with 3/4-in. and 1-in. screens; moreover, particle size was decreased (P \u3c 0.01) when ground with a 7/16 in. screen compared to all other treatments. Particle standard deviation did not differ (P = 0.13) between treatments. Bulk density of almond hulls tended to be greater (P = 0.07) when a 7/16-in. screen was used as compared to no screen, a 3/4-in. screen, and a 1-in. screen. Overall, unground almond hulls had a bulk density of 14.1 lb/ft3. Therefore, grinding almond hulls using a 7/16 in., 3/4 in., 1 in., or no screen led to an increase in their bulk density by 140, 115, 114, and 111%, respectively. Particle size was also evaluated using the Penn State Particle Separator. Grinding almond hulls with no screen tended (P \u3c 0.01) to increase proportions of medium (i.e., 0.31 to 0.75 in.) particles and decrease (P †0.02) proportions of fine (i.e., \u3c 0.16 in.) particles compared to grinding with a 7/16-in. screen. In conclusion, decreasing hammermill screen size reduced particle size from 2217 ”m to 1324 ”m but did not impact particle size standard deviation. In addition, grinding almond hulls increased bulk density by 111 to 140%. A live-bottom trailer with a load capacity of 2,835 ft3 could transport approximately 20 tons of unprocessed almond hulls. Conversely, the same trailer could transport 25 to 30 tons of ground almond hulls, thus, reducing transportation costs by 20 to 33% per ton, respectively
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