Assessing the sustainability of EU organic and low input dairy farms

The EU funded Sustainable Organic and Low Input Dairy Systems project (SOLID), aims to support the improvement of sustainable production on organic and low input dairy farms. 10 farms in each of 9 countries participated in an initial interview based assessment. The article presents some results from the UK (Ten OMSCo and seven Calon Wen farms), Austria, Finland and Den-mark. Other countries - Romania, Italy, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands - are also involved in the project, but since these countries have very different production systems from the UK they are not covered in this articl

Queen Caroline’s pains and penalties: Silence and speech in the dramatic art of British women’s suffrage

In Britain, the act that launched the militant campaign of the suffragettes in 1905 was the interruption of a political meeting in Manchester. The violent silencing and arrest of the women ensued. The women’s suffrage campaigns in Britain became more vigorous in the early twentieth century. They frequently foregrounded the oppressive silencing of women in their political speeches at public meetings, in newspapers, and in the courts. Having deliberately sought arrest, some militant suffrage activists exploited the arena of the court room to expound on their political position. In various audacious and spectacular ways, the exclusion of women from the democratic process was challenged, not least by a sustained attack on the legal system. Drama, one of the more successful cultural forms of protest, was often used to expose the inequities of the existing social fabric, and as an aesthetic form it deploys the body as well as the voice. This paper will examine the forceful, anti-rhetorical function of silence in British women’s suffrage drama from the early twentieth century, focusing on the appropriation of Queen Caroline (1768–1821) as a silent proto-suffragette in Pains and Penalties, a play about her trial, written by Laurence Housman (1865–1959) and directed by Edith Craig for the Pioneer Players theatre society

Systems of Parameters and the Cohen-Macaulay Property

Let $R$ be a commutative, Noetherian, local ring and $M$ an $R$-module. Consider the module of homomorphisms $\operatorname{Hom}_R(R/\mathfrak{a},M/\mathfrak{b} M)$ where $\mathfrak{b}\subseteq\mathfrak{a}$ are parameter ideals of $M$. When $M=R$ and $R$ is Cohen-Macaulay, Rees showed that this module of homomorphisms is always isomorphic to $R/\mathfrak{a}$, and in particular, a free module over $R/\mathfrak{a}$ of rank one. In this work, we study the structure of such modules of homomorphisms for general $M$

Digital signal processing techniques for application in the analysis of pathological voice and normophonic singing voice

Singing voice is one specific example of vocal sound made by human beings. If we consider the larynx apparatus as a type of singing instrument then we can further say that sung voice is perhaps the best and most stable utilisation of such an instrument. Singing remains at a stable pitch over time, and professional singers may well be the people who utilise the vocal apparatus most appropriately. If we compare a healthy sustained vowel given by a non-singer to that given by a professional singer, the difference in quality of recording can be seen in the stability of energy, pitch, jitter, shimmer and other classical perturbation parameters of Voice Quality assessment. In order to make assumptions about the health of the voice, signals produced at the vocal folds are the most interesting, as it is around this area specifically that most vocal problems are encountered. Using Digital Signal Processing techniques to extract such signals we can ascertain a number of things. Firstly, we can examine what happens to the structure of the vocal folds in intonation, and in particular, which parameters are more pertinent than others in analysis of the system. Secondly, we can attempt to use the results to make statistical studies on groups of subjects, in the hope that the pertinent parameters can pull out any abnormal samples. Results from this process have a potential medical application. The thesis will provide a description of the analysis of singing voice, paying particular attention to the changes happening due to pitch increase, and give a detailed example of statistical experimentation using parameters taken from the signals of interest. La voz cantada nos ofrece un ejemplo específico del sonido de la voz humana. Si consideramos el aparato de la laringe como una especie de instrumento para el canto podremos suponer asimismo que la voz cantada nos muestra quizás la mejor y más estable forma de uso de tal instrumento. El canto permanece en una frecuencia estable durante un periodo de tiempo y puede considerarse que los cantantes profesionales son aquellos sujetos que utilizan las cuerdas vocales de forma más apropiada. Si comparamos una vocal estable y continua producida por un cantante no formado con la misma producida por un cantante profesional, la diferencia en la calidad del registro se aprecia en la estabilidad de la energía, frecuencia, jitter, shimmer y los parámetros clásicos de perturbación de uso en la evaluación de la Calidad de la Voz. Para formular una hipótesis acerca de la salud de la voz, las señales más interesantes son las asociadas a las variables dinámicas en las cuerdas vocales porque la mayoría de los problemas de la voz se ponen allí de manifiesto. Al utilizar las técnicas de DSP para extraer tales señales se consigue extraer asimismo una serie de evidencias de gran interés. En primer lugar se puede examinar la dinámica que tiene lugar en la estructura de las cuerdas vocales respecto a la entonación y, en particular, qué parámetros guardan relaciones más importantes que otros en el análisis de la dinámica de dicho sistema. En segundo lugar, se puede utilizar los resultados para llevar a cabo investigaciones estadísticas con grupos de individuos para averiguar si los parámetros pertinentes muestran desviaciones anómalas. Los resultados de este estudio poseen un indudable interés médico. La presente tesis tiene como objetivo proporcionar una descripción del análisis de la voz cantada. Dirige su atención hacia los cambios en la dinámica de la cuerda vocal producidos por las variaciones de la frecuencia y ofrece un ejemplo pormenorizado de la experimentación a mediante la parametrización avanzada de las variables dinámicas de interés

Sex as a Variable: A Bibliography of Women in Libraries 1975-1985

published or submitted for publicatio

A study to determine if facts about drugs and drug therapy can be learned as effectively by a patient-centered approach as by classroom presentation

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University, 1959

Lessons learned in effective community-university-industry collaboration models for smart and connected communities research

In 2017, the Boston University Hariri Institute for Computing and the Initiative on Cities co-hosted two workshops on “Effective Community-University-Industry Collaboration Models for Smart and Connected Communities Research,” with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF). These efforts brought together over one hundred principal investigators and research directors from universities across the country, as well as city officials, community partners, NSF program managers and other federal agency representatives, MetroLab Network representatives and industry experts. The focus was on transdisciplinary “smart city” projects that bring technical fields such as engineering and computer science together with social scientists and community stakeholders to tackle community-sourced problems. Presentations, panel discussions, working sessions and participant white papers surfaced operational models as well as barriers and levers to enabling effective research partnerships. To capture the perspectives and beliefs of all participants, in addition to the presenters, attendees were asked to synthesize lessons on each panel topic. This white paper summarizes the opportunities and recommendations that emerged from these sessions, and provides guidance to communities and researchers interested in engaging in these types of partnerships as well as universities and funders that endeavor to nurture them. It draws on the collective wisdom of the assembled participants and the authors. While many of the examples noted are drawn from medium and large cities, the lessons may still be applicable to communities of various sizes.National Science Foundatio

Optimising the seed production cycle of Delphinium elatum L. : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Plant Biology at Massey University, Palmerston North

Delphinium elatum L. (Ranunculaceae) hybrids are developed by Dowdeswell's Delphiniums located at 692 Brunswick Road. Wanganui (www.delphinium.co.nz), who grow delphiniums for seed export. Development of new cultivars is important for commercial purposes, and requires development of high quality breeds. The main objectives of this study were to determine reasons for variable seed set and low germination in commercial D. elatum hybrids and determine optimal parameters for seed germination and storage. Seed set was investigated by examining pollen viability, carpel structure, and pollen tube growth in vitro and in vivo. Seed structure was determined by paraffin embedding and sectioning of seeds. Results investigating variable seed set were inconclusive. Seed set is limited by pollen viability and age. Pollen viability is low (below 50%) in most cultivars, and pollen tubes growth rate is variable between cultivars and individual pollen grains. Ovule development showed no abnormalities. Germination-promoting treatments were used to improve germination in D. elatum. Stratification (5°C) and application of gibberellic acid both improved germination in D. elatum cultivars. Chilling at 5°C reduced germination time in all cultivars, and increased total germination in cv. LB01130x. Storage trials were carried out for 12 months, with seeds stored at room temperature or 5°C in open and closed, water impermeable, aluminium bags. Storage trials determined that at low temperature storage (5°C) seed germinability is retained for up to 12 month. Storage at room temperature leads to seed deterioration and viability loss. Application of GA3 improved germination in seed stored at 5°C