29 research outputs found
Getting Real About Christian-Muslim Dialogue
Years ago, I had the occasion to sit in the audience at two Christian-Muslim dialogues in Chicago and to attend a pair of similar sessions at the 'Parliament of World Religions.' The sponsors on each occasion were different, as were the speakers; but what was said was alarmingly similar
Persistence in a Stationary Time-series
We study the persistence in a class of continuous stochastic processes that
are stationary only under integer shifts of time. We show that under certain
conditions, the persistence of such a continuous process reduces to the
persistence of a corresponding discrete sequence obtained from the measurement
of the process only at integer times. We then construct a specific sequence for
which the persistence can be computed even though the sequence is
non-Markovian. We show that this may be considered as a limiting case of
persistence in the diffusion process on a hierarchical lattice.Comment: 8 pages revte
Measurement of the gamma ray background in the Davis Cavern at the Sanford Underground Research Facility
Deep underground environments are ideal for low background searches due to the attenuation of cosmic rays by passage through the earth. However, they are affected by backgrounds from γ-rays emitted by 40K and the 238U and 232Th decay chains in the surrounding rock. The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a liquid xenon TPC located within the Davis campus at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota, at the 4,850-foot level. In order to characterise the cavern background, in-situ γ-ray measurements were taken with a sodium iodide detector in various locations and with lead shielding. The integral count rates (0--3300~keV) varied from 596~Hz to 1355~Hz for unshielded measurements, corresponding to a total flux in the cavern of 1.9±0.4~γ cm−2s−1. The resulting activity in the walls of the cavern can be characterised as 220±60~Bq/kg of 40K, 29±15~Bq/kg of 238U, and 13±3~Bq/kg of 232Th
Getting Real About Christian-Muslim Dialogue
Years ago, I had the occasion to sit in the audience at two Christian-Muslim dialogues in Chicago and to attend a pair of similar sessions at the 'Parliament of World Religions.' The sponsors on each occasion were different, as were the speakers; but what was said was alarmingly similar
Qualification Design and Sanitation for Pure Drinkable Water:A Project Study
Drinking water quality management has been a key element of primary prevention and control of waterborne diseases for a long time. This chapter is based on the EU Project “Implementation of ECVET for Qualification Design in Drinking Water Treatment Plants and Sanitation for Pure Drinkable Water PUREH2O” that contributes to the recognition and transparency of qualifications at the EU level and provides an innovative model for competencies for the potable water sector. The main dilemma that PURE-H2O intends to tackle is the lack of mutual recognition of qualification that is often impaired by national restrictions by applying EUROPASS, European/National Qualification Framework (EQF/.NQF), and the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) instruments. The aim of the project is to enhance the quality and performance of VET system improving education in drinking water supply and development. This project could also be achieved through promoting creativity, innovation, and transfer of EQF/NQF principles in education of the main target group in the sector
Analysis of effective efficiency in decision making for irrigation interventions
Multiple stresses are putting great pressure on water resources systems. Population growth, cli
mate change, prosperity, energy production, food crisis, and water governance are among the factors straining
water resources. Decision makers from rich to poor countries and from commercial to non governmental
organisations are struggling to devise schemes to adapt to these stressed water conditions. Better efficiency for
water resources systems, and particularly irrigation systems, is recommended as one of the most important
responses to climate change, unsustainable development, and water shortage. However, using certain effi
ciencies such as Classical Efficiency caused systems not to perform according to decision makers' objectives.
Effective Efficiency is a robust composite indicator that includes in its formulation both a flow weight, taking
into account the leaching fraction, and reuse of return flows. Classical Efficiency is defined as the percentage
of the diversion consumed beneficially, such as by crop evapotranspiration. Effective Efficiency, on the other
hand, is defined as the ratio of beneficial consumptive use to total consumption, expressed as a percentage.
In this paper, a normalised and non dimensional form of Effective Efficiency is developed and necessary con
straints for its successful application are explained. These constraints express water balance, flow weights and
their thresholds, water reuse, and total consumptive use. Basic guidelines are proposed for better decision
making in determining possible interventions for improving Effective Efficiency. This is done by analysing its
domain through analytical and graphical methods. Three real cases are considered, namely, Imperial Irriga
tion District and Grand Valley irrigation systems in the United States and Nile Valley in upper Egypt. Three
dimensional sensitivity analysis is performed on Effective Efficiency and its variables using the three cases.
This leads to an examination of the validity of the analysis and to suggestions for better intervention options.
Meanwhile, it is also shown why Classical Efficiency should be used with care.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT