Heat conduction in multifunctional nanotrusses studied using Boltzmann transport equation

Materials that possess low density, low thermal conductivity, and high stiffness are desirable for engineering applications, but most materials cannot realize these properties simultaneously due to the coupling between them. Nanotrusses, which consist of hollow nanoscale beams architected into a periodic truss structure, can potentially break these couplings due to their lattice architecture and nanoscale features. In this work, we study heat conduction in the exact nanotruss geometry by solving the frequency-dependent Boltzmann transport equation using a variance-reduced Monte Carlo algorithm. We show that their thermal conductivity can be described with only two parameters, solid fraction and wall thickness. Our simulations predict that nanotrusses can realize unique combinations of mechanical and thermal properties that are challenging to achieve in typical materials

Normative Virtue Theory in Theological Ethics

What place is there for virtue theory in theological ethics? In addition, does theological ethics contribute anything to the theory of virtue? Many question the normative significance of virtue theory in theological ethics today, leaving it to rule-based ethics to provide action-guidance. There are three key objections to the normativity of virtue theory: that virtue theory is about agents rather than actions, that virtue theory has nothing to direct say about the morality of actions, and that the virtues are too vague to be of normative or action-guiding significance. This essay, drawing on Thomas Aquinas’s account of virtue, challenges these perceptions of virtue theory. A genuinely normative, action-guiding virtue theory is about qualities of character that are intrinsically oriented towards action; provides a rich moral vocabulary with which to describe the morality of particular actions, and the way in which they are right or wrong; and offers the right level of normative guidance that is neither too indefinite nor attempts to substitute for the prudential deliberation of the situated moral subject. Theological ethics in turn can contribute to virtue theory, especially by its emphasis on the ecstatic nature of mature moral virtue, and through its reflection on the virtue of spiritual discernment

Video Conferencing and Multimodal Expression of Voice: Children's Communication in a Second Language Using Skype

This thesis focuses on how voice is experienced and expressed in a telecollaborative project using Skype to connect two groups of English language learners of primary age across two different countries. Voice is understood as a social semiotic phenomenon which takes as its base the ideas of Bakhtin (1986) and Goffman (1981) and is expanded to include multimodal forms of expression through the work of Kress (2003). This social semiotic notion of voice is synthesised with a framework of mediated action from Vygotsky (1978) and Wertsch (1991). The theoretical view of voice frames a small-scale qualitative study on how voice is expressed materially involving tools such as verbal language, body language, technology, and the spatial and temporal characteristics within which the communication takes place. As this is an area that has not been widely researched, a methodology had to be designed to analyse the video recorded data and a framework based on Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) concept of geosemiotics was developed. This method of analysis investigates how language is materially assembled through interaction with others in the physical world around us. It has been rooted in a social constructivist paradigm to shed light on how multimodal expressions of voice through Skype can support children’s second language use. The study shows that webcam-mediated online communication creates particular sets of conditions which affect the ways children are able to express their voice. Some points of divergence from familiar patterns of communication include how children use different spaces to negotiate different ways of being together, the multimodal ways in which children are able to express their voices and the diverse ways in which interpersonal distances can be represented and manipulated to manage conversations. The implications drawn out in the conclusion should initiate wider discussion in early childhood education and second language learning practice and research concerning the importance of adopting a multimodal perspective on how children express voice to support their communication in video conferencing environments

Shareholder Engagement and Chevron’s Policy 520 on Human Rights: The Role Played by the United States Jesuit Conference’s “National Jesuit Committee on Investment Responsibility”

Purpose To demonstrate how the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in the United States through the “National Jesuit Committee on Investment Responsibility” played a significant role as a socially conscious institutional and religious investor in influencing Chevron’s Human Rights Policy 520 and to analyze the factors that contributed to a successful shareholder engagement with the company. Methodology/approach Case study based on firsthand information. Findings Our conclusion offers support for Allen et al.’s (2012) conclusion of legitimacy (credibility) being the dominant force in a successful engagement. We found that coalition-building is a significant moderating variable in increasing shareholder salience. This finding contradicts the study by Gifford (2010). Originality/value of chapter The chapter is based on the actual process of shareholder engagement with Chevron Corporation that led to the human rights policy and is written mainly based on firsthand information

Protection or Harm? Suppressing Substance-Use Data

What if it were impossible to closely study a disease affecting 1 in 11 Americans over 11 years of age — a disease that’s associated with more than 60,000 deaths in the United States each year, that tears families apart, and that costs society hundreds of billions of dollars? What if the affected population included vulnerable and underserved patients and those more likely than most Americans to have costly and deadly communicable diseases, including HIV–AIDS? What if we could not thoroughly evaluate policies designed to reduce costs or improve care for such patients

Information Provision and the Carceral State: Race and Reference beyond the Idea of the Underserved

This article addresses an approach to library services for people who are incarcerated that meets the situated information needs and desires of people within jails and prisons. By creating a flow of information between LIS students and individuals who are incarcerated through a Reference by Mail program, resources available to incarcerated people are increased while students engage in a humanizing and self-reflexive project, with the understanding that the regulation of information within jails and prisons has lasting effects for the life chances of incarcerated people

Towards consistent generation of pancreatic lineage progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells.

Human pluripotent stem cells can in principle be used as a source of any differentiated cell type for disease modelling, drug screening, toxicology testing or cell replacement therapy. Type I diabetes is considered a major target for stem cell applications due to the shortage of primary human beta cells. Several protocols have been reported for generating pancreatic progenitors by in vitro differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells. Here we first assessed one of these protocols on a panel of pluripotent stem cell lines for capacity to engender glucose sensitive insulin-producing cells after engraftment in immunocompromised mice. We observed variable outcomes with only one cell line showing a low level of glucose response. We, therefore, undertook a systematic comparison of different methods for inducing definitive endoderm and subsequently pancreatic differentiation. Of several protocols tested, we identified a combined approach that robustly generated pancreatic progenitors in vitro from both embryo-derived and induced pluripotent stem cells. These findings suggest that, although there are intrinsic differences in lineage specification propensity between pluripotent stem cell lines, optimal differentiation procedures may consistently direct a substantial fraction of cells into pancreatic specification.This research was supported by European Commission Grant agreement 241883, “BetaCellTherapy”, and by the United Kingdom Medical Research Council.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Royal Society Publishing via http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.036

Smart Temporal Media

When using media assets in video editing, there is a general challenge of adapting the duration of an element to the desired duration in the video. For example, a pre-rendered animated element might last for five seconds and is not usable for durations shorter or longer than five seconds. This disclosure describes techniques to structure pre-rendered media elements in a specific format that enables a hosting application to control how they appear and behave. Per the techniques, pre-rendered media elements are provided in a format that enables control over their properties such as duration, palette, color, etc. A video creator can use the controls to match the pre-rendered element to the video it is being embedded in