Transnational film production and the tourist gaze : on Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Café Lumière and Flight of the red balloon

This article attempts to reexamine the multiple forms of displacement in and of the film to which the new historical era gave rise, and thereby critically engage with the questions of transnational capital flow, global tourism and spectatorship, and textual migration in the case of intertextuality

Determining seismic response of mid-rise building frames considering dynamic soil-structure interaction

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Structures are often mounted on layers of soil unless bedrock is very close to the ground surface. Based on the fact that seismic waves pass through kilometres of bedrock and usually less than 100 meters of soil, soil layers play a significant role in assigning the characteristics of the ground surface movement. When the ground is stiff enough, the dynamic response of the structure will not be influenced significantly by the soil properties during the earthquake, and the structure can be analysed under the fixed base condition. When the structure is resting on a flexible medium, the dynamic response of the structure will be different from the fixed base condition owing to the interaction between the soil and the structure. This difference in behaviour is because of the phenomenon, commonly referred to as soil-structure interaction (SSI), which if not taken into account in analysis and design properly; the accuracy in assessing the structural safety, facing earthquakes, could not be reliable. Performance-based engineering (PBE) is a technique for seismic evaluation and design using performance level prediction for safety and risk assessment. Soil-structure interaction particularly for unbraced structures resting on relatively soft soils may significantly amplify the lateral displacements and inter-storey drifts. This amplification of lateral deformations may change the performance level of the building frames. Thus, a comprehensive dynamic analysis to evaluate the realistic Performance level of a structure should consider effects of SSI in the model. In this study, an enhanced numerical soil-structure model has been developed which treats the behaviour of soil and structure with equal rigor. Structural elements of the soil-structure model are capable of capturing both elastic and inelastic structural behaviour as well as structural geometric nonlinearity (large displacements) in dynamic analysis. Adopting direct method of analysis, the numerical model can perform fully nonlinear time history dynamic analysis to simulate realistic dynamic behaviour of soil and structure under seismic excitations accurately. Fully nonlinear method precisely follows any prescribed nonlinear constitutive relation and adopts hysteretic damping algorithm enabling strain-dependent modulus (G/Gmax - ɤ) and damping functions (ζ - ɤ) to be incorporated directly to capture the hysteresis curves and energy-absorbing characteristics of the real soil. In order to avoid reflection of outward propagating waves back into the model, viscous boundaries comprising independent dashpots in the normal and shear directions are placed at the lateral boundaries of the soil medium. In addition, the lateral boundaries of the main grid are coupled to the free-field grids at the sides of the model to simulate the free-field motion which would exist in the absence of the structure. The proposed numerical soil-structure model has been verified and validated by performing experimental shaking table tests at the UTS civil laboratories. For this purpose, a prototype soil-structure system including a building frame resting on a clayey soil has been selected and scaled with geometric scaling factor of 1:30. The soil-structure physical model consists of 15 storey steel structural model, synthetic clay mixture consists of kaolinite, bentonite, class F fly ash, lime, and water, and laminar soil container, designed and constructed to realistically simulate the free field conditions in shaking table tests. A series of shaking table tests were performed on the soil-structure physical model under the influence of four scaled earthquake acceleration records and the results, in terms of maximum structural lateral and vertical displacements, were measured and compared with the numerical predictions. Comparing the predicted and observed values, it is noted that the numerical predictions and laboratory measurements are in a good agreement. Therefore, the numerical soil-structure model can replicate the behaviour of the real soil-structure system with acceptable accuracy. In order to determine the elastic and inelastic structural response of regular mid-rise building frames under the influence of soil-structure interaction, three types of mid-rise moment resisting building frames, including 5, 10, and 15 storey buildings are selected in conjunction with three soil types with the shear wave velocities less than 600m/s, representing soil classes Cₑ (Vs=600m/s), Dₑ (Vs=320m/s), and Eₑ (Vs=150m/s) according to Australian Standards, having three bedrock depths of 10, 20, and 30 metres. The structural sections are designed after conducting nonlinear time history analysis, based on both elastic method, and inelastic procedure considering elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour of structural elements. The designed frame sections are modelled and analysed, employing Finite Difference Method adopting FLAC2D software under two different boundary conditions: (i) fixed base (no soil-structure interaction), and (ii) flexible base considering soil-structure interaction. Fully nonlinear dynamic analyses under the influence of four different earthquake records are conducted and the results in terms of lateral displacements, inter-storey drifts, and base shears for both mentioned boundary conditions are obtained, compared, and discussed. According to the numerical and experimental investigations, conducted in this study, soil-structure interaction has significant effects on the elastic and inelastic seismic response and performance level of mid-rise moment resisting building frames resting on soil classes Dₑ and Eₑ. Thus, the conventional elastic and inelastic design procedures excluding SSI may not be adequate to guarantee the structural safety of regular mid-rise moment resisting building frames resting on soft soil deposits. Based on the numerical results, a simplified design procedure is proposed in which inter-storey drifts under the influence of soil-structure interaction for each two adjacent stories can be determined and checked against the criterion of life safe performance level. This can be used to ensure the performance levels of the mid-rise moment resisting building frames under the influence of SSI remain in life safe level, and the seismic design is safe and reliable. Structural engineers and engineering companies could employ the proposed simplified design procedure for similar structures as a reliable and accurate method of considering SSI effects in the seismic design procedure instead of going through the whole numerical procedure which could be complicated and time consuming

Discovering the Past through Data: Promoting the Design and Analysis of Original Data-sets in History Undergraduate Courses in Hong Kong

This article discusses the objectives and outcomes of a project to enhance digital humanities training at the undergraduate level in a Hong Kong university. The co-investigators re-designed a multi-source data-set as an example and then taught a multi-step curriculum about gathering, organizing, and presenting original data to an introductory history course for undergraduates in a broad-based admissions social science program. Undergraduates learned how to develop feasible topics, to search for data in different types of sources, to compile the data in spreadsheet format, and to describe the significance of the data for further research. This pilot curriculum enhanced the customary training for history students in the host institution which focuses primarily on qualitative analysis.postprin

The Incidence Rate and Causes of Accidents among the Students of Shiraz Guidance Schools

Abstract: Introduction: The great population of about 16 million students in our country and their health problems require more attention to the health of students. Students due to low age and consequently lack of adequate experience are exposed to various types of accidents in schools. Accidents are the leading cause of death in 5 to 17 year old children. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence rate of accidents and their causes in Shiraz guidance schools. Method: In this study about 7137 guidance schools students in four educational districts of Shiraz were randomly selected. Data were collected by a questionnaire. Results: The total accident incidence rate was 1.2% with 0.6% and 1.49% in girls and boys respectively. The highest incidence rate was in winter (0.6%). Among all, 17 injured students (19.8%) were hospitalized. The highest rate of injuries was found in limbs. Conclusion: The total accident incidence rate in guidance schools of Shiraz was 1.2% that is significantly lower comparing to what have been reported in Canada (P<0.001). The highest rate of accidents in the students of grade one requires special attention to younger students in order to lead them toward low risk and healthy activities. Moreover providing adequate educational environment and training students for proper behavior at school during the break time may lead to a considerable decrease in the rate of accidents in schools. Keywords: Accidents, Incidence rate, Guidance school, Injur

Applications of Combinatorial Analysis to the Calculation of the Partition Function of the Ising Model

The research work discussed in this thesis investigated the application of combinatorics and graph theory in the analysis of the partition function of the Ising Model. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the partition function of the Ising Model and the Feynman Identity in the language of graph theory. Chapter 2 describes and proves combinatorially the Feynman Identity in the special case when there is only one vertex and multiple loops. Chapter 3 digresses into the number of cycles in a directed graph, along with its application in the special case to derive the analytical expression of the number of non-periodic cycles with positive and negative signs. Chapter 4 comes back to the general case of the Feynman Identity. The Feynman Identity is applied to several special cases of the graph and a combinatorial identity is established for each case. Chapter 5 concludes the thesis by summarizing the main ideas in each chapter.</p

Effects of morphine on replication of herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2

Several drugs are being used in treatment of HSV (Herpesviridae) infection in human but still introducing an effective safe drug is desirable. We investigated the inhibitory effect of morphine on replication of HSV in vitro. The results indicated that a concentration of up to 200 &#236;g/ml morphine had a limited effect on Vero cell viability. At this concentration, the growth of HSV was inhibited considerably and after the third passage in presence of morphine it was completely eliminated. The presence of viral antigens in infected cells in presence of morphine by immunoflourescent staining showed that after the first passage a small number of infected cells contained viral proteins and at the third passage no cells with viral antigen was observed. This was confirmed by page and immunobloting techniques. Electronmicroscopy observation in cellular section indicated that there was no virus present in treated cells as compared with control untreated infected cells

Changing malaria epidemiology in four urban settings in sub-Saharan Africa

Background An estimated 200 million persons in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) live currently in urban centres in malaria endemic areas. The epidemiology and control of urban malaria poses a number of specific challenges in comparison to rural areas, most notably the heterogeneous spatial distribution of transmission and the low state of immunity in the population. Interestingly, much less is currently known about malaria in urban settings than in rural areas. As a result there is an essential need for more information on disease burden, distribution and control strategies. In this multi-country study we undertook to study systematically key malariological features in four large SSA cities: Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Cotonou (Benin) and Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania). Objectives The general objective of this series of case studies was to further our understanding of malaria transmission and epidemiology in the urban environment in SSA, in view of developing and implementing effective control measures. Study methodology The basic study design of RUMA in each site included six components: 1) An extensive literature review and contacts with national malaria experts, 2) The collection of routine health statistics, disaggregated by sex, age and residence, 3) The mapping of health facilities and the identification of the main breeding sites on the basis of existing maps, 4) School parasitaemia surveys (200 school children aged 5-10 years in 3-4 schools, 5) Health facility-based fever surveys (200 fever cases and 200 non-fever controls in 3-4 facilities) and 6) A systematic description of the health care delivery system. For components 4 and 5 we categorized each city into 3-4 areas (centre, intermediate, periphery and rural areas), and randomly chose one clinic and one nearby school from each area. All work was completed within six to ten weeks on-site. The main emphasis was put on describing the burden of malaria (components 1, 2, 4), transmission patterns (components 1, 2, 3, 4) and the diagnosis of malaria in urban settings (component 5, 6). Finally, key risk factors for infection were explored (components 4 and 5). Key results Abidjan: The field work was carried out in August-September 2002 during the rainy season. According to national statistics, approximately 240,000 malaria cases were reported by health facilities in Abidjan in 2001 (40.2% of all consultations). The peak malaria incidence was in July-September. In the health facilities of the Yopougon commune, the malaria infection rates in presenting fever cases were 22.1% (under 1 year-old), 42.8% (1-5 years-old), 42.0% (6-15 years-old) and 26.8% (over 15 years-old), while those in the control group were 13.0%, 26.7%, 21.8% and 14.6%. Malaria prevalence in health facilities was homogenous in the different areas of Yopougon. The malaria-attributable fractions (MAFs) among presenting fever cases were 0.12, 0.22, 0.27 and 0.13 for the age groups listed above, suggesting that malaria played only a low to moderate role in fever episodes during the rainy season. Among all patients, 10.1% used a mosquito net (treated or not) the night before the survey and this was protective (OR=0.52, 95% CI 0.29-0.97). Travel to rural areas within the last three months was frequent (31% of all respondents) and associated with a malaria infection (OR=1.75, 95% CI 1.25-2.45). The health facility and breeding site mapping, as well as the school surveys could not be carried out because of political troubles. Ouagadougou: The field work was carried out in November-December 2002 at the start of cold and dry season. Seasonal variations in reported clinical malaria cases were marked. The highest incidence rate was reported from July to September and incidence rates went down in October-December until a low point during the dry season, from January to March. In 2001, there were 203,466 simple malaria cases (29.3-41.4% of consultations) and 19 deaths reported among 596,365 consultations in all public health facilities. A further 20,071 complicated malaria cases were reported. The malaria infection rates in presenting fever cases were 12.1% (under 1 year-old), 25.9% (1-5 years-old), 37.1% (6-15 years-old) and 18.0% (over 15 years-old), while those in the control group were 14.3%, 14.4%, 34.5% and 19.8%. The MAFs among presenting fever cases were 0.00, 0.13, 0.04 and 0.00 for the age groups cited above, suggesting that malaria played only a small role in fever episodes at the start of cold and dry season. The school parasitaemia prevalence was rather high (overall: 48.3%) and there was heterogeneity between the 3 surveyed schools (31.6%, 37.6%, 73.1%). The mapping of Anopheles sp. breeding sites correlated with this gradient of endemicity between the urban centre and the periphery of Ouagadougou. We found a link between malaria infections and urban agriculture activities and the availability of water supply. In total 42.0% of patients used a mosquito net the night before the survey and this was protective (OR=0.74, 95% CI 0.54-1.00). Travelling to a rural area (8.7% of all respondents) did not increase the infection risk (OR=1.14, 95% CI 0.70-1.90). Cotonou: The field work was carried out in February-March 2003. In 2002, there were 100,257 reported simple malaria cases and 12,195 complicated malaria cases reported for 289,342 consultations in the public health facilities of Cotonou. Between 1996 and 2002, on average 34% of total consultations were attributed to simple malaria and 1-4.2% to complicated malaria cases. There was no clear seasonal pattern. The malaria infection rates in presenting fever cases were 0% (under 1 year-old), 6.8% (1-5 years-old), 0% (6-15 years-old) and 0.9% (over 15 years-old), while those in the control group were 1.4%, 2.8%, 1.3% and 2.0%. The MAFs among presenting fever cases were 0.04 in the 1-5 years-old and 0 in the over 15 years-old. MAFs could not be calculated for the other two age groups. Hence, malaria played only a small role in fever episodes at the end of the rainy season. In the school parasitaemia surveys, a malaria infection was found in 5.2 % of all samples. The prevalence of parasitaemia in the centre, intermediate and periphery areas was 2.6%, 9.0% and 2.5%, respectively. In total 69.2% of patients used a mosquito net the night before the survey (OR=0.61, not significant). Traveling to a rural area (5.8% of all respondents) did not increase the infection risk since none of those who had traveled had parasitaemia. No mapping of health facilities and breeding sites could be carried out. Dar es Salaam: The field work was carried out in June-August 2003. An estimated 1.1 million annual malaria cases were reported in 2000 from a total of 2,200,000 outpatient visits in the health facilities (49% of all consultations). A clear seasonal pattern of clinical malaria was recorded, with high rates from March to June and a low point in July-August. The malaria infection rates in presenting fever cases were 2.0 % (under 1 year-old), 7.0% (1-5 years-old), 7.2 (6-15 years-old) and 4.2 % (over 15 years-old), while those in the control group were 3.4%, 4.5%, 3.6% and 1.9%. The MAFs were very low in all age groups: 0.00, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.02 for the age categories shown above. School surveys in Dar es Salaam during a prolonged dry season in 2003 showed that the prevalence of malaria parasites was low: 0.8%, 1.4%, 2.7% and 3.7% in the centre, intermediate, periphery and rural areas, respectively. Anopheles sp. breeding sites were fairly well distributed within the city. We found a remarkably high coverage rate of mosquito nets in the households (91.8% users) and this seemed to be protective (OR=0.60, 95% CI 0.27-0.93). An increased malaria infection rate was seen in the 11.8% of children who traveled to rural areas within last 3 month (OR=3.62, 95% CI 1.48-8.88). Conclusion RUMA was successfully implemented in 4 selected urban areas within a period of six to ten weeks per site. The financial cost for conducting a RUMA in these four sites ranged from 8,500-13,000 USD. All components were feasible (with the exception of breeding site mapping which clearly exceeded what can be done in such a short time period) and highly informative. The RUMA allowed to describe transmission patterns in the four cities and highlighted the enormous level of over-treatment with antimalarials. The collected information should prove of high value as a basis for further investigations and for planning effective control interventions

PRACB: A Novel Channel Bonding Algorithm for Cognitive Radio Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can utilize the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band to communicate the sensed data. The ISM band has been already saturated due to overlaid deployment of WSNs. To solve this problem, WSNs have been powered up by cognitive radio (CR) capability. By using CR technique, WSNs can utilize the spectrum holes opportunistically. Channel bonding (CB) is a technique through which multiple contiguous channels can be combined to form a single wide band channel. By using channel bonding (CB) technique, CR based WSN nodes attempt to find and combine contiguous channels to avail larger bandwidth. In this paper, we show that probability of finding contiguous channels decreases with the increase in number of channels. Moreover, we propose two algorithms of primary radio (PR) activity based channel bonding schemes and compare with sample width algorithm (SWA). The simulation results show that our algorithm significantly avoids PR-CR harmful interference and CB in cognitive radio sensor networks (CRSNs) provides greater bandwidth to CR nodes

NS-2 based simulation framework for cognitive radio sensor networks

In this paper, we propose a simulation model for cognitive radio sensor networks (CRSNs) which is an attempt to combine the useful properties of wireless sensor networks and cognitive radio networks. The existing simulation models for cognitive radios cannot be extended for this purpose as they do not consider the strict energy constraint in wireless sensor networks. Our proposed model considers the limited energy available for wireless sensor nodes that constrain the spectrum sensing process—an unavoidable operation in cognitive radios. Our model has been thoroughly tested by performing experiments in different scenarios of CRSNs. The results generated by the model have been found accurate which can be considered for realization of CRSNs