Perspectives on Intergenerational Initiatives Past, Present and Future

Within the last decade, the newly crafted word intergenerational has become a familiar working term for professionals and volunteers concerned with serving children and youth. No one seems to know who originated its use, or exactly where the first programs bringing older adults and young people together for common activities and services began. One might even wonder why it became necessary for us to create social inventions to do what natural grandparents and grandchildren used to do together as a matter of course

Metering Characteristics of Carburetors

Report presents the results of an extensive experimental investigation of the performance of different types of carburetors as effecting the maintenance under all conditions of correct ratio between the weights of fuel and air. It also gives a description of the Bureau of Standards carburetor test plant, test equipment and measuring instruments used to determine the metering characteristics of carburetors

Economic performance of portuguese companies 1989-1999 : a DEA study

The magazine Exame 500 publishes each year a listing of the top 500 companies by sales volume, along with accompanying financial indicators. This rich data set is underutilized in the analysis performed by Exame 500, rankings and relative performance being assessed in a naïve fashion. This study seeks to provide an enhanced view of the sectoral performance of the Portuguese economy in the period 1989- 1999 using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEAl technique. Additionally, the relative performance of national to foreign-owned companies and public to private companies is assessed. An analysis of the results seeks to understand why certain sectors perform better than others, and how national/ foreign ownership and public/ private objectives matter. The results are interpreted with particular reference to the economic background of the period. Some final comments are presented discussing the usefulness of DEA and possible revisions of the technique as well as other limitations of the study

Spatial-Temporal Imaging of Anisotropic Photocarrier Dynamics in Black Phosphorus

As an emerging single elemental layered material with a low symmetry in-plane crystal lattice, black phosphorus (BP) has attracted significant research interest owing to its unique electronic and optoelectronic properties, including its widely tunable bandgap, polarization dependent photoresponse and highly anisotropic in-plane charge transport. Despite extensive study of the steady-state charge transport in BP, there has not been direct characterization and visualization of the hot carriers dynamics in BP immediately after photoexcitation, which is crucial to understanding the performance of BP-based optoelectronic devices. Here we use the newly developed scanning ultrafast electron microscopy (SUEM) to directly visualize the motion of photo-excited hot carriers on the surface of BP in both space and time. We observe highly anisotropic in-plane diffusion of hot holes, with a 15-times higher diffusivity along the armchair (x-) direction than that along the zigzag (y-) direction. Our results provide direct evidence of anisotropic hot carrier transport in BP and demonstrate the capability of SUEM to resolve ultrafast hot carrier dynamics in layered two-dimensional materials.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

Ginzburg-Landau vortex dynamics with pinning and strong applied currents

We study a mixed heat and Schr\"odinger Ginzburg-Landau evolution equation on a bounded two-dimensional domain with an electric current applied on the boundary and a pinning potential term. This is meant to model a superconductor subjected to an applied electric current and electromagnetic field and containing impurities. Such a current is expected to set the vortices in motion, while the pinning term drives them toward minima of the pinning potential and "pins" them there. We derive the limiting dynamics of a finite number of vortices in the limit of a large Ginzburg-Landau parameter, or \ep \to 0, when the intensity of the electric current and applied magnetic field on the boundary scale like \lep. We show that the limiting velocity of the vortices is the sum of a Lorentz force, due to the current, and a pinning force. We state an analogous result for a model Ginzburg-Landau equation without magnetic field but with forcing terms. Our proof provides a unified approach to various proofs of dynamics of Ginzburg-Landau vortices.Comment: 48 pages; v2: minor errors and typos correcte

Changes in Maximal Strength and Home Run Performance in Ncaa Division I Baseball Players Across 3 Competitive Seasons: A Descriptive Study

The purpose of this longitudinal, descriptive study was to observe changes in maximal strength measured via isometric clean grip mid-thigh pull and home runs (total and home runs per game) across three years of training and three competitive seasons for four National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 baseball players. A one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, revealing significant univariate effects of time for peak force (PF) (p = 0.003) and peak force allometrically scaled (PFa) (p = 0.002). Increases in PF were noted from season 1 to season 2 (p = 0.031) and season 3 (p = 0.004), but season 2 was not significantly different than season 3 (p = 0.232). Additionally, increases in PFa were noted from season 1 to season 2 (p = 0.010) and season 3 (p \u3c 0.001), but season 2 was not significantly different than season 3 (p = 0.052). Home runs per game rose from the 2009 (0.32) to 2010 season (1.35) and dropped during the 2011 season (1.07). A unique aspect of the study involves 2010 being the season in which ball-bat coefficient of restitution (BBCOR) bats were introduced to the NCAA competition

The MINERν\nuA Data Acquisition System and Infrastructure

MINER$\nu$A (Main INjector ExpeRiment $\nu$-A) is a new few-GeV neutrino cross section experiment that began taking data in the FNAL NuMI (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Neutrinos at the Main Injector) beam-line in March of 2010. MINER$\nu$A employs a fine-grained scintillator detector capable of complete kinematic characterization of neutrino interactions. This paper describes the MINER$\nu$A data acquisition system (DAQ) including the read-out electronics, software, and computing architecture.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figure

Deep-water incised valley deposits at the ediacaran-cambrian boundary in southern Namibia contain abundant treptichnus pedum

Valley-filling deposits of the Nama Group, southern Namibia, record two episodes of erosional downcutting and backfill, developed close together in time near the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary. Geochronological constraints indicate that the older valley fill began 539.4 ± 1 Ma or later; the younger of these deposits contains unusually well-preserved populations of the basal Cambrian trace fossil Treptichnus pedum. Facies analysis shows that T. pedum is closely linked to a nearshore sandstone deposit, indicating a close environmental or taphonomic connection to very shallow, mud-draped sandy seafloor swept by tidal currents. Facies restriction may limit the biostratigraphic potential of T. pedum in Namibia and elsewhere, but it also illuminates functional and ecological interpretation. The T. pedum tracemaker was a motile bilaterian animal that lived below the sediment-water interface—propelling itself forward in upward-curving projections that breached the sediment surface. The T. pedum animal, therefore, lived infaunally, perhaps to avoid predation, surfacing regularly to feed and take in oxygen. Alternatively, the T. pedum animal may have been a deposit feeder that surfaced largely for purposes of gas exchange, an interpretation that has some support in the observed association of T. pedum with mud drapes. Treptichnus pedum provides our oldest record of animals that combined anatomical and behavioral complexity. Insights from comparative biology suggest that basal Cambrian T. pedum animals already possessed the anatomical, neurological, and genetic complexity needed to enable the body plan and behavioral diversification recorded by younger Cambrian fossils