Journal Staff

This trembling black robot swan which sometimes moves smoothly and gently, sometimes in a dramatic and fiery manner to Tchaikovsky´s majestic music is inspired by Edgar Degas’ sculpture The little fourteen year old dancer (1881), and is made from wax, bobbinet and silk ribbon.  This birdlike body vibrates with electronic life and has the unattainable dream of dancing as prima ballerina on a grand stage.  The music is a re-modelling of Rothbart’s theme from the Swan lake where both the ocean and the orchestra have been caressed and yet at the same time smacked by music technology.ROBOCYGNEThis trembling black robot swan which sometimes moves smoothly and gently, sometimes in a dramatic and fiery manner to Tchaikovsky´s majestic music is inspired by Edgar Degas’ sculpture The little fourteen year old dancer (1881), and is made from wax, bobbinet and silk ribbon. This birdlike body vibrates with electronic life and has the unattainable dream of dancing as prima ballerina on a grand stage. The music is a re-modelling of Rothbart’s theme from the Swan lake where both the ocean and the orchestra have been caressed and yet at the same time smacked by music technology.The dance has been created by a hands - on process where the robot body parts have been manipulated one by one to the music by the choreographer, in four recordings. The body consists of two light metal wings embellished with black feathers, a torso of aluminium, black bobbinet and circuit cards, a vertically adjustable leg, a very flexible neck together with a beak made of eight servo engines. Height 130 cm. Wingspan 160 cm.Choreography and movement recording: Åsa Unander-ScharinMusic: Pjotr Tchaikovsky (from The Swan lake, 1877) /Carl Unander-Scharin Robot construction and software development: Prof. Lars Asplund and Alexander Larsson, School of Innovation, Design and Engineering at Mälardalen University (MDH)Project managing: Lars Asplund and Kerstin Gauffin (MDH)Production: Mälardalen University Photo: Elias LindénFirst performance at the Swedish Book Fair in Gothenburg, 2010The music has been developed through Scen- och Sinnesproduktion’s financial support from the Swedish Arts Grants CommitteeQC 20120209Extending Opera, Opera Mecatronica, KTH R1 Experimental Spac

Project Iris: Image reconstruction of the iris spectrally

The basic motivation behind this project is a highly accurate representation of the human iris, to be injected into a virtual model of the human eyeball. A highly accurate brightness level recording can be easily obtained with a high quality digital camera. Color, however, is an entirely different matter. Photography in the traditional sense entertains all sorts of color inaccuracies, mostly related to the chemical process of development. Digital photography presents gamma and metameric problems, since the exact conditions of the capturing event cannot easily be duplicated. However, the spectral radiance of an object can be captured, utilizing a spectrophotometer and reliable light source. In this research, a priori measurements and analysis of the human iris spectral reflectances are performed. Using a spectroradiometer spectral reflectance samples from human iris are taken and this sample set is analyzed using principal component analysis to give a number of basis functions to reconstruct the original reflectance with sufficient accuracy. A color transformation can be built between the signals from a photometric linear digital camera and the weight coefficients of the eigenvectors. Finally, the spectral reflectance can be derived from the digital counts of the camera giving us a highly accurate representation of a human iris

Customary International Law as Federal Common Law: A Critique of the Modern Position

In the last twenty years, a consensus has developed among courts and scholars that customary international law has the status of federal common law. We label this consensus the modern position. Courts have endorsed the modern position primarily to support their conclusion that international human rights lawsuits between aliens arise under the laws of the United States for purposes of Article III of the Constitution. Scholars have pushed the consequences of the modern position further by arguing that customary international law preempts inconsistent state law under the Supremacy Clause, binds the President under the Take Care Clause, and even supersedes prior inconsistent federal legislation. In this Article, we question the modern position\u27s historical validity, and show that its recent rise to orthodoxy has been accompanied by little critical scrutiny. We then question contemporary arguments for the modern position and show how these arguments depart form basic understandings about American representative democracy, federal common law, separation of powers, and federalism. We conclude that, in the absence of authorization by the federal political branches, customary international law should not have the status of federal law. This conclusion requires less change in judicial practice than might commonly be thought. Nonetheless, the story of the modern position\u27s rise and continued influence presents cautionary lessons for a democratic society increasingly governed by international law

Международная конференция "Повторные реконструктивные операции. Травматические повреждения сосудов"

МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЕ КОНФЕРЕНЦИИХИРУРГИЧЕСКИЕ ОПЕРАЦИИ ВОССТАНОВИТЕЛЬНЫЕРАНЫ И ТРАВМЫ /ХИРАРТЕРИИ /ПОВРЕЖД /ХИРВЕНЫ /ПОВРЕЖД /ХИРКРОВЕНОСНЫЕ СОСУДЫ /ПОВРЕЖД /ХИ

Estabilidad del rendimiento de algunos genotipos de habichuela en Honduras

Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivars are grown under diverse environmental conditions in Central America because of geography, multiple growing seasons and variable inputs. The regression of mean genotype yields onto mean environment yields may provide useful information for selecting beans with greater yield stability when grown under these conditions. The principal objective of this research was to test yield stability of bean cultivars and promising breeding lines across a range of environments representative of the bean growing regions of Honduras. In 1984, 25 cultivars/breeding lines of various origins were grown in 23 field trials in Honduras. The trials were conducted during two seasons and in three different departments. Stability was examined on the basis of mean square deviations (MSD) from regression, large rank order changes among mean seed yield of genotypes were evident when different seasons and departments were compared. A highly significant correlation of the regression slope (b) with mean genotype yield supported use of MSD to assess yield stability. Mean yield and MSD were not correlated. The two determinate cultivars in the trial had poor stability characteristics. Honduran varieties had greater yield and better stability characteristics than most entries in the trial. Black-seeded lines 'B-190', '3B-5-1' and '8325-7' had high mean yield and good stability characteristics. These results show the importance of testing for yield stability if a cultivar is to be released for use in different regions and seasons in Central American countries. Also high yield and stability, judged on the basis of MSD, can occur in the same genotype.Varias cultivares de habichuela (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) se sembraron en América Central en una variedad de condiciones ambientales debido a la geografía de las áreas de siembra y a las diversas estaciones de crecimiento a lo largo de todo el año. Las regresiones de los promedios de rendimiento de los genotipos y de los rendimientos medios por ambiente pueden proveer información valiosa para seleccionar líneas con una mejor estabilidad de rendimiento. El objetivo principal de esta investigación fue estudiar la estabilidad de rendimiento de cultivares y líneas de mejoramiento de habichuela con características prometedoras para autorizar su uso en tres áreas productoras de habichuela de Honduras. Los experimentos se sembraron durante dos épocas de siembra en tres departamentos del país. La estabilidad de rendimiento se determinó a partir de las desviaciones del cuadrado medio (MSD). De las regresiones se pudo observar grandes cambios en el orden de los genotipos cuando se compararon las épocas y los lugares de siembra. Una correlación altamente significativa entre la pendiente de regresión y el promedio de rendimiento por genotipo respalda el uso del método de las MSD para estudiar estabilidad de rendimiento. El promedio de rendimiento y las MSD no estuvieron correlacionados. Las dos cultivares determinadas incluidas en los exprerimentos presentaron características pobres de estabilidad. De las cuatro variedades de Honduras, dos de ellas tuvieron mejores rendimientos y estabilidad que la mayoría de las cultivares incluidas en los experimentos. Las líneas negras B-190, 3B-5-1 y 8325-7 presentaron buena estabilidad y excelentes promedios de rendimiento. Estos resultados muestran la importancia que tiene estudiar la estabilidad de rendimiento de una cultivar de frijol que se autoriza para sembrarse en diferentes regiones y estaciones de siembra de los países centroamericanos y también nos indica que y los altos rendimientos y la estabilidad medidos a base de las MSD pueden estar presentes en el mismo genotipo

Uncertainty propagation through a point model for steady-state two-phase pipe flow

Uncertainty propagation is used to quantify the uncertainty in model predictions in the presence of uncertain input variables. In this study, we analyze a steady-state point-model for two-phase gas-liquid flow. We present prediction intervals for holdup and pressure drop that are obtained from knowledge of the measurement error in the variables provided to the model. The analysis also uncovers which variables the predictions are most sensitive to. Sensitivity indices and prediction intervals are calculated by two different methods, Monte Carlo and polynomial chaos. The methods give similar prediction intervals, and they agree that the predictions are most sensitive to the pipe diameter and the liquid viscosity. However, the Monte Carlo simulations require fewer model evaluations and less computational time. The model predictions are also compared to experiments while accounting for uncertainty, and the holdup predictions are accurate, but there is bias in the pressure drop estimatespublishedVersio

The evolution of carbon dioxide emissions from energy use in industrialized countries: an end-use analysis

There has been much attention drawn to plans for reductions or restraint in future C02 emissions, yet little analysis of the recent history of those emissions by end use or economic activity. Understanding the components of C02 emissions, particularly those related to combustion of fossil fuels, is important for judging the likely success of plans for dealing with future emissions. Knowing how fuel switching, changes in economic activity and its structure, or changes in energy-use efficiency affected emissions in the past, we can better judge both the realism of national proposals to restrain future emissions and the outcome as well. This study presents a first step in that analysis. The organization of this paper is as follows. We present a brief background and summarize previous work analyzing changes in energy use using the factorial method. We then describe our data sources and method. We then present a series of summary results, including a comparison of C02 emissions in 1991 by end use or sector. We show both aggregate change and change broken down by factor, highlighting briefly the main components of change. We then present detailed results, sector by sector. Next we highlight recent trends. Finally, we integrate our results, discussing -the most important factors driving change - evolution in economic structure, changes in energy intensities, and shifts in the fuel mix. We discuss briefly some of the likely causes of these changes - long- term technological changes, effects of rising incomes, the impact of overall changes in energy prices, as well as changes in the relative prices of energy forms