358 research outputs found

    Suspension and dissolution of municipal councils under section 139 of the Constitution

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    Section 139(1) of the constitution grants a provincial executive broad powers to intervene "[w]hen a municipality cannot or does not fulfil an executive obligation in terms of the Constitution or legislation". Until recently, provinces have been reticent in using their section 139 powers. Indeed, the problems of provincial government gave them little opportunity to take on those of the municipalities within their jurisdictions. But things have changed drastically since the 2004 elections. With the increasing emphasis on the importance of providing all citizens with basic services, the inadequacies of municipalities have become very evident and provinces have been unable to avoid their constitutional responsibility to support municipalities. Accordingly, section 139 has been used more than eight times since April 2004

    A Cross-Over in the Enstrophy Decay in Two-Dimensional Turbulence in a Finite Box

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    The numerical simulation of two-dimensional decaying turbulence in a large but finite box presented in this paper uncovered two physically different regimes of enstrophy decay. During the initial stage, the enstrophy, generated by a random Gaussian initial condition, decays as t^{-gamma} with gamma approximately 0.7-0.8. After that, the flow undergoes a transition to a gas or fluid composed of distinct vortices. Simultaneously, the magnitude of the decay exponent crosses over to gamma approximately 0.4. An exact relation for the total number of vortices, N(t), in terms of the mean circulation of an individual vortex is derived. A theory predicting that N(t) is proportional to t^{-xi} and the magnitudes of exponents gamma=2/5 and xi=4/5 is presented and the possibility of an additional very late-time cross-over to gamma=1/3 and xi=2/3 is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

    Inflammasome and IL-1β-Mediated Disorders

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    The NLRP3 inflammasome is an intracellular complex that regulates the release of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1β in response to exogenous pathogens and endogenous danger signals. Evidence from studies involving human genetics, human ex vivo mononuclear cell responses, and in vivo and in vitro murine models confirms the importance of the inflammasome and interleukin-1β in the pathogenesis of several inherited and complex diseases. The availability of several effective interleukin-1β targeted therapies has allowed for successful proof-of-concept studies in several of these disorders. However, many other diseases are likely to be mediated by the inflammasome and interleukin-1β, providing additional targets in the future

    Genetic algorithms applied to inconsistent matrices correction in the analytic hierarchy process

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    Abstract. Making Decision in non-structured problems is not a simple task. For this reason, decision makers use Decision Support Systems (DSS). These kinds of systems implement techniques and algorithms in order to improve the decision process. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of these techniques which yields a ranking scale of alternatives based on criteria and alternative matrices. These matrices make a pairwise comparison between a set of elements compared and must be complete and consistent in order to be processed with AHP. Incompleteness and inconsistency emerge as a consequence of the large data required to be compared by an expert, which exceeds his or her human abilities. Genetic Algorithms (GA) is a powerful used technique which provides simplicity, broad applicability and flexibility for search problems. In this work a GA model is exposed, being its aims to help the expert to fill the matrix and provide reasonable judgments by suggesting possible values

    Insertion Magnets

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    Chapter 3 in High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) : Preliminary Design Report. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the largest scientific instruments ever built. Since opening up a new energy frontier for exploration in 2010, it has gathered a global user community of about 7,000 scientists working in fundamental particle physics and the physics of hadronic matter at extreme temperature and density. To sustain and extend its discovery potential, the LHC will need a major upgrade in the 2020s. This will increase its luminosity (rate of collisions) by a factor of five beyond the original design value and the integrated luminosity (total collisions created) by a factor ten. The LHC is already a highly complex and exquisitely optimised machine so this upgrade must be carefully conceived and will require about ten years to implement. The new configuration, known as High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), will rely on a number of key innovations that push accelerator technology beyond its present limits. Among these are cutting-edge 11-12 tesla superconducting magnets, compact superconducting cavities for beam rotation with ultra-precise phase control, new technology and physical processes for beam collimation and 300 metre-long high-power superconducting links with negligible energy dissipation. The present document describes the technologies and components that will be used to realise the project and is intended to serve as the basis for the detailed engineering design of HL-LHC.Comment: 19 pages, Chapter 3 in High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) : Preliminary Design Repor

    Uso da adubação orgânica e cobertura morta na cultura da calêndula (Calendula officinalis L.).

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    A calêndula representa fonte alternativa econômica principalmente para a agricultura familiar. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos da adubação orgânica e do uso da cobertura morta sobre a produção de biomassa e teor de flavonóides totais em plantas de calêndula. O experimento foi realizado no Campus de Montes Claros da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, utilizando-se o delineamento em blocos casualizados em esquema fatorial 2x2x4 com quatro repetições: duas épocas de colheita, presença ou ausência de cobertura morta e quatro doses de composto orgânico (0, 30, 60 e 90 t ha-1). As maiores produções de biomassa e flavonóides totais foram verificadas com o aumento das doses de composto orgânico. Para os flavonóides totais o maior teor foi obtido na segunda colheita na presença de cobertura morta
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