Talus Slope Processes in the Appalachian : An Analysis of Rock Size and Shape on the Shawangunk Ridge, Northwestern New Jersey

Sphericity, hardness, roundness, and size of talus boulders were analyzed to understand the mass wasting process on the Shawangunk Ridge in northwestern New Jersey. Similar studies have been conducted in other localities (e.g., Lassen Peak, California and Spitsbergen, Sweden) but few works were carried out in the eastern United States, particularly in the Appalachian region. During the Pleistocene, ice sheets advanced in North America, and glacial and periglacial (soil and rock affected by ice) environments existed throughout the Appalachians. Although the periglacial climate is not present in this region right now, rock falls are still active where weak joints are affected by freeze-thaw conditions and gravity. Data were collected at different slopes in the ridge by using tape measure and Schmidt hammer. Statistical methods (ANOVA) were used to study the sphericity, hardness and size of rock, and photographic methods are used to study the roundness. The results refute some of previous work on the rock fall processes. For example, many researchers found that sphericity increased downward when rock moved downslope. The talus slope shows a similar trend at some points of the slope but at the base, the rock sphericity decreases, most likely due to weathering and freeze- thaw. Hardness is related to rock size. Pebble contents in the rock reduce rock hardness in the research area. The bigger the rock is, the higher is its Schmidt hammer value. Size decreases and roundness increases downslope. Weathering is high in some sites because of location. Climate plays a more important role in rock weathering on the western side than the eastern side of the ridge because of the prevailing wind that brings moisture. Vegetation is abundant on the west side, and also plays an important role in rock weathering. Steps are distinct géomorphologie features in this area that influence rocks sphericity, hardness, roundness, and sizes. Few angular rocks are found on the western side of the ridge while the eastern side shows the presence of angular rocks. Sphericity decreases at the base on the Yard Creek Power Plant, Sunrise Mountain and Delaware Water Gap

LTE and Wi-Fi Coexistence in Unlicensed Spectrum with Application to Smart Grid: A Review

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is expanding its utilization in unlicensed band by deploying LTE Unlicensed (LTEU) and Licensed Assisted Access LTE (LTE-LAA) technology. Smart Grid can take the advantages of unlicensed bands for achieving two-way communication between smart meters and utility data centers by using LTE-U/LTE-LAA. However, both schemes must co-exist with the incumbent Wi-Fi system. In this paper, several co-existence schemes of Wi-Fi and LTE technology is comprehensively reviewed. The challenges of deploying LTE and Wi-Fi in the same band are clearly addressed based on the papers reviewed. Solution procedures and techniques to resolve the challenging issues are discussed in a short manner. The performance of various network architectures such as listenbefore- talk (LBT) based LTE, carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) based Wi-Fi is briefly compared. Finally, an attempt is made to implement these proposed LTEWi- Fi models in smart grid technology.Comment: submitted in 2018 IEEE PES T&

Study of logical paradoxes

By a paradox we understand a seemingly true statement or set of statements which lead by valid deduction to contradictory statements. Logical paradoxes - paradoxes which involve logical concepts - are in fact as old as the history of logic. The Liar paradox, for instance, goes back to Epimenides (6th century B.C.?). In the late 19th century a new impetus v/as given to the investigation of logical paradoxes by the discovery of new logico-mathematical paradoxes such as those of Russell and Burali- Porti. This came about in the course of attempts to give mathematics a rigorous axiomatic foundation. Sometimes a distinction is maintained between a paradox and an antinomy. In a paradox, it is said, semantical notions are involved and a certain "oddity", "strangeness", or what may be called "paradoxical situation", resides in its construction. The resolution of a paradox is therefore not simply a matter of removing contradiction, but also requires clarifying and removing the "oddity". On the other hand, an antinomy is said to consist in the derivation of a contradiction in an axiomatic system and its resolution lies in revising the system so as to avoid the contradiction. In discussing paradoxes and antinomies, we shall not be strictly bound by this usage of these terms: we use "paradox" and "antinomy" interchangeably. Indeed, from our point of view, even antinomies in an axiomatic system ultimately need semantic clarification and thus removal of paradoxical situations

Land Cover Classification using Sentinel-1 Radar Mission Interferometry

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been widely used for many years in the field of remote sensing. SAR has valuable contribution due to its ability to provide complementary information to optical systems, penetration of radar waves through volumetric targets and high-resolution. SAR has the ability to operate during day and night. It provides operational services under all weather conditions. SAR imagery has many applications including land cover changes, environmental monitoring, climate change and military surveillance. This work focuses on land cover classification with SAR interferometry (InSAR) technique using Sentinel-1 space radar image pair. Sentinel-1 data were collected over the southern part of Estonia. Two SLC SAR images were acquired from both Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B with six days temporal difference. In this study, interferometric coherence and backscattering intensity processing chains have been set up and applied to Sentinel-1 SAR image pair. The Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) has been used for processing of single pair for Sentinel-1 mission. The SNAP is an European Space Agency (ESA) software. The Sentinel-1 image pair processing has been done using Sentinel-1 Toolbox (S1TBX) which is a part of SNAP. Corine Land Cover (CLC) 2012 database has been used as a reference data with 20 m resolution. The CLC2012 contains land use/cover information for most of the European countries. A single optical image from Sentinel-2A was additionally used for feature extraction. An overall accuracy of 68% to 73% was achieved when performing classification into five classes (Urban, Field, Forest, Peat-land, Water) using supervised classification with k-nearest neighbour (kNN) algorithm. The accuracy assessment was done by using confusion matrices

Market Efficiency Dynamics and Chaotic Behavior of Dhaka Stock Exchange: Evidence from Mutual Information and Lyapunov Exponents Models

This study investigates the evidence of market efficiency dynamics and chaotic behavior of the Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark index (DSEX) over the 2000-2020 period. We employed the newly developed model of mutual informational and global correlation coefficient in addition to the traditional linear and nonlinear techniques. Results suggest there is evidence of serial dependence in the DSEX returns. We attempted the Lyapunov exponent model to evaluate the possibility of chaos and nonlinear dynamics in the market. The results conspicuously represent the existence of chaotic behaviora nonlinearity-based profitability pattern revealed in the DSEX return series in its short run behavior. By applying two technical trading indicators, we justify the predicting trend of the Bangladesh stock market and conclude that investors active in the Dhaka Stock Exchange can earn abnormal returns. Findings have practical implications for general investors and professional fund managers to exploit the profitable opportunities and reshuffle the investment decisions. Results also convey the message to the regulatory body to initiate the strategies for intervening in the operating mechanisms to reduce the market inefficiency

Empowerment of women: an analytical study from the Islamic perspective

Every culture and society accords women a particular position. In most cases, woman stand divided. However, Islam has placed woman relatively dignified place, which guarantees her respectable life. This paper will explore (a) the position of the woman in the Qur'an and Prophetic tradition (b) the main obstacle that exists in empowering women, which prevents them from having dignified life. (c) current situation of empowering of women. The present paper will adopt analytical approach under which, the most relevant data from the Qur'an and the Sunnah will be gathered and analyzed. The jurisprudential views of some scholars will also be analyzed, with a view to providing solution to overcome problems related to women empowerment especially in the area of education, equality and freedom for employment. Keywords: Women-Empowerment, Analysis, Quranic perspectives, Prophetic Traditio

Al-Haqaiq al-Ijtima'iyyah al-Andalus fi Syi'r Madh wa Tahniah li Ibn Zaydun

PurposeThis study aimed to describe the influence of race, environment, and era in Andalusian society on Ibn Zaidun's hymn (praise) and tahniah (congratulations) poetry using the perspective of Hippolite Adolf Taine. MethodThis study was a qualitative research using a library research design that relied on the hymn and tahniah poetry in Diwan Ibn Zaidun: Rasailuhu, Akhbaruhu, Syi'rul Mikjain written by Kamil Kailani and Abdurrahman. This study analyzed the tradition of praise (madah) and congratulations (tahniah) of the Andalusian community in 19 of Ibn Zaydun's poems communicated with 3 indicators of Taine's theory of social facts, namely race, climate, and time factors. Results/FindingsThis study revealed the influence of the three aspects of Andalusian social facts on Ibn Zaidun's poetry, namely: 1) Ras-Spirit, showing that Andalusian society has the tradition of writing poetry for leaders; 2) Environment-Milieau, that was cool climate surrounded by beautiful green plants have a strong influence on Andalusian Literature, giving rise to many expressions of natural beauty in their poems, especially in praise (madah) and congratulations (tahniah) on Ibn Zaidun's poetry; 3) The Age of Moments privileging Andalusian with many muwashahat, so that the poets paid great attention to rhyme (qafiyah) in their poetry, and the uses of the Andalusian language with Arabic writing became greater in a number of poems. ConclusionAndalusian poetry represented by the poet Ibn Zaydun contains three aspects of Tain social facts. Ibn Zaydun's poetry tradition is influenced by the characteristics of Andalusian society, the climate in the Andalusian city, and the time of writing the poem. The author suggests further studies on the Hypolite Taine social fact theory with its unique scope of social facts. Likewise with Andalusian studies, further studies are urgently needed to find the meaning and social facts behind his classical poems

Obstacles to Lawful Earnings and Their Solutions from Quran and Sunnah Perspective

Islamic Shariah encourages individuals to fulfil their financial needs in a prescribed lawful manner. However, a group of people strive for financial means without following a lawful approach while ignoring the principles of the Shariah. This study aims to focus on Islamic principles on lawful and unlawful earnings. This paper examines the Qur'anic and Prophetic stance on lawful and unlawful financial income. It explores the main barriers that impede a person to earn financial resources using lawful approaches. This study adopts a qualitative analytical approach to study this critical issue. It analyses the relevant data from Islamic primary sources, i.e. the Qur'an and the Sunnah, along with jurisprudential views of the classical scholars and provides solutions to the problems related to earning lawfully. The study concluded that if humankind practice Islamic teachings and values regarding lawful earnings in their lives, it will help them to get closer to Allah and minimize unequal financial status among people

Investigating the Knowledge Sharing among students in Pakistan

This paper’s goal is to empirically examine the impact of trust, attitude, and ICT Use on knowledge sharing among degree students of universities in Vehari. Self-efficacy theory was used as an underpinning theory to test the suggested model. A sample size of 120 students was selected to collect the primary data through survey from respondents. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were performed to test the hypotheses drawn from this study. The findings show that trust, attitude and ICT Use are the key factors in order to boost knowledge sharing amongst students. The results show that ICT Use is highly significant and correlated predictor of knowledge sharing. The study also discussed implications, limitations and future research recommendation that can be helpful both universities and researchers for further study

Tackling modern slavery : a sustainability accounting perspective

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