155 research outputs found
'Holland as a Little England'? British Anti-Slavery Missionaries and Continental Abolitionist Movements in the Mid Nineteenth Century
Political Culture and National Identit
'Holland as a Little England'? British Anti-Slavery Missionaries and Continental Abolitionist Movements in the Mid Nineteenth Century
Political Culture and National Identit
"What value should we attach to all these petitions?": Petition campaigns and the problem of legitimacy in the nineteenth-century Netherlands
This article focuses on large-scale petitioning campaigns, or petitionnementen as they were called, organized between 1828 and 1878, including contemporary reflections and debates on this new phenomenon. Although there were only a handful of petitionnementen, they had a remarkable impact—not only on the issues at hand but also on the balance of power between Crown, Cabinet, Parliament, and people. Mass petitions necessarily challenged the political system, whose legitimacy was based on elections under a limited franchise. Based on parliamentary reports, pamphlets, and other sources reflecting on petitioning in general and the petitionnementen more specifically, this article asks how petitioners claimed legitimacy, and how politicians and other observers responded to those claims. Special attention is given to the international context within which Dutch petitioning practices developed. The article focuses on three case studies, representing the major petitioning campaigns of this period: the Southern petition movements of 1828–1830 that were a catalyst for the Belgian revolution (thus reinforcing the association between mass petitioning and revolution), the Anti-Catholic "April Movement" of 1853, and the so-called People's Petitionnement of 1878, against the liberal education law. Remarkably enough, in the Netherlands it was not progressive reformers, but most prominently conservative Orthodox Protestants who organized petitionnementen.Political Culture and National Identit
Effect of prophylactic amiodarine on mortality after acute myocardial infarction and in congestive heart failure: meta-analysis of individual data from 6500 patients in randomised trials
Avoiding structural failures on mobile bulk materials handling equipment
Bulk materials handling systems are extensively used in the mining and
minerals industry, where a fairly high incidence of structural failure is
experienced, notwithstanding design compliance with appropriate
standards. A number of case studies are explored to demonstrate how
insufficient controls or protection systems have contributed to structural
failures on mobile bulk handling equipment. The importance of design
integration across engineering disciplines is highlighted. The revision of
ISO 5049-1 (1994) is proposed to provide specific rules and guidelines
pertaining to machine protection systems. It is further recommended that
the structural design engineer of the original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) fulfils a more prominent role during the final acceptance and
handover of mobile bulk handling equipment, with specific reference to
protection systems.http://www.saimm.co.za/journal-papersam2016Civil Engineerin
Anisotropic conduction in the triangle of Koch of mammalian hearts: electrophysiologic and anatomic correlations
AbstractObjectives. The purpose of this study was to characterize anisotropy in the triangle of Koch by relating electrophysiology with anatomy.Background. Atrioventricular (AV) node fast and slow pathway characteristics have been suggested to be due to nonuniform anisotropy in the triangle of Koch.Methods. During atrial pacing, we determined the electrical activity within the triangle of Koch by multichannel mapping in 11 isolated hearts from pigs and dogs. Orientation of fibers was determined in nine hearts.Results. Fibers were parallel to the tricuspid valve annulus (TVA) in the posterior part of the triangle of Koch. In the midjunctional area, the direction of the fibers changed to an orientation perpendicular to the TVA. During stimulation from posterior and anterior sites, activation proceeded parallel to the TVA at a high conduction velocity (0.5 to 0.6 m/s). During stimulation from sites near the coronary sinus, a narrowzone of slow conduction occurred in the posterior part of the triangle of Koch where activation proceeded perpendicular to the fiber orientation. Above and below this zone, conduction was fast and parallel to the annulus. After premature stimulation, conduction delay in the triangle of Koch increased by 4 to 21 ms; in contrast, the AH interval increased by 80 to 210 ms.Conclusions. Data support the concept of anisotropic conduction in the triangle of Koch. Activation maps correlated well with the arrangement of superficial atrial fibers. Comparison of conduction delay in the triangle of Koch and AH delay after premature stimulation disproves that anisotropy in the superficial layers plays an important role in slow AV conduction
Laughter therapy as an intervention to promote psychological well-being of volunteer community care workers working with HIV-affected families
The study explores the experiences of volunteer community care workers working with HIV-affected families, participating in
laughter therapy. Laughter therapy is being used as an intervention to positively influence individuals experiencing various
forms of emotional distress. Community care workers play a vital role in the support of the HIV/AIDS-infected and -affected
members in communities. The nature of this type of work and their limited training contributes to high levels of secondary
trauma and emotional exhaustion. The purpose of the study was firstly, to explore the effects of working with orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC) on the community care workers and secondly, to establish the impact that laughter therapy has to
positively combat stresses of working within the care workers’ environment. All the community care workers from a
community-based organisation that provides care for HIV/AIDS-infected and -affected OVC and their families in the greater
region of Soweto, South Africa, took part in daily laughter therapy sessions for one month. To assess the experiences of
participants of laughter therapy, seven community care workers agreed to participate in a mixed method assessment. Interviews
were conducted before and after the intervention using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as framework. As
supportive data, a stress and anxiety and depression scale were added in the interview. Participants reported more positive
emotions, positive coping, improved interpersonal relationships and improvement in their care work after exposure to laughter
therapy. Quantitative results on stress, anxiety and depression for each participant confirmed observed changes. Laughter
therapy as a self-care technique has potential as a low-cost intervention strategy to reduce stress and counteract negative
emotions among people working in highly emotional environments.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsah20am2018Psycholog
The Flare-energy Distributions Generated by Kink-unstable Ensembles of Zero-net-current Coronal Loops
It has been proposed that the million degree temperature of the corona is due
to the combined effect of barely-detectable energy releases, so called
nanoflares, that occur throughout the solar atmosphere. Alas, the nanoflare
density and brightness implied by this hypothesis means that conclusive
verification is beyond present observational abilities. Nevertheless, we
investigate the plausibility of the nanoflare hypothesis by constructing a
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model that can derive the energy of a nanoflare from
the nature of an ideal kink instability. The set of energy-releasing
instabilities is captured by an instability threshold for linear kink modes.
Each point on the threshold is associated with a unique energy release and so
we can predict a distribution of nanoflare energies. When the linear
instability threshold is crossed, the instability enters a nonlinear phase as
it is driven by current sheet reconnection. As the ensuing flare erupts and
declines, the field transitions to a lower energy state, which is modelled by
relaxation theory, i.e., helicity is conserved and the ratio of current to
field becomes invariant within the loop. We apply the model so that all the
loops within an ensemble achieve instability followed by energy-releasing
relaxation. The result is a nanoflare energy distribution. Furthermore, we
produce different distributions by varying the loop aspect ratio, the nature of
the path to instability taken by each loop and also the level of radial
expansion that may accompany loop relaxation. The heating rate obtained is just
sufficient for coronal heating. In addition, we also show that kink instability
cannot be associated with a critical magnetic twist value for every point along
the instability threshold
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