Kind Of Use Research Articles

Comparison of sewage sludge treatment systems for regions with hot climate

The tropical regions have specific problems associated with high pathogenic density in the sewage sludge. The aim of this study was to select an adequate sludge stabilization and valorization system comparing the performance of four technologies: anaerobic stabilization without heating, aerobic stabilization, alkaline treatment with lime and aerobic composting. The study was performed in a pilot plant which was built and operated during six months. The main problem for the beneficial use of the sludge was its pathogenicity. All the systems allowed obtaining stabilized products which met the bacteriological criteria for some kind of use. The compost and the alkalinized sludge were bacteriologically safe for use without restrictions in accordance with the Mexican regulations. The accomplishment of the parasitological criteria for use was however impossible with the anaerobic and with the aerobic systems. The compost obtained at 55-60°C with 25d aeration time and the alkaline sludge fulfill the criteria established by for forest and agriculture use and for soil conditioning. The composting could reach the requirements for unrestricted use when operated at temperatures 65-70°C during 45 days which makes it the most adequate sludge treatment system for hot climate regions.

Politerapia racional en epilepsia. I. Concepto y fundamentos

It is an accepted fact that it is wise to start antiepileptic treatment with monotherapy, but 30% of patients do not respond to it or to several monotherapies; in that moment an association of two or more antiepileptic drugs is commonly utilised (the appearance of ten second-generation antiepileptic drugs on the market has not changed this scenario to any significant extent). Yet, on the other hand, the use of bitherapy in epilepsies that are usually resistant to treatment has been suggested as a interesting way to begin treatment. This article consists of three parts. In this first part we review the concept of rational combination therapy, the concept of how and when it should be used and the studies about associations of antiepileptic drugs conducted in animals and in humans. Although combination therapy is frequent as treatment for epilepsy, it is not always so obvious that it offers more benefits in terms of greater effectiveness with a lower, or at least equal, degree of toxicity. Few methodologically correct clinical trials have been conducted and recent reviews continue to consider that no controlled clinical trials have been carried out that confirm the benefits of combination therapy. This does not mean, however, that rational combination therapy is totally void of any kind of usefulness, but rather it stresses the fact that it offers a low level of evidence.

LUSE, a decision support system for exploration of rural land use allocation: Application to the Terra Chá district of Galicia (N.W. Spain)

This article describes LUSE, a system for exploration of rural land use allocations (total area devoted to each kind of use) by multiobjective linear programming methods. The objectives pursued are maximization of gross margin, employment in agriculture, land use naturalness and traditional rural landscape, and minimization of production costs and use of agrochemicals. The constraints on the areas devoted to the land uses considered in addition to those imposed by their joint and individual availabilities, are that they must reach levels considered to satisfy existing demand for those uses or their products, and that the areas devoted to maize and fodder must be sufficient for maintenance of dairy farm production. The program generates comprehensive samples of the Pareto-optimal set, and also allows interactive convergence on a solution that is satisfactory to the decision-maker or interactive exploration of the Pareto-optimal set. The system is currently parameterized for use in an area of Galicia (N.W. Spain), but is easily adaptable to other geographic locations.

A computer-assisted instruction system for self-teaching of discriminating Chinese tones based on their acoustical properties

A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones was developed, and provided through the internet to Japanese college students of Chinese language class. The data of acoustical analysis and perceptual judgment on the Chinese tones played an important role in designing the system. The result of observation on characteristic errors in discriminating Chinese tones by the Japanese students was also utilized. This system offered three kinds of use for self-teaching: testing, training, and reviewing. The original word lists consisted of 15 bisyllabic words with every combination of the four tones of Standard Chinese, involving different rates of unvoiced consonants, which disturbed the tone discrimination. In the partial word lists, only words having tone 2 and/or tone 3, which were difficult for the beginners, were excerpted from the original lists. Their speech samples with both female and male voices were accommodated. Temporal changes in fundamental frequency were extracted from the speech samples and displayed as visual cues in the training. It was also possible in the training to present only the words answered incorrectly in the preceding testing. By selecting suitable uses and word lists with the progress of self-teaching, the required time for achieving the goal was reduced.

Characterization of ageing behaviour of environmentally acceptable lubricants based on trimethylolpropane esters

Large amounts of lubricants having strong environmental effects are released into the environment. This has led to the development of so-called ‘environmentally acceptable’ lubricants based on synthetic and/or native esters. The aquatic toxicity of these lubricants is low and they are readily biodegradable. However, the biodegradation rate can be reduced after application. The aim of this study is to understand the lower biodegradation rate and the processes occurring during application. The changes are quantified using elemental analyses, high performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detector and mass spectrometer, as well as a combined screening method consisting of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The results of chemical analyses indicate that the main components are cracked, and double bonds of the main components are eliminated by oxidation causing polymerization effects. The intensity of these effects is dependent on the kind of use and the presence of additives. These modifications are responsible for the changes in the ecological and technical characteristics. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Stem-based Ethnobotanical Quantification of Potential Rain Forest Use by Mirañas in NW Amazonia

Potential plant uses in Colombian Amazonia were analyzed in relation to landscape, stem diameter, habit, and family taxonomy, on the basis of one experienced informant and applying a 2.5 cm diameter cut-off. In 30 0.1 - ha plots, 13,934 plant stems were recorded, 90% of which had some kind of usefulness. The proportion of useful stems was lowest in floodplain and highest in swamp and white sand plots. Between 0 and 11% of the useful stems in the plots were from lianas. Fuel uses were important. Thicker stems were more useful for Food and Animal Food than slender stems. In logistic regression, family taxonomy had a stronger effect on the probability of stem usefulness than DBH, habit (liana or not) or landscape. Individual plants from one family (or genus or species) often show little variation in usefulness, hampering the binary analysis by means of logistic regression of use against plant taxonomy.

A Latent Variable Model with Non-Ignorable Missing Data

A latent variable model is proposed that specifies not only the relationship between latent variables, but also the missing mechanism in which the value of the latent variables influences the frequency of missing patterns. We propose an estimation method for our model that adopts the Monte Carlo EM algorithm. Unlike previous methods, our method can be applied when the missing data assumption “Missing at random” does not hold. Moreover, our method can comprehensively explain the missing mechanism using latent variables, and the proposed estimation does not include multiple group estimation, so we can avoid the limitation present in previous studies of the number of subjects in each missing pattern. The proposed model and method are generalized for several kinds of use, such as monotone missingness. We show how to test that the missing mechanism is MAR/MCAR in this model. We also show the validity of the estimation method in simulation studies of two kinds of missingness (non-ignorable missingness and MAR); we compared the proposed method with ML estimation under the MAR assumption and found it superior. A read data illustration shows that the proposed method provides a feasible explanation that personality affects the missingness of some questions.

The role of dispositions in explanations

According to a model defended by some authors, dispositional concepts can be legitimately used in causal explanations, although such a use is not necessary. I argue, however, that there is a kind of use of dispositions in explanations that does not fall within this model: we will miss some explanations if we forsake dispositional concepts and explanations.

Internal versus External Representation

I argue there are two kinds of representatwo fundamentally different aspects or categories tion, whose joint recognition promises, among of representation-each of which is generically other things, to provide relatively clear and describable as by picture of unified account of both pictorial representation some thing X. We confuse these two fundaand fictional reference. mentally different aspects at our peril. Thus the To begin, I shall show by demonstrating an label ambiguous will remain descriptively apparent ambiguity in the concept of represenconvenient for such phrases as P is representation it has two distinct aspects. One standtation of and thus derivatively as applied ard test for ambiguity of concept C is to find to the concept of representation itself, even if it case in which C both is and is not applicable to is only (very) different kinds of use, or different some object or objects; then one may proceed to aspects, of concept are actually repair the damage by distinguishing different involved. senses, aspects, or varieties of the concept C. As for the evidence I have used to establish Here is pictorial test case of this kind for the the ambiguity in question, it is arguably not concept of representation. controversial at all, since it is recognized First, it is surely true picture might already. For example: Richard Wollheim distinrepresent man, even if there is no actual guishes representations of particular objects, or about whom it is true he is the thus events, from representations of objects or events represented by picture P. For the person who that are merely of particular kind, and thus painted A might have intended merely to repreof man, and so on, rather than of some particusent a without having any particular lar man;1 whereas Kendall Walton uses the actual in mind. fact picture can man, even However, if there is no actual represented though there is no actual thus represented, by picture P, then there is clear sense in which as part of his case the concept of represenP does not a man-at least not in the tation is primarily to be understood not in sense in which it would a man if object-centered ways, but rather in terms of his there were some actual whom it represented. own props used in imaginative games At the same time, though, to repeat, clearly approach.2 Nelson Goodman, in the face of such picture might still a man in the examples, distinguishes picture of from first sense above, in that, if the artist's painting man-picture, in cases where no actual is is successful, then it will represent in represented.3 spite of the fact it does not a However, by focusing on the fact man in the sense of an actual man. examples such as the above show there is Now to be sure, the ambiguity here might be an apparent, or at least formal, ambiguity in the argued to be located primarily in the whole concept of representation, I hope to facilitate the phrase of or in different raising of issues and approaches have not senses of a man in each case, rather than in yet been adequately investigated. the concept of representation itself. Nevertheless, First, I shall distinguish the relevant distinct the case at least shows the need to distinguish concepts or aspects of representation as external

The Editor's Reflections and Reports

The Editor's Reflections and Reports

COVER ARTICLE: Archaeological Evidence for the Tradition of Psychoactive Plant Use in the Old World

We live in an age when a divine vision isdismissed as an hallucination, and desire to ex-perience a direct communication with god is of-ten interpreted as a sign of mental illness. Nev-ertheless, some scholars and scientists assert thatsuch visions and communications are fundamen-tally derived from an ancient and ongoing cul-tural tradition. The hypothesis presented heresuggests that humans have a very ancient tra-dition involving the use of mind-altering expe-riences to produce profound, more or less spir-itual and cultural understanding.A cross-cultural survey of ‘‘relevant ethno-graphic literature’’ involving 488 societies in the1970s indicated that 90% (437) of these groups‘‘institutionalized, culturally patterned forms analtered state of consciousness.’’ The highestrates (97%) were among the societies of ‘‘ab-original North America’’ and the lowest (80%)in the ‘‘Circum-Mediterranean region,’’ whichincludes ‘‘North Africa, the Near East, andsouthern and western Europe as well as overseasEuropeans’’ (Bourguignon 1973). A large per-centage of these altered states are producedthrough consumption of psychoactive drug plantsubstances, supporting the idea that ‘‘. . . theubiquity of mind-altering agents in traditionalsocieties cannot be doubted—just as the moodsof industrial societies are set by a balance ofcaffeine, nicotine and alcohol, among many oth-ers’’ (Sherratt 1995a; Fig. 1).Traditionally, the use of the great majority ofmind-altering drug plants has been strongly as-sociated with ritual and/or religious activity; in-deed, ritualized consumption in various forms,may be unequivocally religious, ‘‘as in theChristian Eucharist or the complex wine-offer-ings to the ancestors in the elaborate bronze ves-sels of Shang and Zhou dynast China’’ (Sherratt1995b). Customary, or pre-industrial, motiva-tions for ingestion of psychoactive organic ma-terials have been predominantly dictated by spir-itual and/or medicinal requirements. On the oth-er hand, contemporary, modern use in varioussocieties, especially in those areas affected byWestern Civilization, is often inspired by per-sonal ‘‘recreational’’ desires to experience eu-phoria, and frequently is impelled by peer grouppressure.An early relationship between humans andpsychoactive plants, often within a highly ritu-alized, ceremonial context has been suggestedby a number of authors (Allegro 1970; Emboden1979; Furst 1972; Goodman et al. 1995; LaBarre 1970, 1972, 1980; Schultes et al. 2002;Sherratt 1991, 1995b; Wasson 1968; Wilbert1972; Wohlberg 1990). A number of these au-thors believe this kind of use of consciousness-altering plants provided the inspiration for initialhuman religious experiences, even perhaps threeof the world’s largest religions, Hinduism (Was-son 1968), Judaism (Dure 2001; Merkur 2000),and Christianity (Allegro 1970; Ruck et al.2001). Although this hypothesis and some of thespecific case studies (e.g., Allegro 1970) havebeen widely dismissed as erroneous, others con-tinue to call attention to the importance of psy-choactive drug plant use by humans and the or-igin of spiritual concepts (e.g., Smith 2000, alsosee Rudgley 1994, 1998, and Roberts 2001). Forexample, according to some classical scholars,Christianity evolved within the milieu of Judaicand Hellenistic healing cults, magic, and theMystery initiations: ‘‘All four of these inevitablyimply a sacred ethnopharmacology, with tradi-tions going back to earlier ages of the ancientworld’’ (see Ruck et al. 2001).This relationship with mind-altering organ-isms is very old. It may have even originatedbefore the evolution of our own genus, but moreprobably within the temporal span of our ownspecies well back into the Pleistocene.

Real‐time rendering system of human figures from arbitrary viewpoints using multiple cameras

AbstractTo enable face‐to‐face communication between remote users, we developed a prototype system that projects real‐time realistic images of human figures into a virtual space. Since real‐time responsiveness, in particular, is required for this kind of use, the prototype equipment has the following special features. First, it uses a simple technique that extracts images captured by multiple cameras and projects them onto a plane located in the virtual space. Since the geometric shape of the human figure need not be obtained when using this technique, the required computing power is extremely small. The generated image error becomes large if the subject is not in the vicinity of the virtual plane. We formulated this by defining a fixed range within which the subject should exist as the “equivalent depth of field.” Also, among the video signals obtained by the multiple cameras, the implemented system selects only the ones required for image generation and enters them into the computer in terms of scan line units. By selectively discarding information at an early stage in this way, a high‐precision image can be generated without degradation even if there are few video‐capture boards. These special features enabled us to show the effectiveness of the proposed technique by successfully generating real‐time images using a consumer‐oriented, low‐cost personal computer. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 34(11): 91–100, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.1216

Ciberespaço: nova realidade, novos perigos, novas formas de defesa

A mídia, nacional e internacional, vem divulgando à exaustão vários tipos de perigo que supostamente rondam a utilização da Internet. Por trás dessa divulgação, parece estar um pressuposto que desafia a Psicologia: o de que somos indefesos para lidar com a nova realidade do ciberespaço. Resultados inesperados de uma pesquisa sobre o uso intensivo da Internet, no entanto, mostram o contrário. A partir destes, novas estratégias de auto-proteção online, que visam principalmente à preservação da intimidade, puderam ser identificadas. Essas estratégias envolvem diferentes formas de utilização, por parte dos usuários, dos próprios programas e recursos tecnológicos disponíveis.

Children's Use of the Internet: Reflections on the Emerging Research Agenda

As domestic access to the internet reaches the mass market in industrialized countries, this article identifies and evaluates the emerging research agenda, focusing particularly on children and young people. The nature of children's internet use generates public anxieties which both guide and undermine research, complicating the already challenging study of children within the privacy of the home. The body of empirical work reviewed is still small, but already key questions of academic and policy significance are being addressed regarding the opportunities and dangers of internet use. Such opportunities include communication, identity and participation, and education, learning and literacy; dangers arising from exclusion and the digital divide, and from certain kinds of use relating to inappropriate or undesirable contact, content and commercialism. In each of these domains, research strengths and gaps for future research are identified. The article concludes by noting areas of theoretical consensus and uncertainty framing the research agenda in this field.

Active damping of a micro-cantilever piezo-composite beam

Thick PZT films are of major interest in the actuation of mechanical structures. One of the promising fields deals with active damping. Since it is a dynamic application, hard-PZT type of screen-printed films are suited to this kind of use. Nevertheless, the drop in dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties induced by the fabrication process is a serious constraint and it needs to be evaluated. The first section of this paper will present the mechanical system used for the experimental investigations. These investigations look to quantify the electromechanical properties of the films once the deposition process is achieved. The experimental observations highlighting the efficiency of hard-PZT thick films in active damping despite the drop in the electromechanical properties will then be considered. The control strategy used in the experiments can be called pseudo-direct-velocity feedback. Then the constitutive relations of the composites will be needed to derive the roots locus analysis by means of finite element modelling on one hand and through the roots of the partial derivative equations on the other hand. The unconditional stability of the uncollocated system will be demonstrated and its typical asymptotic behavior when the gain tends towards infinity will be explained.

Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law

Soil contamination has been one of seven typical environmental problems and the existing law was targeting only land for agricultural use. The new law, Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law, which covers land of any kinds of use, is now effective. The law specifies minimum requirements for preventing health hazards and its objects are very narrowed. If you make a surveyon the land strictly with the minimum requirements specified by the law, there are chances of missing some existing contamination. It will be very risky, when you want to do business with the land. It willbe advisable that you would make an enough extra survey, taking into account its historical uses.

On certain particularities of the Serbian comparative against the background of its situation in other Slavonic languages)

The paper deals with a special kind of comparative without an overt secundum comparationis, as exemplified by, say, Pale su jače kiše 'stronger rains have fallen', which is freely used in Serbian; it is called, according to the grammatical tradition, absolute comparative. Attention has been drawn, while attempts were made at revealing the crucial features of the absolute comparative, to the fact that it is marked for its "amplified extension" on the scale of gradation; this shows that the comparative in the kind of use now under consideration has not lost its nature of an instrument of comparison. The grammatical structure in question has also been characterized as displaying sui generis semantic indefiniteness: the point is that the lack of the second object of comparison makes the scope of application of a given feature on the gradation scale rather fuzzy. The first part of the paper presents the distribution of the absolute comparative within the Slavonic linguistic area; the presentation is based on the existing grammars of particular Slavonic languages (however, Bulgarian and Macedonian have not been accounted for; the reason was that these languages have been "balcanized"). The evidence supplied by grammars allows us to distinguish, within the Slavonic area, two zones: the zone of marginal use of the form in question (Russian) or its limited use (Polish), and the zone of its active use, including Slovak, Czech, Sorbian, Slovenian and Serbian. The second part of the work describes the contrast between the situation in Serbian, on the one hand, and the situation in Polish, on the other: the focus is on the distinct divergence of the two languages in terms of textual distribution, frequency of occurrence and stylistic characteristics of the investigated structure. On the basis of the materials of bilateral translations of belletristic works, as well as those of the Serbian journalistic texts (as appearing in Internet), selected types of translational equivalences of the Serbian absolute comparative in Polish texts have been discussed; these are: the basic adjective in the positive, the negated antonym of the source adjective, and the construction "co + adjective in the comparative degree". In the last part of the article some selected differences concerning the use of the absolute comparative in Serbian and Polish journalistic texts have been pointed out. As shown in the course of the analysis, the Polish journalistic style tends to express sharp appraisals and distinct evaluations. This is particularly evident in isolated elements of press, such as titles, notices, advertising slogans. As a result, the absolute comparative, with its considerable degree of indefiniteness, appears to be less appropriate here. In contrary to this, the Serbian linguistic norm admits of a milder form of utterance, it admits of formulating less categorical judgments, even in journalistic style; this enhances the use of the absolute comparative which is well anchored both in the grammatical system and in linguistic awareness of the users of Serbian.

Concept-Mapping as a Research Tool: A Study of Primary Children's Representations of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

This paper presents an approach to concept-mapping that was used in an EU-funded project to study ten year old pupils' representations of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The research task – to draw a concept map of ‘computers in today's world’ – was administered to children in six EU countries twice. In England this took place immediately before and after the introduction of networked PCs in their schools. They were asked to use their maps ‘to communicate their ideas through drawing’ to the researchers and other children who did not all speak the same language as them. The maps were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively, using phenomenographic methods combined with semiotic interpretation. The maps showed that the children had well-developed mental representations (secondary artifacts) of the role of ICT in today's world, even when they had little or no practical experience of using the Internet. Psychological theories suggest that learning depends to a considerable extent on the development of secondary artifacts of this kind. The extent and variety of knowledge about computers demonstrated by all children in the cohort came as a surprise and suggested that they would be very well prepared to develop sophisticated ICT skills once they had good access to ICT tools. Current approaches to ICT use in primary schools, involving explicit, systematic teaching of ICT skills, may therefore not be making the most cost-effective use of scarce resources. Exploratory use of ICT within open-ended project work, reflecting the kind of use that computer-literate adults make of ICT, might be more likely to provide the context for children's rapid development of a complex range of ICT skills.

中国上海市における河川環境事業の展開と居住者による評価に関する研究

This research explains a change about the water quality and the volume of water as a case from the resident’s subjective evaluation, and the structure of the present river environment evaluation about Suzhou river of Shanghai CHINA. Recently, it faced Suzhou river in the process that a resident in the neighborhood reached the present from the past in Suzhou river which a river environment repair project, and it was used how, and the matter whether it will be hoping for what kind of use in the future was cleared directly by the questionnaire investigation by the interview. As for this investigation, when it was the worst about ten years ago, though it was aware of the water quality of Suzhou river however as for good, it had become clear gradually that it began to change to the evaluation for several years. It was shown that it was most strongly aware as “symbol” of Shanghai City in the structure of the river environment evaluation which a resident to present Suzhou river.

On Trying to be Resolute: A Response to Kremer on the Tractatus

A way of reading the Tractatus has been proposed which, according to its advocates, is importantly novel and essentially distinct from anything to be found in the work of such previously influential students of the book as Anscombe, Stenius, Hacker or Pears. The point of difference is differently described, but the currently most used description seems to be Goldfarb’s term ‘resolution’ – hence one speaks of ‘the (or a) resolute reading’. I’ll shortly ask what resolution is. For now, it is enough that it aims to give full weight to the penultimate section of the Tractatus in which Wittgenstein declares his propositions to be nonsense, where giving full weight to that declaration involves not hearing it as allowing that those (strictly speaking) ‘nonsensical’ propositions might have another (more important) kind of ‘sense’. In that same section Wittgenstein explains that these nonsense propositions, while devoid of meaning, have a use: to make the kind of use of them that their author intends – and so to understand him (not them) – requires recognizing that they are nonsense; and through that recognition one ‘surmounts’ these propositions, and is led ‘to see the world aright’. So there is a point to (Wittgenstein’s having written) all this nonsense. What point? This is the question addressed by Michael Kremer in ‘The purpose of Tractarian nonsense’.1 The question is a real and pressing one. After all, unless we have some fairly richly developed answers to the questions, what Wittgenstein’s aims were in writing the book, and how his words might be effective in serving those aims, we just don’t have a reading of the book; and so unless there are resolute answers to those questions, there is no resolute reading. Kremer thus deserves credit for confronting the question, and further for recognizing the inadequacy or radical incompleteness of some earlier resolute suggestions (pp. 46–7). For instance, one prominent idea has been that by recognizing Wittgenstein’s propositions as nonsense we are freed from the grip of the kinds of philosophical concerns that led to their production, and that it was Wittgenstein’s intention in writing the book to promote this liberation. But for that suggestion to amount to a reading, it needs to be spelled out what those concerns are, how exactly the attempt to cater to them falls into nonsense, why this collapse into nonsense is characteristic of the motivating concerns rather than of just this one attempt to cater to them, how realizing that is supposed to