Suitable Successor Research Articles

Characterisation of the photocatalyst Pilkington Activ™: a reference film photocatalyst?

Pilkington Glass Activ™ represents a possible suitable successor to P25 TiO 2, especially as a benchmark photocatalyst film for comparing other photocatalyst or PSH self-cleaning films. Activ™ is a glass product with a clear, colourless, effectively invisible, photocatalytic coating of titania that also exhibits PSH. Although not as active as a film of P25 TiO 2, Activ™ vastly superior mechanical stability, very reproducible activity and widespread commercial availability makes it highly attractive as a reference photocatalytic film. The photocatalytic and photo-induced superhydrophilitic (PSH) properties of Activ™ are studied in some detail and the results reported. Thus, the kinetics of stearic acid destruction (a 10 4 electron process) are zero order over the stearic acid range 4–129 monolayers and exhibit formal quantum efficiencies (FQE) of 0.7×10 −5 and 10.2×10 −5 molecules per photon when irradiated with light of 365±20 and 254 nm, respectively; the latter appears also to be the quantum yield for Activ™ at 254 nm. The kinetics of stearic acid destruction exhibit Langmuir–Hinshelwood-like saturation type kinetics as a function of oxygen partial pressure, with no destruction occurring in the absence of oxygen and the rate of destruction appearing the same in air and oxygen atmospheres. Further kinetic work revealed a Langmuir adsorption type constant for oxygen of 0.45±0.16 kPa −1 and an activation energy of 19±1 kJ mol −1. A study of the PSH properties of Activ™ reveals a high water contact angle (67°) before ultra-bandgap irradiation reduced to 0° after prolonged irradiation. The kinetics of PSH are similar to those reported by others for sol–gel films using a low level of UV light. The kinetics of contact angle recovery in the dark appear monophasic and different to the biphasic kinetics reported recently by others for sol–gel films [J. Phys. Chem. B 107 (2003) 1028]. Overall, Activ™ appears a very suitable reference material for semiconductor film photocatalysis.

Will the U.S. Bring Down the Curtain on Landsat?

Researchers are fawning over improved images from the new Landsat 7 satellite, the latest in a line of earth-monitoring satellites first launched in 1972. But at the same time they are also worrying that there may not be a suitable successor to the government-built spacecraft, which is scheduled to operate until 2006, at which time the government plans to turn the reins over to private industry.

Architecture for computer vision application development within the HORUS system

An integrated program development environment for computer vision tasks is presented. The first component of the system is concerned with the visualization of 2-D image data. This is done in an object-oriented manner. Programming of the visualization process is achieved by arranging the representations of iconic data in an interactively customizable hierarchy that establishes an intuitive flow of messages between data representations seen as objects. The visualization objects, called displays, are designed for different levels of abstraction, starting from direct iconic representation down to numerical features, depending on the information needed. Two types of messages are passed between these displays (update and result messages), which yield a clear and intuitive semantics. The second component of the system is an interactive tool for rapid program development. It helps the user in selecting appropriate operators in many ways. For example, the system provides context sensitive selection of possible alternative operators as well as suitable successors and required predecessors. For the task of choosing appropriate parameters several alternatives exist. For example, the system provides default values as well as lists of useful values for all parameters of each operator. To achieve this, a knowledge base containing facts about the operators and their parameters is used. Second, through the tight coupling of the two system components, parameters can be determined quickly by data exploration within the visualization component.

Differential Human Capital Investments and the Choice of Successor in Family Farms

Economic development typically is characterized by occupational migration away from agriculture. Migrants commonly are more educated than average. On the other hand, the remaining farmers are expected to master more sophisticated production techniques. Hence, the pace of development depends on human capital accumulation of the population as a whole and of farmers in particular. For this reason, it is important to understand the way human capital investment decisions are made in the rural sector. Human capital levels are determined to a large extent within the family, i.e., through investments of parents in their children (Becker, chap. 6). Investments in children are motivated by altruism (Becker, pp. 362-79), by concern about family succession (Chu), and by expectations of receiving benefits from descendants in the future (Bernheim, Schleifer, and Summers). Parents care for migrating children as well as for succeeding children. They can also influence the decisions of succession versus migration, both directly through their authority and indirectly through differential investments in sector-specific human capital. Intergenerational succession is common in the farm sector, as the value of the farm within the family is higher than its market value (Kimhi 1994b). Farms in developed economies generally are not large enough to permit division among several successors. Hence, this discussion will focus on the case of a single successor. One of the difficult decisions facing the farm family is the choice of a suitable successor. Birth order and age differentials of children affect this decision, since the choice is not independent of the timing of farm transfer (Kimhi 1994a). The emphasis in this paper is on differential ability. If one child has an absolute advantage in farming and the other in off-farm jobs, the choice is easy. It is more difficult when one child is more able to run the farm and can also do better off the farm. On the one

Why so Few?: Women Household Heads in Osaka Chônin Families

Women house heads were uncommon among Osaka chônin (urban ite) households. Despite the assumed importance of assuring family continuity, there were legal and customary barriers to women succeeding to family headships. Fifteen hundred seven records of household succession for Osaka in the period 1707-1872 include only twenty-two cases of female predecessors and thirty-seven cases of female successors. Given the number of households which disappear after failing to find a suitable successor, why were women generally excluded? Why were women less frequent than minor males as intermediary successors? Why were employees and distant male relatives more attractive than women as successors? Female househeads are less frequent after 1730 than before. The change resulted from fears of excessive business competition from branch households. This served to restrict the candidates for succession and increased the failure rate of Osaka merchant houses.

And Not Anti-Realism Either

As my title suggests, this paper is another episode in a continuing story. In the last episode the body realism was examined, the causes its death identified, and then the project constructing a suitable successor for these post-realist times was begun ([3]). I called that successor the natural ontological attitude or NOA, for short, and I shall return to it below. In today's episode, however, the subject criticism becomes anti-realism, and this is a live and, therefore, a shiftier target. For the death realism has revived interest in several anti-realist positions and, appropriately enough, recent philosophical work has explored modifications these antirealisms to see whether they can be refurbished in order to take over, from realism, as the philosophy-of-science of choice. My first object here will be to show that just as realism will not do for this choice position, neither will anti-realism. That job accomplished, I shall then sing some more in praise NOA. To understand anti-realism we have first to backtrack a bit and re-examine realism. Given the diverse array philosophical positions that have sought the realist label, it is probably not possible to give a sketch realism that will encompass them all. Indeed, it may be hopeless to try, even, to capture the essential features realism. Yet, that is indeed what I hope to do in identifying the core realism with the following ideas. First, realism holds that

Address of the President Sir Alan Hodgkin, O.M. at the Anniversary Meeting, 30 November 1974

The Copley Medal is awarded to Sir William Hodge, F. R. S. There is little doubt that Sir William Hodge is one of the outstanding British mathematicians of our time. His reputation rests firmly on his fundamental contributions to algebraic geometry and in particular on his theory of harmonic integrals. It is no exaggeration to say that Hodge’s work in the 1930s completely changed the character and direction of higher-dimensional geometry. By a brilliant application of ideas and techniques from differential geometry, topology and analysis he revitalized algebraic geometry and brought it into a central position in mathematics. Although the importance of the theory of harmonic integrals was recognized at an early stage, its influence on the development of mathematics can only now be seen in true perspective. A survey of present-day research shows clearly that Hodge’s work was one of the milestones in twentieth-century mathematics. In particular the famous ‘Hodge conjectures’ concerning algebraic cycles are now recognized to be deep and challenging. They have almost reached the status of such classical unsolved problems as the Riemann hypothesis, the Poincare conjecture or Fermat’s last theorem. Hodge has also been very active on the national and international scene. For many years he played a leading role in British mathematics, and was prominent in organizing the International Mathematical Union after 1945. He served as Vice-President of the I.M.U., and as Physical Secretary of the Royal Society from 1957 to 1965. He is a worthy recipient of the Copley Medal and an eminently suitable successor to Hardy and Littlewood, the last pure mathematicians to be so honoured.

The CIO at a Dead End

CIO, in its 16th year and after its 13th convention in New York early in November, finds itself up against dead ends at every turn of the road. Nowhere is the dead end more painfully apparent than in the search for leadership. Philip Murray, ageing, iII, and burdened with the problems of the United Steelworkers which he also heads, wants to retire as president of CIO. But all efforts to find a suitable successor have run up against a dead end.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.