Visible Component Research Articles

The Spirit of Vatican II: Western European Progressive Catholicism in the Long Sixties by Gerd-Rainer Horn

Reviewed by: The Spirit of Vatican II: Western European Progressive Catholicism in the Long Sixties by Gerd-Rainer Horn Hugh McLeod The Spirit of Vatican II: Western European Progressive Catholicism in the Long Sixties. By Gerd-Rainer Horn. (New York: Oxford University Press. 2015. Pp. x, 264. $90.00. ISBN 978-0-19-959325-5.) This is a sequel to the author’s The Spirit of ’68 (New York, 2007), a standard work on 1960s radicalism. Gerd-Rainer Horn notes that no reviewer commented on the absence of religion from the book. Yet, in his view, this was a serious lacuna. He argues that the ferment arising from the Second Vatican Council prepared Catholics to be active participants, and sometimes pioneers, in the social movements of the “red decade” from about 1966 to 1976. Moreover, the “utopian” dimensions of progressive theology mixed readily with the utopianism of the “early” Marx that was so influential at the time. The book is entirely about Catholics, although he notes similar developments among European Protestants. The principal focus is on Italy, but there are also substantial sections on Spain, France, and Belgium. Horn brings to this book a unique range of skills. He is the leading authority on “Left Catholicism,” and although primarily a social and political historian, he is well versed in theology and is able to draw on sources in seven languages. The book is written with an enthusiasm that energizes his narrative, without ever becoming uncritical. He has a keen eye for the local and for the role of particular personalities, while also placing these specifics in a wider political, social, and intellectual context. He begins with the Second Vatican Council and the theologians who were shaping the thinking of progressive Catholics, including both internationally renowned figures and those whose influence was more national, such as Ernesto Balducci in Italy and José María González Ruiz in Spain. Subsequent chapters focus on the renewed worker-priest movement and the organizations of radical priests that proliferated in the later 1960s; on base communities (especially numerous in Italy); on Catholic student organizations; and, in an outstanding chapter, on industrial militancy, in which the role of Catholics was especially important in Italy and, for a time, in Spain. In the conclusion he looks both at the reasons for the efflorescence of Catholic radicalism and at its decline in the later 1970s. Summing up, he claims that “in many countries throughout Western Europe, a large number of social movements—of which student movements were often only the most visible component—in the mid-to-late-1960s were animated to a significant degree by Catholics” (p. 254). As he shows, the familiar picture of the “secular Sixties” is a serious oversimplification insofar as many parts of Catholic Europe were concerned. In the early and middle years of that decade, levels of religious practice were high, and in the very specific atmosphere of the later 1960s the dense networks of Catholic organizations were readily mobilized for new causes. The Catholic activists of those years eventually moved in many different directions. Some are still living and still upholding the same ideals in a very different world; some moved into more secular forms of radicalism; some retreated, disillusioned as so many were by the defeat of their utopian hopes, into private life. Horn has not said the last word. There is room, for example, for a book that looks much more closely at the role of the Catholic hierarchy, including both those like Cardinal Michele Pellegrino [End Page 424] of Turin, who provided a relatively favorable environment for radical priests and laypeople, and those like Cardinal Ermenegildo Florit of Florence, who did his best to make life impossible for them. We have here the story as seen through the eyes of the activists, and it is a story that is both important and wrongly neglected (for reasons that Horn explains). But Horn’s impressive book will be the essential starting-point for all future work in this field. Hugh McLeod University of Birmingham (Emeritus) Copyright © 2016 The Catholic University of America Press

CHANGES IN URBAN SKYLINES AND PERCEPTION OF THE CITIZENS: A STUDY OF ISTANBUL

Being a citizen or resident of a particular city or urban center does not only refer to a person's participation in the city but also encompasses their sense of belonging to and being a part of the city. In the perspective of urban space, the sense of urban belonging is an indicator of how people feel about themselves as part of the city, their feelings of urban consciousness, and their sense of responsibility toward the city and urbanized areas around it. Cities that have a recognized urban identity increase people's sense of belonging to them. As it happens, when citizens feel that they are a part of the city, they react to it with greater sensitivity. Therefore, creating cities where perception and identity are high affects urban life and contentment levels of its residents. Cities are living beings that evolve from the time of their first settlers and continue to develop and change as long as the city exists. Traces of the past can be found today in many cities as well as signs of the future they are seeking. Although all cities are made up of the same basic physical elements, their semantic structure, organizational principles, and relationships differ to give them their unique character. In other studies on cities, the perception of the city and its permanence are significantly affected by the visual characteristics of the city’s skyline. Urban skylines have great importance for a city's esthetic texture and its evaluation. Maintaining a high quality in the texture of a city is important. Texture refers to the general way it looks, like the skyline, but also factors such as what materials it is built of, whether everything is close together or far apart, or whether the buildings are only a few stories tall or they are skyscrapers. Thus, how people perceive a city’s identity can be profoundly affected not only by its urban skyline but also by other characteristics of its texture. This study examines citizens’ perspective of the city skyline of Istanbul and measures their levels of contentedness given the rapidly changing skyline. To achieve this, surveys have been conducted with two groups of subjects. The first group included professionals in architectural disciplines such as architects, urban planners, interior designers, and landscape architects. The other group included members of other professions. The results revealed that none of the respondents are contented with the changing skyline of the city. They expressed discomfort and irritation about irregular settlements, the lack of green spaces, a lack of a common language of architecture, and the lack of a uniform scale for structures that are visible components of the city skyline. These issues prompt the respondents to not feel like they are a part of the city. Therefore, it would be advantageous for the city leaders to seek more balance and cohesion in the development of the skyline in order to have a more meaningful, sensible, and livable city. Keywords : urban skyline, city image, urban perception, urban identity.

Amplitude and frequency variations of oscillation modes in the pulsating DB white dwarf star KIC 08626021

Aims. We use the Kepler data accumulated on the pulsating DB white dwarf KIC 08626021 to explore in detail the stability of its oscillation modes, searching in particular for evidences of nonlinear behaviors. Methods. We analyse nearly two years of uninterrupted short cadence data, concentrating in particular on identified triplets due to stellar rotation that show intriguing behaviors during the course of the observations. Results. We find clear signatures of nonlinear effects attributed to resonant mode coupling mechanisms. We find that a triplet at 4310 {\mu}Hz and this doublet at 3681 {\mu}Hz (most likely the two visible components of an incomplete triplet) have clear periodic frequency and amplitude modulations typical of the so-called intermediate regime of the resonance, with time scales consistent with theoretical expectations. Another triplet at 5073 {\mu}Hz is likely in a narrow transitory regime in which the amplitudes are modulated while the frequencies are locked. Using nonadiabatic pulsation calculations based on a model representative of KIC 08626021 to evaluate the linear growth rates of the modes in the triplets, we also provide quantitative information that could be useful for future comparisons with numerical solutions of the amplitude equations. Conclusions. The identified modulations are the first clear-cut signatures of nonlinear resonant couplings occurring in white dwarf stars. These should resonate as a warning to projects aiming at measuring the evolutionary cooling rate of KIC 08626021, and of white dwarf stars in general. Nonlinear modulations of the frequencies can potentially jeopardize any attempt to measure reliably such rates, unless they could be corrected beforehand. These results should motivate further theoretical work to develop nonlinear stellar pulsation theory.

RETRACTED: Provider feedback information and customer choice decisions on crowdsourcing marketplaces: Evidence from two discrete choice experiments

Crowdsourcing marketplaces are increasingly becoming popular for the online transactions of services. On these marketplaces, profile information of providers, especially feedback left by previous customers, is the main information source for choice decisions of prospective customers. In the study reported in this paper, we examined the impacts of various feedback information components on provider profiles on the decisions of customers. We conducted two fractional factorial discrete choice experiments, one in a controlled laboratory setting and one online on a crowdsourcing marketplace. We found that the feedback information components number of reviews and average weighted rating have the largest impacts on the decisions of customers. We also found that positive ratings and positive comments have significant impacts on customers' decision-making, especially when they appear on the first feedback page. We also found in the lack of highly visible feedback components on the subsequent feedback pages, comments become a significant determinant of customers' decisions. We also showed the significant impact of information consistency on customers' decision-making, through the synergistic interaction effects between different feedback components. Finally, we found evidence that the cost of evaluating a feedback information component has a negative impact on the likelihood of customers evaluating that information component. The article concludes with implications of the findings of the study for theory and practice.

The contribution of temperature, exposure intensity and visible light to the inhibitory effect of irradiation on acute chlamydial infection

Water-filtered infrared A (wIRA) is radiation with a spectrum ranging from 780 to 1400nm. Chlamydiaceae are obligate intracellular bacteria associated with various diseases in both animals and humans. A recent in vitro study demonstrated that wIRA combined with visible light (wIRA/VIS) has potential as a non-chemical method for the treatment of chlamydial infections without adversely affecting the cell viability. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of various factors on the effect of wIRA/VIS on acute chlamydial infection, namely the impact of temperature, exposure intensity and infectious dose (multiplicity of infection) as well as the efficacy of the visible light component. We demonstrate that non-thermal effects contribute to the inhibition of acute chlamydial infection. Visible light enhances the inhibitory effect of wIRA on extracellular bacteria (elementary bodies or EBs). Moreover, the inhibitory effect of wIRA/VIS following treatment of EBs prior to infection correlated with increased irradiation intensity. The infectivity of mature chlamydial inclusions was significantly reduced upon wIRA/VIS exposure at all irradiation intensities investigated, suggesting the contribution of host cell factors to the anti-chlamydial effect of wIRA/VIS in the late stage of the developmental cycle. The effect of irradiation was not influenced by the infectious dose.

Photocatalytic-Fenton Degradation of Glycerol Solution over Visible Light-Responsive CuFe2O4

The current work reports on the degradation of glycerol aqueous solution via photocatalytic-Fenton technique. The CuFe2O4 photocatalyst was synthesized via sol-gel method and its physicochemical properties were characterized. The as-synthesized photocatalyst possessed Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET)-specific surface area of 104 m2/g. The large BET-specific surface area was also corroborated by the field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images which showed porous morphology. In addition, the XRD pattern showed that the visible light-active component, CuFe2O4, was successfully formed with band gap energy of 1.58 eV determined from the UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Significantly, it was determined from the blank run study that the visible light was an integral part of the photoreaction. Without the visible light irradiation, glycerol degradation was low (<4.0 %). In contrast, when visible light was present, the glycerol degradation improved markedly to attain 17.7 % after 4 h of visible light irradiation, even in the absence of CuFe2O4 photocatalyst. This can be attributed to splitting of H2O2 into hydroxyl (●OH) radical. In the presence of CuFe2O4 photocatalyst, the photocatalytic Fenton degradation of glycerol has further enhanced to record nearly 40.0 % degradation at a catalyst loading of 5.0 g/l. This has demonstrated that the CuFe2O4 was capable of generating additional hydroxyl radicals to attack the glycerol molecule. Moreover, this degradation kinetics can be captured by Langmuir-Hinshelwood model from which it was found that the adsorption constant related to H2O2 was significantly weaker compared to the adsorption constant of glycerol.

Sean Scully: figure/abstract

Sean Scully (* 1945 in Dublin) is considered one of the most significant abstract painters of our time. For decades he has produced a wealth of variations on his core theme of lines and stripes, creating works with a fascinating range of tone and expression from the romantic to the melancholic. Early on in his ca-reer Scully did figural work, to which he still feels in-debted; To this day my paintings retain a sense of the body, and the feeling of a physical relationship with the world. He considers German Expressionism one of his sources of inspiration and specifically cites the influence of artists Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The stroke of the brush is a visible component of his paint-erly abstractions. The edges of his fields of color are delineated by hand, which lends his compositions a haptic quality. Presenting surprising new perspec-tives on the artist's work, this publication is the first study on the interplay between figuration and ab-straction in Scully's oeuvre. Ausstellungen/Exhibitions: Ludwig Museum im Deutschherrenhaus Koblenz 31.8.-16.11.2014 | Kunsthalle Rostock | Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

Voluntary attention in Asperger's syndrome: Brain electrical oscillation and phase-synchronization during facial emotion recognition

This study investigated electroencephalography (EEG) oscillatory activity and phase-synchronization in patients with Asperger's syndrome (AS) during visual recognition of emotional faces. In the experiment, 10 AS adults (2 females, age 19.6±1.96) and 10 IQ-matched controls (3 females, age 24.4±3.24) participated in tasks involving emotionality evaluation of either photograph or line-drawing faces. Emotional faces elicited comparable reaction times and evaluation scores between the two groups. In the photograph task, the AS group had no visible N400 component and lower delta/theta synchronization (350–450ms post-stimulus onset) in the temporal and occipital–parietal regions, and much weaker phase synchronization between distant scalp regions (200–500ms post-stimulus onset) compared with the control group. In the line-drawing task, the two groups had the same degree of delta/theta synchronization in the central and occipital–parietal regions and comparable phase synchronization between scalp regions. We conclude by hypothesizing that AS patients might have structural deficits in the amygdala and its related limbic structures, a site critical for recognition of emotional faces beyond conscious awareness, but that they preserve the intact function in the cognitive pathway to keep up comparable behavioral performances with the healthy controls through voluntary control of attention.

The intrinsic ellipticity of dwarf spheroidal galaxies: constraints from the Andromeda system

We present a study of the intrinsic deprojected ellipticity distribution of the satellite dwarf galaxies of the Andromeda galaxy, assuming that their visible components have a prolate shape, which is a natural outcome of simulations. Different possibilities for the orientation of the major axis of the prolate dwarf galaxies are tested, pointing either as close as possible to the radial direction towards the centre of Andromeda, or tangential to the radial direction, or with a random angle in the plane that contains the major axis and the observer. We find that the mean intrinsic axis ratio is ∼1/2, with small differences depending on the assumed orientation of the population. Our deprojections also suggest that a significant fraction of the satellites, ∼10 per cent, are tidally disrupted remnants. We find that there is no evidence of any obvious difference in the morphology and major axis orientation between satellites that belong to the vast thin plane of corotating galaxies around Andromeda and those that do not belong to this structure.

What visual illusions tell us about underlying neural mechanisms and observer strategies for tackling the inverse problem of achromatic perception.

Research in lightness perception centers on understanding the prior assumptions and processing strategies the visual system uses to parse the retinal intensity distribution (the proximal stimulus) into the surface reflectance and illumination components of the scene (the distal stimulus—ground truth). It is agreed that the visual system must compare different regions of the visual image to solve this inverse problem; however, the nature of the comparisons and the mechanisms underlying them are topics of intense debate. Perceptual illusions are of value because they reveal important information about these visual processing mechanisms. We propose a framework for lightness research that resolves confusions and paradoxes in the literature, and provides insight into the mechanisms the visual system employs to tackle the inverse problem. The main idea is that much of the debate and confusion in the literature stems from the fact that lightness, defined as apparent reflectance, is underspecified and refers to three different types of judgments that are not comparable. Under stimulus conditions containing a visible illumination component, such as a shadow boundary, observers can distinguish and match three independent dimensions of achromatic experience: apparent intensity (brightness), apparent local intensity ratio (brightness-contrast), and apparent reflectance (lightness). In the absence of a visible illumination boundary, however, achromatic vision reduces to two dimensions and, depending on stimulus conditions and observer instructions, judgments of lightness are identical to judgments of brightness or brightness-contrast. Furthermore, because lightness judgments are based on different information under different conditions, they can differ greatly in their degree of difficulty and in their accuracy. This may, in part, explain the large variability in lightness constancy across studies.

Microremains from El Mirón Cave human dental calculus suggest a mixed plant–animal subsistence economy during the Magdalenian in Northern Iberia

Despite more than a century of detailed investigation of the Magdalenian period in Northern Iberia, our understanding of the diets during this period is limited. Methodologies for the reconstruction of Late Glacial subsistence strategies have overwhelmingly targeted animal exploitation, thus revealing only a portion of the dietary spectrum. Retrieving food debris from calculus offers a means to provide missing information on other components of diet. We undertook analysis of human dental calculus samples from Magdalenian individuals (including the “Red Lady”) at El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain), as well as several control samples, to better understand the less visible dietary components. Dental calculus yielded a diverse assemblage of microremains from plant, fungal, animal and mineral sources that may provide data on diet and environment. The types of microremains show that the individuals at El Mirón consumed a variety of plants, including seeds and underground storage organs, as well as other foods, including possibly bolete mushrooms. These findings suggest that plant and plant-like foods were parts of her diet, supplementing staples derived from animal foods. As faunal evidence suggests that the Magdalenian Cantabrian diet included a large proportion of animal foods, we argue here for a mixed subsistence pattern.

A Noninvasive and Speculative Method of Visualizing Latent Fingerprint Deposits on Thermal Paper.

Latent fingerprint deposits on thermal paper have been visualized noninvasively at visible wavelengths when illuminated with a UV-A light source (peak 365nm). A higher intensity UV source (250W/m(2) at 0.38m) gave superior fingerprint visibility when compared with a 60W/m(2) (at 0.4m) source. Removing the visible (blue) component of the light source emission did not adversely affect the visibility of the fingerprint. Sample fingerprints from 100 donors, when examined 24h after deposition, produced identifiable fingerprints from nearly 34% of fingerprint deposits. A mechanism for the observed visibility is proposed based on low emission of visible wavelengths from areas of thermal paper coincident with the fingerprint deposit, when illuminated with UV. This is likely due to a weak color change in the thermal paper dye arising from protonated amino acid components of the sweat. This effect was not observed on nonthermal paper.

Using RCRA:s Imminent Hazard Provision in Hazardous Waste Emergencies

The Environmental Protection Agency's reliance on section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in fifty-six lawsuits it has filed since 1979 demonstrates the important role this provision can play in abating hazardous-waste emergencies. The sparse case law on section 7003 has interpreted it liberally, and the 1980 amendments further widen its scope. The Administrator need not wait until harm has materialized, but may act when a risk of harm to health or the environment exists. The relief the government may obtain is not limited to seeking injunctions; the Administrator may issue orders necessary to protect health or the environment. Although section 7003 does not create new substantive liability, it does incorporate the rapidly developing federal common law of nuisance, which has been held to apply in even those section 7003 suits that do not involve interstate waters or activities. The courts have imposed liability under section 7003 on landowners whose harmful activities were remote in time from the resulting hazard and parties that did not act affirmatively to cause the hazard but did fail to prevent it. Although the paucity of legislative history and decisional law on section 7003 leave unresolved significant issues concerning its scope, themore » section is a highly visible and important component of RCRA's cradle-to-grave hazardous-waste-disposal regulatory system. 145 references.« less

Nitriding VI-group metals (Cr, Mo and W) in stream of NH3 gas under concentrated solar irradiation in a solar furnace at PSA (Plataforma Solar de Almería)

Carbides and nitrides of d-group transition metals are classified as refractory hard material and their industrial importance has been recognized for long. In recent years, unique functionalities including catalytic function and superconductivity are discovered for this group of materials to raise serious attention of materials researchers and engineers to refractory carbides and nitrides as novel functional materials.Synthesis of refractory carbides and nitrides demands high temperature reaction route to consume considerable amount of electricity or gas in conventional industrial process. In view of saving cost of such conventional energy, feasibility of using concentrated solar beam as heat source for synthesizing carbide and nitride has been investigated by the authors since 1997. After verifying usefulness of concentrated solar beam as heat source for carbide forming reactions, similar attempts of employing concentrated solar beam as heat source for nitride synthesis were initiated recently. After brief experimental verification of nitride synthesis for IVa group metal, Ti, and Vg group metals, V, Nb and Ta, in N2 gas environment under irradiation with concentrated solar beam to 2000°C, the authors decided to undertake nitride synthesis of VIa group metals, Cr, Mo and W, as well as of Fe in stream of ammonia (NH3) gas as a nitriding medium under irradiation of concentrated solar beam at temperatures not exceeding 1000°C.NH3 gas with suppressed extent of dissociation by flowing is defined empirically as uncracked NH3 and it is proved to possess very high nitriding power to make synthesis of mono-nitride MoN of Mo coexisting with sub-nitride Mo and higher nitride Fe2N of Fe possible under normal pressure condition that are not possible when chemically stable N2 gas is used as a nitriding agent.VIa-group metals including Cr, Mo and W are known to be highly resistant against nitriding. In the present report, results of nitriding in flowing NH3 gas at a fixed flow rate 10l/h (≈167ml/min) under heating with concentrated solar beam for VIa-group metals, Cr, Mo and W, are summarized to demonstrate favorable effect of solar beam heating towards further enhancement of nitriding power of flowing NH3 gas compared with the situation in conventional electric furnace in which visible light components except infra-red (IR) heat wave component are absent in the reaction system.

Uncovering the Online Marketing Mix Communication for Health Care Services

Abstract Any marketplace, nowadays, is made out of a crowded environment of businesses which provide almost the same services. New organizations enter the market on a daily basis without knowing they will survive. The help for organizations to distinguish their services from the ones offered by their competition comes in the shape of one “P”, marketing communications. Communication is the most visible and audible component of the marketing mix, which used wisely, may bring many advantages. Further, organizations include descriptive elements in their communication messages such as the nature of their activities, the benefits consumers would have and other elements which help consumers “tangibilize” the services provided. Many businesses moved from the offline environment to the online, becoming more consumer oriented. For an organization to both succeed and survive, it is essential to find the balance, the ideal mix between the services it offers in the real world and its online communications. For example, in health care services consumers are “hooked” by traditional communication tools, experience the service and afterwards use the internet to deliver indirect feedback on their lived experiences. The aim of this paper is to shed light upon the online marketing communications mix applied in health care services.

Evaluating the HR Dimension of CSR in a Strategic Approach

For the past decades CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility – has captured the interest of practitioners and academics, but in spite of all of the CSR literature and CSR programs implemented, the concept is still intensively debated and not fully understood from its perspective of generating long-term benefits for both business organizations and their various stakeholders in a win-win strategic approach. An approach to CSR that is mainly philanthropic and focused on the image benefit, which we describe as traditional, is still dominant. In this context the Human Resources (HR) dimension of CSR tends to be overlooked as a less visible component of CSR initiatives, thus the potential CSR benefits that could be generated for employees and employers are not acknowledged. With this paper we aim at underlining the most important aspects of human resources management to take into consideration when designing CSR programmes dedicated to employees. We present a proposed evaluating instrument designed and tested inside a Romanian business organization.

Reinforcing Intangible Assets through CSR in a Globalized World

Reinforcing Intangible Assets through CSR in a Globalized World Paolo Popoli Abstract One of the most important intangible assets for firm’s competitiveness is brand image, reflecting all that which leads to the firm. In the current competitive scenario, the brand must be able to meet stakeholder’s expectations not only regarding visible components of the marketing mix, but also the firm’s value system, including both economical and social values. Thus, corporate social responsibility is an important driver of brand image and equity, because the brand image reflects also what the firm does for the society. On the basis of these premises, this paper provides conceptual insights on the relationships between globalisation, intangible assets and corporate social responsibility. In particular, this paper is aimed to discuss the best CSR approach for a global firm, in the light of the global inter-stakeholder communication, and the way in which CSR strategy can reinforce the intangible assets (trust, reputation, credibility) included in the brand image. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jmpp.v3n1a4

Photoelectrochemical Infiltration of a Conducting Polymer (PEDOT) into Metal-Chalcogenide Decorated TiO2 Nanotube Arrays

ABSTRACT Photoelectrochemical synthesis of TiO2/CdX/PEDOT [X: S, Se; PEDOT = poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)] ternary hybrids was carried out by exploiting the semiconductor (SC) nature of both the oxide and the chalcogenide component. To this end, TiO2 nanotube arrays were initially electrosynthesized on titanium foils by anodization in fluoride-containing aqueous media. CdS and CdSe quantum dots were subsequently deposited on the nanotubes using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR). The conjugated polymer, PEDOT, was then grafted using photoelectrochemical excitation of the SC matrix and potentiodynamic deposition, to ultimately afford the ternary hybrid architecture. The morphology, structural properties, and chemical composition of these assemblies were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and Raman spectroscopy, while their electroactivity was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. Photoelectrochemical deposition of the conducting polymer was carried out both through selective excitation of the chalcogenide sensitizer and the collective photoexcitation of the two SC components. Two precursor molecules, namely, EDOT or bis-EDOT were compared and contrasted in terms of their relative proclivity to oligomer/polymer formation. The use of UV or visible spectral wavelength components allowed for discrimination between the various polymer formation and SC photoexcitation pathways.

Developing a Model for Agility in Health Humanitarian Supply Chains using Factor Analysis: Evidence From Iran

Background: Since 2000, increase in frequency and severity of natural disasters has necessitate designing an agile relief supply chain to help to affected people. Objectives: This study aimed to develop an agile model for supply chains with emphasis on health services in Iranian relief organizations. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive-comparative study. In order to design the conceptual model, agility patterns of supply chains were reviewed in a comparative study. Moreover, a questionnaire was prepared to examine construct (model) validation. The validity of questionnaire was confirmed by the judgment of experts and its reliability was ensured by test-retest method with scale of 0.99, and Cronbach's alpha of 0.98. All data were analyzed through factor analyses by SPSS 16 and LISREL 8.53. Results: Responsiveness, effectiveness, and flexibility with eigenvalue of 2.628 were identified as the main aspects of agility in humanitarian health supply chains. The components of visibility, reactivity, and speed were identified as components of responsiveness. Quality, reliability, and completeness were identified as components of effectiveness. Volume, delivery, mix, and product were known as components of flexibility. Conclusions: Findings confirmed agility dimensions and relationships between them in a model that can be considered as a comprehensive and appropriate model in the establishment, promotion, and evaluation of relief supply chains by policy-makers and authorities of Red Crescent Society and Medical Emergencies.

Parody as brand

Advergames – a neologism for video games designed to advertise a product or service – are marketing devices employed to impact consumers’ purchasing decisions and, more frequently, shape their impressions of a promoted brand. The online advergames of the programming block-turned media brand [adult swim] (AS) present a clear case in which the games act as rich signifiers of brand aesthetics even if they are not directly connected to the content of the brand’s television shows, live events, and other assorted merchandise. Although these ‘casual’-style titles have gameplay mechanics that are accessible to broad audiences, these advergames often exhibit a critical stance toward other games, which differentiates them from the vast majority of casual games on the market. But rather than being anti-casual, we argue that these games are best understood as being paracasual because they use parody to both trouble prevailing definitions of casual games and advergames, and deploy an aesthetic disposition that further helps define the brand. Furthermore, they are an increasingly visible and vital component of a constellation of texts and practices that function as what James Paul Gee calls an ‘affinity space’ for a lucrative audience demographic. This article assesses how AS games use parody to deconstruct textually video gaming’s most popular genres and how such parodic deconstruction, as evidenced by players’ online discussions, serves as an affinity space for a media-savvy taste culture.