On the qualitative behaviors of solutions of third order nonlinear differential equations

We present some new results about oscillation and asymptotic behavior of solutions of third order nonlinear differential equations of the form

(r₂(t)(r₁(t)y^′)^′)^′+p(t)y^′+q(t)f(y(g(t)))=0.     

Interkulturalität und informatische Gestaltung – Eine interdisziplinäre Annäherung

Zusammenfassung   Dieser Beitrag behandelt - aus einer interdisziplin?ren Perspektive - die Bedeutung der Interkulturalit?t für die Gestaltung in und mit der Informatik im Zeitalter zunehmender Globalisierung. In diesem Zusammenhang wird, um die Rolle der Kultur in der Kommunikation zu verstehen, auf linguistisch-empirische Untersuchungen zur schriftlichen Kommunikation eingegangen und ihre Brauchbarkeit für die Gestaltung hinterfragt. Anschlie?end wird der Frage nach M?glichkeiten und Grenzen des interkulturellen Verstehens und Dialoges in der Philosophie nachgegangen, um daraus Rechtfertigungen für die interkulturelle Orientierung in der Informatik zu erarbeiten. Schlie?lich werden aktuelle informatische Entwicklungen in interkulturellen Kontexten diskutiert. Eingegangen in überarbeiteter Form am 30.04.1998     

Development of a multipurpose tile body: Phase and microstructural development

In this study, an attempt was made in order to develop a multipurpose tile body using a single formulation. In order to achieve this, several body recipes were prepared using mainly local raw materials with clearly defined physical and chemical properties at different sieve residues and single fast fired under industrial conditions in the first part of the study. In the second part, the most suitable formulations with the corresponding sieve residues were determined and further fired at different peak temperatures under laboratory conditions in order to establish their vitrification ranges and optimum firing temperatures. The tested peak firing temperatures were varied at 20 °C intervals from 1120 to 1200 °C for multipurpose wall tile body and from 1140 to 1220 °C for multipurpose floor tile body. The physical and thermal properties of the fired bodies such as water absorption, linear firing shrinkage, bulk density and linear thermal expansion coefficient were measured. The vitrification behaviour of the multipurpose bodies was also evaluated using a double-beam optical non-contact dilatometer. Furthermore, the fired bodies were subjected to colour measurements. Particular consideration was given to the phase and microstructural evolution of the developed tile bodies. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to analyse the phases formed before and after firing. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was further employed in order to observe the microstructural and microchemical characteristics of the fired bodies with respect to peak firing temperature. The preliminary experimental results showed that it was possible to obtain a multipurpose body with the properties in accordance with ISO-EN 10545.     

Policy implications of trends in Turkey's meat sector with respect to 2023 vision

Turkey has become one of the leading emerging economies in the world being second after China as the highes ecoonomically growing country with 8.9% economic growth rate in 2010. Forecasting impacts of this development in coming 10 years might have very important policy implications for the meat sector in the framework of 2013 vision of Turkey. In this study, annual time series data which contain several key variables of meat sector in last 26 years (1987–2012) are used to forecast the variables of the coming twelve years (2013–2024) to drive policy implications by considering the impacts of high economic growths, crises and major policy changes. Forecasted future values of the variables for 2023 in the sector are assessed and compared with recent national and international values to drive policy implications. The results show that the economic growth results in the increase in per capita income and thus increased demand for meat seemed to foster the meat sector. Therefore, these macroeconomic indicators need to be better in addition to improvements at micro level for establishing competitive meat sector and thus reaching aimed consumption level of meat.     

Vapor heat transfer in post-CHF region including the effect of thermodynamic non-equilibrium

Vapor phase heat transfer in the post-CHF region is modelled using momentum-transfer analogy and allowing for thermodynamic non-equilibrium. The vapor heat transfer coefficient is determined by momentum-transfer analogy, using an appropriate two-phase friction factor. The degree of thermodynamic non-equilibrium, denoted by the ratio of actual quality to equilibrium quality, is correlated in terms of a dimensionless temperature difference which includes the superheated vapor temperature. This correlation is solved simultaneously with a heat balance equation to determine the actual quality and the vapor temperature. Post-CHF vapor heat flux, calculated by this method, is compared to experimental tube data from eight different sources at pressures up to 2830 psia and over a wide range of mass fluxes. Results indicate an average deviation of 14.9% between measured and predicted heat fluxes for 2854 data points.     

Dietary lecithin improves dressing percentage and decreases chewiness in the longissimus muscle in finisher gilts

The influence of dietary lecithin at doses of 0, 4, 20 or 80 g/kg fed to finisher gilts for six weeks prior to slaughter on growth performance, carcass quality and pork quality was investigated. M. longissimus lumborum (loin) was removed from 36 pig carcasses at 24 h post-mortem for Warner–Bratzler shear force, compression, collagen content and colour analyses. Dietary lecithin increased dressing percentage (P = 0.009). Pork chewiness and collagen content were decreased by dietary lecithin (P < 0.05, respectively), suggesting that improved chewiness may be due to decreased collagen content. However, dietary lecithin had no effect on shear force, cohesiveness or hardness (P > 0.05, respectively). Dietary lecithin reduced loin muscle L* values and increased a* values (P < 0.05, respectively) but no changes on b* values (P = 0.56). The data showed that dietary lecithin improved dressing percentage and resulted in less chewy and less pale pork.     

Analysis of Rainfall Severity and Duration in Victoria,Australia using Non-parametric Copulas and Marginal Distributions

The analysis of joint probability distributions of rainfall characteristics such as severity and duration is important in water resources management. Deriving their distributions using standard statistical techniques are often problematical due to its complexity. Standard methods usually assume that the rainfall characteristics are independent or that their marginal distributions belong to the same family of distributions. The use of copulas based methodologies can circumvent these restrictions and are therefore increasingly popular. However, the copulas and marginal distributions that are commonly used belong to specific parametric families and their adoption could lead to spurious inferences if the underlying assumptions are violated. For this reason, we recommend a nonparametric or semiparametric approach to estimate the joint distribution of rainfall characteristics. In this paper, we introduce and compare several copula–based approaches, each involving a combination of parametric or nonparametric marginal distributions conjoined by a parametric or nonparametric copula. An empirical illustration of the different approaches using rainfall data collected from six stations in the state of Victoria, Australia, demonstrated that a nonparametric approach can often give better results than a purely parametric approach.