Strategies of the Bulgarian vernacular: continuity in Bulgarian house design from National Revival times to the present day

The starting point of the article is the Bulgarian ‘National Revival House’ as it represents the most noteworthy product of Bulgarian vernacular architecture. It also demonstrates the meeting of European and West Asian building traditions: based on the Ottoman dwelling, the Bulgarian house shows an adaptation of the former to Christian Balkan living as well as the impact of various outside influences from the Ottoman Baroque to Central European models.

The examples date from the late eighteenth century to the present day, with an emphasis on the second half of the nineteenth century. They are encountered in rural, small-town and urban environments and exhibit a remarkable degree of basic uniformity of design: assemblage, lightness, cleanness of form and increasing monumentality are the most abiding characteristics of the Bulgarian ‘National Revival house’.

The thrust of this study is not so much towards a theoretical definition of the Bulgarian vernacular but more the analysis of the dominant architectural strategies in the design of domestic structures. After identifying the principal formal characteristics of the Bulgarian vernacular house, the aim is to demonstrate the continuity of those strategies into the modern period and to the present day. For this purpose, not only well-documented landmark buildings of the inter-War and Communist periods but also little-known examples will be considered. This will serve to establish the idea of a continuous Bulgarian vernacular as the common architecture of the people of Bulgaria.     

Simultaneous removal of nitrate and arsenic from drinking water sources utilizing a fixed-bed bioreactor system

A novel bioreactor system, consisting of two biologically active carbon (BAC) reactors in series, was developed for the simultaneous removal of nitrate and arsenic from a synthetic groundwater supplemented with acetic acid. A mixed biofilm microbial community that developed on the BAC was capable of utilizing dissolved oxygen, nitrate, arsenate, and sulfate as the electron acceptors. Nitrate was removed from a concentration of approximately 50 mg/L in the influent to below the detection limit of 0.2 mg/L. Biologically generated sulfides resulted in the precipitation of the iron sulfides mackinawite and greigite, which concomitantly removed arsenic from an influent concentration of approximately 200 ug/L to below 20 ug/L through arsenic sulfide precipitation and surface precipitation on iron sulfides. This study showed for the first time that arsenic and nitrate can be simultaneously removed from drinking water sources utilizing a bioreactor system.     

Vapor Pressure of Water in Mixtures with Hydrophilic Ionic Liquids – A Contribution to the Design of Processes for Drying of Gases by Absorption in Ionic Liquids

The low water vapor pressures of mixtures of water with the ionic liquids (ILs), [EMIM][EtSO₄] and [BEIM][EtSO₄], indicate that a process of gas dehydration by absorption in ILs might be an alternative to the classical absorption process with triethylene glycol (TEG). The activity coefficient for an infinite dilution of water in the IL (x_IL → 1), which should be low for efficient dehydration, is only about 0.2 for [EMIM][EtSO₄] compared to 0.6 for triethylene glycol. In contrast to TEG, losses by evaporation are excluded with ILs as solvents, because they have a negligible vapor pressure. The number of separation stages needed for the absorption in the IL and for the subsequent regeneration of the water‐loaded IL is small, about six and eight, respectively. IL regeneration can be achieved by distillation of water out of the IL (e.g., at 120 °C) and stripping with ambient air, which is not possible in the case of TEG (chemical attack by O₂).     

Extraction and characterization of soluble protein fractions from Phaseolus lunatus L seeds

Legume proteins as a potential source of valuable nutrients, are the object of several studies in order to obtain the best use. A basic knowledge becomes more important for those proteins from species not wholly utilized, before using them as food ingredients. The objective of this work was to determine several structural and nutritional characteristics of the protein fractions from Phaseolus lunatus, separated in different solvents. The relative amount of extraction for the albumins (ALB), globulins (GLB), prolamines (PRL), and glutelins (GLT) was 62.3, 34.8, 1.4 and 1.5%, respectively. The SDS-PAGE electrophoretic profile of both ALB and GLB, showed seven common bands in intervals from 10 to 95 kDa, and 14 to 99 kDa, respectively; the amino acids profile showed that PRL was the rich fraction in sulfurated amino acids (11.5 g/100 g protein); the content of lysine in the fraction of ALB was smaller than expected but the requirement of the FAO in the fractions of GLB and GLT was covered. In general, the fraction of GLB had the best balance of amino acids and digestibility (80%); however, it had a relationship of calculated protein efficiency ratio (C-PER) of 0.11, smaller than the ratio in ALB (0.97). The calorimetric analysis showed denatured temperatures around 90 degrees C for the ALB, GLB, and GLU fractions. The PRL fraction probably did not present a thermal transition because the proteins were denaturalized by the extraction conditions.     

Influence of Bubble Evolution on the Effective Kinetics of Heterogeneously Catalyzed Gas/Liquid Reactions. Part I: Reactions with Gaseous Products

For heterogeneously catalyzed multiphase reactions the formation of bubbles may have an influence on mass and heat transfer as well as on the effective reaction rate. This first of two contributions deals with the Ni‐catalyzed decomposition of H₂O₂, which was used as a model system for an (almost) isothermal reaction with a gaseous product. (In part II the strongly exothermic hydrogenation of hexene will be analyzed, where gas/vapor bubbles may be generated by overheating of the catalyst.) The discharge of O₂ bubbles formed by decomposition of H₂O₂ enhances the external mass and heat transfer up to one order of magnitude. This is in analogy to the well‐known phenomena during nucleate boiling. The experiments and theoretical considerations also show that the internal mass transfer depends on the intensity of the reaction and thus on the H₂O₂ concentration, which is in contradiction to the classical Thiele approach. This discrepancy could be explained by a modified model that takes the formation of bubbles into account.     

The use of psychoanalytic constructs in the service of empire: Comment on Baruch (2003).

Comments on an article by Baruch on psychoanalysis and terrorism (see record 2003-09630-009). The author believes that there is an extra-analytic space for articulating that which is beyond analysts' work with patients and for informing their understanding of history, culture, politics, gender, power, and other phenomena. The rules that govern psychoanalysts' "analysis" of these extra-analytic phenomena are, however, different from those that govern their work with patients. The complexities and vicissitudes of psychoanalytic discourse within analysts' clinical frame (their standard clinical practice) are different for phenomena on the "outside." In addition, clinical psychoanalytic discourse cannot stand outside the powerful narratives of power, gender, race, class, and empire. A psychoanalytic perspective is important in addressing extra-analytic issues only after analysts understand their relationship to power, gender, race, class, and empire. Just as analysts check themselves with supervision and careful countertransference reflection, they must also check themselves when they engage in extra-analytic work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of Corn/Soybeans Separability Using Thematic Mapper And Thematic Mapper Simulator Data

Multitemporal Thematic Mapper, Thematic Mapper Simulator, and detailed ground truth data were collected for a 9-by 1-km sample segment in Webster County, Iowa, in the summer of 1982. Three dates were acquired each with Thematic Mapper Simulator (June 7, June 23, and July 31) and Thematic Mapper (August 2, September 3, and October 21). The Thematic Mapper Simulator data were converted to equivalent TM count values using TM and TMS calibration data and model based estimates of atmospheric effects. The July 31, TMS image was compared to the August 2, TM image to verify the conversion process. A quantitative measure of proportion estimation variance (Fisher information) was used to evaluate the corn/soybeans separability for each TM band as a function of time during the growing season. The additional bands in the middle infrared allowed corn and soybeans to be separated much earlier than was possible with the visible and near-infrared bands alone. Using the TM and TMS data, temporal profiles of the TM principal components were developed. The greenness and brightness exhibited behavior similar to MSS greenness and brightness for corn and soybeans.     

Seat position and the risk of serious thoracoabdominal injury in lateral motor vehicle crashes

CONTEXT: Previous studies have suggested that motor vehicle occupants seated on the near-side of a lateral impact have a higher proportion of thoracoabdominal injuries. However, due to limitations in previous studies, the true association between seat position, side of lateral impact, and thoracoabdominal injury is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between seat position (i.e., near-side, middle-seat, and far-side, regardless of row), side of lateral motor vehicle crash (MVC), and serious thoracoabdominal injury after adjusting for important crash factors. DESIGN: National population-based cohort of adult subjects involved in MVCs and included in the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System database (NASS CDS) from 1995 to 2003. PATIENTS: Occupants aged > or =16 years involved in MVCs where the highest external deformation of the vehicle was located on the right or left side (i.e., lateral). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Serious thoracic or abdominal injury, defined as an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) > or =3 in the thoracic or abdominal body region. RESULTS: Fifteen thousand, one hundred and sixty persons involved in primary lateral MVCs were represented in the NASS CDS database during the 9-year period. There were 1867 (2%) persons with serious thoracic injuries and 507 persons (0.5%) with serious abdominal injuries. In multivariable logistic regression models that adjusted for important crash factors and the NASS CDS sampling design, seat position was a strong effect modifier of the association between side of lateral impact and serious thoracic (p<0.0001) and abdominal (p=0.0009) injury, with the risk of serious thoracic and abdominal injury highest for occupants seated on the near-side of the crash. The mean probability of injury was higher for near-side and middle-seat occupants compared to far-side occupants, and the probability of thoracic injury was approximately four times higher than that of abdominal injury for all seat positions. CONCLUSIONS: There is a strong, synergistic relationship between seat position and side of lateral MVC in assessing risk of serious thoracic and abdominal injury among adult occupants. The probability of serious thoracoabdominal injury increases with increasing proximity of seat position to side of the crash and the risk of thoracic injury is higher than abdominal injury for all seat positions.