Flow Events in the Negev—A Regional Quantitative Model

ABSTRACT

The provision of piped water has often been considered a major sanitation measure which will improve the general health of a given population. The associated problems of maintaining a functioning sewerage system so as to insure the quality of the piped water have received increasing recognition. From November 1978 to December 1979, and under varying meteorological conditions, water samples were drawn from ten taps of a piped water supply in an urban slum of Madras, Tamil Nadu, South India. Samples were tested for fecal coliform organisms as an indicator of fecal contamination of water at the taps. Regression analyses were performed on the data, using distance from the tap to the slum's boundary as the independent variable (x) and regressing average log concentration of fecal coliforms (y) during periods of dry and wetter weather, on x. It was found that during wet conditions there was a regression coefficient of +0.972 whereas during dry conditions the regression coefficient was +0.816. The linear regression model suggests that during wet conditions, especially, there is on-site contamination of piped water in the high population density conditions of this urban slum.     

Coping with Chaos in Change Processes

In their efforts to change organizations, managers and change consultants are time and again confronted with the limited controllability of organizations, the complexity and indeterminacy of change processes and the uncertain and ambiguous effects of their actions. In short, they are confronted with chaos. Some managers and consultants try to enhance their (illusion of) control over organizations by attempting to reduce chaos, while others accept and embrace chaos and base their change practice on it. This article focuses on the second group. Based on a study of literature and a series of interviews with experienced change consultants, a typology is developed, in which an enlightened modern, an ironic, and a postmodern way of coping with chaos in change processes is elaborated. The typology may help change consultants and managers with the development of their way of working and the articulation of their professional identity.     

Gender differences and the effects of perceived internet privacy on self-reports of sexual behavior and sociosexuality

The use of the Internet for conducting research has found that the level of anonymity intrinsic to web-based surveys is useful in deterring various participant biases. Though, concerns about Internet privacy could interfere with the effects of perceived anonymity and influence how a person responds. In this study, participants were asked to take an Internet survey and then were randomly assigned to conditions with varying degrees of implied privacy in which they answered questions about their desire for casual sex (sociosexuality) and their lifetime sexual partners. Only in the condition without any threat to the participant’s anonymity was there no difference between men and women’s reports of their sexual behavior. However, in every condition men reported having a significantly higher sociosexuality than women. Findings are consistent with both the biologic and gender-biased explanations in differences of self-report for sexual information. Implications for social constraints and Internet based research are discussed.     

Multifinality in implicit choice.

This research examines the possibility that people's choices in the service of an explicit focal goal may also reflect their tendency to fulfill implicit background goals and in that sense are multifinal. We carried out 5 experimental studies to investigate this notion. In Experiment 1, a primed implicit goal affected individuals' choices even when those avowedly served an explicit “focal” goal. Experiment 2 replicated this finding with a different type of implicit goals. Experiment 3 found that primed implicit goals had no effect on choices where the options that served them undermined the explicit goal. Experiment 4 found that a primed implicit goal served by a multifinal option does not privilege it over a unifinal option if that goal had been already attained by a different means. Finally, Experiment 5, via 3 types of control groups, showed that choices were affected by both the explicit and implicit goals in isolation, and they shifted toward multifinality when these goals were conjointly present. The discussion considers the integrative potential of the multifinality framework and its implications for a variety of phenomena in the domain of motivated cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrochemical characteristics of semi conductive silicon anode for lithium polymer batteries

In this paper, the electrochemical characteristics of semi conductive silicon thin films (n-type and p-type silicon) anodes integrated with the solid polymer electrolyte for lithium polymer batteries were investigated. The charge/discharge cycling tests revealed that the phosphorus-doped n-type silicon electrode shows the most stable cyclic performance after the 40^th cycle and still maintains a reversible specific capacity of about 2,500 mAh/g. The enhanced electrochemical performance of the doped silicon anode was attributed to the enhancement of its electrical conductivity, which was further confirmed by impedance spectroscopy and surface analysis by XPS.     

Remote sensing of suspended sediments and shallow coastal waters

Ocean color sensors were designed mainly for remote sensing of chlorophyll concentrations over the clear open oceanic areas (Case 1 water) using channels between 0.4-0.86 /spl mu/m. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) launched on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Terra and Aqua spacecrafts is equipped with narrow channels located within a wider wavelength range between 0.4-2.5 /spl mu/m for a variety of remote sensing applications. The wide spectral range can provide improved capabilities for remote sensing of the more complex and turbid coastal waters (Case 2 water) and for improved atmospheric corrections for ocean scenes. We describe an empirical algorithm that uses this wide spectral range to identify areas with suspended sediments in turbid waters and shallow waters with bottom reflections. The algorithm takes advantage of the strong water absorption at wavelengths longer than 1 /spl mu/m that does not allow illumination of sediments in the water or a shallow ocean floor. MODIS data acquired over the east coast of China, west coast of Africa, Arabian Sea, Mississippi Delta, and west coast of Florida are used.     

Pure mode versus mixed mode interfacing between analog circuits

The concepts of transmission error and mismatch factor ^–1 are introduced to evaluate the effect of impedance mismatch on the accuracy of broadband signal transmission between two feedback amplifiers. It is shown that, in comparison with the error introduced by the feedback amplifiers, becomes negligible for pure V.M. (voltage mode) or C.M. (current mode) signal transmission; in the mixed mode, in which a V.M. output circuit feeds a C.M. input circuit, or vice versa, may become significant. Computer simulations show that the pure mode also yields reduced T.H.D., improved bandwidth and improved transient response. It is also shown that a particular combination between the kind of feedback and the active circuit to which it is applied, termed enhancing combination, further increases the accuracy of signal transmission.1. The notation (OL) relates to the open-loop value of the parameter involved.2. It can be shown that rule 2 does not apply to a low-noise preamplifier.     

Maximum likelihood, least squares, and penalized least squares for PET

The EM algorithm is the basic approach used to maximize the log likelihood objective function for the reconstruction problem in positron emission tomography (PET). The EM algorithm is a scaled steepest ascent algorithm that elegantly handles the nonnegativity constraints of the problem. It is shown that the same scaled steepest descent algorithm can be applied to the least squares merit function, and that it can be accelerated using the conjugate gradient approach. The experiments suggest that one can cut the computation by about a factor of 3 by using this technique. The results are applied to various penalized least squares functions which might be used to produce a smoother image.     

An asymptotic solution for the diffraction by a discontinuity in curvature coupled with surface diffraction

An extension is developed for the asymptotic theory of electromagnetic diffraction by a discontinuity in curvature on a smooth convex perfectly-conducting surface. It covers the case where the rays incident on and diffracted from the discontinuity are nearly tangent to the surface or are creeping rays, so that surface diffraction is involved. This extension is restricted to those diffracted rays lying on the same side of the discontinuity as the incident ray; this includes backscatter but excludes forward scattering.