Housing subsidies and income distribution

While housing subsidy programmes directed through government budgets have become more highly focused on those in need, indirect subsidies operating through the taxation and financial systems have become greater during the inflationary period, and have generally been directed towards those with higher incomes. The Housing Subsidies Study identified several hundred housing assistance programmes in Australia, and after aggregating these to manageable proportions, estimated income distributions for the recipients of each programme.     

Modeling of Precipitation Phase Boundaries in Mixed Surfactant Systems Using an Improved Counterion Binding Model

Anionic surfactants, commonly used in household products and the detergency industry, tend to precipitate with divalent counterions in hard water. The unsightly soap scum thus formed also removes the surfactant from the cleaning action. The current research has improved prediction of the precipitation phase boundary for mixtures of surfactants in hard water in two ways: firstly, an accurate value of the solubility product (K _SP ) has been determined for the calcium salt of 4-octylbenzene sulfonate, and accurate temperature dependent K _SP values have been determined for the calcium salts of dodecyl sulfate and decyl sulfate; secondly, improvements in prediction of the precipitation phase boundary have been achieved using an improved model. The K _SP values of the decyl sulfate and dodecyl sulfate salts strongly increase with increasing temperature, with the shorter chain surfactant having significantly higher K _SP than its longer chain analogue. At 30?°C the K _SP of the 4-octylbenzenesulfonate salt is similar to that of the dodecyl sulfate salt, perhaps due to the similarity in the length of their hydrocarbon tails. A recent counterion binding model proposed by our research group and micellization models have been used to model the precipitation phase boundaries for both single anionic surfactant and binary mixed anionic surfactant systems, improving thermodynamic modeling of the precipitation phase boundary of single and binary mixed anionic surfactant systems. In particular, the improved model of counterion binding has allowed the model to predict the phase boundary accurately over a range of temperatures.     

A probability model of system downtime with implications for optimal warranty design

Traditional approaches toward modeling the availability of a system often do not formally take into account uncertainty over the parameter values of the model. Such models are then frequently criticized because the observed reliability of a system does not match that predicted by the model. This paper extends a recently published segregated failures model so that, rather than providing a single figure for the availability of a system, uncertainty over model parameter values is incorporated and a predictive probability distribution is given. This predictive distribution is generated in a practical way by displaying the uncertainties and dependencies of the parameters of the model through a Bayesian network (BN). Permitting uncertainty in the reliability model then allows the user to determine whether the predicted reliability was incorrect due to inherent variability in the system under study, or due to the use of an inappropriate model. Furthermore, it is demonstrated how the predictive distribution can be used when reliability predictions are employed within a formal decision‐theoretic framework. Use of the model is illustrated with the example of a high‐availability computer system with multiple recovery procedures. An BN is produced to display the relations between parameters of the model in this case and to generate a predictive probability distribution of the system's availability. This predictive distribution is then used to make two decisions under uncertainty concerning the offered warranty policies on the system: a qualitative decision and an optimization over a continuous decision space. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of recombination parameters in pn indium phosphide solar cells

This work, using a numerical code PC-1D, describes the effects of surface and bulk recombination on the performance of p⁺n indium phosphide solar cells. It is shown that surface recombination velocity and minority carrier diffusion lengths play a dominant role in controlling the efficiency of p⁺n cells. In order to have an acceptable series resistance, a p⁺n cell must have an emitter that is thicker than a n⁺p cell emitter. Consequently the performance of a p⁺n cell is more sensitive to the front surface recombination velocity. Improved surface and bulk recombination parameters can lead to cell efficiencies in excess of 24% AMO at 25°C.     

Anterior colporrhaphy reinforced with Marlex mesh for the treatment of cystoceles

The present study was carried out in order to examine the efficiency of selenium/vitamin E on the health status in the first eight weeks of life in Se-deficient neonate calves. The experiments were done with 54 calves from two farms. Animals with low selenium level p.n. (< 40 micrograms/l) were randomly classified alternatively to be treated (gr. I) or to serve as control (gr. II). The calves of group I were treated with 0.2 mg selenium and 60 mg vitamin E per kg body weight subcutaneously on the first and third day p.n.; they got another treatment with half of the dosage in the fourth week of life. Group II received a placebo (0.9% sterile NaCl-solution). Clinical and haematological examination brought following results: Group I showed a lower infection rate and the duration of infection (especially in the case of pneumonia) was shorter than in the controls. During two days, after initial selenium substitution, the GSH-Px-activity was clearly higher in the animals of group I. The amount of antibiotics and special diets per calf was lower in group I. In conclusion it can be said, that the application of selenium and vitamin E seemed to improve the status of health in the Se-deficient calves, although the results could not be assured statistically.     

Distributed feedback lasers in chiral media

The combined effects of chirality and gain (or loss) on wave propagation and coupling in periodic structures is investigated here. The focus is on distributed feedback (DFB) lasers in a transversely unbounded periodic slab with spatially modulated electromagnetic parameters. The analysis uses a coupled-mode approach employing a canonical physical model of chiral materials to predict the effects of modulated chirality admittance on DFB lasers. Results for DFB laser behavior in chiral media are compared and contrasted to that in achiral media. It is found that, under certain circumstances, the electric and magnetic field coupling, which is characteristic of chiral materials, results in a lower threshold gain for DFB lasers in media with a given index of refraction and characteristic impedance. It is also found that chiral index-coupled or gain-coupled DFB lasers exhibit the same spectral mode properties as achiral DFB lasers     

Comprehensive benefit of flood resources utilization through dynamic successive fuzzy evaluation model: A case study

Taking the flood resources utilization in Baicheng, Jilin during 2002–2007 as the research background, and based on the entropy weight and multi-level & multi-objective fuzzy optimization theory, this research established a multi-level & semi-constructive index system and dynamic successive evaluation model for comprehensive benefit evaluation of regional flood resources utilization. With the year 2002 as the base year, the analyzing results showed that there existed a close positive correlation between flo...     

METHODOLOGY CHOICE,COMPLEXITY TEXTURE,SELF-REFLECTION

Substantial efforts have been dedicated toward the development of systems methodologies for “problem solving,” with various research groups concentrating on particular approaches. Recently, however, there have been moves toward reconciling these varying approaches within one overall framework, thus cutting out “isolationism” and inevitable ensuing sniping. This paper provides an overview of three attempts to promote such openness and conciliation (in terms of theory, methodology, and ideology), draws them together, and then demonstrates the practical importance of a critical approach through a series of contrasting applications and by reflecting on ideas from the three approaches.     

Development of high‐strength fibers from aliphatic polyketones by melt spinning and drawing

We have investigated the formation of high‐strength, high‐modulus fibers from four aliphatic polyketone resins. One resin was a perfectly alternating copolymer of ethylene and carbon monoxide, while the other three were terpolymers containing up to 6 mol % propylene. The mechanical properties were measured as a function of processing conditions, and the structures of the filaments were characterized using birefringence, WAXS, SAXS, SEM, and thermal analysis. Fibers formed from all resins develop very high molecular orientations and a microfibrillar structure. Fibers having room temperature tenacities as high as 10 gpd (～1.1 GPa) were obtained. Tensile moduli reached values as high as 120 gpd (～13 GPa). The melting point of the fibers was primarily dependent on the composition of the resin, while the maximum strength and modulus were largely determined by the maximum draw ratio achieved. The maximum draw ratio achieved in the present experiments was greater for the terpolymers than for the copolymer. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 1794–1815, 2001