The impracticalities of R. B. Stuart's practical multicultural competencies.

Comment in response to Stuart's recent article (see record 2004-10365-001) on multicultural competence. This comment includes three distinct voices. One voice is of a Brazilian woman, living in the United States, who experienced a visceral reaction to the article. The second voice is from a European American man who appreciates Stuart's efforts but is troubled by a disguised ideology that possibly objectifies culture and ignores sociopolitical realities. The third voice is from an Italian-Catholic-Austrian-Jewish man who can see himself and his clinical psychology training in what he considers Stuart's Western/White-male scientific multicultural metatheory. To the three of us, the practical suggestions Stuart offered seem useful, on the surface. However, we fear that when put into practice, these suggestions could not only be culturally insensitive, but in extreme cases might undermine some of the important progress made in the field of multicultural psychology over the past 2 decades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coupled analysis of bifurcation and shear band in saturated soils

The focus of this study is the analysis of the onset of a shear band in saturated soils under biaxial stress conditions taking into account bifurcation in both pore pressure and soil skeleton. By considering the saturated soil as a two-phase medium, the inhomogeneous displacement and pore pressure fields are assumed to be nonlinear and satisfy the continuity conditions of displacements, displacement gradients and excess pore pressure on the boundaries of the band. It is shown that bifurcation may take place in loose, contractive soils in the form of two-phase diffuse mode or localized mode of soil skeleton deformation. For low permeability saturated soils, the onset of a shear band occurs at peak friction, with the shear band parallel to Coulomb's failure plane. Numerical examples using a simple stress–strain model are given to demonstrate the occurrence of the onset of a shear band and its inclination, as a function of the void ratio and the initial consolidation pressure.     

Evolution of silicon bulk lifetime during III–V‐on‐Si multijunction solar cell epitaxial growth

The evolution of Si bulk minority carrier lifetime during the heteroepitaxial growth of III–V on Si multijunction solar cell structures via metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) has been analyzed. In particular, the impact on Si lifetime resulting from the four distinct phases within the overall MOCVD‐based III–V/Si growth process were studied: (1) the Si homoepitaxial emitter/cap layer; (2) GaP heteroepitaxial nucleation; (3) bulk GaP film growth; and (4) thick GaAs_yP_1‐y compositionally graded metamorphic buffer growth. During Phase 1 (Si homoepitaxy), an approximately two order of magnitude reduction in the Si minority carrier lifetime was observed, from about 450 to ≤1 µs. However, following the GaP nucleation (Phase 2) and thicker film (Phase 3) growths, the lifetime was found to increase by about an order of magnitude. The thick GaAs_yP_1‐y graded buffer was then found to provide further recovery back to around the initial starting value. The most likely general mechanism behind the observed lifetime evolution is as follows: lifetime degradation during Si homoepitaxy because of the formation of thermally induced defects within the Si bulk, with subsequent lifetime recovery due to passivation by fast‐diffusing atomic hydrogen coming from precursor pyrolysis, especially the group‐V hydrides (PH₃, AsH₃), during the III–V growth. These results indicate that the MOCVD growth methodology used to create these target III–V/Si solar cell structures has a substantial and dynamic impact on the minority carrier lifetime within the Si substrate. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photovoltaic module reliability model based on field degradation studies

Crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules are often stated as being the most reliable element in PV systems. This presumable high reliability is reflected by their long power warranty periods. In agreement with these long warranty times, PV modules have a very low total number of returns, the exceptions usually being the result of catastrophic failures. Up to now, failures resulting from degradation are not typically taken into consideration because of the difficulties in measuring the power of an individual module in a system. However, lasting recent years PV systems are changing from small isolated systems to large grid‐connected power stations. In this new scenario, customers will become more sensitive to power losses and the need for a reliability model based on degradation may become of utmost importance. In this paper, a PV module reliability model based on degradation studies is presented. The main analytical functions of reliability engineering are evaluated using this model and applied to a practical case, based on state‐of‐the‐art parameters of crystalline silicon PV technology. Relevant and defensible power warranties and other reliability data are obtained with this model based on measured degradation rates and time‐dependent power variability. In the derivation of the model some assumptions are made about the future behaviour of the products—i.e. linear degradation rates—although the approach can be used for other assumed functional profiles as well. The method documented in this paper explicitly shows manufacturers how to make reasonable and sensible warranty projections. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prevalence of pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis in wild boars in Switzerland

Between October 2007 and March 2008, 153 wild boars shot in the Canton of Geneva in Switzerland were sampled. Fifty-one percent of the animals were males and 49% were females. The age of most (81%) animals varied between 6 months and 2 years. Prevalence of enteropathogenic Yersinia in tonsils and faeces was studied using culture and PCR methods and in tissue fluid of tonsils using an ELISA system. Prevalence of anti-Yersinia antibodies in tissue fluid was 65%. Detection rate of enteropathogenic Yersinia in tonsils of 153 wild boars by real-time PCR was 44%. Ail-positive Yersinia enterocolitica and inv-positive Yersinia pseudotuberculosis were detected in 35 and 20% of the animals, respectively. Both species were detected in 10% of the animals. Isolation rate of enteropathogenic Yersinia was low; ail-positive Y. enterocolitica and inv-positive Y. pseudotuberculosis were found in 9 and 3% of the animals, respectively. Prevalence was shown to be significantly higher in tonsils than in faeces. Furthermore, females were more commonly positive than males. This study shows that the prevalence of enteropathogenic Yersinia is high and both enteropathogenic Y. enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis are common findings in tonsils of wild boars in Switzerland.     

Occupational allergic disease in cereal workers by stored grain pests

This review paper explored the concepts of risk assessment and management in relation to 'serious' violence by individuals with mental disorder. The paper highlighted the political context in which concern over serious violence by those with mental disorder is increasing. Government guidance on risk assessment was considered and identified as having an actuarial bias. Correlational studies, which provide actuarial indicators of risk, were explored and a picture was developed that demonstrated the difficulty of determining risk of violence to others simply on the basis of psychiatric symptomatology. The literature led to a conclusion that risk assessment for violence is an inexact science, and that actuarial indicators need to be supported by structured thorough clinical investigation. Legal concerns around the assessment and management of risk were also explored. The Health and Safety Executive model for risk management was explored in relation to the findings of the risk-assessment literature and the recommendations of reports into serious violent incidents. The model was shown to have potential utility in providing a legally sound framework for the assessment and management of risk of violence in mental disorder.     

Evaluation of remote sensing-based active fire datasets in Indonesia

Eight different fire datasets for Indonesia were compared with each other and to fine spatial resolution burnscar maps. Results show that each dataset detects different fires. More than two-thirds of the fires detected by one dataset are not detected by any other dataset. None of the datasets detect fires in all test areas. Fire regime, satellite sensor characteristics and fire detection algorithms all influence which fires are detected. Fire datasets were not complementing each other as they all had commission as well as omission errors.     

Design issues of BAW employment in 3D integrated sensor nodes

In the field of wireless sensor node design a wide range of new potentials are opened by means of emerging 3D integration technologies. These technologies enable the design of highly integrated sensor nodes, but the designers face novel challenges, which specialized communications engineers are not familiar with. This work presents an advanced direct tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) with an overall size below 1 cm³ applying through silicon vias (TSV) and points out two selected design issues arising due to this high level of integration. At first design issues caused by temperature gradients within the 3D integrated chip stack are presented. Multi physics simulations show that a systematical temperature measurement error is introduced by self heating, which would affect the communication performance if unconsidered. Furthermore the radio frequency (RF) characteristics of TSVs, focusing on their electrical efficiency, are investigated. In particular the behavior of TSVs for connecting a bulk acoustic wave resonator with an impedance of 2 kΩ at 2.1 GHz is evaluated in detail.