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Coach developers play a critical role in the development of coaches. However, coach developers themselves remain under-researched, in particular the socially mediated process of becoming a coach developer is poorly understood. Eleven coach developers working across Regional and National Sports Governing Bodies took part in a series of interviews and in situ observations over the course of 12 months. Engaging a reflexive thematic analysis, this paper focuses on the power relations that contour the transitions into coach developer roles. Specifically, the analysis depicts an identity-making process in which power is exerted through different sites and modalities that structure and regulate coach developers' practice and roles through shared discourses. In efforts to secure their positions and maintain legitimate identities, coach developers operated within an uncritical selective culture, which saw them wield, maintain, and enhance the power provided to them. Building on existing research, we examine the contested nature of what it means to be a coach developer, specifically showcasing the navigation of inherently unstable professional learning cultures and critiquing coach developer training. This work begins to address calls for the voices of coach developers in their research, while identifying the reproduction of a cultural orthodoxy, and the lack of effective in situ coach developer training. Implications from the research suggest that further support and development are required in the training of coach developers in situ, as well as the need for research to interrogate the language and discourse framing the role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Padlocks are often recovered archaeologically from enslaved African contexts in the Western Hemisphere, and prior research has suggested mundane interpretations for these utilitarian objects. However, padlocks are routinely used in many religiosities and belief systems throughout the African continent as supernatural objects, and a key metaphor in "locking down" evil, bodily functions, or individuals' lives. An exploration of padlocks as potential supernatural objects is conducted within enslaved plantation contexts in the American South and Mid Atlantic, and compared to key African cultures of the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological recovery of a padlock from an eighteenth- or nineteenth-acentury domestic site seems ordinary, offering mundane interpretations for a prosaic piece of material culture. However, a lock found in association with a slave cabin is more evocative, suggesting confinement, or alternatively, a negotiated social relationship, conditional privacy, and limited freedoms within enslavement. A survey of the archaeological literature is undertaken to determine the pervasiveness of these locks in enslaved contexts, and then these data are contextualized and interpreted using historical accounts, the WPA ex-slave narratives, and the tenets of American jurisprudence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composite beam theory was previously developed to establish an analytical solution for determining the transfer length of prestressed fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) tendons in pretensioned concrete members. In the present study, a novel finite element (FE) modeling approach is proposed to provide further verification of the developed analytical method. The present FE model takes into account the friction coefficients obtained from pull-out tests on the FRP tendons and prestressed concrete members. Convergence analysis of two numerical simulations with different mesh densities is carried out as well. The results demonstrated that the transfer length predicted by the fine FE model with a friction coefficient of α   =   0.3 for high pretension is in good agreement with the measured values and the analytical solutions. The consistency between the analytical solution and FE simulation not only further proves the reliability of composite beam theory but also demonstrates the importance of the bond–slip relationship in predicting the transfer length of pretensioned concrete members prestressed with FRP tendons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation into the inspection capabilities of in-field advanced ultrasound detection for use on ultra-thick (20 to 100 mm) glass fibre-reinforced polyester composites is presented. Plates were manufactured using custom moulding techniques, such that delamination flaws were created at calibrated depths. The full matrix capture technique with an on-board total focussing method was used to detect flaws scanned by a 0.5 MHz linear array probe. Flaw through-thickness dimensions were altered to assess the threshold for crack face separation at which delaminations could be identified. Furthermore, part thickness and in-plane flaw dimensions were varied to identify the inspection capability limitations of advanced ultrasonics for thick composites. The results presented in this study demonstrate an inverse relationship between the ability to find delaminations and plate thicknesses, with inspections successful at depths up to 74 mm. When the delamination thickness exhibited surface-to-surface contact, the inspection capability was reduced to 35 mm. There was an exponential decay relationship between the accuracy of the flaw depth measurement and plate thickness, likely due to the necessity of low probe frequencies. The effective inspection depth was determined to be in the range of 1 to 20 times the wavelength. It is speculated that the accuracy of measurements could be improved using probes with novel coupling solutions, and detectors with optimised signal processing/filtration algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report two children with molecularly confirmed mitochondrial disease mimicking Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD). The first patient presented at the age of 15 months with acute deterioration following a pyrexial illness with clinical features localising to the brainstem and spinal cord. The second patient presented at 5 years with acute bilateral visual loss. In both cases, MOG and AQP4 antibodies were negative. Both patients died within a year of symptoms onset from respiratory failure. Arriving at an early genetic diagnosis is important for redirection of care and avoiding potentially harmful immunosuppressant therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight low-profile arch corrugated metal culverts were recently annexed by the city of Anniston, Alabama. These structures are nearly 80 years old and have never been load rated. To satisfy federal requirements, load rating of the culverts was required. Attempts to rate these structures using methods developed by the corrugated steel pipe industry implied that the culverts require posting due to low soil cover, without any consideration for structural integrity. Guidance for load rating of steel and concrete bridges and cast-in-place concrete culverts is well established, while the guidance for corrugated metal culvert structures is limited. The objective of this study was to examine the contemporary practice of load rating corrugated metal culverts with shallow cover and use diagnostic load testing to demonstrate the capacity and overcome the shortfall of the current rating methods. To verify the load-carrying capacity of these structures and improve the load rating, diagnostic load tests were therefore carried out to assess the load response of two of the culverts using a 381.3-kN (85.7-kip) test truck. The load testing program featured a very simple instrumentation package that was easy to install, recover, and reuse. The instrumentation plan consisted of displacement transducers and electrical resistance strain gauges. Load, displacement, and strain data collected in the field load tests were analyzed, which showed satisfactory performance with a maximum deflection of less than 0.1% of the span length and a maximum strain that corresponds to approximately 24% of the estimated yield stress. Following standard procedures, the test response data were used to improve the analytically derived rating factors, and challenges associated with the approach are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the nominal strength of modern steel bridges that involve increasingly slender elements has been well defined through extensive research and testing, fatigue concerns have not been thoroughly investigated. The out-of-plane displacements of slender webs result in secondary bending stresses at the web boundaries connections, i.e., flange and stiffeners. The so-called "web breathing" phenomenon potentially leads to fatigue crack initiation at the web boundary connections and has been studied for straight girders. Curved steel girders experience large deflection and rotations during construction and service that can intensify the web breathing effect. In addition, the curvature-induced lateral forces pushing and pulling slender curved webs develop mechanisms that can lead to critical web boundary stresses that do not typically occur in straight bridges. This paper aims to define the slender web behavior of composite curved steel bridges essential for the fatigue limit state. It focuses on capturing the distortion-induced web stresses from the construction stage through service using 3D finite element analyses. An advanced technique was applied to simulate the non-composite and composite stages to quantify the continuous web stress development due to geometric nonlinearities. Three different web panels under high shear, high moment, and high shear-moment combination were studied. The stress ranges due to the AASHTO fatigue truck is presented for composite bridges with varying curvature radii. The mechanism involved in curved bridges is defined and the stress magnitudes are compared to that of equivalent straight bridges to understand the role of curvature in intensifying the critical fatigue stress ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When subjected to blast loading, brittle building components such as glass and masonry tend to break into fragments that are propelled at hazardous high velocities. There has been copious research on defining the design resistance of structures subjected to extreme dynamic loading, but research that relates the loading characteristics to fragmentation velocity and lethality is lacking in some areas. A review of research concerning fragmentation of brittle materials in dynamic loading scenarios, concentrating on far-field blast loading, was conducted. Fragmentation principles and their application in, analytical, statistical, numerical, and other varied modeling approaches were examined. Special attention was given to research evaluating fragment generation and velocity calculation above the level required for design of structural members and suitable for occupant hazard calculation. By surveying fragmentation research key factors that affect fragmentation behavior, velocity, and hazard across modeling efforts are developed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large composite structures manufactured out-of-autoclave require the assembly and bonding of multiple parts. A one-shot cure manufacturing method is demonstrated using powder epoxy. Lap shear plates were manufactured from powder epoxy and glass fiber-reinforced plastic with four different bonding cases were assessed: secondary bonding using standard adhesive film, secondary bonding using powder epoxy, co-curing, and co-curing plus a novel Z-pinning method. This work investigates the lap shear strength of the four cases in accordance with ISO 4587:2003. Damage mechanisms and fracture behavior were explored using digital image correlation (DIC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. VTFA400 adhesive had a load at break 24.8% lower than secondary bonding using powder epoxy. Co-curing increased the load at break by 7.8% compared to powder epoxy secondary bonding, with the co-cured and pinned joint resulting in a 45.4% increase. In the co-cured and co-cured plus pinned cases, DIC indicated premature failure due to resin spew. SEM indicated shear failure of resin areas and a large amount of fiber pullout in both these cases, with pinning delaying fracture phenomena resulting in increased lap joint strength. This highlights the potential of powder epoxy for the co-curing of large composite structures out-of-autoclave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The favourable properties of tungsten borides for shielding the central high temperature superconductor (HTS) core of a spherical tokamak fusion power plant are modelled using the MCNP code. The objectives are to minimize the power deposition into the cooled HTS core, and to keep HTS radiation damage to acceptable levels by limiting the neutron and gamma fluxes. The shield materials compared are W2B, WB, W2B5 and WB4 along with a reactively sintered boride B0.329C0.074Cr0.024Fe0.274W0.299, monolithic W and WC. Five shield thicknesses between 253 and 670 mm were considered, corresponding to plasma major radii between 1400 and 2200 mm. W2B5 gave the most favourable results with a factor of ∼10 or greater reduction in neutron flux and gamma energy deposition as compared to monolithic W. These results are compared with layered water-cooled shields, giving the result that the monolithic shields, with moderating boron, gave comparable neutron flux and power deposition, and (in the case of W2B5) even better performance. Good performance without water-coolant has advantages from a reactor safety perspective due to the risks associated with radio-activation of oxygen. 10B isotope concentrations between 0% and 100% are considered for the boride shields. The naturally occurring 20% fraction gave much lower energy depositions than the 0% fraction, but the improvement largely saturated beyond 40%. Thermophysical properties of the candidate materials are discussed, in particular the thermal strain. To our knowledge, the performance of W2B5 is unrivalled by other monolithic shielding materials. This is partly as its trigonal crystal structure gives it higher atomic density compared with other borides. It is also suggested that its high performance depends on it having just high enough 10B content to maintain a constant neutron energy spectrum across the shield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the independent, relative, and additive associations between both parent and peer role models and longitudinal patterns of smoking across adolescence and early adulthood. An analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 10,166) reveals at least four distinct trajectories of smoking across ages 13 to 35 years: (a) nonsmokers, (b) late peak (almost 10 cigarettes per day around age 30), (c) an early peak group that reached roughly 10 cigarettes per day around age 20 and declined, and (d) a high group that increased during adolescence and early adulthood and then remained high. Parent and peer smoking behaviors were associated with trajectory group membership net of controls for sociodemographic characteristics, parental socioeconomic status (SES), parent–child relations, and the availability of cigarettes in the family home. Parents and peers appear to have at least some independent associations net of each other, but their combined effects are powerful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on American religion, resulting in a dearth of data on religion and spirituality (R/S) in understudied racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, epidemiological studies have increasingly diversified their racial and ethnic representation, but have collected few R/S measures to date. With a particular focus on American Indian and South Asian women (in addition to Blacks, Hispanic/Latinas, and white women), this study introduces a new effort among religion and epidemiology researchers, the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health. This multicohort study provides some of the first estimates of R/S beliefs and practices among American Indians and U.S. South Asians, and offers new insight into salient beliefs and practices of diverse racial/ethnic and religious communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a neural architecture for navigation in novel environments. Our proposed architecture learns to map from first-person views and plans a sequence of actions towards goals in the environment. The Cognitive Mapper and Planner (CMP) is based on two key ideas: (a) a unified joint architecture for mapping and planning, such that the mapping is driven by the needs of the task, and (b) a spatial memory with the ability to plan given an incomplete set of observations about the world. CMP constructs a top-down belief map of the world and applies a differentiable neural net planner to produce the next action at each time step. The accumulated belief of the world enables the agent to track visited regions of the environment. We train and test CMP on navigation problems in simulation environments derived from scans of real world buildings. Our experiments demonstrate that CMP outperforms alternate learning-based architectures, as well as, classical mapping and path planning approaches in many cases. Furthermore, it naturally extends to semantically specified goals, such as "going to a chair". We also deploy CMP on physical robots in indoor environments, where it achieves reasonable performance, even though it is trained entirely in simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Existing literature suggests that religious organizations provide institutional resources and civic skills that facilitate collective action. This study expands this effort by investigating the role of specific religious practices on forms of political engagement and comparing them with secular equivalents. Methods: Data used are from Wave IV of the Baylor Religion Survey (n = 1,572) Pearson correlations to explore bivariate relationships and then we present binary logistic regression models for predicting protest engagement. Results: Results indicate participation in community‐based religious activities, such as prayer groups or Bible studies, is a robust predictor of traditional means of political participation such as participating in a voter registration drive. The religiously unaffiliated are more likely to engage in protest and other distinct political activities. Conclusion: We argue that these divergent processes of political socialization generate two opposite forms of "political habitus" in U.S. culture, and contribute significantly to a historically polarized electorate. These findings also provide an inferential technique for predicting mobilization and/or political engagement style based on religious markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hyperkalemia is common in patients with heart failure or chronic kidney disease, particularly those taking renin‐angiotensin‐aldosterone system inhibitors, and can cause arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The most widely used treatment, sodium polystyrene sulfonate (SPS), limits gastrointestinal potassium absorption, but has poor palatability. RDX7675 (RDX227675) is the calcium salt of a reengineered polystyrene sulfonate‐based resin with improved palatability over SPS. The pharmacodynamic effects and safety of RDX7675 were assessed in a phase 1, single‐center, randomized, active‐controlled study. Healthy volunteers received nominal active doses of RDX7675 4.6 g twice a day (BID), 4.6 g 3 times a day (TID), 6.9 g BID, 13.7 g daily (QD), 9.2 g TID, or 13.7 g BID (n = 12 each), or equivalent doses of SPS (n = 3 each), for 4 days. RDX7675 dosing increased stool potassium excretion and decreased urinary potassium excretion from baseline. Stool potassium excretion increased by up to 1481 mg/day with RDX7675 (6.9 g BID), and urinary potassium excretion decreased by up to 939 mg/day (13.7 g BID). Similar levels of potassium excretion were observed using QD, BID, or TID dosing of a 13.7 g total daily RDX7675 dose. Few adverse events were reported. In conclusion, repeated oral dosing with RDX7675 over 4 days reduced potassium absorption in healthy volunteers; the results support QD dosing of RDX7675 in future clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hyperkalemia is a common complication in patients with heart failure or chronic kidney disease, particularly those who are taking inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. RDX7675, the calcium salt of a reengineered polystyrene sulfonate-based resin, is a potassium binder that is being investigated as a novel treatment for hyperkalemia. This study evaluated the pharmacodynamic effects of RDX7675 in mice, compared to 2 current treatments, sodium polystyrene sulfonate (SPS) and patiromer.Methods: Seven groups of 8 male CD-1 mice were given either standard chow (controls) or standard chow containing 4.0% or 6.6% active moiety of RDX7675, patiromer, or SPS for 72 hours. Stool and urine were collected over the final 24 hours of treatment for ion excretion analyses.Results: RDX7675 increased stool potassium (mean 24-hour excretion: 4.0%, 9.19 mg; 6.6%, 18.11 mg; both P < .0001) compared with controls (4.47 mg) and decreased urinary potassium (mean 24-hour excretion: 4.0%, 12.05 mg, P < .001; 6.6%, 6.68 mg, P < .0001; vs controls, 20.38 mg). The potassium-binding capacity of RDX7675 (stool potassium/gram of resin: 4.0%, 1.14 mEq/g; 6.6%, 1.32 mEq/g) was greater (all P < .0001) than for patiromer (4.0%, 0.63 mEq/g; 6.6%, 0.48 mEq/g) or SPS (4.0%, 0.73 mEq/g; 6.6% 0.55 mEq/g). RDX7675 and patiromer decreased urinary sodium (mean 24-hour excretion: 0.07-1.38 mg; all P < .001) compared to controls (5.01 mg). In contrast, SPS increased urinary sodium excretion (4.0%, 13.31 mg; 6.6%, 17.60 mg; both P < .0001) compared to controls.Conclusions: RDX7675 reduced intestinal potassium absorption and had a greater potassium-binding capacity than patiromer or SPS in mice. The calcium-based resins RDX7675 and patiromer reduced intestinal sodium absorption, unlike sodium-based SPS. These results support further studies in humans to confirm the potential of RDX7675 for the treatment of patients with hyperkalemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Urinary dopamine, homovanillic acid and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid are established tests for diagnosis and monitoring of neuroblastic disease. We compared the diagnostic performance of total urinary 3-methoxytyramine, the O-methylated product of dopamine, to these three established tumour markers. Methods Urinary 3-methoxytyramine, dopamine, homovanillic acid and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymandelic acid were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection on consecutive urine samples from histologically proven neuroblastic patients and controls. Patients with neuroblastic disease were further classified as untreated, advancing, residual or absent disease based on clinical and radiological criteria. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to compare the diagnostic performance of the four tumour markers. Results Urinary 3-methoxytyramine was well correlated with established tumour markers and its concentration correlated with disease activity. It was the most commonly elevated tumour marker in neuroblastic disease and showed similar sensitivity to dopamine and homovanillic acid. The diagnostic utility of urinary 3-methoxytyramine as measured by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was similar to dopamine and homovanillic acid. Conclusion Our results support the use of urinary 3-methoxytyramine as a tumour marker in the diagnosis and the monitoring of neuroblastoma disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avoidance of apoptosis is critical for the development and sustained growth of tumours. The pro-survival protein myeloid cell leukemia 1 (MCL1) is overexpressed in many cancers, but the development of small molecules targeting this protein that are amenable for clinical testing has been challenging. Here we describe S63845, a small molecule that specifically binds with high affinity to the BH3-binding groove of MCL1. Our mechanistic studies demonstrate that S63845 potently kills MCL1-dependent cancer cells, including multiple myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma cells, by activating the BAX/BAK-dependent mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. In vivo, S63845 shows potent anti-tumour activity with an acceptable safety margin as a single agent in several cancers. Moreover, MCL1 inhibition, either alone or in combination with other anti-cancer drugs, proved effective against several solid cancer-derived cell lines. These results point towards MCL1 as a target for the treatment of a wide range of tumours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We focus on two aspects of the links between world commodity prices and retail food price inflation: first, the effects of exchange rates and other input costs, and second; the effects of the duration of shocks on world commodity markets, not just the magnitude of price spikes (the latter often commanding most attention). The UK offers a natural and rather unexplored setting for the analysis. Applying time series methods to a sample of 259 monthly observations over the 1990(9)-2012(3) period we find substantial and significant long-term partial elasticities for domestic food price inflation with respect to world food commodity prices, the exchange rate and oil prices (the latter indirectly via a relationship with world food commodity prices). Domestic demand pressures and food chain costs are found to be less substantial and significant over our data period. Interactions between the main driving variables in the system tend to moderate rather than exacerbate these partial effects. Furthermore, the persistence of shocks to these variables markedly affects their effects on domestic food prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies time series modeling methods to paleoclimate series for temperature, ice volume, and atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CH4. These series, inferred from Antarctic ice and ocean cores, are well known to move together in the transitions between glacial and interglacial periods, but the dynamic relationship between the series is open to question. A further unresolved issue is the role of Milankovitch theory, in which the glacial/interglacial cycles are correlated with orbital variations. We perform tests for Granger causality in the context of a vector autoregression model. Previous work with climate series has assumed nonstationarity and adopted a cointegration approach, but in a range of tests, we find no evidence of integrated behavior. We use conventional autoregressive methodology while allowing for conditional heteroscedasticity in the residuals, associated with the transitional periods. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intentional and accidental impulsive loads from high-explosive detonations and munitions can result in significant damage to both civil and military facilities. One demand scenario of particular concern occurs during close-in detonation of high explosives. Even for resilient construction methods, such as reinforced concrete walls, these demands can produce undesirable effects including localized spall and breach. A popular form of exterior cladding in the United States consists of precast concrete insulated wall panels. These systems include an exterior concrete wythe, foam insulation layer, and an interior concrete wythe. While insulated wall panels are used to provide an energy-efficient building envelope, the insulation layer can provide a means of mitigating spall and breach of the panel. Thus, the performance of insulated wall panels subject to close-in blast demands is investigated. Both numerical simulations and experimental tests are carried out in order to assess the structural response of this wall system to close-in explosions. The results indicate that the use of insulated concrete wall panels provides enhanced resistance to spall and breach. This improvement is due to the sacrificial performance of the exterior wythe of the concrete panel and the increased standoff distance between the protected face and the threat provided by the insulation layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovations in the U.S. construction and precast concrete manufacturing industries have resulted in efficient methods of constructing multistory buildings that are entirely supported by precast concrete walls (i.e., no structural frame). Simultaneously, the U.S. government has mandated overarching requirements and incentives that promote energy efficiency in all government buildings and facilities. The combination of construction efficiencies and relatively recent requirements for improving energy efficiency makes total precast construction an attractive option for constructing government, diplomatic and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) buildings and facilities. However, to design load bearing wall panels for DoD blast response criteria, engineers need a relatively simple method for analyzing dynamic response under combined lateral and axial load effects. This paper presents methods for incorporating the P-delta and P-M interaction effects into the single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) framework that is widely used for blast analysis and design, and evaluates the developed methods using high-fidelity nonlinear static and explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element models of load-bearing precast panels. The work demonstrates that currently used methods that do not properly consider the effects of axial loads on resistance may be grossly over conservative, and demonstrates that the easily-implemented methods developed through this research provide accurate results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of full-scale blast load testing of partially grouted single-wythe and multiwythe insulated masonry walls. Three design sections were evaluated, as follows: (1) a 150-mm (6-in.) standard block masonry wall reinforced with 10-mm (No. 3) rebar at 80-cm (32-in.) maximum spacing, (2) a 200-mm (8-in.) standard block masonry wall reinforced with 13-mm (No. 4) rebar at 122-cm (48-in.) maximum spacing, and (3) a cavity wall consisting of 200-mm (8-in.) standard reinforced concrete masonry unit (CMU) wythe plus a 102-cm (4-in.) clay facing brick veneer with 52-mm (2-in.) thick extruded polystyrene rigid board insulation and a 25-mm (1-in.) air gap between the structural wythe and the veneer. Each test panel was 285 cm (112 in.), seven blocks, in width x 345 cm (136 in.), 17 courses, in height. Only the cells containing reinforcement were grouted. Three blast load experiments were conducted; each experiment tested one each of the three test panel designs. The loading varied significantly between each of the three experiments. Dynamic displacement at several locations through the height (quarter points) of each panel was recorded. The reflected pressures, free field pressures, and internal pressures were recorded at several locations. Interior and exterior videography was also used to record the response. A detailed posttest forensic evaluation was conducted to determine predominant failure mechanisms. The measured transient deflection responses were then compared to analytical responses calculated using the static resistance functions generated from the test results presented in the companion paper as well as by typical blast design methodologies. The comparisons demonstrated that the design resistances used in blast analysis single degree of freedom methodology are conservative. However, the blast testing demonstrated that potentially dangerous modes of localized failure between the grouted cells can occur at scaled distances that are significantly greater than scaled distances that would be assumed to cause breaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of large-deflection resistance testing of partially grouted single-wythe and multiwythe insulated masonry walls. Three design sections were evaluated under uniform pressure in a vacuum chamber test, as follows: (1) 150-mm (6-in.) standard block masonry wall reinforced with 10-mm (No. 3) rebar at 80-cm (32-in.) maximum spacing; (2) 200-mm (8-in.) standard block masonry wall reinforced with 13-mm (No. 4) rebar at 120-cm (48-in.) maximum spacing; and (3) a cavity wall consisting of 200-mm (8-in.) standard reinforced concrete masonry unit (CMU) wythe, a 100-mm (4-in.) clay facing brick veneer with 50-mm (2-in.)-thick extruded polystyrene rigid board insulation, and a 25-mm (1-in.) air gap between the structural wythe and the veneer. Each test panel was 3.5-mð136-in:Þwide x 3.0-mð116-in:Þ high with only the cells containing reinforcement grouted. Displacement at several locations through the height and width of each panel were recorded as each test panel was loaded to collapse. Interior and exterior videography was also used to record the progression of cracking and failure. The failure mechanisms demonstrated the expected tension cracking due to flexure and a ductile flexural response was observed with rotations up to approximately 20°. The resistance function results were plotted and assessed against the resistance definitions assumed by commonly used blast design methodologies, and it was demonstrated that the flexural design resistances used in blast analysis single degree of freedom methodology are conservative. Furthermore, since the 200-mm (8-in.) thick single-wythe wall and the veneer wall had the same structural wythe designs, the stabilizing effects provided by the clay brick veneer and cavity wall components was demonstrated. The resistances and failure modes will subsequently be compared in the companion paper against those encountered in full-scale blast tests involving the same masonry panel designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a new test of true versus spurious long memory, based on log-periodogram estimation of the long memory parameter using skip-sampled data. A correction factor is derived to overcome the bias in this estimator due to aliasing. The procedure is designed to be used in the context of a conventional test of significance of the long memory parameter, and a composite test procedure is described that has the properties of known asymptotic size and consistency. The test is implemented using the bootstrap, with the distribution under the null hypothesis being approximated using a dependent-sample bootstrap technique to approximate short-run dependence following fractional differencing. The properties of the test are investigated in a set of Monte Carlo experiments. The procedure is illustrated by applications to exchange rate volatility and dividend growth series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists often attempt to link artifacts recovered from enslaved plantation contexts to African-derived spiritual belief systems. Recent excavations within the slave cabins of Kingsley Plantation have revealed many artifacts that potentially held religious significance for the first-generation enslaved Africans who lived there between 1814 and 1839, the most significant of which was an intact chicken sacrifice buried in a slave cabin floor. The types of spiritual acts that involve animal sacrifice within several historic and modern cultures of West and Central Africa are documented and critically evaluated, and an interpretation is given regarding the example from Kingsley Plantation within its New World context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]