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To determine the role of communication channels, particularly mass media, in the socialization of foreign college students, a study was devised whereby foreign students from three central Illinois universities responded to a 27-item questionniare on American values. The questionnaire called for agree/disagree responses on such topics as the individual's perception of American values, channels of mass and interpersonal communication, credible sources of information, and social pressures (if any) that influenced conformity to American values. Analysis of the questionnaire data indicated the following: mass media, particularly television and books, played a significant role in foreign students' perceptions of American values; foreign students who regarded their friends as credible sources of information perceived American values more accurately; television (a mass media channel) and teachers (an interpersonal channel) were the major internalizing forces; and direct contact with American friends contributed to a positive image of America, while isolation from American contacts resulted in negative evaluations of the country. (MAI)

As smallholders in the global South engage in new ways with agricultural markets, they change their farming strategies and use of agricultural inputs. In many locales, heavy use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides gives state authorities figurative headaches and farmers actual health hazards and soil degradation. It has been argued that agricultural commercialization and urbanization generate metabolic rifts--gaps in nutrient cycling that impoverish soils and accumulate wastes. Replacement of organic with synthetic inputs is central to this dynamic. We join metabolic rift theory with livelihood analysis to examine how varying livelihood strategies differentiate input use in an area of southwest China where farming is partially commercialized. We draw on household survey data to identify five household clusters with distinct on-farm activity patterns. Regression analyses show that these farming strategies mediate effects of household and community attributes on use of synthetic fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, and organic manure fertilizer. Strategies associated with diverse on-farm crop rotations are associated with greater use of manure. Emergent tree-borne crops are associated with greater pesticide use, but new high-elevation cash crops are linked to less use of both synthetic and organic inputs. These variations have gendered impacts: women's work around compost fertilizer gives way to male-dominated synthetic input management. Our theoretical synthesis and empirical results enrich both livelihoods and metabolic rift scholarship by showing how livelihood strategies mediate political economic forces, generating heterogeneous input use. This study demonstrates the uneven processes through which metabolic rifts tear open and the necessity for soil enhancement efforts to address farmers' variegated practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) is an important segment of the emerging wearables ecosystem. Systems/devices in e-textiles include multifunctional fibers and textiles with electronic capabilities that range from weapon systems to everyday textiles. The interest and growth in wearables and soft electronics have synergistically ushered in an entirely new area of research and commercialization of e-textile products. The underlying science and technology of e-textiles are intertwined with many new and emerging fields such as nanotechnology, biomimetics, etc. In this presentation, the general area of e-textiles will be introduced in the context of the fast exploding wearable ecosystem. The opportunities and challenges associated with these developments will be discussed. The subsequent discussion will focus on the continuing effort at the SMARTextiles laboratory at N.C. State University to seamlessly integrate electronic functionalities directly into fibers and textiles to develop electrical devices such as sensors and actuators. In one of our ongoing research, woven fabrics made of bicomponent sensory fibers have been used to detect pressure, humidity, and wetness [1,2]. In another such effort, fully-textile seam-line sensors capable of capacitive sensing are being investigated as sensors [3,4]. The simple sensor design using conventional fabrication techniques resulted in practical and scalable methods of producing textile-based sensory arrays. In addition to sensors, we are exploring the movement and morphing in biological systems to develop advanced flexible actuators [5,6]. Our studies include the snap-through instabilities leading to rapid closure of the Venus flytrap's leaves and the ballistic tongue projection of the chameleon, attributed to direct mechanical energy transformation by stretching elastic tissues in advance of rapid projection. We have developed a bistable allpolymer laminate containing dielectric elastomers, which double as both structural and active materials. The electrical actuation of bistable structures obviates the need for continuous application of electric field to sustain their shape. The experimental results are qualitatively consistent with our theoretical analyses. We are currently exploring similar fiber-based structures for textile applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation of natural resources has become a necessity in today's world, especially in the new technology. In the automotive industry, maximum energy is lost during deceleration or braking. This problem has been resolved with the introduction of regenerative braking. It is an approach to recover or restore the energy lost while braking. Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) is a type of regenerative braking system which has different approaches to store and reuse the lost energy. This paper mainly highlights the different ways of recovering energy using flywheel, batteries or super capacitors, hydraulic or hydro-electric actuators. It also gives an overview of what system is preferred where and why. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different electronic stability control (ESC) techniques for electric vehicles with four in-wheel electric motors have been investigated to find the most suitable method. An analysis of differential braking, steer-by-wire and differential torque based ESC has been undertaken based on the required resources complexity and performance of the systems in a vehicle. An electric vehicle with four in-wheel motors has been developed as the test bench. This kind of electric vehicle has a greater flexibility than conventional EVs in terms of control for the simplified drive train that allows independent control of wheels' torque. Flexibility and the available resources for differential torque based ESC are used here with a sliding mode control law for expected longitudinal response while the ESC is acting. Comprehensive model of the proposed EV is created with sub-systems of vehicle body, individual wheel and sliding mode controller using Matlab/Simulink basic blocks for simulation to find the required torque. This is followed by a bench test using in-wheel motors to control the wheels, based on the rotation demanding differential torque. This method can be implemented in a four in-wheel motor electric vehicle. The research will be very useful for finding a suitable technique for electronic stability control for an in-wheel electric vehicle in different situations, considering the required resources and complexity of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex transactions are part of the most commonly used systems. Substantial part of such transactions are business transactions. Usually, they coordinate complex interaction among multiple systems, so called Long Running Transactions (LRT). Well known roll-back mechanism does not suffice to handle faults in LRTs, therefore compensation mechanisms are introduced. However, introduced structures are rather complex and hard to be understood and handled. Formal methods are well known tool for modelling, analysis and synthesis of complex systems. In this paper we introduce a work in progress, a technique that allows modelling LRTs using Compensating CSP, then translating them to Promela language and analysing using SPIN tool. We exemplify it using Car Broker Service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study that explores the transnational feminist work of several visible figures that are respected in the international circuit of activism. It focuses on the intersections that theoretical edifices of cosmopolitanism and transnational and the elite discourse of transnational causes related to feminism and ecology. It notes the result of the study which indicates that globalization complicates the position of the feminist activist who can no longer work alone.

In recent years, biometrics eye detection methods have become popular tools of significance. The exact eye localization technique is important for analysis, and has direct effect in the subsequent steps of normalization, feature extraction and matching. In this paper, after considering merits and demerits of many advanced reported techniques, while keeping in mind, the required fast processing response time of detection to prevent Posterior Capsular Rupture, amalgamates technique has been proposed to obtain a precise, fast and robust method in localizing different segments of the eye, in particular separation of the pupil, iris and sclera. On the contrary to the majority of the current available procedures which make assumptions about circularity or elliptically shape of the iris and pupil, this proposed method aims to capture exact boundaries of these segments while considering minimal detection time. The technique has been intended to be used as part of a complication prevention procedure during eye surgeries. The results of the above studies indicate the effectiveness of the suggested procedure in real time operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the results of 10CFR71 regulatory testing of prototypes of the new Type AF Package (Model 9979) developed for the DOE by the Savannah River Packaging Technology group of the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). A description of the testing and evaluation conducted by SRNL personnel will be presented. In January of 2004, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposed the elimination of specification packaging from 49 CFR 173. In accordance with the Federal Register, issued on October 1, 2004, the NRC proposal was adopted and specification packages could no longer be fabricated. In accordance with the final rulemaking, specification packagings were mandated by law to be removed from service no later than October 1, 2008. Affected by this rulemaking are specification UN1A2 containers, per DOT 49 CFR 173.417(a)(6). To maintain continuing shipments of Department of Energy (DOE) materials currently shipped in UN1A2 specification containers, the DOE directed SRNL to commence design efforts for a new Type A Fissile material packaging design. This paper presents a summary of the testing of the new Type AF Model 9979 Package. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I employ a critical intercultural communication frame to study the creative practice of public mourning or lamenting, among women known as rudaali's in rural India. Their public performance and location in village hierarchy is best understood as subaltern since they are unable to represent the pain and poverty in their daily lives more broadly within creative media that urban upper class women might have access to. Rudaali's lamentations are rarely understood as art or creative practice. Not only are they invisible in the national arena, or in any public discussion of gender and creativity, but the commercialization of art, music, and theatre avenues have not developed the idiom to recognize their valuable embodied contribution to community and society, or their reasons to practice the art. In examining this very public, cultural practice of a very private emotional experience—grief, I study the interconnections in implicit binary oppositions of public and private, community and society, male and female, nature and culture (Chakravarty, 1999). This subject is provided by a text, titled Rudaali, written by Bengali woman writer, Mahasweta Devi, and made into a popular Hindi film in 1992 by a woman filmmaker, Kalpana Lajmi. Writing is still regarded as men's domain (Gupta, 2003); and there are just a few women filmmakers despite an over hundred year history of Indian cinema (Subramanyam, 1996). Therefore, both Lajmi and Mahasweta Devi are worthy of note as important literary and film industry figures respectively. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]