Search Results (14)

The ethical theories considered in this commentary include Anthropocentrism, Dominionism, Utilitarianism, Reverence for Life, Animal Rights, Biocentrism, Ecocentrism and Care Ethics. It is apparent that Utilitarianism provides a motivating rationale for devising legal instruments to manage animal welfare in many countries. The emphasis of different laws spanning many decades paralleled the trajectory of changing attitudes to animals. Initial laws focussed on serious abuse, and were enacted to deal with relative indifference to animal suffering. Anticruelty laws followed; they dealt with a wider range of noxious acts that also cause suffering. Animal Protection laws accommodated a growing acceptance that much less severe, yet still very unpleasant experiences, are of significant welfare concern. These laws and their amendments, plus the associated instruments (e.g., Codes of Welfare/Practice), were increasingly couched using animal welfare terminology. Finally, contemporary laws that focus directly to animal welfare, increasingly refer to a ‘duty of care’ towards animals, entailing responsibilities to minimise negative experiences and to promote positive ones. Outlined here is an example of an ethically-based legal structure for providing guidance and outlining requirements for animal welfare management nationally. It has four interacting levels: Level 1—Law; Level 2—Codes of Welfare/Practice; Level 3—Regulations; and Level 4—Cooperation at a National Level. It is noted that although the framing of this legal structure is based on ethical principles, the expression of those principles is more implicit than explicit. However, expression of the ethical principles can be made much more explicit when putting into effect legal requirements to assess the acceptability of different practices in animal welfare terms. There are four interacting steps in this process: Step 1—the Primary Assumption: Animals have intrinsic value and an interest in having good lives. Step 2—Distribution of Responsibility: Humans usually control human-animal interactions and have an overarching responsibility to operate two principles: (1) If in doubt err on the side of the animal; (2) If there are justified concerns, a lack of evidence can never in itself justify a practice. Step 3—Assessment of Impact on the Animals: Use a structured framework to assess the impact of human-initiated activities. The Five Domains Model is suggested as a suitable device for this. Step 4—Rigorous Evaluation: the aim, to choose the least noxious intervention as required by the Principle of Proportionality which, once chosen, supports a justification to proceed. This commentary provides examples of how ethical reasoning, and its operational consequences, can be made visible at every stage of developing, introducing and operating infrastructures for managing animal welfare nationally. Full article

The behavior of polyzwitterions, constituted by dipole-like zwitterionic monomers, is significantly different from that of uniformly charged polyelectrolytes. The origin of this difference lies in the intrinsic capacity of polyzwitterions to self-associate intramolecularly and associate with interpenetrating chains driven by dominant dipolar interactions. Earlier attempts to treat polyzwitterions implicitly assume that the dipoles of zwitterion monomers are randomly oriented. At ambient temperatures, the dipolar zwitterion monomers can readily align with each other generating quadrupoles and other multipoles and thus generating heterogeneous structures even in homogeneous solutions. Towards an attempt to understand the role of such dipolar associations, we present a mean field theory of solutions of polyzwitterions. Generally, we delineate a high-temperature regime where the zwitterion dipoles are randomly oriented from a low-temperature regime where quadrupole formation is significantly prevalent. We present closed-form formulas for: (1) Coil-globule transition in the low-temperature regime, the anti-polyelectrolyte effect of chain expansion upon addition of low molar mass salt, and chain relaxation times in dilute solutions. (2) Spontaneous formation of a mesomorphic state at the borderline between the high-temperature and low-temperature regimes and its characteristics. A universal law is presented for the radius of gyration of the microgel, as a proportionality to one-sixth power of the polymer concentration. (3) Swelling equilibrium of chemically cross-linked polyzwitterion gels in both the high temperature and low-temperature regimes. Addressing the hierarchical internal dynamics of polyzwitterion gels, we present a general stretched exponential law for the time-correlation function of gel displacement vector, that can be measured in dynamic light scattering experiments. The present theory is of direct experimental relevance and additional theoretical developments to all polyzwitterion systems, and generally to biological macromolecular systems such as intrinsically disordered proteins. Full article

Fretting wear of the stay cable is an important factor affecting the service life of the cable. To accurately calculate the extent of fretting wear, it is necessary to calculate the internal contact pressure in the cable. Although there are many theories and experiments on the contact behavior between wires, there are still no theoretical formulations for calculating the distribution of contact pressure in stay cables. In this paper, by studying the transfer effect of contact pressure in the cable, the PIC (parallel wire cable internal point contact pressure) model for calculating the contact pressure in the parallel wire cable is proposed, considering the effects of wire twisting, sheath compression, and cable bending on the contact pressure. A finite element model corresponding to the contact mode between steel wires is established, and the effectiveness of the PIC model is verified through numerical simulation analysis and a comparison of the existing contact models. The results indicate that contact pressure caused by wire twisting (CWT) is superimposed layer by layer inwards, with the contact pressure increasing closer to the inner layers, and its magnitude is mainly related to the axial tension and twist angle. Simultaneously, on the same layer, contact points along the diagonal experience the greatest contact pressure. Contact pressure caused by sheath compression (CSC) is assumed to conform to the Boussinesq distribution, with the outer layers exhibiting greater contact pressure compared to the inner layers. Contact pressure caused by cable bending (CCB) conforms to the two-dimensional closely arranged contact force transmission model, has a clear layering phenomenon, and the contact pressure within the same layer does not change significantly. The magnitude of the contact pressure is exponentially related to the curvature of the cable and proportional to the tension of the cable, which explains the reason why the slip occurs later for the cables with high tensile forces. Among these three types of contact pressure, CWT is the greatest, followed by CCB, while CSC is the smallest. The theoretical analysis results show that factors such as wire radius, tension, torsion angle, and wire position have an impact on contact pressure. Contact pressure is transmitted along force chains within the cable, following the superposition law between layers. It is uncertain whether slip occurs in the neutral axis or in the outermost layer because of the different distributions of tangential force and interlayer frictional resistance between the layers of wires. Fretting wear simulations of two wires demonstrate that contact pressure has a significant influence on wear patterns, and the “averaging” of contact pressure is a major reason for achieving uniform interface wear. While the contact width increases proportionally with the contact pressure, excessive contact pressure can complicate the problem by changing the contact mode from gross slip to partial slip. This study provides a theoretical method for calculating contact pressures at any contact point within the cables in engineering practice. Full article

Successful aquatic ecosystem conversation strategies depend on high-quality data from monitoring studies and improved habitat requirement knowledge. Remote Underwater Video (RUV) is a non-extractive alternative to capture-based techniques for studying and monitoring fish and is increasingly used in smaller channels. This study uses field observations made with waterproof Sony HDR-AS100V action cameras positioned in stream channels to determine species and population during various flow conditions across three sites within the Credit River Watershed, Ontario, Canada. Six fish species were identified, and individual fish lengths were estimated using the inverse square law to proportionally adjust size scales to fish positions relative to the camera. Successful identification and measurements were limited by turbidity, with camera placements in >6 NTU conditions (18% of all placements) resulting in at least one fish observed in the frame. With over 24 h of video recordings with 94 individual video clips, the optimal filming duration was determined to be 20–25 min. RUV surveys provide managers with useful monitoring data regarding fish present in an environment in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Additionally, as the method is largely non-invasive, RUV surveys are especially useful for studying fish behaviour, sensitive or endangered species, and working in difficult-to-access channels (e.g., shallow, faster flow). Full article

Energy extraction from flow-induced oscillations based on piezoelectric structures has recently been tackled by several researchers. This paper presents a study of the dynamic behavior analysis and parametric characteristics of a galloping piezoelectric micro energy harvester (GPEH) applied to self-powered micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). The mechanical performance of a piezoelectric micro energy harvester cantilever beam with two layers of elastic silicon and piezoelectric (PZT-5A) attached to a tip elliptical cylinder is numerically simulated. Using size-dependent beam formulation on the basis of the modified couple stress theory and Gauss’ law, the coupled electro-mechanical non-linear governing equations of the energy harvester are obtained. The mode summation and Galerkin methods are used to derive the extracted power from the system. The study also models the flow field effect on the beam oscillations via CFD simulation. The effect of elliptical cylinder mass, damping ratio, beam thickness, and load resistance on the dynamic behavior and harvested power of the system is studied. Findings reveal that increasing the normalized tip mass from 0 to 0.5 and 1 increases the output power density from 0.12 to 0.2 and 0.22, respectively, and the corresponding electrical load resistance of maximum power increases from 175 to 280 kΩ and 375 kΩ, respectively. An approximately linear relation between the elliptical cylinder mass and the load resistance is observed. By increasing/decreasing the cylinder mass, the required electrical load resistance for maximum output power proportionally changes. The damping analysis shows that a higher damping ratio increases the onset velocity of galloping and decreases the extracted power. Full article

In the context of China’s new round of land reform, narrowing the scope of land expropriation, standardising the procedures for land expropriation, and building a unified urban and rural construction land market have become the objectives of land expropriation reform. The new Land Management Law of the People’s Republic of China confirms land expropriation for tract development as a new situation for the land acquisition system. However, in the process of implementing the system, the new land acquisition mode is plagued by the dual dilemma of the falsification of public interests and the lack of a mechanism to realise public interests, which leads to the real risk of misconduct in standards. The concept of the coordination of interests and co-operative governance in “Good Land Governance” is a sure way to overcome this structural risk. The article analyses the causes through the lens of “Good Land Governance” and concludes that the risk of failure of the standards can be addressed through the binary public good remedy: On the one hand, from the perspective of coordination of interests, drawing on the principle of proportionality, the system can be built by improving the way of purposeful examination, so as to achieve the effect of preventing the risk of deflating and generalising public interests in order to achieve the effect of realising and reinforcing public interests. On the other hand, from the perspective of synergistic shared governance and drawing on the logic of land justice, institutional insight can be built by way of establishing a pattern of shared public interest, thus achieving the effect of preventing the risk of public interest erosion in order to achieve the effect of shared public interest replenishment. Full article

Salmon farming stands out from many other industries with its very high profitability, but it is also highly volatile. The main question is whether the profit of individual firms is stable, or whether profitable firms change from year to year. The purpose of this article is to apply the theory of profit persistence to answer this question for salmon farming in Norway. By using panel data from 2010 to 2019, available from public statistics, we study the relative deviation from the average profits. We estimate the speed of adjustment to the profit norm by using a dynamic GMM estimator. We find a high degree of convergence to the average profit among salmon farmers. For companies belonging to the group with below-average profit, there is a positive correlation between growth and profitability and a negative link between debt ratio and deviation of profit rate. Our finding is that although the Norwegian aquaculture industry has large profits, there is large volatility in the profits of this industry. This is useful knowledge for investors, lenders, public authorities and others who need to know something about the risk in the aquaculture industry. Full article

The restaurant industry is quite similar across borders. It is a labour-intensive industry that is important for tourism and employment. It consists mainly of many small businesses that are regionally dispersed. There are many studies that have analysed this sector. However, rather few articles have focused on the dynamics of growth and profit. The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of profit persistence and the law of proportionate effect (LPE) to Norwegian restaurants by using publicly available public panel data from 2010 to 2019. The sample includes 866 restaurants. One important finding is that Gibrat’s law (LPE) does not seem to hold, meaning the growth is not independent of the size of the firms. Small businesses grow faster than the others, and they are also more profitable. There is some degree of profit persistence in the restaurant industry. Profitability is negatively linked to debt ratios but positively related to working capital. The study shows there is a trade-off between size and profit. These findings are useful for the industry and for others (public planning, lenders, and more). Full article

In this paper, we propose and derive a Birnbaum–Saunders distribution to model bimodal data. This new distribution is obtained using the product of the standard Birnbaum–Saunders distribution and a polynomial function of the fourth degree. We study the mathematical and statistical properties of the bimodal Birnbaum–Saunders distribution, including probabilistic features and moments. Inference on its parameters is conducted using the estimation methods of moments and maximum likelihood. Based on the acceptance–rejection criterion, an algorithm is proposed to generate values of a random variable that follows the new bimodal Birnbaum–Saunders distribution. We carry out a simulation study using the Monte Carlo method to assess the statistical performance of the parameter estimators. Illustrations with real-world data sets from environmental and medical sciences are provided to show applications that can be of potential use in real problems. Full article

The effect of pressure on the flame’s physical structure and soot formation of the coflow propane—air laminar diffusion flames was studied experimentally at subatmospheric pressures from 30 to 101 kPa. Flames with a constant fuel mass flow rate combined with two different coflow air mass flow rates were investigated at different pressures. The spatially resolved relative soot volume fraction was measured using the laser-induced incandescence (LII) method. The height of the visible flame decreased moderately as the pressure (p) reduced from 101 to 30 kPa. The maximum flame diameter increased proportionally to $p^n$, where the exponent changed from −0.4 to −0.52 as the air-to-fuel velocity ratio decreased from 1.0 to 0.5. Strong pressure dependence of the maximum relative soot volume fraction and the normalized maximum soot mass flow were observed and could be described by a power law relationship. However, a nonmonotonic dependence of soot formation on the air-to-fuel velocity ratio was observed at all the considered pressures. Full article

In this paper, a solution to the problem of the change in the pressure drop in a respirator filter during cyclic air motion is suggested since the current theory of filtering is based on steady-flow processes. The theoretical dependence of the pressure drop in the respirator filter on air flow rate is determined, which is represented by the harmonic law, which characterizes the human respiration process during physical work. For the calculation, a filter model was used, which is represented by a system of parallel isolated cylinders with a length equal to the total length of the filter fibres surrounded by porous shells formed by a viscous air flow field, with a size determined by the equal velocities of the radial component of air flow and undisturbed flows. The flow-around process in the proposed model of air flow through the respirator filter is described by the Brinkman equation, which served to establish the total air flow resistance in the proposed system under conditions of velocity proportionality. It consists of two parts: the first characterizes the frictional resistance of the air flow against the surface of the cylinder, which imitates the filter fibre; the second—the inertial part—characterizes the frequency of pulsations of respiratory movements during physical performance. The divergence of the analytical results and experimental studies is no more than 20%, which allows the use of the established dependence to estimate the change in pressure drop in a respirator filter made of filter material “Elephlen” when the user carries out different physical activities. This allows the period of effective protective action of respirators with different cycles of respiration during physical activities to be specified, which is a very serious problem that is not currently regulated in health and safety regulations, and it also allows the prediction of the protective action of filters and respiratory protection in general. Full article

This paper presents the possibility of using low-module polypropylene dispersed reinforcement (E = 4.9 GPa) to influence the load-deflection correlation of cement composites. Problems have been indicated regarding the improvement of elastic range by using that type of fibre as compared with a composite without reinforcement. It was demonstrated that it was possible to increase the ability to carry stress in the Hooke’s law proportionality range in mortar and paste types of composites reinforced with low-module fibres, i.e., V_f = 3% (in contrast to concrete composites). The possibility of having good strengthening and deflection control in order to limit the catastrophic destruction process was confirmed. In this paper, we identify the problem of deformation assessment in composites with significant deformation capacity. Determining the effects of reinforcement based on a comparison with a composite without fibres is suggested as a reasonable approach as it enables the comparison of results obtained by various universities with different research conditions. Full article

This paper maps out the structure and relative dynamics of cities of various size classes in India. It aims to address their hierarchical distribution, by employing the rank-size rule, Gibrat’s law, and a primacy index. The implications of urban concentrations for GDP, banking system, FDI, civic amenities, and various urban externalities (such as pollution and spatial exclusion) are also examined. It shows that India’s urban system, though it follows the rank-size rule, is huge and top-heavy. It follows also Gibrat’s law of proportionate growth. Although India’s cities collectively account for less than one third of the total population, they command more than three fourths of the country’s GDP. Megacities have become congested, clogged, polluted, and also show significant social polarization. There is a gridlock situation for the cities, inhibiting their potential for becoming effective economic and social change sites. The top-heavy character of India’s urban system also adversely impacts the balanced regional development of the country. Full article

In 2003, California allowed cities to count accessory dwelling units (ADU) towards low-income housing needs. Unless a city’s zoning code regulates the ADU’s maximum rent, occupancy income, and/or effective period, then the city may be unable to enforce low-income occupancy. After examining a stratified random sample of 57 low-, moderate-, and high-income cities, the high-income cities must proportionately accommodate more low-income needs than low-income cities. By contrast, low-income cities must quantitatively accommodate three times the low-income needs of high-income cities. The sample counted 750 potential ADUs as low-income housing. Even though 759 were constructed, no units were identified as available low-income housing. In addition, none of the cities’ zoning codes enforced low-income occupancy. Inferential tests determined that cities with colleges and high incomes were more probable to count ADUs towards overall and low-income housing needs. Furthermore, a city’s count of potential ADUs and cities with high proportions of renters maintained positive associations with ADU production, whereas a city’s density and prior compliance with state housing laws maintained negative associations. In summary, ADUs did increase local housing inventory and potential ADUs were positively associated with ADU production, but ADUs as low-income housing remained a paper calculation. Full article