‘Perfidious Goth’, Holy Martyrs Cult and the Memory of Roman Troops in 5th Century Edessa

The present article deals with the literary image of a Gothic man who happened to be in Edessa in the 5th century AD as a part of Roman auxiliary troops. He is reported to marry there a local girl under pretext of being a celibatarian. Having left Syria for Gothia, it turned out that he was married and had children. The Syrian wife became a slave and suffered a lot before returning miraculously back to Edessa. From the comparative study of the sources it becomes clear that the Gothic auxiliary troops were summoned to Edessa in connection with the advance of the Huns. Notwithstanding the common equation of Goths and Getae, the Gothic soldier in question was Germanic and not Getan (Dacian). The last question is the character of the marriage gift he presented for his temporary marriage.

Productive lifespan and resilience rank can be predicted from on-farm first parity sensor time series but not using a common equation across farms

ABSTRACTA dairy cow’s lifetime resilience and her ability to re-calve gain importance on dairy farms as they affect all aspects of the sustainability of the dairy industry. Many modern farms today have milk meters and activity sensors that accurately measure yield and activity at a high frequency for monitoring purposes. We hypothesized that these same sensors can be used for precision phenotyping of complex traits such as lifetime resilience or productive lifespan. The objective of this study was to investigate if lifetime resilience and productive lifespan of dairy cows can be predicted using sensor-derived proxies of first parity sensor data. We used a data set from 27 Belgian and British dairy farms with an automated milking system containing at least 5 years of successive measurements. All of these farms had milk meter data available, and 13 of these farms were also equipped with activity sensors. This subset was used to investigate the added value of activity meters to improve the model’s prediction accuracy. To rank cows for lifetime resilience, a score was attributed to each cow based on her number of calvings, her 305-day milk yield, her age at first calving, her calving intervals and the days in milk at the moment of culling, taking her entire lifetime into account. Next, this lifetime resilience score was used to rank the cows within their herd resulting in a lifetime resilience ranking. Based on this ranking, the cows were classified in a low (last third), moderate (middle third) or high (first third) resilience category. In total 45 biologically-sound sensor features were defined from the time-series data, including measures of variability, lactation curve shape, milk yield perturbations, activity spikes indicating estrous events and activity dynamics representing health events. These features, calculated on first lactation data, were used to predict the lifetime resilience rank and thus, the classification within the herd (low/moderate/high). Using a specific linear regression model progressively including features stepwise selected at farm level (cut-off P-value of 0.2), classification performances were between 35.9% and 70.0% (46.7 ± 8.0, mean ± standard deviation) for milk yield features only and between 46.7% and 84.0% (55.5 ± 12.1, mean ± standard deviation) for lactation and activity features together. This is respectively 13.7 and 22.2% higher than what random classification would give. Moreover, using these individual farm models, only 3.5% and 2.3% of the cows were classified high while being low and vice versa, while respectively 91.8% and 94.1% of the wrongly classified animals were predicted in an adjacent category. A common equation across farms to predict this rank could not be found, which demonstrates the variability in culling and management strategies across farms and within farms over time. The lack of a common model structure across farms suggests the need to consider local (and evidence based) culling management rules when developing decision support tools for dairy farms. With this study we showed the potential of precision phenotyping of complex traits based on biologically meaningful features derived from readily available sensor data. We conclude that first lactation milk and activity sensor data have the potential to predict cows’ lifetime resilience rankings within farms but that consistency over farms is currently lacking.

A Low-Cost Complexity Intra Prediction Hardware Architecture for HEVC Decoder

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) adopts new techniques to reduce bit-rate by 50% over a previous video compression standard. The number of intra prediction modes in HEVC is 35 modes and increased compared with the compression. Therefore, hardware architecture with common equation and a fast filter coefficient generation algorithm is proposed for low complexity intra prediction hardware. The proposed architecture performs a smoothing filter, interpolation filter, generation of predicted pixels with only Common Operation Unit (COU). Various equations in intra prediction for smoothing filter of reference samples, calculating the average of the reference samples, generating predicted pixels and filtering predicted pixels is modified to one common equation. The common operation unit using a common equation in intra prediction hardware architecture reduces hardware area and the number of computational operators to perform various equations. COU uses 2 multipliers, 9 adders, 3 shifters and generates 1 predicted sample in planar mode and 2 predicted samples in the other mode. Also, COU generates 2 filtered reference samples in filtering operation of reference samples and the average of 4x4 PU in DC mode. The fast filter coefficient generation algorithm reduces processing time by using only Look-Up Table (LUT) and adders, instead of multiplying operation and the number of computational operators. The number of gates of the architecture is 45.6k. The number of gates in the proposed intra prediction hardware is 36.7% less than previous architecture.

Introduction

This article introduces contributions to the Special Issue of Disability Studies Quarterly on Disability, Work and Representation. Despite the common equation of disability with inability to do paid labor, disabled people have always worked. Historical experiences of the workplace have varied and have been influenced by means of production, employer and co-worker attitudes and by welfare systems that have impacted negatively on disabled people's abilities to take on employment. Studying the relationship between disabiltiy and work from a range of disciplinary perspectives not only sheds new light not just on disabled people's experiences in the workplace in different societies and at different historical moments, but also raises questions about the meaning of work and the values that underpin it.

DINÁMICA POBLACIONAL DEL CORONCORO MICROPOGONIAS FURNIERI (PISCES: SCIAENIDAE) EN LA CIÉNAGA GRANDE DE SANTA MARTA, CARIBE COLOMBIANO

The “Coroncoro” fish Micropogonias furnieri has been one of the most important traditional fish resources in CGSM and CP. In order to determine exploitation status of its stock, aspects related to its biology and population parameters have been assessed. 38 Boletín de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras - Vol. 35-2006 Mean maturity size was estimated in 20.7 cm at total length; whereas sex ratio was 2.39 females per male. Ripe individuals occurred throughout the whole year, with a maturation and spawning peak in the rainy season (november). Length-weight relationship showed no difference between sexes and a common equation with allometric growth W = 0.0064LT3.2 was estimated. The estimated parameters of von Bertalanffy growth function were L∞ = 34.0 cm, K = 0.44 yr-1, t0 = 0.301 yr and C = 0.5; with a growth index ranging between 2.67 and 2.73. Total (Z), natural (M) and fishing (F) mortality rates were estimated as 2.16, 0.84 and 1.32 yr-1, respectively. The estimated exploitation rate (E = 0.61) indicated that M. furnieri is being overexploited and thus it is recommended to adopt management actions to ensure resource sustainability.

Study on Cutting Less-Teeth Gear with the Slotting Tool

In this paper, firstly, the common equation of involute gear profile was derived with the slotting tool, based on the principle of Envelope Method & Coordinate Transform. Secondly, different equqtions of the involute and transition curve were solved with different gear profiles of slotting tool through some mathmatical substitution. Finally, the model of gear profile equation was bulit with the software Pro/E. After verification, it proved that all derived equations, which can be used to establish the accurate 3D model of gear, are correct.

Three methods of deriving advanced dynamic site equations demonstrated on inland Douglas-fir site curves

With two examples of five-parameter, fixed-base-age site index and height growth equations, I demonstrate three methods for deriving dynamic equations that are base-age invariant and use only three parameters. These are initial condition difference equations that compute appropriate heights at all base ages and provide compatible height and site index values from one common equation. Despite having fewer parameters, they can model a broader selection of curves than the original equations. The new equations are applicable for all situations in which the original equations could be applied. Methods demonstrated in this paper can enhance the development of all recursive and otherwise implicitly defined equations used for modeling of height, diameter, basal area, volume, number of trees per hectare, and investment yields.

Carl Schmitt's Critique of Liberalism: Systematic Reconstruction and Countercriticism

Critique of liberalism has a long tradition. However, those launching critical attacks against liberalism frequently turn out to be liberals themselves who are concerned, for instance, about the common equation of liberalism with a bourgeois attitude of “possessive individualism” or with the reduction of liberal politics to an empty proceduralism. The recent debate between liberalism and communitarianism largely amounts to such a kind of liberal self-criticism. Even outspoken communitarian critics, like Sandel, undoubtedly appreciate important achievements of liberalism; often they take these achievements more or less for granted.