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In this study, the rock drillability tests, as well as a comprehensive set of physical and mechanical rock property tests were performed on rock units selected from various localities of Pakistan. Petrography of included rock samples was also conducted for the computation of geotechnical wear indices including Schimazek’s F-value, rock abrasivity index and the Vickers hardness number for rocks. Initially univariate regression analysis was performed to check the dependence of drillability parameters on physico-mechanical properties and rock wear indices. Significant correlations of drillability parameters with uniaxial compressive strength were found. Similarly, Sievers’ J-value and drilling rate index showed considerable dependence on Schimazek’s F-value. In the next step, multivariate linear regression models of Sievers’ J-value, brittleness value and drilling rate index, based on physical, mechanical and petrographical rock parameters were developed. Finally, the predictability of proposed multiple regression models was validated by employing the statistical performance indices

Accurate photolysis rate constants are essential for simulation of local air quality but their values can vary substantially with changes in local meteorological and surface conditions. This study demonstrates the use of local radiometer measurements for capturing via hourly measurement-driven adjustment factors (MDAF) the temporal resolution needed to adjust clear-sky or cloud-free model estimates of j(NO2). Measurements simultaneously at two sites in the UK (Auchencorth Moss and Manchester) showed that TUV (v5.3) model estimates of j(NO2)↓ in cloud-free conditions (used as an example of modelled j-values) were, on average, approximately 45% larger than measured j(NO2)↓, which would lead to substantial model bias in the absence of local adjustment. At Auchencorth Moss, MDAF values based on 4π and 2π radiometer inlets generally agreed very well with each other (<6% average difference). However, under conditions of particularly high surface albedo (such as snow cover), increased upwelling local diffuse radiation yielded an MDAF derived using total radiation (sum of ↓ and ↑ components) ~40% larger than the MDAF derived using only ↓ radiation. The study has demonstrated: (1) the magnitude of potential impact of local conditions—principally cloud cover, but also changes in surface albedo—on assumed j-values; (2) that whilst annual mean MDAF values are similar at Auchencorth Moss and Manchester, there is no contemporaneous correlation between them at hourly resolution; hence MDAF values derived at one site cannot readily be applied at another site. These data illustrate the need to routinely deploy long-term radiometer measurements alongside compositional measurements to support atmospheric chemistry modelling.

Fire safety engineers endeavour to ensure that a design achieves an adequate level of fire safety. For uncommon buildings, adequate safety cannot be based on precedent and an explicit evaluation of the adequacy of proposed safety features may be required. Commonly, this requires demonstration that the residual risk associated with the design is as low as is reasonably practicable. In those situations, a measure for a safety scheme’s benefit relative to its cost is required, as more efficient safety schemes should be preferred over less efficient ones to maximize the number of lives saved under societal resource constraints. To this end, the J-value has been introduced in other engineering fields as a decision support indicator for assessing the efficacy of safety features. The J-value has been derived from societal welfare considerations (the Life Quality Index) and is adopted in the current paper for applications in fire safety engineering. It is demonstrated herein how the J-value can inform decisions on fire safety, and how it can provide a basis for assessing whether or not a proposed fire safety scheme should be implemented. Future work will focus on its implementation as a tool for assessing the benefit of real life fire safety scheme implementations, such as sprinkler installations.

Ten potentially abrasive rock samples selected from various locations of Pakistan covering igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks were subjected to a comprehensive laboratory testing program. The experimental work includes the NTNU/SINTEF abrasion value steel (AVS) and Sievers’ J-miniature drill (SJ) tests accompanied by CERCHAR and LCPC rock abrasivity tests. The results of SJ tests and AVS tests were further utilized to compute the cutter life index (CLI), which estimates the life of tunnel boring machine (TBM) disc cutter rings in boring hours. In this research, a comparative study was performed on an NTNU/SINTEF rock abrasivity device by varying the particle size of rock abrasion powder and rotational test speed of the steel disc. The NTNU/SINTEF AVS test results showed a gradual decrease in abrasivity with the corresponding decrease in grain size of test fractions. An increase in the wear of the test piece was observed at a test speed of 10 rpm as compared to the standard test speed of 20 rpm. Relevant correlations of CLI, SJ-value and AVS with CERCHAR abrasivity index (CAI) and LCPC abrasivity coefficient (ABR, g/t) were also discussed.

It is common for agencies around the world to conduct some form of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) when proposing an investment in a safety measure. Since resources are limited, expenditure on one particular safety measure effectively means that there are not the resources available for other measures. Due to finite financial resources, an investment in a safety scheme will require a trade-off elsewhere. As such, the objective of a CBA is to assess whether the proposed measure provides a net benefit to society or whether resources would be better directed elsewhere. Fire safety measures, such as sprinkler systems, are one means to mitigate the risk posed by fire in buildings. Sprinkler systems have a long record of property and life protection but there is a cost associated with their installation and ongoing maintenance. For many years various agencies have examined whether sprinkler systems should be mandated in some or all buildings within their jurisdiction, and as a result have conducted different forms of CBA. However, there are a number of challenges when carrying out such assessments particularly when it comes to placing an economic value on human life. This paper revisits three previous CBA available in the literature for the installation of residential (domestic) sprinkler systems in single family dwellings. The paper applies recent work to extend the J-value methodology which employs the life quality index (LQI) concept as a mean of valuing the benefit of increasing life expectancy through the mitigation or reduction in the occurrence rate of a hazard. Similar to the previous studies investigated, the paper finds that the unilateral installation of sprinkler systems in single family homes does not provide a net benefit to society. This conclusion is reached through the adoption of a novel and objective judgement scalar that is easy to implement and interpret.

The problems and possibilities of modern parapsychology are discussed from the viewpoint of the natural sciences, focusing on the research senses. First, the author points out that more consideration of parapsychological phenomena should be made from the viewpoint of biophysics. Next, through experiments on healing (bio-PK) by the author or the author and co-workers, the claim is made that the magnitude of the power of psi (also known as ki or qi) can be described as the J value which is the natural logarithm of the ratio of physical quantities). Moreover, through discussion on a wave-like potential distribution of bio-PK around the human body, the possibility of plural unknown factors related to psi phenomena is indicated and those factors follow their own physical laws. NeuroQuantology | March 2013 | Volume 11 | Issue 1| Page 8-15

This study investigated the fatigue lives and mechanical properties of the carbon black filled natural rubber for the vibration-proof parts of the railway vehicle and automobile. The carbon blacks were one of the sources of crack nucleation and crack propagation in the rubber matrix, like the cementite and the maganese sulfide in iron matrix. Different kinds of carbon blacks resulted in different fatigue lives, critical J-values, and fracture morphologies. It was noticed that the critical J-value remained almost the same regardless of the length of a pre-crack. In addition, different kinds of carbon blacks generated different fracture morphologies, and microscopic and macroscopic roughnesses. The critical J-value has linear relations to the roughness, and it seemed related to the size distribution of carbon black particles. By reviewing all the experimental data, we found the factors that were related to the fatigue lives, and the logarithmic value of the fatigue life could be linearly expressed by the combination of the critical J-value and the macroscopic roughness. We also proposed a new estimative equation of fatigue life.

The tragedy that led to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Marjorie Yvonne Reece and the wounding of two other girls at a graduation party in May in Jefferson Twp. unfolded Tuesday in the manslaughter and felonious assault trial of James `Jay' L. Florence. Witnesses testified about a huge party of 200 to 500 pleasantly socializing teen-agers who suddenly found themselves under sporadic gunfire at 4100 Caylor Road. Plans for the May 27 bash began days earlier when a group of 10 Dunbar High School senior boys distributed leaflets at schools to announce an open graduation party. The party was overseen by the parents who lived there, witnesses said.

Before his death in 2003, Bernard Williams planned to publish a collection of historical essays, focusing primarily on the ancient world. This posthumous volume brings together a much wider selection, written over some forty years. His legacy lives on in this masterful work, the first collection ever published of Williams's essays on the history of philosophy. The subjects range from the sixth century B.C. to the twentieth A.D., from Homer to Wittgenstein by way of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Sidgwick, Collingwood, and Nietzsche. Often one would be hard put to say which part is history, which philosophy. Both are involved throughout, because this is the history of philosophy written philosophically. Historical exposition goes hand in hand with philosophical scrutiny. Insights into the past counteract blind acceptance of present assumptions. In his touching and illuminating introduction, Myles Burnyeat writes of these essays: \"They show a depth of commitment to the history of philosophy seldom to be found nowadays in a thinker so prominent on the contemporary philosophical scene.\" The result celebrates the interest and importance to philosophy today of its near and distant past. The Sense of the Pastis one of three collections of essays by Bernard Williams published by Princeton University Press since his death.In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument, selected, edited, and with an introduction by Geoffrey Hawthorn, andPhilosophy as a Humanistic Discipline, selected, edited, and with an introduction by A. W. Moore, make up the trio.

Polymorphous Domesticities maps out the play of gender, sexuality, and alternative forms of domesticity in the works of four modern European and American writers—Edith Wharton, Djuna Barnes, Colette, and J. R. Ackerley. What these four writers have in common is a defiance of patriarchal paradigms in their lives as well as in their works. Not only did they live outside the norms of the heterosexual family unit, they also pursued and wrote about alternative lifestyles that prominently involved animals. Through close readings from a feminist perspective, Juliana Schiesari reconfigures the ways in which interspecies relationships inflect domestic spheres, reading the \"Other\" through the lens of gender, home, and family. As she explores how domestic life is refigured by the presence of animals, Schiesari challenges anthropocentric frames of reference and brings the very definition of \"human' into question.