Instrumental Comparative Tort Law

This article examines the possible uses of comparative tort law in practice and theory. It takes the view that comparative law is always a means, never an end in itself, explains how it can be utilized by judges, legislatures, and legal scholars, and puts forward important caveats and qualifications. Part 2 demonstrates the traditional role of comparative law in interpreting and implementing shared or similar tort doctrines and in providing ideas for domestic tort law gap-filling and reform. It highlights the challenges that such utilization might present. Part 3 maintains that comparative research is the cornerstone of unification endeavors. Starting with coordinated projects, Part 3 argues that unification is in itself an instrument (making comparative law a second-order instrument) and that it cannot be pursued without taking into account some concerns about its desirability and practicability. Part 3 then discusses uncoordinated unification processes, whereby lawmakers in one jurisdiction identify a “global consensus” and decide to join it, and elaborates on the normative and positive components of these strategies. Part 4 acknowledges that comparative analysis usually uncovers trans-jurisdictional diversity and argues that such findings can underlie normative and positive theories of tort law. A comparison can offer a systematic taxonomy of possible legal solutions to a particular problem, enabling scholars to critically evaluate and compare the alternatives from their preferred theoretical perspective. Moreover, any hypothesis about the impact of cultural, economic, political, technological, and other conditions and changes on the law can be substantiated or refuted through comparative analyses that seek out legal differences (or similarities) among systems with different (or similar) underlying backgrounds. Through this analysis, the article aims to reignite and enrich the debate and inspire tort-law makers and scholars to integrate comparative research into their work.

Standard Model in Weyl conformal geometry

We study the Standard Model (SM) in Weyl conformal geometry. This embedding is truly minimal with no new fields beyond the SM spectrum and Weyl geometry. The action inherits a gauged scale symmetry D(1) (known as Weyl gauge symmetry) from the underlying geometry. The associated Weyl quadratic gravity undergoes spontaneous breaking of D(1) by a geometric Stueckelberg mechanism in which the Weyl gauge field ($$\omega _\mu $$ ω μ ) acquires mass by “absorbing” the spin-zero mode of the $${\tilde{R}}^2$$ R ~ 2 term in the action. This mode also generates the Planck scale and the cosmological constant. The Einstein-Proca action emerges in the broken phase. In the presence of the SM, this mechanism receives corrections (from the Higgs) and it can induce electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking. The EW scale is proportional to the vev of the Stueckelberg field. The Higgs field ($$\sigma $$ σ ) has direct couplings to the Weyl gauge field ($$\sigma ^2\omega _\mu \omega ^\mu $$ σ 2 ω μ ω μ ). The SM fermions only acquire such couplings for non-vanishing kinetic mixing of the gauge fields of $$D(1)\times U(1)_Y$$ D ( 1 ) × U ( 1 ) Y . If this mixing is present, part of the mass of Z boson is not due to the usual Higgs mechanism, but to its mixing with massive $$\omega _\mu $$ ω μ . Precision measurements of Z mass then set lower bounds on the mass of $$\omega _\mu $$ ω μ which can be light (few TeV). In the early Universe the Higgs field can have a geometric origin, by Weyl vector fusion, and the Higgs potential can drive inflation. The dependence of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r on the spectral index $$n_s$$ n s is similar to that in Starobinsky inflation but mildly shifted to lower r by the Higgs non-minimal coupling to Weyl geometry.

In the Eye of the Beholder: Using Photography to Teach Gerontology

Due to the widespread access to smart phones and similar technology, photography and photographic images have become an ever-present part of contemporary social life. Photographic methods are also growing in their use in higher education pedagogy. As a specific application, photography can be a powerful tool to educate students about aging processes and issues that impact older adults. This poster will explore the use of photographic methods and tools to teach and integrate aging-related concepts into gerontology and social work courses, at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Specifically, the use of digital storytelling, photo mapping, photo voice, and photo therapy will be highlighted. Descriptions of and consideration for assignments along with example student projects will be displayed and discussed as will other potential projects and uses of photographic methods. Attention will be paid to how photographic methods can help students explore the diversity and intersection of individual characteristics and experiences with the aging process and how intersectional identities can influence, and be influenced by, aging and external factors and processes.

A Prosopographical Study of the im Title Holders down to the End of the Old Kingdom

Summary The obscure title im has received some scholarly attention, but there is still uncertainty regarding its reading and meaning. Even so, there is something to be attributed to the im holder very clearly: their high, even very high, position within the structure of the Egyptian elite. This paper, articulated in two parts, aims to provide a prosopographical study of the im title from sources dated from the Thinite Age to the end of the Old Kingdom. In this part, the sources of the title are presented in order to examine their nature, their provenance, and the social and historical context of the title’s holder. Eventually, some considerations of the field of activity to which the title is related, the function that it implies, if any, and changes that it experienced through time will be offered. The second part, which will be published in the following issue of ZÄS, will contain the actual prosopographical list consisting of 37 entries, namely the documentation which supports the contents of the present part.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Surface Layer Conditions after Carbonitriding of Powder Metallurgical Steels. Part 2: Surface Layer States in Components of Graded Porosity

Case hardening processes such as carbonitriding can be used to improve the performance of powder metallurgical (PM) structural components. The partially open porosity of these components leads to a significant increase in diffusion, which in turn leads to a change in the element gradient in the surface layer (and consequently the surface layer state) compared to melting metallurgic materials. Within the scope of a two-part work, the surface layer states in common densities are investigated after the case hardening process. The present part 2 comprises the characterisation of the resulting surface layer states depending on the carbon and nitrogen profile and the tempering heat treatment. Through the deep rolling and the subsequent carbonitriding treatment, hardness of up to 850 HV0.1, retained austenite contents of up to 25 vol-% and residual stresses of up to –300 MPa are determined across densities. The extensions to the numerical models described in this paper enable the FE model to predict the surface layer states in a wide range of process combinations and densities with an error tolerance of ±20 %.

Details of Shrouded Stator HUB Cavity Flow in a Multi-Stage Axial Compressor Part 2: Leakage Flow Characteristics in Stator Wells

In the first part of the paper, the influence of the hub leakage flow on compressor performance and its interactions with the primary flow were investigated. While the impact of hub leakage flow on the primary passage is readily available in the open literature, details inside the cavity geometry are scarce due to the difficulties in instrumenting that region for an experiment or modeling the full cavity geometry. To shed light on this topic, the flow physics in the stator cavity inlet and outlet wells were investigated in the present part of the paper to understand the flow path of the leakage fluid and windage heating within the cavity using a coupled CFD model with inclusion of the stator cavity wells for the Purdue 3-Stage (P3S) Axial Compressor, which is representative of the rear stages of a high-pressure-compressor in core engines.

A New Residual Dense Network for Dance Action Recognition From Heterogeneous View Perception

At present, part of people's body is in the state of sub-health, and more people pay attention to physical exercise. Dance is a relatively simple and popular activity, it has been widely concerned. The traditional action recognition method is easily affected by the action speed, illumination, occlusion and complex background, which leads to the poor robustness of the recognition results. In order to solve the above problems, an improved residual dense neural network method is used to study the automatic recognition of dance action images. Firstly, based on the residual model, the features of dance action are extracted by using the convolution layer and pooling layer. Then, the exponential linear element (ELU) activation function, batch normalization (BN) and Dropout technology are used to improve and optimize the model to mitigate the gradient disappearance, prevent over-fitting, accelerate convergence and enhance the model generalization ability. Finally, the dense connection network (DenseNet) is introduced to make the extracted dance action features more rich and effective. Comparison experiments are carried out on two public databases and one self-built database. The results show that the recognition rate of the proposed method on three databases are 99.98, 97.95, and 0.97.96%, respectively. It can be seen that this new method can effectively improve the performance of dance action recognition.

Educator Perceptions Following Changes in Gifted Education Policy: Implications for Serving Gifted Students

Policy changes are an ever-present part of education. In 2019, legislators upended over two decades of gifted education policy in Texas with the removal of direct funding for gifted education. In its wake, the removal of funding shook educator morale and created uncertainty as to the future of gifted education in the state. In this article, we report on a survey administered to gifted education educators in Texas. A descriptive framework in conjunction with Bayesian analysis and multiple imputations is used to analyze the survey results. Our findings provide evidence that though educator sentiment is largely negative toward the changes to gifted education in Texas, educator outlooks on the future of gifted education in the state are relatively high.

Towards a reliable implementation of least-squares collocation for higher index differential-algebraic equations—Part 1: basics and ansatz function choices

In the two parts of the present note we discuss several questions concerning the implementation of overdetermined least-squares collocation methods for higher index differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). Since higher index DAEs lead to ill-posed problems in natural settings, the discrete counterparts are expected to be very sensitive, which attaches particular importance to their implementation. In the present Part 1, we provide a robust selection of basis functions and collocation points to design the discrete problem. We substantiate a procedure for its numerical solution later in Part 2. Additionally, in Part 1, a number of new error estimates are proven that support some of the design decisions.

Production of Carboxymethyl Starches from Oxidized Starches and Determination of Their Tanning Characteristics

Hydrogen peroxide and sodium metaperiodate oxidation of starch and their possible utilization in tanning/retanning were examined in our previous studies. In the present part, accordingly with our previous findings, hydrogen peroxide and sodium metaperiodate oxidation products having appropriate molecular weight/size were selected and additionally carboxymethylated. The yields of the processes (carboxymethyl starches) were characterized comprehensively and the effect of carboxymethylation process on structures and tanning abilities were tried to be identified. The characterization results revealed that the carboxymethyl groups were successfully included into the structure and the water solubility of oxidized starches (especially periodate oxidized ones) increased by carboxymethylation process. From the evaluation of the tanning results and considering its properties i.e. gentle tanning effect with less astringency and correspondingly a relatively soft leather handle and smooth grain, it is concluded that dialdehyde carboxymethyl starch (CMS 1:0.7) can be utilized as yet another good alternative sustainable green tanning/retanning agent from starch.