Interrupting the profane

The two orthogonal axes defining the plan of the infirmary relate to the cardinal points of the compass. They are extensions of the existing 70 year-old Abbey's sacred templum which reaches out to embrace the infirmary, thereby ensuring the Sisters of the continuity of Christ's presence. The rotunda, the spatial centre of the infirmary situated at the intersection of these axes, is a space left empty in the middle of the community village. According to historian of religion Mircea Eliade in his book The Sacred and the Profane, it is precisely here "where a break in plane occurs, where space becomes sacred, hence preeminently real." While the rotunda, or spatial centre of the infirmary, can be understood to serve as the point of orientation for the day-to-day lives of its residents, the chapel, or spiritual centre of the infirmary, serves as the most significant point of orientation for their faith and prayer lives as Catholic religious. Metaphorically, the chapel fills the space left empty in the middle of the community village. Its prominent central location, adjacent to the rotunda, establishes its pivotal role in linking the two primary axes of the infirmary. The proximity of the rotunda and chapel is not meant to confuse or appear conflicting, but to emphasize that the struggles and joys of day-to-day existence experienced by the Sisters living in the infirmary are understood to be intimately connected to their spiritual well-being. Thus all roads that lead to the rotunda, or spatial centre, also lead to the chapel, or spiritual centre. To serve as microcosm of the heavenly realm, the chapel must meet certain criteria regarding directional position, proportions and shape. The chapel is oriented in an east-west direction. One enters through the western front and approaches the altar at the eastern end. The shape of the chapel is defined by two intersecting forms. The seating area is fan-shaped, a form that enables those gathered to be aware of each other's presence as a community. The ceiling over its central eastwest aisle is barrel vaulted and supported by four stone columns similar in shape and style to the columns that support the dome-like ceiling of the rotunda. The four columns represent the four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The stone finish, unique to the chapel's columns, makes reference to the role of this space as the building's cornerstone and, in the words of the consecration ceremony, pays homage to the symbolism of Christ as "the faithful stone holding the structure together.

Modeling dynamic interactions in supply chains using agent-based simulations

In this work, we present preliminary results of our research on the construction of an agent-based simulation framework suitable to support the analysis of complex supply chain interactions as the one required for the performance assessment in collaborative supply chains. In particular, we focus in the modeling of dynamic interactions through agent-to-agent message communication avoiding predefined supply chain network structures. For defining the internal structure of agents, we explore the application of the SCOR reference model to bring a business process perspective and adopt the requirement of making explicit separation of the execution and control and decision making processes.Fil: Dorigatti, Mariana Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); ArgentinaFil: Chiotti, Omar Juan Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); ArgentinaFil: Salomone, Hector Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); Argentin

Software Agent Architecture for Managing Inter-Organizational Collaborations

The growing importance of cooperation among organizations, as a result of globalization, current market opportunities and technological advances, encourages organizations to dynamically establish inter-organizational collaborations. These collaborations are carried out by executing collaborative business processes among the organizations. In this work we propose an agent-based software architecture for managing inter-organizational collaborations. Two types of agents are provided: the Collaboration Administrator Agent and the Process Administrator Agent. The former allows organizations setting up collaborations. The latter allows organizations executing collaborative business processes. A Colored Petri Net model specifying the role, which an organization fulfills in a collaborative process, is used to carry out the behavior of the Process Administrator Agent that represents the organization. Planning and execution of the actions of the Process Administrator Agents are driven by a Colored Petri Net machine embedded to them. Thus, Process Administrator Agents do not require to have defined at design-time the protocols they can support. In addition, we propose a model-driven development method for generating Colored Petri Net models from a collaborative process model defined as interaction protocol. Finally, an implementation of the agent-based software architecture and methods based on model-driven development are presented.La creciente importancia de la cooperación entre las organizaciones, como consecuencia de la globalización, las oportunidades actuales de mercado y los avances tecnológicos, alienta a las organizaciones a establecer en forma dinámica colaboraciones inter-organizacionales. Estas colaboraciones se llevan a cabo mediante la ejecución de procesos de negocio colaborativos entre las organizaciones. En este trabajo de investigación se propone una arquitectura basada en agentes de software para la gestión de colaboraciones inter-organizacionales. La arquitectura provee dos tipos de agentes: el Agente Administrador de Colaboraciones y el Agente Administrador de Proceso. El primer agente permite a las organizaciones a establecer colaboraciones. El segundo agente habilita a las organizaciones ejecutar procesos de negocio colaborativos. El rol que una organización desempeña en un proceso colaborativo es especificado mediante un modelo de redes de Petri coloreadas. Este modelo es usado para dirigir el comportamiento del Agente Administrador de Proceso, el cual representa a una organización. La ejecución de los planes y las acciones del Agente Administrador de Proceso son dirigidas mediante una máquina de redes de Petri coloreadas embebida en el agente. Entonces, los Agentes Administrador de Proceso no requieren tener definido en tiempo de diseño los protocolos que dan soporte a su comportamiento. Adicionalmente, se propone un método basado en el desarrollo dirigido por modelos para la generación en forma automática de modelos de redes de Petri coloreadas a partir de un modelo de procesos de negocio colaborativo definido como protocolo de interacción. Finalmente, la implementación de la arquitectura y los métodos basados en el desarrollo dirigido por modelos son presentados.Fil: Tello Leal, Edgar. Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas; MéxicoFil: Chiotti, Omar Juan Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); ArgentinaFil: Villarreal, Pablo David. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Centro de Investigacion y Desarrollo de Ingenieria En Sistemas de Informacion; Argentin

L'occupation humaine de l'abri Pataud (Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, Dordogne) il y a 22 000 ans : problématique et résultats préliminaires des fouilles du niveau 2

In this paper, we present the first elements of response to the question: "What is the status of the human remains in the Final Gravettian Level (Level 2) at Abri Pataud?" In 2005, more than forty years after the excavations of H. L. Movius, a new project concerning level 2 was initiated at Abri Pataud. This project was conceived according to three simultaneous and complementary approaches: 1) a detailed analysis of archives; 2) a study of the Movius collections; 3) a new excavation with both archaeological and geoarchaeological objectives. The initial results of the 2005 and 2006 excavations have confirmed that we can indeed appreciably improve our understanding of this archaeological level. Certain elements, such as the presence of very small backed bladelets, already permit us to more precisely define the originality of this culture. A first approach to the human remains (more than 250, MNI=6) led us to consider the hypothesis of a "disturbed primary burial". This hypothesis is confirmed by preliminary results concerning the significant assemblage of "particular artefacts" associated with the human remains, most notably mammoth ivory beads.Cet article présente les premiers éléments de réponse à la question : " Quel est le statut des vestiges humains du Gravettien final (niveau 2) de l'abri Pataud ? ". En 2005, plus de quarante ans après l'arrêt des fouilles de H. L. Movius, a débuté une opération archéologique programmée portant sur le niveau 2 de l'abri Pataud. Cette opération a été conçue selon trois démarches simultanées et complémentaires : 1) analyse des archives ; 2) étude des collections Movius ; 3) reprise de la fouille elle-même, dans une double perspective archéologique et géoarchéologique. Les premiers résultats obtenus en 2005 et 2006 ont confirmé que nous pouvions sensiblement améliorer la compréhension de ce niveau archéologique. Nous avons d'ores et déjà des éléments permettant de mieux documenter ce faciès culturel original, comme par exemple la présence de lamelles à dos de dimensions millimétriques. Une première approche des vestiges humains (plus de 250 restes, NMI = 6), nous a conduits à envisager l'hypothèse de " dépôts primaires remaniés ". Cette hypothèse est confortée par l'analyse préliminaire de l'importante série d'" objets particuliers " associée aux restes humains, notamment des perles en ivoire de mammouth

A scientific basis for restoring fish spawning habitat in the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers of the Laurentian Great Lakes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110848/1/rec12159.pd

Application of an adiabatic calomimeter to the determination of the heats of fusion and heats of formation of several metallic compounds

High temperature thermodynamic properties of metal alloys and refractory materials are important in both research and engineering. Reliable and precise measurements are difficult to make and require rather elaborate equipment. In recent years a commercial adiabatic calorimeter has been made available by the Rigaku Denki Company, Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan. The general operating principles of this apparatus are summarized; its application to the measurement of heats of fusion and transformation of materials, and heats of formation of intermetallic phases is described. The results of the heat of formation experiments are: MgZn2 @863° K, -4. 30 kcal/ g-atom; CaMg2 @532° K, -3. 12 kcal/ g-atom; and CeZn @623° K, -10. 6 kcal/ g-atom. The results of the heat of fusion of the materials are: MgZn2, 9. 687 kcal/mole; CaMg2, 11. 744 kcal/mole; CeZn, 7. 826 kcal/mole. The average values for the heats of fusion are accurate to ±2 pct

Precipitation of thorium as thorium hydride from thorium-magnesium solutions

The precipitation of thorium as thorium dihydride from thorium-magnesium solutions has been investigated over the temperature range of 665° to 810°0. It has been shown that thorium can be precipitated as thorium dihydride by equilibrating the thorium-magnesium solutions (containing 35 to 42 wt. % Th) with hydrogen gas at one atmosphere pressure