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Larger Body (larger + body)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences40%

Terms modified by Larger Body

  • larger body size
    		•

    Selected Abstracts

    Analysis of microwave components and circuits using the iterative method

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RF AND MICROWAVE COMPUTER-AIDED ENGINEERING, Issue 5 2004
    A. Mami
    Abstract This article presents an efficient implementation of an iterative method that includes a fast-mode transformation (FMT). The method has the advantages of simplicity and not involving basis functions and inversion of matrices, as used in other calculation methods. Therefore, this approach has the potential to be capable of analysing larger bodies than other classical techniques. An implementation of the iterative calculation is shown for the extraction of S parameters of microwave components and antennas. The good agreement between the simulation results and experimental published data justifies the design procedure and validates the present analysis approach. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 14, 404,414, 2004. [source]

    Pursuing community forestry in Liberia

    ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 5 2009
    Jennifer N. Lamb
    Abstract While Liberian forests are a biodiversity hotspot and integral to the livelihoods of indigenous communities, 14 years of conflict forestry turned this national asset into a source of economic inequality and corruption in an extreme example of a ,natural resource curse'. Moreover, overharvesting of timber through the conflict period has endangered community livelihoods and raised concerns regarding resource sustainability from international conservation organizations. Since the end of conflict in 2003, the Liberian government has forged international partnerships to create a reformed policy framework balancing commercial, conservation and community (the three Cs) interests. In an effort to contribute to the larger body of work on the role of natural resource management institutions in the creation and fostering of the resource curse, this paper offers a case study of timber in Liberia. We feel that an in-depth understanding of the Liberian case clarifies the challenge of timber as an extractive commodity and how the institutional framework can be shaped to provide a positive contribution to economic development. The discussion focuses on the historical development of Liberian land and forest tenure institutions that lead to poverty, ecological degradation and conflict. Tracing the more recent implementation of the three Cs, this paper analyzes the current conditions of community engagement and outlines critical steps to be taken for Liberia to escape further resource driven cycles of conflict. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]

    PERSPECTIVE: SEX, RECOMBINATION, AND THE EFFICACY OF SELECTION,WAS WEISMANN RIGHT?

    EVOLUTION, Issue 2 2000
    Austin Burt
    Abstract., The idea that sex functions to provide variation for natural selection to act upon was first advocated by August Weismann and it has dominated much discussion on the evolution of sex and recombination since then. The goal of this paper is to further extend this hypothesis and to assess its place in a larger body of theory on the evolution of sex and recombination. A simple generic model is developed to show how fitness variation and covariation interact with selection for recombination and illustrate some important implications of the hypothesis: (1) the advantage of sex and recombination can accrue both to reproductively isolated populations and to modifiers segregating within populations, but the former will be much larger than the latter; (2) forces of degradation that are correlated across loci within an individual can reduce or reverse selection for increased recombination; and (3) crossing-over (which can occur at different places in different meioses) will create more variability than having multiple chromosomes and so will have more influence on the efficacy of selection. Several long-term selection experiments support Weismann's hypothesis, including those showing a greater response to selection in populations with higher rates of recombination and higher rates of recombination evolving as a correlated response to selection for some other character. Weismann's hypothesis is also consistent with the sporadic distribution of obligate asexuality, which indicates that clones have a higher rate of extinction than sexuals. Weismann's hypothesis is then discussed in light of other patterns in the distribution of sexuality versus asexuality. To account for variation in the frequency of obligate asexuality in different taxa, a simple model is developed in which this frequency is a function of three parameters: the rate of clonal origin, the initial fitness of clones when they arise, and the rate at which that fitness declines over time. Variation in all three parameters is likely to be important in explaining the distribution of obligate asexuality. Facultative asexuality also exists, and for this to be stable it seems there must be ecological differences between the sexual and asexual propagules as well as genetic differences. Finally, the timing of sex in cyclical parthenogens is most likely set to minimize the opportunity costs of sex. None of these patterns contradict Weismann's hypothesis, but they do show that many additional principles unrelated to the function of sex are required to fully explain its distribution. Weismann's hypothesis is also consistent with what we know about the mechanics and molecular genetics of recombination, in particular the tendency for chromatids to recombine with a homolog rather than a sister chromatid at meiosis, which is opposite to what they do during mitosis. However, molecular genetic studies have shown that cis -acting sites at which recombination is initiated are lost by gene conversion as a result, a factor that can be expected to affect many fine details in the evolution of recombination. In summary, although Weismann's hypothesis must be considered the leading candidate for the function of sex and recombination, nevertheless, many additional principles are needed to fully account for their evolution. [source]

    Reinvigorating the Study of Foreign Policy Decision Making: Toward a Constructivist Approach

    FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 1 2007
    DAVID PATRICK HOUGHTON
    For many years, the study of foreign policy analysis (FPA) has been a kind of free-floating enterprise, logically unconnected to the main theories of international relations (IR). Sometimes, it has been subsumed under the liberal or pluralist sections of textbooks, and at other times placed within a discussion of realism. But the logical connections to both of these paradigms were always strained. The appeal of FPA approaches has also waxed and waned over the years, in part because these approaches do not appear to "fit" anywhere within the framework of the larger debates going on in IR. This article suggests that a dialogue with social constructivism provides the most logical base from which to launch a revitalized approach to FPA, especially the cognitive psychological approach to the study of foreign policy. If the FPA agenda is to be reinvigorated and taken more seriously outside the subfield itself, this article suggests, it must hitch its wagon to some of the critical substantive debates going on in IR theory today. Indeed, there are already some signs that the cognitive approach to FPA in particular is increasingly being associated with this larger body of theory. [source]

    Dialogic inquiry in life science conversations of family groups in a museum

    JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 2 2003
    Doris Ash
    This research illustrates the efficacy of a new approach for collecting and analyzing family conversational data at museums and other informal settings. This article offers a detailed examination of a small data set (three families) that informs a larger body of work that focuses on conversation as methodology. The dialogic content of this work centers on biological themes, specifically adaptation. The biological principle becomes visible when families talk about survival strategies such as breeding or protection from predators. These themes arise from both the family members and the museum exhibit. This study also analyzes the inquiry skills families use as they make sense of science content. I assume that children and adults offer different interest areas or expertise for dialogic negotiation and that family members use inquiry skills in dialogue to explore matters of importance. This analysis offers educators methodological tools for investigating families' scientific sense-making in informal settings. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 138,162, 2003 [source]