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The present research deals with the phenomenon of hedging language, mainly focusing on the context of spontaneous verbal interactions. The main aim of the study is to analyze the occurrence of hedges in English spoken discourse as captured in the Spoken British National Corpus 2014. The research process deals with the differences in the usage of approximators and shields existing among men and women across different age groups and levels of education. The research methodology involves creating six sub-corpora, measuring hedge dispersion, examining selected hedges to ascertain their hedging function within the context and calculating frequencies within each sub-corpus. The research outcomes point to the prevalence of shields in spoken discourse. Plausibility shields are commonly used while attribution shields show lower usage. Adaptors contribute to mitigating certainty in utterances, whereas rounders play a less prominent role. These findings emphasize the nuanced interplay between linguistic strategies and speaker characteristics in spoken communication and highlight the importance of cooperative principles in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the insertion of Pb2+ ions into the Li2O–BaO–B2O3 based glass matrix has been investigated. The Archimedes' method was used to determine the density (ρ) and, as a result, the molar volume (Vm) of the samples. The ρ of the glasses increased from 2.917 to 5.003 (g/cm3), and the Vm increased from 24.155 to 27.074 (cm3/mol). The optical band gap of the samples was determined based on their UV–visible spectra. The structural study of the present glasses has been carried out by XRD patterns and FTIR spectra analysis. Numerous theoretical methods were used to calculate some parameters such as ionic radius, optical basicity, non-linear refractive index, and oxide ion polarizability. The mass attenuation coefficient MAC was obtained experimentally as well as theoretically by the Phy-X/PSD software programs and the obtained results were in very good agreement. The half-value layer HVL, mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Zeff), atomic cross-sections and electron cross-sections were evaluated for all the present glass samples. In addition, exposure build-up factor and energy exposure build-up factor were estimated for each glass up to penetration depths of 40 MFP. Moreover, the effective neutron removal cross-section (ƩR) was also calculated. The shielding properties of the prepared glass samples were compared with different concrete shielding materials, and commercial glasses, therefore, the prepared glasses outperformed all the aforementioned materials in terms of gamma ray shielding ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article briefly reviews the survey maps of geological content published and prepared for publication over the last decades, which depict the Ukrainian Shield, including the “Overview Map of the basement of the Ukrainian Shield” scale 1:1,000,000, which was compiled by the authors in 2021. All maps differ in their methodical approaches and principles of drawing. This is due to the fact that different maps emphasize different aspects of the tectonics of the basement of the Ukrainian Shield. But in the end, all the maps clearly highlight the uniqueness of the Ukrainian Shield compared to the post-Early Precambrian folding systems. The article describes the main features of the shields of ancient platforms, which distinguish them from all other geostructures of the continents. The authors recommend highlighting on the tectonic maps of the Ukrainian Shield and shields in general the following structural elements that most clearly demonstrate the structure of the shields and their features: a) megablocks; b) structural floors of megablocks and the structural and formational complexes that make them up; c) large autonomous intrusive massifs; d) near-fault synclinal and trough structures, which have a limited distribution on the Ukrainian Shield, but are much more developed on other shields. A brief description of these structural elements, which are characteristic of all shields of ancient platforms and clearly demonstrate their similarity in general, is provided. It is shown that the regional megablocks of the Ukrainian Shield are at the same time typical in their structure and composition for other shields as well. Structural and formational complexes that make up structural floors are also typical for shields. The structural floors of the megablocks themselves correspond to the Phanerozoic (Neogean) floors according to their formal characteristics, but differ from them in their historical-geological content. Faults play an important, but not decisive, role in the structure of the Ukrainian Sea, as some researchers believe. These are only boundary faults that separate megablocks and long transmegablock faults.

This paper proposed a two-way coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) approach to analyze the evolution of clogging in slurry shield tunneling quantitatively. The interactions between clay particles and slurry were considered by exchanging three interaction forces, including buoyancy force, pressure gradient force, and drag force. The CFD-DEM coupling approach was first benchmarked by comparing cutterhead torque and total thrust with field monitored data of a practical slurry shield tunnel project. The evolution process of the particle phase and the fluid phase over time was presented. The results indicated that fewer than 70% of the particles can be washed away in time by the circulating slurry. About 9% of the particles adhered to the submerged wall, resulting in increased cutterhead torque and thrust. Through parametric analysis, the influence of the shield driving parameters on the clay clogging behavior is further explored. The time history of cutterhead torque or thrust can be used as a criterion for judging whether clogging has occurred. Additionally, a new assessment method of clogging risk and an optimization strategy of driving parameters were proposed, which were intended to provide some guidance for similar projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the design, manufacture and testing of an origami protective shield with a supporting frame structure are presented. It consists of an origami shield surface and a deployable supporting frame structure that needs to be portable and sufficiently stiff. First, for the design of the shield surface, a threestage origami crease pattern is developed to reduce the shield size in the folded state. The shield surface consists of several stiff modular panels and layered with flexible fabric. The modular panels are made of a multi-layer composite where a ceramic layer is made of small pieces to improve durability as those small pieces enable restriction of crack propagation. Then, the supporting frame structure is designed as a chain-of-bars structure in order to fold into a highly compact state as a bundle of bars and deploy in sequence. Thus, a feature-driven topology structural optimization method preserving component sequence is developed where the inter-dependence of sub-structures is taken into account. A bar with semi-circular ends is used as a basic design feature. The positions of the bar's end points are treated as design variables and the width of the bars is kept constant. Then, a constraint on the total length of the chain of bars is introduced. Finally, the modular panels made of multi-layer composite and the full-scale prototype of the origami shield are fabricated and tested to verify the bullet-proof performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article briefly reviews the survey maps of geological content published and prepared for publication over the last decades, which depict the Ukrainian Shield, including the "Overview Map of the basement of the Ukrainian Shield" scale 1:1,000,000, which was compiled by the authors in 2021. All maps differ in their methodical approaches and principles of drawing. This is due to the fact that different maps emphasize different aspects of the tectonics of the basement of the Ukrainian Shield. But in the end, all the maps clearly highlight the uniqueness of the Ukrainian Shield compared to the post-Early Precambrian folding systems. The article describes the main features of the shields of ancient platforms, which distinguish them from all other geostructures of the continents. The authors recommend highlighting on the tectonic maps of the Ukrainian Shield and shields in general the following structural elements that most clearly demonstrate the structure of the shields and their features: a) megablocks; b) structural floors of megablocks and the structural and formational complexes that make them up; c) large autonomous intrusive massifs; d) near-fault synclinal and trough structures, which have a limited distribution on the Ukrainian Shield, but are much more developed on other shields. A brief description of these structural elements, which are characteristic of all shields of ancient platforms and clearly demonstrate their similarity in general, is provided. It is shown that the regional megablocks of the Ukrainian Shield are at the same time typical in their structure and composition for other shields as well. Structural and formational complexes that make up structural floors are also typical for shields. The structural floors of the megablocks themselves correspond to the Phanerozoic (Neogean) floors according to their formal characteristics, but differ from them in their historical-geological content. Faults play an important, but not decisive, role in the structure of the Ukrainian Sea, as some researchers believe. These are only boundary faults that separate megablocks and long transmegablock faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discute un regalo diplomático de los mexicas, Cuexyo Chimalli, un escudo indígena. de armaduras elaboradas con plumas de ave y piel de ocelote del siglo XV, con énfasis en el itinerario cultural del escudo del Castillo de Chapultepec.

For decades, the British Museum has been displaying an object in its collection as the shield which was used by Gweagal men defending against Cook's landing at Kamay in 1770. Following a loan of the shield to the National Museum of Australia in 2015/2016, Gweagal man Rodney Kelly lodged a claim with the British Museum asking for the shield to be repatriated. Soon after, the British Museum facilitated and partly funded research which aimed 'to test the argument – or widely held belief – that the shield was collected at Botany Bay in 1770' (Nugent and Sculthorpe 2018, 37). The research all but concluded that the shield was not collected at Cook's landing, and that that shield, if it exists, is now lost (Thomas 2018, 25). Despite this questioning of the shield's identity, it remains on prominent display in the British Museum's Enlightenment room. In this article, I critically examine the new research on the shield, making two related arguments. I argue first that the research is conceptually limited because it assumes that the Gweagal shield is an empirically definable object of property, and second that the research is practically limited because it has been produced in a material context through which the British Museum has reasserted its control and possession of the shield. Engaging with a range of scholarship that uses different methodologies from those used in the research in question, I argue that the 'truth' about the shield cannot be found while it continues to be kept as the British Museum's property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is the main energy source in China. As flat and shallow coal seams are being depleted, adverse coal seams such as inclined and steeply inclined coal seams account for larger proportion of seams that are mined. For these coal seams, instability such as slip and tipping of mining equipment due to the large inclination is a significant challenge for the productive operation of intelligent or smart mines. Therefore, this paper serves to provide some insights into improving their stability. In this paper, research on the anti-tipping and anti-slip technology of shields is carried out on an intelligent working face with a large dip angle. A mechanical model of "support-surrounding rock" was established. Through the analysis of the influence of the self-weight of the support on its stability and through theoretical analysis and field practice, it was found that the critical tipping angle of the support in the free state is 27.8, the critical slip angle is 16, and the support is more prone to slip in the free state; the shields in the middle of the working face are the key area for stability control. Suitable technical measures are taken to ensure the stability of the supports, which provides the management and practical basis for safe and efficient mining in the intelligent working face with a large dip angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of mitigation in political discourse deserves the closest attention since it concerns the manipulative dimension of politics in the modeling of public consciousness. This research is aimed at identifying linguistic and pragmatic mitigators associated with the topos of Precaution and its manifesting strategies in the discourse of assistance to Ukraine. It reached the main finding about the correlation of mitigators with the implementation of discursive strategies mediated by the influence of bushes, hedges, and shields on the illocution of speech acts. Since the illocution is influenced not only by hedges distinguished by this criterion, but also by other types of mitigators, we have introduced, in addition to the propositional, illocutionary, and deictic coordinates of the utterance, an additional criterion for the distribution of mitigators -- their correlation with discursive strategies. Bushes implement the strategy of reducing the speaker's responsibility for the asserted facts, promises -- indirect commissives and recommendations -- implicit directives by triggering conventional implicatures that imply the conditions for these acts feasibility. Shields transfer, generalize or depersonalize the speaker's responsibility for assertive facts, implicit promises and indirect recommendations, "blurring" the deixis to a denotative situation. Hedges in assertives transfer responsibility to the sphere of subjective epistemic modality with increasing probability instead of the certainty about what is being asserted. In directives, hedges generalize / depersonalize the speaker's responsibility thereby intersecting with the functional scope of shields. Polyfunctional mitigators implement several discursive strategies. The article specifies each group of mitigators in terms of its constituent linguistic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the problem of correlation between the illocutionary force of indirect commissive acts and shields as deictic mitigating markers that reduce the level of promises by influencing their felicity conditions. The purpose of the article is to clarify the types of deictic shields and their function in weakening the illocutionary force of indirect promises in the European political discourse of assistance to Ukraine. The purpose is achieved by solving the following objectives that determine the research algorithm, including (a) felicity conditions revealing for commissives, weakened by shields that affect the illocutionary force of acts; (b) identifying those deictic coordinates of statements, the reference to which weakens the illocutionary force of commissives; (c) lexical-semantic and syntactic deictic mitigators complex determination. To achieve the purpose and objectives set in the article, the following research methods are used: the method of speech acts analysis and the method of inferencing the shields-based conventional implicatures, supplemented by elements of componential analysis. The article reached the following principal results. Firstly, among the felicity conditions for commissives weakened by shields, the article highlights the condition of speaker’s sincerity and the preparatory condition of his / her ability to perform a promissive act. Due to the shields, the promise is transferred from the scope of the action to the scope of the speaker’s possibilities. Secondly, based on the understanding of shields as the markers affecting either the speaker’s / addresser’s face-protecting attitude to the proposition or the deictic space-temporal-object coordinates of the utterance, the paper has identified that the illocutionary force of indirect commissives is mitigated by personal, temporal and object shields. Thirdly, we have singled out and specified a set of illocution-mitigating deictic devices, including means of role-playing deixis, epistemological modal verbs and their substitutes, which denote or connotate semes of “capabilities” and “possibilities”, means of negation, temporary deixis devices, i.e. the lexical and grammatical markers of future tense, resulting in the vagueness of promises / obligations; presuppositional adverbs with inference pattern of “impediment to a promised action”; passive structures that withdraw the speaker from the position of phrasal subject and an agent of the promising action; verbs and adverbs, which in their inference patterns contain the denotative or contextually connotated semes of a temporal reference to an indefinite future; metonymic generalization of the agent of action. The prospect for further research is the analysis of all types of mitigators, including bushes, hedges and shields, in their projection on rhetorical and manipulative methods of argumentation in political discourse as manifested by the discourse-forming concept “Caution”.

The early find of the 64 Viking Age round shields from the Gokstad ship burial has almost singularly shaped our understanding of the construction and role of shields from this period. Despite their significance, however, the shield material has never been published in full nor been subjected to any substantial examination since their discovery in 1880. The current understanding of the shields is thus highly limited, tainted also in part by the preconception that they potentially represent ceremonial shields for the burial rite as well as assumptions of homogeneity. This preliminary study critically assesses these preconceptions and presents the results from a re-examination of the shield boards from the Gokstad ship burial. Despite their fragmented state, these artefacts significantly contribute to a more nuanced understanding of shield constructions of the Viking Age, especially when coupled with other well-preserved archaeological shield finds and the scholarly corpus available on such shields. As such, the preliminary findings of this paper offer new insights into the complexities of Viking Age shield technologies and their use in funerary rites, underlining the need for more comprehensive treatment of this material in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is the main energy source in China. As flat and shallow coal seams are being depleted, adverse coal seams such as inclined and steeply inclined coal seams account for larger proportion of seams that are mined. For these coal seams, instability such as slip and tipping of mining equipment due to the large inclination is a significant challenge for the productive operation of intelligent or smart mines. Therefore, this paper serves to provide some insights into improving their stability. In this paper, research on the anti-tipping and anti-slip technology of shields is carried out on an intelligent working face with a large dip angle. A mechanical model of “support-surrounding rock” was established. Through the analysis of the influence of the self-weight of the support on its stability and through theoretical analysis and field practice, it was found that the critical tipping angle of the support in the free state is 27.8, the critical slip angle is 16, and the support is more prone to slip in the free state; the shields in the middle of the working face are the key area for stability control. Suitable technical measures are taken to ensure the stability of the supports, which provides the management and practical basis for safe and efficient mining in the intelligent working face with a large dip angle.

Predicting piping failure is essential for assessing dike and dam safety. To improve the current description of internal erosion, we sought to evaluate the effects of laminar and turbulent flow on the transport of particles, which is lacking in existing assessment manuals. These insights are necessary to develop engineering tools to predict piping caused by seepage-induced backward erosion in loose sediment inside or below the dike or dam body. Particle transport occurs when there is an imbalance between the wall shear stress of the water in the pipe and the critical wall shear stress of the material. Here, we focus on pipe erosion beneath clayey dikes and impermeable dams, where piping is governed solely by the flow resistance in the pipes. We describe pipe properties, flow characteristics and turbulence intensities in relation to existing hypotheses from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current river management, we very often use environment-friendly hydraulic structures when it is required for river bed or river bank protection due to erosion of a river channel. Block ramps are one of many methods used to stabilize river beds. They provide a semi-natural solution to certain river engineering problems in mountain streams. When building block ramps, one can use the dissipative behavior of large rock blocks or boulder elements randomly placed on the river bed to enhance fish migration in an upstream direction; thus, they can serve as fish passes. In this paper, we present the results of the numerical modelling of a bed load transport and the morphological changes of a river bed where a block ramp was designed and built. The main aim of the study was to investigate the difference of 2D modelling of a bed load transport along the mountain stream reach with boulder ramps in comparison to the classical methods of Hjulström, Shields, and Russian standard ST-24-2396. The work was carried out on the stream of one of the chosen low-head hydraulic structures, where 25 identical block ramps were constructed for river training reasons. The novel approach of our study is, for the first time in the field, to show a very detailed analysis of block ramp influence on sediment transport and river morphology changes compared to the classical understanding of those phenomena, as well as 2D model results to give hydraulic engineers an inside look into classical and modern approaches of bed load transport calculations. This might be helpful for designing such kinds of hydraulic structures in the future, in all regions where sediment transport calculations are important but do not always require sophisticated modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sequence of Old English riddles from the Exeter Book allow an implement to speak. This article focuses on one example, Riddle 5, generally solved as either a shield or a cutting board, to show how each interpretation gives voice not just to an inanimate object but also to a non-elite member of early medieval English society—either a foot-soldier or a kitchen hand. The two solutions come together because the two answers are captured in a single Old English word—"bord"—and also because the two interpretations resonate in parallel ways, creating sympathy for down-trodden members of society who rarely get so much attention in the surviving poetic record. This article argues that Old English riddles provide an enduring legacy of social critique crafted through humor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shield bosses of the type Dobrodzień possess typical longitudinal flutes or facets on the calotte. These artefacts are well known in the Barbaricum, particularly in the Middle Danube area and to the north of the Carpathians, with a few isolated finds documented to the east of the Carpathians, on the eastern Black Sea coast, and on the Roman empire's Danubian frontier. The images of the shield bosses of the type Dobrodzień rarely occur on the Roman pictures (the Monza diptych) and on the metalware discovered in the Barbaricum (horse tack plates from Untersiebenbrunn). The period of existence of the shield bosses of the type Dobrodzień as a whole corresponds to 370s - 430s. The article suggests the Roman origin of this weaponry: most likely, it was manufactured in a workshop in the Middle Danube area. Moreover, it is still possible that there were some Germanic prototypes for faceted shield bosses were known in the Germanic context already in the late 1st and 2nd c. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting piping failure is essential to the safe assessment of dikes and dams since erosion is one of the main causes of serious hydraulic system failure. The objective of this paper is to describe the groundwater flow in porous media with the Shields–Darcy piping model, and discuss its differences with the current Sellmeijer model, especially for prototype situations. The solution of the Laplace equation and the hypothesis of Hagen–Poiseuille are typically used to describe groundwater flow and pipe flow. However, in this paper, these flows are solved with Ohm's law and the continuity equation. The obtained resistance equation is discussed in various ways to define piping. When piping occurs, the pipes below the impermeable dike reach their critical dimensions and grow in the longitudinal and transverse directions to form wide pipes towards the riverside. Some computational results of the critical dike gradient are compared with experimental data obtained from IJkdijk experiments. For field conditions, the Shields–Darcy model and the rule of Bligh yield comparable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]