Good just isn't Good Enough: Humean Chances and Boltzmannian Statistical Physics

Statistical physicists assume a probability distribution over micro-states to explain thermodynamic behavior. The question of this paper is whether these probabilities are part of a best system and can thus be interpreted as Humean chances. I consider two Boltzmannian accounts of the Second Law, viz.\ a globalist and a localist one. In both cases, the probabilities fail to be chances because they have rivals that are roughly equally good. I conclude with the diagnosis that well-defined micro-probabilities under-estimate the robust character of explanations in statistical physics.

Post-Empire Imaginaries? Anglophone Literature, History, and the Demise of Empires

Empires as political entities may be a thing of the past, but as a concept, empire is alive and kicking. From heritage tourism and costume dramas to theories of the imperial idea(l): empire sells. Post-Empire Imaginaries? Anglophone Literature, History, and the Demise of Empires presents innovative scholarship on the lives and legacies of empires in diverse media such as literature, film, advertising, and the visual arts. Though rooted in real space and history, the post-empire and its twin, the post-imperial, emerge as ungraspable ideational constructs. The volume convincingly establishes empire as welcoming resistance and affirmation, introducing post-empire imaginaries as figurations that connect the archives and repertoires of colonial nostalgia, postcolonial critique, post-imperial dreaming.

From Connecting Hindus to Uniting Global Hinduism: History and Guiding Principles of Hinduism Today

Hinduism Today is a quarterly magazine that appears in roughly 15.000 copies, shipped to nearly 60 countries worldwide. The majority of readers are Hindus in diverse diaspora countries, mainly Singapur, Malaysia, Mauritius, Trinidad und the USA. Its editors are monks of Kauai Adheenam, belonging to the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, situated in Kauai, Hawai’i, USA. One of the magazine’s declared goals is to foster global Hindu solidarity and educate Hindus worldwide about their religion. In this paper, I want to take a look at the history of this magazine in connection with the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, and at the development of the expressed aims behind its publication. For this, I draw on fieldwork done in Kauai in January, 2014. After a brief introduction to some theoretical and methodological preliminaries of my work, I shall, give an overview of the history of the Śaiva Siddhānta Church, founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. Following this, I will deal in more detail with the origins and development of the magazine and the websites connected with it. I will focus especially on the role the magazine was intended to play for global Hindu diasporas. A fourth chapter will analyze the modes of definition employed in order to depict Hinduism as a unified global religion. In conclusion, I shall briefly reflect upon the specific agenda of “Global Hinduism” and the strategies of positioning as followed by the publishers of Hinduism Today.

Evolutionary history and global spread of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing lineage.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains of the Beijing lineage are globally distributed and are associated with the massive spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis in Eurasia. Here we reconstructed the biogeographical structure and evolutionary history of this lineage by genetic analysis of 4,987 isolates from 99 countries and whole-genome sequencing of 110 representative isolates. We show that this lineage initially originated in the Far East, from where it radiated worldwide in several waves. We detected successive increases in population size for this pathogen over the last 200 years, practically coinciding with the Industrial Revolution, the First World War and HIV epidemics. Two MDR clones of this lineage started to spread throughout central Asia and Russia concomitantly with the collapse of the public health system in the former Soviet Union. Mutations identified in genes putatively under positive selection and associated with virulence might have favored the expansion of the most successful branches of the lineage.

Insolation, erosion, and morphology of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Context. The complex shape of comet 67P and its oblique rotation axis cause pronounced seasonal effects. Irradiation and hence activity vary strongly. Aims. We investigate the insolation of the cometary surface in order to predict the sublimation of water ice. The strongly varying erosion levels are correlated with the topography and morphology of the present cometary surface and its evolution. Methods. The insolation as a function of heliocentric distance and diurnal (spin dependent) variation is calculated using >10(5) facets of a detailed digital terrain model. Shading, but also illumination and thermal radiation by facets in the field of view of a specific facet are iteratively taken into account. We use a two-layer model of a thin porous dust cover above an icy surface to calculate the water sublimation, presuming steady state and a uniform surface. Our second model, which includes the history of warming and cooling due to thermal inertia, is restricted to a much simpler shape model but allows us to test various distributions of active areas. Results. Sublimation from a dirty ice surface yields maximum erosion. A thin dust cover of 50 pm yields similar rates at perihelion. Only about 6% of the surface needs to be active to match the observed water production rates at perihelion. A dust layer of 1 mm thickness suppresses the activity by a factor of 4 to 5. Erosion on the south side can reach more than 10 m per orbit at active spots. The energy input to the concave neck area (Hapi) during northern summer is enhanced by about 50% owing to self-illumination. Here surface temperatures reach maximum values along the foot of the Hathor wall. Integrated over the whole orbit this area receives the least energy input. Based on the detailed shape model, the simulations identify "hot spots" in depressions and larger pits in good correlation with observed dust activity. Three-quarters of the total sublimation is produced while the sub-solar latitude is south, resulting in a distinct dichotomy in activity and morphology. Conclusions. The northern areas display a much rougher morphology than what is seen on Imhotep, an area at the equator that will be fully illuminated when 67P is closer to the Sun. Self-illumination in concave regions enhance the energy input and hence erosion. This explains the early activity observed at Hapi. Cliffs are more prone to erosion than horizontal, often dust covered, areas, which leads to surface planation. Local activity can only persist if the forming cliff walls are eroding. Comet 67P has two lobes and also two distinct sides. Transport of material from the south to the north is probable. The morphology of the Imhotep plain should be typical for the terrains of the yet unseen southern hemisphere.

Geological and hydrological histories of the Argyre province, Mars

The geologic history of the multi-ringed Argyre impact basin and surroundings has been reconstructed on the basis of geologic mapping and relative-age dating of rock materials and structures. The impact formed a primary basin, rim materials, and a complex basement structural fabric including faults and valleys that are radial and concentric about the primary basin, as well as structurally-controlled local basins. Since its formation, the basin has been a regional catchment for volatiles and sedimentary materials as well as a dominant influence on the flow of surface ice, debris flows, and groundwater through and over its basement structures. The basin is interpreted to have been occupied by lakes, including a possible Mediterranean-sized sea that formed in the aftermath of the Argyre impact event The hypothesized lakes froze and diminished through time, though liquid water may have remained beneath the ice cover and sedimentation may have continued for some time. At its deepest, the main Argyre lake may have taken more than a hundred thousand years to freeze to the bottom even absent any heat source besides the Sun, but with impact-induced hydrothermal heat, geothermal heat flow due to long-lived radioactivities in early martian history, and concentration of solutes in sub-ice brine, liquid water may have persisted beneath thick ice for many millions of years. Existence of an ice-covered sea perhaps was long enough for life to originate and evolve with gradually colder and more hypersaline conditions. The Argyre rock materials, diverse in origin and emplacement mechanisms, have been modified by impact, magmatic, eolian, fluvial, lacustrine, glacial, periglacial, alluvial, colluvial, and tectonic processes. Post-impact adjustment of part of the impact-generated basement structural fabric such as concentric faults is apparent. Distinct basin-stratigraphic units are interpreted to be linked to large-scale geologic activity far from the basin, including growth of the Tharsis magmatic-tectonic complex and the growth into southern middle latitudes of south polar ice sheets. Along with the migration of surface and sub-surface volatiles towards the central part of the primaiy basin, the substantial difference in elevation with respect to the surrounding highlands and Tharsis and the Thaumasia highlands result in the trapping of atmospheric volatiles within the basin in the form of fog and regional or local precipitation, even today. In addition, the impact event caused long-term (millions of years) hydrothermal activity, as well as deep-seated basement structures that have tapped the internal heat of Mars, as conduits, for far greater time, possibly even today. This possibility is raised by the observation of putative open-system pingos and nearby gullies that occur in linear depressions with accompanying systems of faults and fractures. Long-term water and heat energy enrichment, complemented by the interaction of the nutrient-enriched primordial crustal and mantle materials favorable to life excavated to the surface and near-surface environs through the Argyre impact event, has not only resulted in distinct geomorphology, but also makes the Argyre basin a potential site of exceptional astrobiological significance. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early Life History and a Modeling Framework for Lobster (Homarus Americanus) Populations in the Gulf of Maine

Beginning in the late 1980s, lobster (Homarus americanus) landings for the state of Maine and the Bay of Fundy increased to levels more than three times their previous 20-year means. Reduced predation may have permitted the expansion of lobsters into previously inhospitable territory, but we argue that in this region the spatial patterns of recruitment and the abundance of lobsters are substantially driven by events governing the earliest life history stages, including the abundance and distribution of planktonic stages and their initial settlement as Young-of-Year (YOY) lobsters. Settlement densities appear to be strongly driven by abundance of the pelagic postlarvae. Postlarvae and YOY show large-scale spatial patterns commensurate with coastal circulation, but also multi-year trends in abundance and abrupt shifts in abundance and spatial patterns that signal strong environmental forcing. The extent of the coastal shelf that defines the initial settlement grounds for lobsters is important to future population modeling. We address one part of this definition by examining patterns of settlement with depth, and discuss a modeling framework for the full life history of lobsters in the Gulf of Maine.

An Activity Theoretical Approach to Designing Curriculum and Instruction That Shift the Means and Ends of History Education

Reformers want history education to help students learn to engage in historical inquiry, read critically across conflicting sources, and engage in civil discussion of controversial issues. How can we help teachers and students shift the roles, norms, and activity in history classrooms to achieve these aims? An activity-theoretical framework suggests the value of explicitly attending to multiple aspects of human activity when designing and presenting reform-oriented pedagogies or curricula. Such attention increases the odds that teachers who implement new approaches or curriculum will achieve significant shifts in the means and ends of history education.

Shakers : compendium of the origin, history, princicples, rules and regulations, government, and doctrines of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing : with biographies of Ann Lee, William Lee, Jas. Whittaker, J. Hocknell, J. Meacham, and Lucy Wright

by F. W. Evans

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia: A study of the changing patterns of the natural history, clinical factors associated with prognosis, and risk of second cancers

A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 1542 patients diagnosed with CLL between 1970 and 2001 at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). Changes in clinical characteristics and the impact of CLL on life expectancy were assessed across three decades (1970–2001) and the role of clinical factors on prognosis of CLL were evaluated among patients diagnosed between 1985 and 2001 using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards method. Among 1485 CLL patients diagnosed from 1970 to 2001, patients in the recent cohort (1985–2001) were diagnosed at a younger age and an earlier stage compared to the earliest cohort (1970–1984). There was a 44% reduction in mortality among patients diagnosed in 1985–1995 compared to those diagnosed in 1970–1984 after adjusting for age, sex and Rai stage among patients who ever received treatment. There was an overall 11 years (5 years for stage 0) loss of life expectancy among 1485 patients compared with the expected life expectancy based on the age-, sex- and race-matched US general population, with a 43% decrease in the 10-year survival rate. Abnormal cytogenetics was associated with shorter progression-free (PF) survival after adjusting for age, sex, Rai stage and beta-2 microglobulin (beta-2M); whereas, older age, abnormal cytogenetics and a higher beta-2M level were adverse predictors for overall survival. No increased risk of second cancer overall was observed, however, patients who received treatment for CLL had an elevated risk of developing AML and HD. Two out of three patients who developed AML were treated with alkylating agents. In conclusion, CLL patients had improved survival over time. The identification of clinical predictors of PF/overall survival has important clinical significance. Close surveillance of the development of second cancer is critical to improve the quality of life of long-term survivors. ^

Development and Implementation of the Use of Optically Stimulated Luminescent Detectors in the Radiological Physics Center Anthropomorphic Quality Assurance Phantoms

The Radiological Physics Center (RPC) uses both on-site and remote reviews to credential institutions for participation in clinical trials. Anthropomorphic quality assurance (QA) phantoms are one tool the RPC uses to remotely audit institutions, which include thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) and radiochromic film. The RPC desires to switch from TLD as the absolute dosimeter in the phantoms, to optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters (OSLDs), but a problem lies in the angular dependence exhibited by the OSLD. The purpose of this study was to characterize the angular dependence of OSLD and establish a correction factor if necessary, to provide accurate dosimetric measurements as a replacement for TLD in the QA phantoms. A 10 cm diameter high-impact polystyrene spherical phantom was designed and constructed to hold an OSLD to study the angular response of the dosimeter under the simplest of circumstances for both coplanar and non-coplanar treatment deliveries. OSLD were irradiated in the spherical phantom, and the responses of the dosimeter from edge-on angles were normalized to the response when irradiated with the beam incident normally on the surface of the dosimeter. The average normalized response was used to establish an angular correction factor for 6 MV and 18 coplanar treatments, and for 6 MV non-coplanar treatments specific to CyberKnife. The RPC pelvic phantom dosimetry insert was modified to hold OSLD, in addition to the TLD, adjacent to the planes of film. Treatment plans of increasing angular beam delivery were developed, three in Pinnacle v9.0 (4-field box, IMRT, and VMAT) and one in Accuray’s MultiPlan v3.5.3 (CyberKnife). The plans were delivered to the pelvic phantom containing both TLD and OSLD in the target volume. The pelvic phantom was also sent to two institutions to be irradiated as trials, one delivering IMRT, and the other a CyberKnife treatment. For the IMRT deliveries and the two institution trials, the phantom also included film in the sagittal and coronal planes. The doses measured from the TLD and OSLD were calculated for each irradiation, and the angular correction factors established from the spherical phantom irradiations were applied to the OSLD dose. The ratio of the TLD dose to the angular corrected OSLD dose was calculated for each irradiation. The corrected OSLD dose was found to be within 1% of the TLD measured dose for all irradiations, with the exception of the in-house CyberKnife deliveries. The films were normalized to both TLD measured dose and the corrected OSLD dose. Dose profiles were obtained and gamma analysis was performed using a 7%/4 mm criteria, to compare the ability of the OSLD, when corrected for the angular dependence, to provide equivalent results to TLD. The results of this study indicate that the OSLD can effectively be used as a replacement for TLD in the RPC’s anthropomorphic QA phantoms for coplanar treatment deliveries when a correction is applied for the dosimeter’s angular dependence.