Palliser Rockslide cosmogenic 36Cl exposure ages (raw data) and erosion effect on the cosmogenic

This paper presents the results of a combined study, using cosmogenic 36Cl exposure dating and terrestrial digital photogrammetry, of the Palliser Rockslide located in the southeastern Canadian Rocky Mountains. This site is particularly well-suited to demonstrate how this multi-disciplinary approach can be used to differentiate distinct rocksliding events, estimate their volume, and establish their chronology and recurrence interval. Observations suggest that rocksliding has been ongoing since the late Pleistocene deglaciation. Two major rockslide events have been dated at 10.0 ± 1.2 kyr and 7.7 ± 0.8 kyr before present, with failure volumes of 40 Mm3 and 8 Mm3, respectively. The results have important implications concerning our understanding of the temporal distribution of paraglacial rockslides and rock avalanches; they provide a better understanding of the volumes and failure mechanisms of recurrent failure events; and they represent the first absolute ages of a prehistoric high magnitude event in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Stable oxygen isotope data and geophysical measurements from Red Sea of core M174/Kl11

To settle debate on the timing of sea level fluctuations during marine isotope stage (MIS) 3, we present records of d18O ruber (sea level proxy) and magnetic susceptibility from the same samples within the single sediment archive (i.e., "coregistered") of central Red Sea core GeoTü-KL11. Core-scanning X-ray fluorescence and environmental magnetic data establish the suitability of magnetic susceptibility as a proxy for eolian dust content in Red Sea sediments. The eolian dust data record similar variability as Greenland d18O ice during early to middle MIS 3, in agreement with previous observations that regional Arabian Sea climate fluctuated with a timing similar to that of Greenland climate variations. In contrast, the sea level record fluctuates with a timing similar to that of Antarctic-style climate variations. The coregistered nature of the two records in core KL11 unambiguously reveals a distinct offset in the phase relationship between sea level and eolian dust fluctuations. The results confirm that sea level rises, indicated by shifts in Red Sea d18O ruber to lighter values, occurred during cold episodes in Greenland during early to middle MIS 3. This indicates that the amplitudes of the reconstructed MIS 3 sea level fluctuations would not be reduced by inclusion of regional climate fluctuations in the Red Sea sea level method. Our analysis comprehensively supports our earlier conclusions of large-amplitude sea level variations during MIS 3 with a timing that is strongly similar to Antarctic-style climate variations.

(Table 2) Seasonal flux data and percentages of major bulk components of total flux at the mesotrophic sediment trap site CB from 1988 - 2012

A more than two-decadal sediment trap record from the Eastern Boundary Upwelling Ecosystem (EBUE) off Cape Blanc, Mauritania, is analysed with respect to deep ocean mass fluxes, flux components and their variability on seasonal to decadal timescales. The total mass flux revealed interannual fluctuations which were superimposed by fluctuations on decadal timescales. High winter fluxes of biogenic silica (BSi), used as a measure of marine production (mostly by diatoms) largely correspond to a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index (December-March). However, this relationship is weak. The highest positive BSi anomaly was in winter 2004-2005 when the NAO was in a neutral state. More episodic BSi sedimentation events occurred in several summer seasons between 2001 and 2005, when the previous winter NAO was neutral or even negative. We suggest that distinct dust outbreaks and deposition in the surface ocean in winter and occasionally in summer/autumn enhanced particle sedimentation and carbon export on short timescales via the ballasting effect. Episodic perturbations of the marine carbon cycle by dust outbreaks (e.g. in 2005) might have weakened the relationships between fluxes and large-scale climatic oscillations. As phytoplankton biomass is high throughout the year, any dry (in winter) or wet (in summer) deposition of fine-grained dust particles is assumed to enhance the efficiency of the biological pump by incorporating dust into dense and fast settling organic-rich aggregates. A good correspondence between BSi and dust fluxes was observed for the dusty year 2005, following a period of rather dry conditions in the Sahara/Sahel region. Large changes of all bulk fluxes occurred during the strongest El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in 1997-1999 where low fluxes were obtained for almost 1 year during the warm El Niño and high fluxes in the following cold La Niña phase. For decadal timescales, Bakun (1990) suggested an intensification of coastal upwelling due to increased winds (''Bakun upwelling intensification hypothesis''; Cropper et al., 2014) and global climate change. We did not observe an increase of any flux component off Cape Blanc during the past 2 and a half decades which might support this. Furthermore, fluxes of mineral dust did not show any positive or negative trends over time which might suggest enhanced desertification or ''Saharan greening'' during the last few decades.

Data and Documentation

The primary aims of this survey were to assess household waste management practices; participation in waste diversion practices; knowledge of local waste management politics; willingness to participate in local decision making regarding the development of a local waste processing facility; attitudes and perceptions of waste, waste management policies, and waste management technologies.

Mandibular Torus : A Synthesis of New and Previously Reported Data and a Discusssion of its Cause

Using original data on 1,5000 mandibles, but mainly previously published data, I present a overview of the distribution characteristics of mandibular torus and a hypothesis concerning its cause. Pedigree studies have established that genetic factors influence torus development. Extrinsic factors are strongly implicated by other evidence: prevalence among Arctic peoples, effect of dietary change, age regression, preponderance in males and on the right side, effect of cranial deformation, concurrence with palatine torus and maxillary alveolar exostoses, and clinical evidence. I propose that the primary factor is masticatory stress. According to a mechanism suggested by orthodontic research, the horizontal component of bite force tips the lower canine, premolars and first molar so that their root apices exert pressure on the periodontal membrane, causing formation of new bone on the lingual cortical plate of the alveolar process. Thus formed, the hyperostosis is vulnerable to trauma and its periosteal covering becomes bruised causing additional deposition of bone. Genes influence torus indirectly through their effect on occlusion. A patern of increased expressivity with incidence suggests that a quasicontinuous model may provide a better fit to pedigree data than single locus models previously tested.

A World without Causation: Big Data and the Coming of Age of Posthumanism

Advocates of Big Data assert that we are in the midst of an epistemological revolution, promising the displacement of the modernist methodological hegemony of causal analysis and theory generation. It is alleged that the growing ‘deluge’ of digitally generated data, and the development of computational algorithms to analyse them, has enabled new inductive ways of accessing everyday relational interactions through their ‘datafication’. This paper critically engages with these discourses of Big Data and complexity, particularly as they operate in the discipline of International Relations, where it is alleged that Big Data approaches have the potential for developing self-governing societal capacities for resilience and adaptation through the real-time reflexive awareness and management of risks and problems as they arise. The epistemological and ontological assumptions underpinning Big Data are then analysed to suggest that critical and posthumanist approaches have come of age through these discourses, enabling process-based and relational understandings to be translated into policy and governance practices. The paper thus raises some questions for the development of critical approaches to new posthuman forms of governance and knowledge production.

‘Ulster Says No’: Regulating the consumption of commercial sex spaces and services in Northern Ireland

Commercial forms of sex such as prostitution/sex work, strip clubs and even sex shops have been the subject of much political debate and policy regulation over the last decade or so in the UK and Ireland. These myriad forms of commercial sex and land usage have managed to survive and even thrive in the face of public outcry and regulation. Despite being part of the UK we suggest that Northern Ireland has steered its own regulatory course, whereby the consumption of commercial sexual spaces and services have been the subject of intense moral and legal oversight in ways that are not apparent in other UK regions. Nevertheless, in spite of this we also argue that the context of Northern Ireland may provide some lessons for the ways that religious values and moral reasoning can influence debates on commercial sex elsewhere.

Personal Data and Encryption in the European General Data Protection Regulation

Encryption of personal data is widely regarded as a privacy preserving technology which could potentially play a key role for the compliance of innovative IT technology within the European data protection law framework. Therefore, in this paper, we examine the new EU General Data Protection Regulation’s relevant provisions regarding encryption – such as those for anonymisation and pseudonymisation – and assess whether encryption can serve as an anonymisation technique, which can lead to the non-applicability of the GDPR. However, the provisions of the GDPR regarding the material scope of the Regulation still leave space for legal uncertainty when determining whether a data subject is identifiable or not. Therefore, we inter alia assess the Opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of the dispute concerning whether a dynamic IP address can be considered as personal data, which may put an end to the dispute whether an absolute or a relative approach has to be used for the assessment of the identifiability of data subjects. Furthermore, we outline the issue of whether the anonymisation process itself constitutes a further processing of personal data which needs to have a legal basis in the GDPR. Finally, we give an overview of relevant encryption techniques and examine their impact upon the GDPR’s material scope.

Design and implementation of BIRDY satellite data and Radiation Payload simulators

Numerical modelling and simulations are needed to develop and test specific analysis methods by providing test data before BIRDY would be launched. This document describes the "satellite data simulator" which is a multi-sensor, multi-spectral satellite simulator produced especially for the BIRDY mission which could be used as well to analyse data from other satellite missions providing energetic particles data in the Solar system.

Variations in chemoprophylaxis for meningococcal disease: a retrospective case note review, analysis of routine prescribing data and questionnaire of general practitioners

BACKGROUND: Invasive meningococcal disease is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in the UK. Administration of chemoprophylaxis to close contacts reduces the risk of a secondary case. However, unnecessary chemoprophylaxis may be associated with adverse reactions, increased antibiotic resistance and removal of organisms, such as Neisseria lactamica, which help to protect against meningococcal disease. Limited evidence exists to suggest that overuse of chemoprophylaxis may occur. This study aimed to evaluate prescribing of chemoprophylaxis for contacts of meningococcal disease by general practitioners and hospital staff. METHODS: Retrospective case note review of cases of meningococcal disease was conducted in one health district from 1st September 1997 to 31st August 1999. Routine hospital and general practitioner prescribing data was searched for chemoprophylactic prescriptions of rifampicin and ciprofloxacin. A questionnaire of general practitioners was undertaken to obtain more detailed information. RESULTS: Prescribing by hospital doctors was in line with recommendations by the Consultant for Communicable Disease Control. General practitioners prescribed 118% more chemoprophylaxis than was recommended. Size of practice and training status did not affect the level of additional prescribing, but there were significant differences by geographical area. The highest levels of prescribing occurred in areas with high disease rates and associated publicity. However, some true close contacts did not appear to receive prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: Receipt of chemoprophylaxis is affected by a series of patient, doctor and community interactions. High publicity appears to increase demand for prophylaxis. Some true contacts do not receive appropriate chemoprophylaxis and are left at an unnecessarily increased risk

Expedition in Data and Harmonic Analysis on Graphs

The graph Laplacian operator is widely studied in spectral graph theory largely due to its importance in modern data analysis. Recently, the Fourier transform and other time-frequency operators have been defined on graphs using Laplacian eigenvalues and eigenvectors. We extend these results and prove that the translation operator to the i’th node is invertible if and only if all eigenvectors are nonzero on the i’th node. Because of this dependency on the support of eigenvectors we study the characteristic set of Laplacian eigenvectors. We prove that the Fiedler vector of a planar graph cannot vanish on large neighborhoods and then explicitly construct a family of non-planar graphs that do exhibit this property. We then prove original results in modern analysis on graphs. We extend results on spectral graph wavelets to create vertex-dyanamic spectral graph wavelets whose support depends on both scale and translation parameters. We prove that Spielman’s Twice-Ramanujan graph sparsifying algorithm cannot outperform his conjectured optimal sparsification constant. Finally, we present numerical results on graph conditioning, in which edges of a graph are rescaled to best approximate the complete graph and reduce average commute time.

Perceptions of Social Supports and Services for Intimate Partner Violence Victims

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex issue. The present study explored how media exposure to female and male victims of IPV affected participants’ support for both groups. It was hypothesized that female victims would be supported more than male victims and that presenting stimuli that drew attention to male victims would not decrease support for female victims. Participants were presented with one of three posters, drawing attention to male victims, female victims, or both. A questionnaire was then used to assess perceptions of support for IPV victims, which was completed by 121 participants. Results indicated that females were supported more than males and that drawing attention to male victims did not decrease participants’ support for female victims. An exploratory analysis also revealed that women, overall, have high support for all victims, while men’s level of support changed depending on the type of information to which they were exposed.

The study of correlation between sea surface temperature (SST) by using the NOAA-AVHRR data and compare this data with temperature measurement in the Caspian Sea

The changes in time and location of surface temperature from a water body has an important effect on climate activities, marine biology, sea currents, salinity and other characteristics of the seas and lakes water. Traditional measurement of temperature is costly and time consumer due to its dispersion and instability. In recent years the use of satellite technology and remote sensing sciences for data acquiring and parameter and lysis of climatology and oceanography is well developed. In this research we used the NOAA’s Satellite images from its AVHRR system to compare the field surface temperature data with the satellite images information. Ten satellite images were used in this project. These images were calibrated with the field data at the exact time of satellite pass above the area. The result was a significant relation between surface temperatures from satellite data with the field work. As the relative error less than %40 between these two data is acceptable, therefore in our observation the maximum error is %21.2 that can be considered it as acceptable. In all stations the result of satellite measurements is usually less than field data that cores ponds with the global result too. As this sea has a vast latitude, therefore the different in the temperature is natural. But we know this factor is not the only cause for surface currents. The information of all satellites were images extracted by ERDAS software, and the “Surfer” software is used to plot the isotherm lines.