Have We Need of Invoking Postmodernity? Identity and Difference in Theological Discourse

While the term postmodernity remains vague or equivocal, theologians increasingly concede that it is one which they can not avoid trying to understand and deal with. One definition of the term proceeds by way of sharp contrast with specific features of modernity, thus clearly distinguishing postmodernity from even late modernity. The key to this distinction seems to be a particular conception of difference which is worked out rigorously in Heidegger\u27s, The Principle of Identity. Proceeding from Heidegger\u27s claim to think difference anterior to identity, postmodernity is then presented here as the source of considerable difficulty to a theology which would seem committed to basic identification with Christ. Clarification of these difficulties and the dangers they harbor for a theology which would speak according to the postmodern condition illumines the general contours of a theology which instead speaks about it or in discussion with it. Some implications in the fields of pastoral and speculative theology are highlighted

Sugar and Rice Trade between the United States and Cuba Trade Potential and Welfare Analysis

After the resignation of President Fidel Castro and forty-five years of the U.S.-trade embargo, the political environment between Cuba and the United States is expected to change. With the Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act in 2000, trade sanctions were eased for a while. Future trade between both countries would increase the welfare in both countries. This Thesis has the approach to look at the impacts on the commodities of rice and sugar, and the trade sanctions between the United States and Cuba. Cuba is a net importer of its food supply; therefore, agriculture and food trade is an interesting business for states closely located to Cuba. Cuba also has a high consumption of rice, and the US is a net exporter of rice; the gains from trade are obvious. On the other hand, Cuba has an enormous potential in sugar cane production. Cuba was once the world\u27s largest sugar producer with over 8 million metric tons (USDA, 2008). With increasing demand in the United States, sugar cane from Cuba could supply the United States market. The trade analysis from the United States International Trade Commission shows that the agriculture trade between the United States and Cuba could increase by $661 million. Without an embargo, US rice producers and Cuban sugar could benefit from trade. Welfare analysis shows that the protection policy harms producers and consumers on both sides. Given its proximity to the U.S., Cuba could benefit similarly as Mexico and Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). These countries show that free trade increases investments, imports, and exports. It is also proven that the overall welfare increases with the removal of protectionism (Stern, 2001). It is time to open the trade embargo between the United States and Cuba on behalf of the welfare of the people in both countries

A Method for Comparing Real and Simulated Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery

This thesis proposes a method for comparing real and simulated hyperspectral imagery by examining the characteristics of simulated imagery in comparison to real imagery acquired with multiple sensors hosted on an airborne platform. The dataset includes aerial multi- and hyperspectral imagery with spatial resolutions of one meter or less. The multispectral imagery includes data from an airborne sensor with three-band visible color and calibrated radiance imagery in the long-, mid-, and short-wave infrared. The airborne hyperspectral imagery includes 360 bands of calibrated radiance and reflectance data spanning 400 to 2450 nm in wavelength. Collected in September 2012, the imagery is of a park in Avon, NY, and includes a dirt track and areas of grass, gravel, forest, and agricultural fields. A number of artificial targets were deployed in the scene prior to collection for purposes of target detection, subpixel detection, spectral unmixing, and 3D object recognition. A synthetic reconstruction of the collection site was created in DIRSIG, an image generation and modeling tool developed by the Rochester Institute of Technology, based on ground-measured reflectance data, ground photography, and previous airborne imagery. Simulated airborne images were generated using the scene model, time of observation, atmospheric conditions, and knowledge of the sensor characteristics. The thesis provides a comparison between the empirical and simulated images, including a comparison of achieved performance for classification, detection and unmixing applications. It was found that several differences exist due to the way the image is generated, including finite sampling and incomplete knowledge of atmospheric conditions and sensor characteristics. The lessons learned from these differences can be used to refine the modeling tool and its use as part of ongoing efforts to increase the realism of the simulated data

Abundance, diversity and succession of aquatic Coleoptera and Heteroptera in a cluster of artificial ponds in the North German Lowlands

AbstractOur study describes and evaluates environmental influences on assemblages of aquatic Coleoptera and Heteroptera in artificial ponds situated near Lake Steinhude in Lower Saxony (Germany). We determined temporal dynamics and colonization patterns for 14 ponds of different age. In total, we recorded 4941 individuals that represented 87 species of aquatic beetles and bugs. Between 30 and 40 species were found in most of the ponds. Heteropteran species of the families Corixidae and Notonectidae acted as pioneer species in new ponds, while aquatic coleopterans predominated in older ponds. The results of Canonical Correspondence Analyses (CCA) showed that among the key factors affecting community structure were land use, vegetation cover, water chemistry and the age of the ponds. We found that the distribution of adjacent ponds on areas with different land use has a positive influence on the diversity and abundance of the aquatic insect fauna

Penalized Splines, Mixed Models and the Wiener-Kolmogorov Filter

Penalized splines are widespread tools for the estimation of trend and cycle, since they allow a data driven estimation of the penalization parameter by the incorporation into a linear mixed model. Based on the equivalence of penalized splines and the Hodrick-Prescott filter, this paper connects the mixed model framework of penalized splines to the Wiener- Kolmogorov filter. In the case that trend and cycle are described by ARIMA-processes, this filter yields the mean squarred error minimizing estimations of both components. It is shown that for certain settings of the parameters, a penalized spline within the mixed model framework is equal to the Wiener-Kolmogorov filter for a second fold integrated random walk as the trend and a stationary ARMA-process as the cyclical component

Is reduced-density-matrix functional theory a suitable vehicle to import explicit correlations into density-functional calculations?

A variational formulation for the calculation of interacting fermion systems based on the density-matrix functional theory is presented. Our formalism provides for a natural integration of explicit many-particle effects into standard density-functional-theory based calculations and it avoids ambiguities of double-counting terms inherent to other approaches. Like the dynamical mean-field theory, we employ a local approximation for explicit correlations. Aiming at the ground state only, trade some of the complexity of Green's function based many-particle methods against efficiency. Using short Hubbard chains as test systems we demonstrate that the method captures ground state properties, such as left-right-correlation, beyond those accessible by mean-field theories.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure