The gravity duals of modular Hamiltonians

In this work, we investigate modular Hamiltonians defined with respect to arbitrary spatial regions in quantum field theory states which have semi-classical gravity duals. We find prescriptions in the gravity dual for calculating the action of the modular Hamiltonian on its defining state, including its dual metric, and also on small excitations around the state. Curiously, use of the covariant holographic entanglement entropy formula leads us to the conclusion that the modular Hamiltonian, which in the quantum field theory acts only in the causal completion of the region, does not commute with bulk operators whose entire gauge-invariant description is space-like to the causal completion of the region.United States. Dept. of Energy (Contract DE-SC00012567

When and how does law effectively reduce the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting?

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is recognized globally as carrying risks to both the physical and psychological health of girls and women and is widely considered a violation of human rights. An estimated 200 million girls and women in 30 countries have undergone FGM/C and as many as 30 million girls younger than 15 years of age are at risk. A common policy response to FGM/C is to call for the enactment and enforcement of criminal prohibitions on the practice. Yet, compliance with laws is complex: it can be motivated and undercut by moral, social, religious, and incentive-based factors. The study detailed in this working paper was conducted in two neighboring countries. Researchers selected Burkina Faso (which has a strong FGM/C law) and Mali (which has no specific FGM/C law) to explore attitudes and tendencies toward obeying the law and continuing FGM/C practices while controlling for many potentially confounding variables

When and how the law is effective in reducing the practice of FGM/C: A cross-border study in Burkina Faso and Mali

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is recognized globally for being associated with risks to both the physical and psychological health of girls and women; it is also considered to be a violation of human rights. At present, an estimated 200 million girls and women in 30 countries have undergone FGM/C and as many as 30 million under-15 girls are at risk. A common policy response to FGM/C is to enact laws and enforce criminal prohibitions. This policy brief summarizes key findings from a cross-border study of two neighboring countries: Burkina Faso, which has a strong FGM/C law, and Mali, which has no specific FGM/C law. The aim of the cross-border study was to explore and compare attitudes and tendencies toward obeying the law and continuing FGM/C practices and to understand the effectiveness of criminal law in combatting FGM/C in both countries

Inbreeding depression in red deer calves

BACKGROUND Understanding the fitness consequences of inbreeding is of major importance for evolutionary and conservation biology. However, there are few studies using pedigree-based estimates of inbreeding or investigating the influence of environment and age variation on inbreeding depression in natural populations. Here we investigated the consequences of variation in inbreeding coefficient for three juvenile traits, birth date, birth weight and first year survival, in a wild population of red deer, considering both calf and mother's inbreeding coefficient. We also tested whether inbreeding depression varied with environmental conditions and maternal age. RESULTS We detected non-zero inbreeding coefficients for 22% of individuals with both parents and at least one grandparent known (increasing to 42% if the dataset was restricted to those with four known grandparents). Inbreeding depression was evident for birth weight and first year survival but not for birth date: the first year survival of offspring with an inbreeding coefficient of 0.25 was reduced by 77% compared to offspring with an inbreeding coefficient of zero. However, it was independent of measures of environmental variation and maternal age. The effect of inbreeding on birth weight appeared to be driven by highly inbred individuals (F = 0.25). On the other hand first year survival showed strong inbreeding depression that was not solely driven by individuals with the highest inbreeding coefficients, corresponding to an estimate of 4.35 lethal equivalents. CONCLUSIONS These results represent a rare demonstration of inbreeding depression using pedigree-based estimates in a wild mammal population and highlight the potential strength of effects on key components of fitness.This research was supported by a NERC grant to LEBK, JMP and THCB, NERC and BBSRC fellowships to DHN and a Royal Society fellowship to LEBK

A Conceptual Framework to Discover IT Project Risks in Developing Economies: An Application to Cambodia and Uganda Contexts

Background: The information technology (IT) project environment in developing economies is complex and dynamic due to their unique social, technological, cultural, and political contexts. However, the unique risk factors involved in IT projects in developing economies have seldom been discussed in the literature. This study proposes a conceptual framework for identifying risks in IT projects by considering the unique characteristics of project management in developing economies. Method: 17 project cases were examined via a series of expert interviews in Cambodia and Uganda. The interview results were coded into a total of 257 risk incidents, which were used to validate the proposed framework. Particularly, the risk incidents of each economy were matched with 16 risk categories under the proposed framework. The matched results were conceptualized into unique risk factors of each economy. Results: Our results reveal that the most critical risks in both economies involve the lack of structured and standardized project management (PM) processes, and misunderstanding and poor decision-making due to the lack of project experience and technical knowledge in local stakeholders. In addition to these shared risk factors, the two economies show distinct risk granularities. Particularly, IT projects in Cambodia are more vulnerable to cultural uniqueness while IT projects in Uganda suffer more with complex stakeholder structures. Conclusions: The proposed framework serves as guidance to identify IT project risks in developing economies. Furthermore, the identified risk factors using the framework proposed by this study help project managers or stakeholders recognize and mitigate the unique IT project risk factors in the two developing economies. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol12/iss3/1

A Comparative Evaluation of Different Techniques of Supervised Classification in Landuse/Landcover Mapping of Awka South L.G.A, Anambra State, Nigeria.

The aim of this study is to compare the different techniques of supervised classification using Awka South LGA, of Anambra State as a case study. The techniques considered include: Maximum Likelihood (MLC), Minimum Distance, Mahalanobis Distance, Spectral Angle Mapper and Parallelepiped. Landsat 7 ETM+ (2000 and 2007) and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS (2015) were acquired. The images were pre-processed. The scan-line effect present in the Landsat 7 image was corrected using the analysis tool of Quantum GIS (QGIS) 2.18 software. To compensate for atmospheric effects, Fast Line-of-site Atmospheric Analysis of Hypercube (FLAASH) Atmospheric Module of ENVI software was used. Image enhancement was carried out on the images. The images were classified using the different techniques and the results compared. Change detection was also carried out to determine the rate of changes between 2000 and 2015. Error matrices of the various techniques were calculated to determine the accuracy level of the algorithms and to judge which is the better choice. It can be deduced from the results that Maximum Likelihood (99.63%) produced the best result, followed closely by Mahalanobis Distance (98.54%), Spectral Angle (89.28%), Minimum Distance (84.42%) and Parallelepiped (85.00%). The study recommends Maximum Likelihood Classification algorithm for supervised classification. Key words: Classification, Maximum Likelihood, Algorithm, Land cover land use DOI: 10.7176/JEES/9-5-10 Publication date:May 31st 201