Epidemic Suicide in the Context of Modernizing Social Change in Oceania: A Critical Review and Assessment

This article examines the Western academic explanations for suicide epidemics among adolescents and young adults documented in many Pacific Island nations beginning in the early 1970s. These explanatory accounts draw heavily from Émile Durkheim’s theory of social change and suicide, developed in the late nineteenth century. Durkheim argued that suicide epidemics are more likely in the context of modernizing social change either because of increased social disequilibrium (anomie) or social disintegration (egoism). These traditional Western explanations are rarely empirically assessed for their appropriateness in Pacific Island contexts. Therefore, this article uses selected empirical evidence is used to assess the major claims found in these explanations, focusing on Sāmoa and the Micronesian region as the best documented examples. Finding that the data do not support well the major Western-derived explanations for these suicide epidemics, alternative explanations are explored. These alternatives suggest that Pacific Island young people’s vulnerability to suicide is partly a result of how globalizing commodity flows, development policies, and the selective appropriation of these by local actors inform local social relations and the tensions in them. This view supports well recent advocacy for a shift in perspectives toward those that draw on indigenous Oceanic understandings of the vā or wā as relational spaces that are central for the quality of health and well-being in Pacific Island communities

XI. On a magnificent meteor seen in Nottinghamshire

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Thermal Analyses of the Los Angeles Smog Aerosol

It has been shown by earlier studies on the formation of the Los Angeles smog aerosol, that a significant fraction of the particulate matter in the visible size range is made by secondary gas-particle conversion processes, and that it consists mainly of liquid matter. In this study the volatility was studied quantitatively by heating the smog aerosol up to 250°C and simultaneously measuring the scattering coefficient using a nephelometer and the change of size distribution by an optical counter. The thermal analyses revealed that 50–80% of the submicron aerosol mass is volatile at 220°C. Inspection of the shapes of thermo-nephelograms (bscat vs temperature) also revealed that photochemically formed aerosols have distinctly different thermo-nephelograms than those obtained on humid “hazy” days. Thus it is suggested that thermal analyses may at least in some instances provide the means of on-line monitoring the origin of the ambient aerosol

Roll Call Analysis of the Louisiana Purchase Legislation, 1803-1804: the United States Senate

Histor

Wax Myrtle and Myrtle Warblers: Reciprocal Specialization and its Consequences in a Temperate Fruit-Frugivore Interaction

Interactions between fruiting plant and frugivorous species are considered to be highly generalized, resulting in diffuse mutualisms. Specialization has frequently been found to be either asymmetrical or the result of restricted options for frugivores. This dissertation documents a highly unusual case of reciprocal specialization between the myrtle group of yellow-rumped warblers (Dendroica coronata coronata) and wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera). Far from being one of a group of ecologically redundant dispersers, these warblers are the most valuable quantitative and qualitative contributors to this plant's recruitment on Assateague Island National Seashore, U.S.A. Fecal samples collected over four years from migrant and wintering passerines and feeding trials in two years demonstrated that wax myrtle fruit was both the most preferred fruit and a consistently major food item for myrtle warblers throughout a 7-month residence. Abundance of wax myrtle fruit significantly affected this warbler's abundance in all years. Similarly, compared to all other frugivorous species, myrtle warbler were the most frequent and consistent consumer of wax myrtle fruit in all years. Wax myrtle seed dispersal was significantly affected by yellow-rumped warbler abundance. In order to evaluate disperser contributions to wax myrtle, I examined factors influencing seedling recruitment. Data derived from three sources 1) seed trap data from three replicated habitats, 2) experimental evaluation of the effect of time and place of seed deposition, and 3) seedling surveys confirmed that deposition was wide-spread, lasting until late April. Recruitment was greatest in both scrub and meadow habitats, but seeds deposited in meadows, especially in spring, established at higher rates than in scrub because of post-dispersal predation rates associated with microhabitat seed deposition patterns of predation among habitats. Fecal samples and observations indicated that wax myrtle has three primary dispersers: myrtle warblers, gray catbirds and tree swallows. Myrtle warblers, the only documented disperser after December, provided the greatest quantitative dispersal services. Although the germination rate and time of ingested seeds were unaffected by species identity of dispersers, post-foraging observations demonstrated that myrtle warblers were most likely to be the agent of wax myrtle seed emigration from established thickets to sites suitable for colonization

Thesis Statement

My link with science is not the mathematical formulas, but a mode of operation, a generative process and energy existing outside of individual perception. These attitudes and processes are, at least, partly responsible for the various aspects and presentations of my work. The acrylic prisms are very formal in both their objectness and presentation, while the installations, carrying the conceptual concerns and attitudes become more non-object situations, that more control and involve the viewer. &nbsp;</p

Estimating the relationships between the state of the art of technology and production cost for U.S. aircraft

The primary objective of this study is to determine relationships that exist between production cost and the state of the art of technology and extensions in technology for high-technology systems. The data sample selected for study was U.S. military tactical aircraft. The central methodology used in the analysis of the aircraft data base included: 1. The development of measures for the state of the art of technology and the level of technology advance that exists within U.S. fighter and attack aircraft programs. 2. The development of measures for each aircraft program's production cost. 3. The application of various statistical procedures (regression analysis) to test specific hypotheses and build models to explain the relationships between technology and cost. General conclusions from this study are that significant relationships do in fact exist between aircraft production cost and specific technology measures.http://archive.org/details/estimatingrelati00loweLieutenant Commander, United States Naval ReserveApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The Role of Normal Development in Experimental Embryology

This thesis presents an examination of the notion of ‘normal development’ and its role in biological research. It centres on a detailed historical analysis of the experimental embryological work of the American biologist Edmund Beecher Wilson in the early-1890s. My analysis establishes the centrality of the concept of normal development to the way experimental systems are produced and reproduced, and to how attributions of causality which arise from experimental work are made.This thesis presents an examination of the notion of ‘normal development’ and its role in biological research. It centres on a detailed historical analysis of the experimental embryological work of the American biologist Edmund Beecher Wilson in the early-1890s. Normal development is a fundamental concept in biology, which underpins and facilitates experimental work investigating the processes of organismal development. Concepts of the normal and normality in biology (and medicine) have been fruitfully examined by philosophers. Yet, despite being constantly used and invoked by developmental biologists, the concept of normal development has not been subject to substantial philosophical attention. In this thesis I analyse how the concept of normal development is produced and used in experimental systems, and use this analysis to probe its theoretical and methodological significance. I focus on normal development as a technical condition in experimental practice. In doing so I highlight the work that is required to create and sustain both it and the work that it enables. Variation between embryos can cause problems for scientists trying to produce valid and comparable results. In my study of Wilson’s work, I examine how the practices associated with normal development deal with the variation between embryos. In the 1890s, Wilson became increasingly interested in which causes were responsible for the processes of differentiation (the production of different cells and organs) and determination in the process of embryonic development. He performed a series of experiments on the marine invertebrate Amphioxus, which exhibits considerable variability in early development (Wilson, 1893a). Wilson carefully observed his samples and outlined a normal development based on them, which included a considerable range of variation. How Wilson treated variation was reflected in the different way in which he conceived of the process of development compared to other prominent embryologists, such as Hans Driesch and Wilhelm Roux. 4 Having introduced and assessed normal development, I use two analytical approaches to make further sense of it. Furthermore, these approaches identify why appreciating the role of normal development enables us to understand important aspects of scientific practice, such as experimental methodology and making causal attributions based on the results of experimental manipulations. The two main analytical approaches I use are James Woodward’s manipulationist theory of causation (Woodward, 2003 and 2010), and Hans- Jörg Rheinberger’s experimental systems approach (Rheinberger, 1997). The former assesses the factors involved in assessing proposed causal factors, rather than simply demarcating between causes and non-causes. The latter focuses on the way experimental set-ups are configured by scientists in ongoing series of experiments to frame phenomena of interest: “epistemic objects”. My analysis establishes the centrality of the concept of normal development to the way experimental systems are produced and reproduced, and to how attributions of causality which arise from experimental work are made