How to Get Rid of Thunder Thighs

I appreciate the insightful and important things your muffin top has to say to me, but my thunder thighs still think they’re fat. I’m overweight (sometimes). On a BMI scale, I fluctuate in and out of the dreaded “overweight” category. While I acknowledge that the BMI scale has its flaws, it was designed to be a quick approximation of weight to height; it is not designed to be a scientific test. Sometimes I tell myself I am super muscular and the scale doesn’t apply to me, but it’s actually not true. [excerpt

Fashion Faux Pas and Cheetah Claws

It feels like winter, a time for thick socks, boots, warm coats, and… leggings? Leggings are one of those articles of clothing we completely overdo... Or UNDER-do. From a practicality standpoint, they’re marvels of winter, but why rock the thin, sheer leggings in 0° weather when you could just wear shorts? [excerpt

Brooks Better Not Come Back

Every time a new season of the Bachelorette starts, I tell myself that I won’t watch this season—that I won’t give in to the trashiness and the petty drama which is the Bachelor. But I can’t help it. Season after season I’m hooked and 17 seasons later… here I am. [excerpt

A Cyclic Distributed Garbage Collector for Network Objects

This paper presents an algorithm for distributed garbage collection and outlines its implementation within the Network Objects system. The algorithm is based on a reference listing scheme, which is augmented by partial tracing in order to collect distributed garbage cycles. Processes may be dynamically organised into groups, according to appropriate heuristics, to reclaim distributed garbage cycles. The algorithm places no overhead on local collectors and suspends local mutators only briefly. Partial tracing of the distributed graph involves only objects thought to be part of a garbage cycle: no collaboration with other processes is required. The algorithm offers considerable flexibility, allowing expediency and fault-tolerance to be traded against completeness

International macroeconomic adjustment, 1987-1992 : a world model approach

In forecasting key economic indicators for the major industrial countries, the Bank's Economic Analysis and Prospects Division (IECAP) does not rely on a completely linked global macroeconomic model. This paper asks if IECAP forecasts are consistent with those produced by linked models. To answer this, Bank assumptions about exchange rates and commodity prices are introduced into three global models (OECD, Project Link, and Wharton Econometrics). Following the introduction, section 2 explains the structure of each model. Section 3begins the process of explaining and elaborating on the differences in the forecasts, through a comparison of the key assumptions used in each model. Section 4 presents a comparison of the IECAP baseline with the baseline presented by each organization. In section 5, the results of model simulations using IECAP's assumptions for exchange rates and commodity prices are discussed. In section 6, an attempt is made to explain the differences in the projection results; following this a set of alternative scenarios using each model is presented. Finally, in the last section, the main conclusions are presented.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Stabilization,Macroeconomic Management,Financial Intermediation

'A thing apart': controlling male family migration to the UK

While gender offers valuable perspectives for understanding migration law, masculinity has received little attention. In family migration, men are generally regarded as economic agents and family as marginal to their lives, a view that is difficult to dislodge because it serves the purposes of governments anxious to reduce unwanted immigration. In British immigration law, measures have often explicitly or implicitly relied on such gender-based assumptions.Recently, lawyers have utilised the gap between official and unofficial standards by promoting test cases involving either a woman or a vulnerable man but where the principles established will benefit all migrants. Gains may be short-lived however as new ways emerge of making distinctions. These arguments are demonstrated in this article through examination of British immigration control and judicial decisions. The article finds that, in this arena, new understandings of masculinity and fatherhood have yet to make much impact

Maternal behaviour in the ewe: consistency in the expression of maternal behaviour during lactation and the effect of variation in dam and sire breed on the development of offspring

Consistency in the expression of maternal care over a single lactation period was investigated using two breeds of ewe, Scottish Blackface and Suffolk. The two breeds showed differences in their initial maternal behaviour with Blackface ewes showing more affiliative and less negative behaviour towards their newborn lambs than Suffolk ewes. These differences in maternal behaviour continued throughout lactation. Whilst both breeds were able to recognise their lambs at three days post­partum, Blackface ewes were more motivated to associate with their lambs in a maternal choice test, suggesting that they had a stronger ewe-lamb bond than Suffolk ewes. During the rest of lactation Blackface ewes had a closer spatial relationship with their lambs, accepted a higher proportion of suck attempts from their lambs and showed more communication with them via the head-up posture, compared to Suffolk ewes. Blackface ewes actively interacted with their lambs, using the head-up posture to control sucking interactions and to encourage their lambs to remain in close proximity. In contrast Suffolk ewes were not proactive in their relationship with their lambs and appeared to react to the behaviour of their lambs, rather than actively communicating with them.A factor analysis showed that three dimensions, the willingness of the ewe to interact with her lamb throughout lactation, her response to her lamb’s attempts to interact with her and their ewe-lamb bond during later lactation, can be used to describe variation in ovine maternal behaviour. The willingness of the ewe to interact with her lamb accounted for most of the variation between the two breeds, with Blackface ewes showing mostly affiliative behaviour and Suffolk ewes showing more negative behaviour. Within the two breeds variation was mainly due to behaviours associated with the ewe’s response to her lamb’s attempts to interact with her. Individual Blackface ewes showed consistency in their expression of maternal behaviour throughout lactation, but Suffolk ewes did not. This is likely to result in a stable ewe- lamb relationship in Blackface ewes but an unstable relationship in Suffolk ewe.The different maternal styles were then used to assess the effect of variation in dam and sire breed on the development of offspring. The lambs’ stress response during three tests (social separation, restraint and novel object) and their ability to learn a spatial memory task were assessed. In addition, the ability of day old lambs to recognise their dam, lamb growth rate during lactation and the lambs’ own maternal behaviour was examined to assess traits relevant to sheep production. Lambs raised by Blackface ewes showed an active behavioural response during the stress response tests and were quicker to learn the spatial memory task than lambs raised by Suffolk ewes. Suffolk-raised lambs showed a passive response during the stress response tests. Blackface lambs were better able to recognise their dams at 24 hours old than Suffolk lambs. The willingness of the ewe to interact with her lamb throughout lactation showed a positive association with lamb growth. Ewes and their dams were also found to show similarities in their initial maternal behaviour. Therefore, although it was not possible to rule out the possibility of a genetic influence, maternal behaviour in the ewe appears to have the potential to influence offspring development in a variety of ways.A study on the early maternal behaviour of mares was also conducted to assess the potential for the sheep study findings to be applied to other domestic species. Compared to the ewes, mares showed much less interaction with their young, in particular grooming, during the immediate post-partum period, but also showed much less negative behaviour. However there did appear to be potential for the findings of the sheep study to be applied to the horse