A Theory of Revisionism: Louis XIV and the Spanish Netherlands

This dissertation seeks to explain how revisionist states attempt to prevent the intervention of other states – “third-party states” – that are not the victim of their plans. By engaging in a deep analysis of Louis XIV’s efforts to prevent third-party intervention before and during his War of Devolution, I have been able to build a theory that not only describes the strategies a revisionist may employ, but also explains how it decides which among them to use. In order to effectively select which of these strategies to implement against any particular third party, the revisionist will attempt to improve its belief about the third party by engaging in negotiations, where it deploys these strategies as offers which elicit telling responses from the third party. Despite the incentive to misrepresent private information, credible data can be transmitted during negotiations for a number of reasons, which I explain. With this improved belief, the revisionist can better choose which strategies have the highest probability of neutralizing that particular third-party state. To both demonstrate where my theory was inducted from and illustrate how it works in practice, I examine in high detail the negotiations Louis XIV’s France undertook against the United Provinces and Austria. Through granular analysis of the offers traded in these talks, one can better understand how a revisionist approaches the task of neutralization, making clear exactly how the mechanisms in my theory operate. This dissertation makes several important contributions: it helps to fill a conspicuous gap in the international relations literature, which has neglected the study of revisionists as strategic actors, and also offers important counterpoints to bargaining theory

Enterobiasis among Pre-School Children in Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Background: Enterobius is one of the common nematode causing health problem in developing countries. The aim of the present study was to estimates the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis in Gaza Strip. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which included 149 pre-school children who are residing in four Governorates in Gaza Strip; north Gaza, Gaza, mid zone and Khanyounis in Gaza Strip. Scotch tape preparation (STP) was used for the detection of E. vermicularis eggs. Results: Children with employee father had high prevalence of E. vermicularis with a percentage of (47.3%) while those with un-employee father had a percentage of (45.7%) but there was no significant difference. The same results were found with working mother. Families with low family income had children with low rate of E. vermicularis (40.5%) but families with high family income had children with high rate of E. vermicularis (52.8%). Children who are drinking water from filters had high rate of E. vermicularis than others who are drinking from other sources (65%) with a significant difference (p= 0.003). Conclusion: The study concluded that enterobiasis constituted a high prevalence among pre-school children in Gaza strip (46.3%). These results may shed the light on an infectious disease in Gaza Strip and help health authorities to take serious measures for prevention and control, and educate peoples towards the biology of Enterobius

Filistin Gazze’de Al-Azhar Üniversitesi öğrencilerinin HIV/AIDS’e yönelik bilgi ve tutumlarının değerlendirilmesi

Objective: The study assessed the knowledge and attitudes of students’ at a university in Gaza regarding HIV/AIDS and identified differences in knowledge about HIV, and attitudes by gender, locality, and social and economic status. Methods: This descriptive study targeted 492 students of Al-Azhar University-Gaza. The participants completed self-administered questionnaires that included the following dimensions: socio-demographic, measurements of student's knowledge level and measurement of student's attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. Results: Findings showed moderate level of knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS although there was a very low of perception regarding the acceptance and sharing of HIV/AIDS persons. It means that only one third of the study respondents are willingness to be in close touch with people living with HIV or even communication with them, and less than fifty percent thought that it is their right to be engaged in a public or governmental job, stigma and discriminatory attitudes toward HIV/AIDS persons is high only 48% of the students thought it right to employ people living with HIV (PLHIV) and 35.5% refused to work in the same place with PLHIV. Conclusion: This study indicates the need for improving the level of knowledge as well as promoting the students' towards positive attitude

Weight Reduction Perception and Practice among Female Students in Al-Azhar University-Gaza, Palestine

Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the frequency of weight reduction perception. Methods: A sample of 467 female students from Al-Azhar University in the Gaza Strip was selected on a convenience basis. Information obtained from the participants included: age, marital status, place of residence, employment status, health status, methods of weight reduction, sources of information about weight control, and current physical activities. Results: The present study found that 38.8% of female students had practiced weight reduction. The most prevailing attitudes for reducing weight described by the students was sports with 83.3%, followed by exclusion of some principal meals or principal nutrients (57.8%). It was found that 38.5% of the students did not practice any physical exercise. An inverse association was also present between the satisfaction about body weight and the practice of weight reduction

The impact of a school-based hygiene, water quality and sanitation intervention on soil-transmitted helminth reinfection: a cluster-randomized trial.

We conducted a cluster-randomized trial to assess the impact of a school-based water treatment, hygiene, and sanitation program on reducing infection with soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) after school-based deworming. We assessed infection with STHs at baseline and then at two follow-up rounds 8 and 10 months after deworming. Forty government primary schools in Nyanza Province, Kenya were randomly selected and assigned to intervention or control arms. The intervention reduced reinfection prevalence (odds ratio [OR] 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.31-1.00) and egg count (rate ratio [RR] 0.34, CI 0.15-0.75) of Ascaris lumbricoides. We found no evidence of significant intervention effects on the overall prevalence and intensity of Trichuris trichiura, hookworm, or Schistosoma mansoni reinfection. Provision of school-based sanitation, water quality, and hygiene improvements may reduce reinfection of STHs after school-based deworming, but the magnitude of the effects may be sex- and helminth species-specific

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer Book 2018

(Abridged) This is the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer 2018 book. It is intended as a concise reference guide to all aspects of the scientific and technical design of MSE, for the international astronomy and engineering communities, and related agencies. The current version is a status report of MSE's science goals and their practical implementation, following the System Conceptual Design Review, held in January 2018. MSE is a planned 10-m class, wide-field, optical and near-infrared facility, designed to enable transformative science, while filling a critical missing gap in the emerging international network of large-scale astronomical facilities. MSE is completely dedicated to multi-object spectroscopy of samples of between thousands and millions of astrophysical objects. It will lead the world in this arena, due to its unique design capabilities: it will boast a large (11.25 m) aperture and wide (1.52 sq. degree) field of view; it will have the capabilities to observe at a wide range of spectral resolutions, from R2500 to R40,000, with massive multiplexing (4332 spectra per exposure, with all spectral resolutions available at all times), and an on-target observing efficiency of more than 80%. MSE will unveil the composition and dynamics of the faint Universe and is designed to excel at precision studies of faint astrophysical phenomena. It will also provide critical follow-up for multi-wavelength imaging surveys, such as those of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Gaia, Euclid, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, the Square Kilometre Array, and the Next Generation Very Large Array.Comment: 5 chapters, 160 pages, 107 figure