MID-PERMIAN (KUBERGANDIAN-MURGABIAN) BIVALVES FROM THE KHUFF FORMATION, OMAN: IMPLICATIONS FOR WORLD EVENTS AND CORRELATION

Ten species, of which six are newly recognized, from ten genera, Nuculopsis, Phestia, Edmondia, Dyasmya, Janeia ?, Liebia ?, Vnigripecten, Cyrtorostra, Schizodus and Astartella ?, are described from the basal part of the Khuff Formation. Some forms apparently related to Dyasmya are discussed, the characters of Janeia and the classification of the aviculopectinids. The fauna has a special significance because it is associated with a major mid-Permian transgressive unconformity found in the Middle East and many other parts of the world. Because the transgression succeeds a major regression which is widely represented by hiatus or non-marine deposits, the fauna contributes significantly to understanding the world correlation of the time. An important world-wide change in fauna also takes place. The fauna from the lower part of the Khuff is regarded as not older than Kubergandian or its equivalent (Roadian and "Upper" Ufimian = Sheshminsk) but from the bivalves alone might range from Kubergandian to Murgabian or it’s probable equivalent the Kazanian.&nbsp

The ecology of cooperation: considerations for litter research

This article examines the role of intertemporal choice and relative inequality, with a focus on how socioeconomic conditions and environmental pressures can yield differing cooperative strategies which impact on littering behaviour and anti-littering interventions. We apply a framework emerging from behavioural biology that has great explanatory utility and which permits researchers to consider a frequently overlooked element in littering, which is key variation within populations

The Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses

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Arabic Language WEKA-Based Dialect Classifier for Arabic Automatic Speech Recognition Transcripts

This paper describes an Arabic dialect identification system which we developed for the Discriminating Similar Languages (DSL) 2016 shared task. We classified Arabic dialects by using Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) data analytic tool which contains many alternative filters and classifiers for machine learning. We experimented with several classifiers and the best accuracy was achieved using the Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) algorithm for training and testing process set to three different feature-sets for each testing process. Our approach achieved an accuracy equal to 42.85% which is considerably worse in comparison to the evaluation scores on the training set of 80-90% and with training set 60:40 percentage split which achieved accuracy around 50%. We observed that Buckwalter transcripts from the Saarland Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system are given without short vowels, though the Buckwalter system has notation for these. We elaborate such observations, describe our methods and analyse the training dataset

Site Occupancy and Lattice Parameters in Sigma-Phase Co-Cr alloys

Neutron diffraction technique was used to study distribution of Co and Cr atoms over different lattice sites as well as lattice paramaters in sigma-phase Co100-xCrx compounds with x = 57.0, 62.7 and 65.8. From the diffractograms recorded in the temperature range of 4.2 - 300 K it was found that all five sites A, B, C, D and E are populated by both kinds of atoms. Sites A and D are predominantly occupied by Co atoms while sites B, C and E by Cr atoms. The unit cell parameters a and c, hence the unit cell volume, increase with x, the increase being characteristic of the lattice paramater and temperature. Both a and c show a non-linear increase with temperature.Comment: 5 figure

Size Acceptance: A Discursive Analysis of Online Blogs

This document is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Fat Studies on 25 May 2018, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2018.1473704. Under embargo until 25 May 2019.Dominant discourses of “fatness” and “fat people” have implications for physical and mental health. Although alternative discourses such as “size acceptance” exist, there has been little consideration of the ways in which these alternative arguments (and speakers) may be positioned to be heard. Using a discursive thematic analysis, the authors demonstrate that size acceptance online bloggers have created a community online that enables them to persuasively provide alternative claims to “expertise,” which positions their views as credible and legitimate alternatives to those of more established authority figures—such as health professionals. This has implications not only for the lived experience of fat people, but also for researchers by emphasizing the importance of exploring not just what is said, but how, if we are to understand how different articulated positions are to be persuasive.Peer reviewe

Aggression, empathy and sexual orientation in males

Homosexual males are reported to be less physically aggressive than heterosexual males (Ellis, Hoffman, & Burke, 1990; Gladue & Bailey, 1995). Previous aggression studies have not, however, compared all forms of direct aggression, indirect aggression and empathy among these populations. Empathy is a significant factor to consider since it both mitigates the expression of aggression (Kaukiainen, Björkqvist, Lagerspetz, Österman, Salmivalli, Rothberg, & Ahlbom, 1998) and differs between heterosexual and homosexual males (Salais & Fischer, 1995). This study therefore evaluated levels of direct and indirect aggression and empathy among homosexual (n = 91) and heterosexual (n = 91) males. Data was collected from an Internet-based sample of the two groups using self-report psychometric measures in order to reduce social desirability effects. Homosexual males reported significantly lower levels of physical aggression and higher levels of empathy but report similar levels of indirect aggression, and other forms of direct aggression, to heterosexual males

The self-reported importance of olfaction during human mate choice

This study evaluated sex differences in the relative importance placed on olfactory cues during mate choice. To evaluate this 151 men and 289 women completed an on-line version of the Romantic Interests Survey (RIS) (Herz & Inzlict, 2002). Olfactory characteristics were declared to be extremely important during mate selection, more so than almost all other characteristics, but did not significantly differ between the sexes. There were significant differences concerning the odour source that individuals attend to, with greater preferences observed for a potential mate’s body odour as opposed to artificial fragrances they use. These findings suggest the body odour characteristics of a potential mate are perceived to be an important factor during mate choice

Mental health in UK Biobank: development, implementation and results from an online questionnaire completed by 157 366 participants

Background UK Biobank is a well-characterised cohort of over 500 000 participants that offers unique opportunities to investigate multiple diseases and risk factors. Aims An online mental health questionnaire completed by UK Biobank participants was expected to expand the potential for research into mental disorders. Method An expert working group designed the questionnaire, using established measures where possible, and consulting with a patient group regarding acceptability. Case definitions were defined using operational criteria for lifetime depression, mania, anxiety disorder, psychotic-like experiences and self-harm, as well as current post-traumatic stress and alcohol use disorders. Results 157 366 completed online questionnaires were available by August 2017. Comparison of self-reported diagnosed mental disorder with a contemporary study shows a similar prevalence, despite respondents being of higher average socioeconomic status than the general population across a range of indicators. Thirty-five per cent (55 750) of participants had at least one defined syndrome, of which lifetime depression was the most common at 24% (37 434). There was extensive comorbidity among the syndromes. Mental disorders were associated with high neuroticism score, adverse life events and long-term illness; addiction and bipolar affective disorder in particular were associated with measures of deprivation. Conclusions The questionnaire represents a very large mental health survey in itself, and the results presented here show high face validity, although caution is needed owing to selection bias. Built into UK Biobank, these data intersect with other health data to offer unparalleled potential for crosscutting biomedical research involving mental health