Introduction. A Remarkable Occurrence: Progress for Civil Society in an Open Myanmar

A remarkable thing happened in Myanmar in the summer of 2013. A government that, in recent decades, enacted and carried out among the most draconian and repressive policies toward civil society organizations in the world sat down with a large, representative body of such organizations to hear criticisms of a recently passed law. Perhaps more remarkably, the government then revised the law in response to these criticisms, fundamentally altering the people’s right to freely associate. This introductory piece to the Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal’s special edition devoted to Myanmar provides context for this seemingly remarkable occurrence. It demonstrates one important and hopeful occurrence in Myanmar’s immense and ongoing reform effort. It is the author’s hope that this occurrence is merely one example of many systemic reforms underway to address the myriad issues facing Myanmar and its people

How to Close the Gender Pay Gap: Transparency in Data Regarding Compensation is the Key

This Article will look at the problem of unequal pay and will argue that transparency regarding compensation of men and women must be increased before any decision can be made as to why the gender pay gap exists. This Article proceeds in three parts. Part I provides a comprehensive discussion of existing equal pay laws in the United States that prohibit pay discrimination by sex and an analysis of the most up-to-date data on the current gender pay gap in the United States. It also examines theories as to why or why not there is a pay gap and how clarity can be provided by increasing transparency. Part II provides a comprehensive discussion of the new equal pay laws in the United Kingdom. It also provides an analysis of how the United Kingdom has reduced its gender pay gap by increasing transparency and how these laws can provide a road map for improving the pay gap in the United States. Lastly, Part III provides an analysis of the gender pay gap worldwide and how other countries have addressed the gender pay gap by increasing transparency

Analysis of the intraocular pressure pulse

This thesis was concerned with investigating methods of improving the IOP pulse’s potential as a measure of clinical utility. There were three principal sections to the work. 1. Optimisation of measurement and analysis of the IOP pulse. A literature review, covering the years 1960 – 2002 and other relevant scientific publications, provided a knowledge base on the IOP pulse. Initial studies investigated suitable instrumentation and measurement techniques. Fourier transformation was identified as a promising method of analysing the IOP pulse and this technique was developed. 2. Investigation of ocular and systemic variables that affect IOP pulse measurements In order to recognise clinically important changes in IOP pulse measurement, studies were performed to identify influencing factors. Fourier analysis was tested against traditional parameters in order to assess its ability to detect differences in IOP pulse. In addition, it had been speculated that the waveform components of the IOP pulse contained vascular characteristic analogous to those components found in arterial pulse waves. Validation studies to test this hypothesis were attempted. 3. The nature of the intraocular pressure pulse in health and disease and its relation to systemic cardiovascular variables. Fourier analysis and traditional parameters were applied to the IOP pulse measurements taken on diseased and healthy eyes. Only the derived parameter, pulsatile ocular blood flow (POBF) detected differences in diseased groups. The use of an ocular pressure-volume relationship may have improved the POBF measure’s variance in comparison to the measurement of the pulse’s amplitude or Fourier components. Finally, the importance of the driving force of pulsatile blood flow, the arterial pressure pulse, is highlighted. A method of combining the measurements of pulsatile blood flow and pulsatile blood pressure to create a measure of ocular vascular impedance is described along with its advantages for future studies

Does Exposure and Receptivity to E-cigarette Advertisements Relate to E-cigarette and Conventional Cigarette Use Behaviors among Youth? Results from Wave 1 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study

Background: E-cigarettes (EC) are the most commonly used tobacco product among youth. Additionally, youth EC users are progressing to smoking conventional cigarettes (CC). Although known to target youth, there are no current restrictions in the US on EC marketing, including advertising. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between EC advertisements and youth EC and CC use behaviors. Methods: This study analyzed data from youth (12-17 years) aware of EC in Wave 1 (2013-2014) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study (n=12,199). Weighted logistic regression models assessed whether exposure and receptivity to any of five randomized EC ads (two TV and three print) were associated with the outcomes of EC and CC behaviors of ever use, current (past 30 day) use, and susceptibility to future use. Additional analyses determined whether EC advertising exposure and EC and CC behaviors associations were moderated by EC advertising receptivity. All models were adjusted for sociodemographics, other combustible tobacco product use, and parent smoking. Results: EC advertisement exposure was significantly associated to ever and current EC use as well as susceptibility to EC and CC (p Conclusion: These findings demonstrate exposure to EC advertisements are particularly associated with EC use behaviors, but could play a role in future CC use as well. Youth who are receptive to EC advertisements appear particularly vulnerable. Further studies should focus on the role of receptivity to EC advertisements among youth in order to support regulatory policy targeting EC advertising

Exploring the Variable Sky with LINEAR. I. Photometric Recalibration with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We describe photometric recalibration of data obtained by the asteroid survey LINEAR. Although LINEAR was designed for astrometric discovery of moving objects, the data set described here contains over 5 billion photometric measurements for about 25 million objects, mostly stars. We use Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data from the overlapping ~10,000 deg^2 of sky to recalibrate LINEAR photometry and achieve errors of 0.03 mag for sources not limited by photon statistics with errors of 0.2 mag at r ~ 18. With its 200 observations per object on average, LINEAR data provide time domain information for the brightest four magnitudes of the SDSS survey. At the same time, LINEAR extends the deepest similar wide-area variability survey, the Northern Sky Variability Survey, by 3 mag. We briefly discuss the properties of about 7000 visually confirmed periodic variables, dominated by roughly equal fractions of RR Lyrae stars and eclipsing binary stars, and analyze their distribution in optical and infrared color-color diagrams. The LINEAR data set is publicly available from the SkyDOT Web site

Central nervous system microstimulation: Towards selective micro-neuromodulation

Electrical stimulation technologies capable of modulating neural activity are well established for neuroscientific research and neurotherapeutics. Recent micro-neuromodulation experimental results continue to explain neural processing complexity and suggest the potential for assistive technologies capable of restoring or repairing of basic function. Nonetheless, performance is dependent upon the specificity of the stimulation. Increasingly specific stimulation is hypothesized to be achieved by progressively smaller interfaces. Miniaturization is a current focus of neural implants due to improvements in mitigation of the body's foreign body response. It is likely that these exciting technologies will offer the promise to provide large-scale micro-neuromodulation in the future. Here, we highlight recent successes of assistive technologies through bidirectional neuroprostheses currently being used to repair or restore basic brain functionality. Furthermore, we introduce recent neuromodulation technologies that might improve the effectiveness of these neuroprosthetic interfaces by increasing their chronic stability and microstimulation specificity. We suggest a vision where the natural progression of innovative technologies and scientific knowledge enables the ability to selectively micro-neuromodulate every neuron in the brain

Inferring the age and sex of ancient potters from fingerprint ridge densities: A data-driven, Bayesian mixture modelling approach

The density of epidermal ridges in a fingerprint varies predictably by age and sex. Archaeologists are therefore interested in using recovered fingerprints to learn about the ancient people who produced them. Recent studies focus on estimating the age and sex of individuals by measuring their fingerprints with one of two similar metrics: mean ridge breadth (MRB) or ridge density (RD). Yet these attempts face several critical problems: expected values for adult females and adolescent males are inherently indistinguishable, and inter-assemblage variation caused by biological and technological differences cannot be easily estimated. Each of these factors greatly decreases the accuracy of predictions based on individual prints, and together they condemn this strategy to relative uselessness. However, information in fingerprints from across an assemblage can be pooled to generate a more accurate depiction of potter demographics. We present a new approach to epidermal ridge density analysis using Bayesian mixture models with the following key benefits: Age and sex are estimated more accurately than existing methods by incorporating a data-driven understanding of how demographics and ridge density covary. Uncertainty in demographic estimates is automatically quantified and included in output. The Bayesian framework can be easily adapted to fit the unique needs of different researchers. </p