Emotional Doubt and Divine Hiddenness

This essay will seek to develop a possible model for addressing the existential problem of divine hiddenness and the emotional doubt that it might cause in the life of a believer. In doing so, it will identify several potential root causes for the experience of the existential problem of divine hiddenness and attempt to guide a hurting individual through dealing with their doubt by applying misbelief therapy

Specifying the directionality of fault propagation paths using transfer entropy

July 4-7 200

The distribution and probable importance of linyphiid spiders living on the soil surface of sugar-beet fields

RESP-882

Derivation of diagnostic models based on formalized process knowledge

© IFAC.Industrial systems are vulnerable to faults. Early and accurate detection and diagnosis in production systems can minimize down-time, increase the safety of the plant operation, and reduce manufacturing costs. Knowledge- and model-based approaches to automated fault detection and diagnosis have been demonstrated to be suitable for fault cause analysis within a broad range of industrial processes and research case studies. However, the implementation of these methods demands a complex and error-prone development phase, especially due to the extensive efforts required during the derivation of models and their respective validation. In an effort to reduce such modeling complexity, this paper presents a structured causal modeling approach to supporting the derivation of diagnostic models based on formalized process knowledge. The method described herein exploits the Formalized Process Description Guideline VDI/VDE 3682 to establish causal relations among key-process variables, develops an extension of the Signed Digraph model combined with the use of fuzzy set theory to allow more accurate causality descriptions, and proposes a representation of the resulting diagnostic model in CAEX/AutomationML targeting dynamic data access, portability, and seamless information exchange

Wildland inventory and resource modeling for Douglas and Carson City Counties, Nevada, using LANDSAT and digital terrain data

The potential of using LANDSAT satellite imagery to map and inventory pinyon-juniper desert forest types in Douglas and Carson City Counties, Nevada was demonstrated. Specific map and statistical products produced include land cover, mechanical operations capability, big game winter range habitat, fire hazard, and forest harvestability. The Nevada Division of Forestry determined that LANDSAT can produce a reliable and low-cost resource data. Added benefits become apparent when the data are linked to a geographical information system (GIS) containing existing ownership, planning, elevation, slope, and aspect information

An Assessment of Doctoral Biomedical Student Research Data Management Needs

Objective This analysis explores specific institutional repository (IR) data management needs of the University’s biomedical sciences doctoral students. Awareness, intentions, attitudes, and concerns about depositing, sharing and publishing supplemental ETD (electronic thesis and dissertation) research data into the library’s institutional repository eScholarship@UMMS were explored. Methods A data needs assessment survey focused around the Digital Curation Centre’s lifecycle model and National Science Foundation’s requirements for data management was sent to 470 students via a listserv. Information gathered from the survey and digital repository literature aided in the construction of an overarching student data curation profile and criteria for repository functionality to meet the needs of both researchers and the repository manager. Results Eighty-two biomedical PhD students responded to the data needs survey, a response rate of 17.4%. 69.5% were unaware that they had the option to deposit their research data sets into the IR. File format of data sets varied greatly but most common were TIFF, PDF, and JPG. 25.6% of respondents did not know the average size of their data sets. A network shared drive was the most common means of storing data (75.0%) but many used multiple methods. 96.0% reported using a metadata data entry standard developed by their lab. 13.9% stated they would not be willing to share data sets openly or publicly. Conclusion Responses from the survey and interviews suggest that an IR needs to be flexible to accommodate the research data needs of biomedical PhD students. Functionality to handle various file types, large files, and embargos is required. Education and outreach by library staff about the IR, data documentation, data sharing, and many facets of research data management would be useful. A broader environmental scan and further research are required to evaluate repository functionality in light of the needs of both researchers and the repository manager

Trust and distrust: Polar opposites, or independent but co-existing?

This article provides an empirical test of whether trust and distrust can co-exist in the mind of an employee. Two interrelated questions are considered: firstly, whether trust and distrust judgements are ‘symmetrical’ or whether they can occur ‘simultaneously’ as separate constructs; and, secondly, whether trust and distrust judgements entail the same or conceptually different expectations as revealed in their expressions and anticipated manifestations. Using a concurrent mixed-method design incorporating a structured card sort and in-depth interviews, data were collected from 56 participants in two organizations. The card-sort findings offer little support for the co-existence of trust and distrust, but suggest they could be separate constructs. Interview data indicate that participants do perceive trust and distrust as entailing different sets of expectations and having different manifestations, providing some support for the ‘separate constructs’ thesis. We also find evidence of two new combinations of weak levels of trust and distrust not previously specified. The findings highlight how employees’ trust and distrust judgements are shaped, in part, by managerial actions and policies relating to quality of communication and job security. They also emphasize how, when employees are distrustful, different practice interventions may be needed to reduce distrust from those used to build trust

Federal and State Remedies to Clean Up Hazardous Waste Sites

Over fifty-seven million metric tons of hazardous waste are produced as a by-product of manufacturing in the United States each year. Only ten percent of this waste is disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. The improper disposal of hazardous waste has given rise to crisis areas of national notoriety such as Love Canal and Valley of the Drums. Although the danger to public health and the environment cannot be precisely calculated, the disposal of hazardous waste presents a problem that can no longer be ignored. Virginia\u27s own experience with kepone contamination in the James River exemplifies the dangers and costs associated with this disposal problem

<i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> cercariae experience influx of macromolecules during skin penetration

We have observed that when cercariae penetrate the skin of mice, there is influx into their tissues of Lucifer Yellow and certain labelled molecules of up to 20 kDa molecular weight. This observation was made using a variety of fluorescent membrane-impermeant compounds injected into the skin before the application of cercariae. This unexpected phenomenon was investigated further by transforming cercariae in vitro in the presence of the membrane-impermeant compounds and examining the distribution by microscopy. In schistosomula derived from this procedure, the nephridiopore and surface membrane were labelled while the pre- and post-acetabular glands were not labelled. The region associated with the oesophagus within the pharyngeal muscle clearly contained the fluorescent molecules, as did the region adjacent to the excretory tubules and the germinal mass. We used cercariae stained with carmine to aid identification of regions labelled with Lucifer Yellow. Although the mechanism of this influx is unclear, the observation is significant. From it, we can suggest an hypothesis that, during skin penetration, exposure of internal tissues of the parasite to external macromolecules represents a novel host-parasite interfac