Excavations at Tas-Silg, 1996

For the first time ever, the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta conducted its own excavations at the site of Tas-Silg which is located at Marsaxlokk in the south-east of the island of Malta. These excavations were directed by the authors, who would like to thank Mr Simon Mason and Mr Nicholas Vella who were responsible for the field supervision. We would also like to thank the area supervisors, namely Mr Andrew Appleyard, Ms Carmen Michelle 'Buhagiar, Ms Aloisia de Trafford, Mr Joseph Magro Conti, Mr Paul C. Saliba as well as Mr Andre Corrado; the latter agreed to act as an area supervisor for a while when the need arose. Obviously, we do also appreciate very much all the hard work of the "diggers" who were in fact students from.the aforementioned Department of Classics and Archaeology, the foreign and local students who formed part of the first Summer School in Archaeology which was organized by the International Office of the University of Malta, and some very eager and hard-working volunteers.peer-reviewe

Excavations at Tas-Silg, Malta : a preliminary report on the 1996-1998 campaigns conducted by the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta

The area known as Tas-Silg is situated in the south-eastern part of the island of Malta, close to Marsaxlokk harbour. In reality the place name refers to the small church dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows (hence Tas-Silg) situated at the point where the narrow · road from Zejtun forks out in two directions: to Delimara and Xrobb il-Ghagin due south-east and to Marsaxlokk village due south-west. A British-period fort occupying the highest point of the elongated hill further south along· the first road also carries the same place name. The lower and more compact hill on which the excavations have been conducted is called 'Ta' Berikka' , but since it is so close to the above-mentioned church (only 50 m to the north) the tradition of calling it Tas-Silg is now well established and there is no sense in changing it. The site has a commanding view of the Marsaxlokk harbour to the south and overlooks two other bays, Marsascala and St Thomas's bay, to the north-east. On all sides the slope is broken up by man-made terraced fields There is no doubt that the topography of the site must have been a determining factor in its choice for the establishment of a religious centre in the Temple period of Maltese pehistory (3000--2500 BC), though one must keep in mind that close to Tas-Silg there are three other prehistoric temple sites. each one with a completely different topography. The Temple people were quite introverted in their cultural isolation and do not seem to have been much interested in seafaring and in the outside world. The situation changed radically in the following age, the Bronze Age. when the island was occupied by people who set up villages on naturally defensible hilltops, occasionally fortifying them with artificial ramparts. The Tas-Silg hill with its temple ruins was occupied by these people, but it is not as yet clear for what purpose. The scenario changed again in historical times when the central and western Mediterranean started to be parcelled out among the commercial powers originating in the eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks do not seem to have even tried 10 colonize Malta as they did in neighbouring Sicily. The Phoenicians, however, did occupy the island, apparently through a slow process of peaceful penetration and eventual political and cultural assimi lation. It was in this period that the ruins of the megalithic temple were transformed into a Phoenician extraurban shrine dedicated to Astarte, which in time expanded into a full y-fledged sanctuary with an international reputation. The last chapter in the millennia- long history of the site was written when the colonnaded courtyard in front of the old temple was transformed into an early Christian church. Any use made of the site in the following Arab period is, once again, poorly understood.peer-reviewe

Calculation of Exact Estimators by Integration Over the Surface of an n-Dimensional Sphere

This paper reconsiders the problem of calculating the expected set of probabilities , given the observed set of items {m_i}, that are distributed among n bins with an (unknown) set of probabilities {p_i} for being placed in the ith bin. The problem is often formulated using Bayes theorem and the multinomial distribution, along with a constant prior for the values of the p_i, leading to a Dirichlet distribution for the {p_i}. The moments of the p_i can then be calculated exactly. Here a new approach is suggested for the calculation of the moments, that uses a change of variables that reduces the problem to an integration over a portion of the surface of an n-dimensional sphere. This greatly simplifies the calculation by allowing a straightforward integration over (n-1) independent variables, with the constraints on the set of p_i being automatically satisfied. For the Dirichlet and similar distributions the problem simplifies even further, with the resulting integrals subsequently factorising, allowing their easy evaluation in terms of Beta functions. A proof by induction confirms existing calculations for the moments. The advantage of the approach presented here is that the methods and results apply with minimum or no modifications to numerical calculations that involve more complicated distributions or non-constant prior distributions, for which cases the numerical calculations will be greatly simplified

Optical Synoptic Telescopes: New Science Frontiers

Over the past decade, sky surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have proven the power of large data sets for answering fundamental astrophysical questions. This observational progress, based on a synergy of advances in telescope construction, detectors, and information technology, has had a dramatic impact on nearly all fields of astronomy, and areas of fundamental physics. The next-generation instruments, and the surveys that will be made with them, will maintain this revolutionary progress. The hardware and computational technical challenges and the exciting science opportunities are attracting scientists and engineers from astronomy, optics, low-light-level detectors, high-energy physics, statistics, and computer science. The history of astronomy has taught us repeatedly that there are surprises whenever we view the sky in a new way. This will be particularly true of discoveries emerging from a new generation of sky surveys. Imaging data from large ground-based active optics telescopes with sufficient etendue can address many scientific missions simultaneously. These new investigations will rely on the statistical precision obtainable with billions of objects. For the first time, the full sky will be surveyed deep and fast, opening a new window on a universe of faint moving and distant exploding objects as well as unraveling the mystery of dark energy.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Critique [of Institutional Racism]

As Deloria indicates in the opening lines of his essay, the dominant paradigm of racism in the 1960s reflected the popularly held belief that racism was an individual phenomena. Consequently. if racist individuals were confronted and curtailed or converted, the argument concluded, then discrimination would come to an end. However, history has shown us that we can have racist institutions without having racist individuals. For instance, our education institutions perpetuate racial, as well as sex, inequality. Yet it is possible for every member of such an institution to be non-racist, as well as non-sexist

Anticaking methods for pharmaceutical grade salt : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in BioProcess Engineering at Massey University

This is an investigation into the causes of caking in the pharmaceutical grade salt produced by Dominion Salt Limited. It was found that the caking mechanism that occurs in sodium chloride is humidity caking. A moisture audit of the Dominion Salt plant showed that the primary factors causing caking are the initial water activity of the salt and the temperature gradient that the salt is exposed to during packing and storage. Experiments were conducted to determine the physical properties of the salt: the bulk density, the thermal conductivity, the particle size distribution and the moisture sorption isotherm. Using these properties, a mathematical model was modified to predict whether caking would occur in a salt bed subjected to specific temperature and moisture conditions. Model validation experiments were performed, where caking was produced by exposure to a temperature gradient. The mathematical model was compared to experimental data and altered until it accurately simulated observed results. The model was then used to predict the circumstances that will induce significant caking in a salt bed and a chart of the results collated to show when caking will occur. Given the salt temperature, the ambient temperature and the initial water activity, the chart can be used to determine whether caking will occur in the bagged salt

An Alternative to the Traditional Cold Pressor Test: The Cold Pressor Arm Wrap

Recently research on the relationship between stress and cognition, emotion, and behavior has greatly increased. These advances have yielded insights into important questions ranging from the nature of stress\u27 influence on addiction1 to the role of stress in neural changes associated with alterations in decision-making2,3. As topics being examined by the field evolve, however, so too must the methodologies involved. In this article a practical and effective alternative to a classic stress induction technique, the cold pressor test (CPT), is presented: the cold pressor arm wrap (CPAW). CPT typically involves immersion of a participant\u27s dominant hand in ice-cold water for a period of time4. The technique is associated with robust activation of the sympatho-adrenomedullary (SAM) axis (and release of catecholamines; e.g. adrenaline and noradrenaline) and mildto- moderate activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis with associated glucocorticoid (e.g. cortisol) release. While CPT has been used in a wide range of studies, it can be impractical to apply in some research environments. For example use of water during, rather than prior to, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to damage sensitive and expensive equipment or interfere with acquisition of MRI signal. The CPAW is a practical and effective alternative to the traditional CPT. Composed of a versatile list of inexpensive and easily acquired components, CPAW makes use of MRI-safe gelpacs cooled to a temperature similar to CPT rather than actual water. Importantly CPAW is associated with levels of SAM and HPA activation comparable to CPT, and can easily be applied in a variety of research contexts. While it is important to maintain specific safety protocols when using the technique, these are easy to implement if planned for. Creation and use of the CPAW will be discussed

The boundaries of difference in law: a critique of radical incommensurability

Occasionally, in pursuing their adjudicative duties over the course of a legal hearing, judges are called upon to acquire new concepts – that is, concepts which they did not possess at the commencement of the hearing. In performing their judicial role they are required to learn new things and, as a result, conceptualise the world in a way which differs from the way they conceived of things before the hearing commenced. Some theorists have argued that either as a general matter or as a matter specific to judicial practice and the legal context, judges are, with some degree of necessity, incapacitated from acquiring certain kinds of concepts. Such concepts include those possessed by the members of culturally different minority groups. Drawing on contemporary trends in analytic and naturalistic philosophy of mind, this paper explores the extent to which a judge might be incapacitated from acquiring new concepts over the course of a legal hearing and identifies those factors which condition the success or failure of that process