Eulogy

My work is a eulogy for all fauna. It involves a ritual act of suture— a ceremonial process of mending and healing— one that functions as a curative process for myself as well as others. While wandering in the woods, or gleaning from animal specimen collections and negotiating with hunters and beekeepers, I gather the remains of fauna in order to make jewelry. I long to restore the fragmented ruins into wholeness. I long to heal what has been broken. From their death comes rebirth, new life. Quietly, these relics reflect the porosity between all things. Jewelry has a history of holding the intimacy we share with loved ones. It can function as a mnemonic device; a reminder of a loved one’s presence, in their absence. My work references the relics of Roman catacombs, Victorian mourning jewelry, and other funerary rituals that materialize mortality. These relics, traditions, and moments in history use the deceased body, fragmented or whole, as a tangible link between the living and the dead. I employ similar rituals of commemoration, but for other species, species whose lives have been affected by the alteration of their environment. Bones of deer, muskrat, and birds, as well ho ney bees are assembled in a ritual act of healing. My intervention with the material is minimal, as they require a light touch. This allows for the wearer to be in direct contact with the raw remnants–with little mediation. When we physically connect with the body of another species, can we rediscover the connection we once understood? Can we renew our empathy for fauna? These relics seek to suture, not only the loss of an animal being, but our severed relationship to it. With the idea of embracing animals as our counterparts, my intention is for humans to appreciate their lives, feel their pain, and grieve their loss. These contemporary relics are an inquiry: Can a physical experience with these objects mend this lost connection between humans and nonhumans? My aim is to lead viewers to a point of revelation: that animal beings are not separate from humans, that we are ontologically connected. We are all pars pro toto, a part of the whole

Patterns of Morphological Plasticity in Metriaclima zebra and Danio rerio Suggest Differently Canalized Phenotypes Due to Form-Function Relationships

In order to ascertain the degree of compatibility in developmental restructuring and behavioral plasticity between two fish species frequently made subject of laboratory research (Metriaclima zebra & Danio rerio), alternative trophic niche exposure experiments utilizing novel three-prong feeding treatments were conducted to obtain morphometric data, which demonstrated both species do bear some degree of plasticity. The results are somewhat complicated by differences in locality of detectable restructuring, which may be due to disparity in the form-function relationship for each species’ lineage. Each is notable in the manner of respective species’ jaw protrusion, as it is driven by anterior kinethmoid rotation in D. rerio. as opposed to force imparted upon the rostral cartilage of the premaxilla’s articular process in M zebra. Each is markedly distinct in the pharyngeal jaw as well, as zebrafish (also toothless at the oral jaw) bear teeth only on the lower set at the posterior of the mouth, while cichlids bear teeth on all jaws and additionally possess a unique, fused lower pharyngeal jaw. However, accounting for this difference in experimental models does allow for direct comparison, both at the morphological/behavioral and potentially the genetic level, though additional research is necessary. The evidence provided here also provides encouragement that more nuanced approaches to laboratory trophic niche exposure experiments could elucidate further evidence on the nature of phenotypic plasticity

Saving NORAD: Should Ottawa Seize the Obama Moment?

The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) is heading for obsolescence. Saving it would require reversing the Martin government’s 2005 “no” on missile defence. The Obama presidency provides the Harper government with some political cover to do so. Ottawa could also seize the opportunity to reconsider the Chrétien government’s 2002 decision not to consider broadly expanding NORAD’s roles. While it will be tempting to try to save NORAD for symbolic reasons,it should be let go. The U.S. and Canada no longer need a binational aerospace command. The focus should be on air defence cooperation, especially for special events such as the 2010 Vancouver Olympics

Fermion Proca Stars: Vector Dark Matter Admixed Neutron Stars

Dark matter could accumulate around neutron stars in sufficient amounts to affect their global properties. In this work, we study the effect of a specific model for dark matter -- a massive and self-interacting vector (spin-1) field -- on neutron stars. We describe the combined systems of neutron stars and vector dark matter using Einstein-Proca theory coupled to a nuclear-matter term, and find scaling relations between the field and metric components in the equations of motion. We construct equilibrium solutions of the combined systems, compute their masses and radii and also analyse their stability and higher modes. The combined systems admit dark matter (DM) core and cloud solutions. Core solutions compactify the neutron star component and tend to decrease the total mass of the combined system. Cloud solutions have the inverse effect. Electromagnetic observations of certain cloud-like configurations would appear to violate the Buchdahl limit. This could make Buchdahl-limit violating objects smoking gun signals for dark matter in neutron stars. The self-interaction strength is found to significantly affect both mass and radius. We also compare fermion Proca stars to objects where the dark matter is modelled using a complex scalar field. We find that fermion Proca stars tend to be more massive and geometrically larger than their scalar field counterparts for equal boson masses and self-interaction strengths. Both systems can produce degenerate masses and radii for different amounts of DM and DM particle masses.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, superseeds arXiv:2308.1217

Klärung des urheberrechtlichen Status: Wege und Perspektiven in der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

In welcher Weise ein Digitalisat den Nutzerinnen und Nutzern zur Verfügung gestellt werden darf, ist abhängig vom urheberrechtlichen Status des zugrunde liegenden analogen Werks. Dieses kann gemeinfrei sein, weil Urheberrechte erloschen sind, was nach deutschem Recht 70 Jahre nach dem Tod des Urhebers der Fall ist, oder es kann urheberrechtlich geschützt sein, weil der Urheber oder dessen Erben noch Rechte daran halten. Grundsätzlich gilt: Je älter ein Werk, desto wahrscheinlicher ist seine Gemeinfreiheit. Aufgrund des historisch eher jungen Bestandes der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek, deren Sammlung mit dem Erscheinungsjahr 1913 einsetzt, fallen gegenwärtig weit über 90% der Publikationen in den urheberrechtlich geschützten Bereich. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek hat 2013 im Rahmen ihrer Digitalisierungsaktivitäten ein Verfahren zur Klärung des Rechtestatus von Werken aufgebaut. Dabei mussten verschiedene Aspekte berücksichtigt werden: neben den rechtlichen Voraussetzungen auch die Wirtschaftlichkeit und die Skalierbarkeit des Arbeitsablaufs auf größere Stückzahlen sowie die Handhabbarkeit der Dokumentation und der Verzeichnung von urheberrechtlich relevanten Informationen im Bibliothekskatalog. Der Workflow kam inzwischen bei mehreren Digitalisierungsprojekten zum Einsatz, unter anderem wurden 22.275 digitalisierte Monografien der Exilsammlungen der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek bearbeitet. Der Vortrag stellt den Workflow zur Rechteklärung anhand des Exil-Projektes vor und gibt einen Ausblick auf die Erweiterungen beispielsweise für andere Medienarten.The way in which a digital copy can be made available to users depends on the copyright status of the original analogue work. It may be public domain because the copyright has expired. Under German law this happens 70 years after the originator’s death. Or it may be copyright-protected because its originator, or his or her heirs, still holds the rights. Basically, the older a work, the more likely is it to be public domain. Collecting by the German National Library starts with works publishedfrom 1913. Accordingly, the holdings are, historically speaking, relatively young, and more than 90% of the publications are still under copyright. The German National Library set up a workflow in 2013 to clarify the rights status of works eligible for digitisation. Various aspects had to betaken into consideration. These included legal requirements, cost-effectiveness and the ability to upscale the workflow for larger quantities, as well as the manageability of the documentation and indexing of copyright-related information in the library catalogue. The workflow has been used in a number of digitisation projects, including the processing of 22,275 digitised monographs from the exile collections of the German National Library. This presentation demonstrates the rights clearance workflow on the basis of the exile project and provides an overview of possible further developments, e.g. for other media types

A population-based case-control study on social factors and risk of testicular germ cell tumours

Objectives Incidence rates for testicular cancer have risen over the last few decades. Findings of an association between the risk of testicular cancer and social factors are controversial. The association of testicular cancer and different indicators of social factors were examined in this study.<p></p> Design Case–control study.<p></p> Setting Population-based multicentre study in four German regions (city states Bremen and Hamburg, the Saarland region and the city of Essen).<p></p> Participants The study included 797 control participants and 266 participants newly diagnosed with testicular cancer of which 167 cases were classified as seminoma and 99 as non-seminoma. The age of study participants ranged from 15 to 69 years.<p></p> Methods Social position was classified by educational attainment level, posteducational training, occupational sectors according to Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarrero (EGP) and the socioeconomic status (SES) on the basis of the International SocioEconomic Index of occupational status (ISEI). ORs and corresponding 95% CIs (95% CIs) were calculated for the whole study sample and for seminoma and non-seminoma separately.<p></p> Results Testicular cancer risk was modestly increased among participants with an apprenticeship (OR=1.7 (95% CI 1.0 to 2.8)) or a university degree (OR=1.6 (95% CI 0.9 to 2.8)) relative to those whose education was limited to school. Analysis of occupational sectors revealed an excess risk for farmers and farm-related occupations. No clear trend was observed for the analyses according to the ISEI-scale.<p></p> Conclusions Social factors based on occupational measures were not a risk factor for testicular cancer in this study. The elevated risk in farmers and farm-related occupations warrants further research including analysis of occupational exposures.<p></p&gt

In Vitro Formation of Urinary Stones : Generation of Spherulites of Calcium Phosphate in Gel and Overgrowth with Calcium Oxalate Using a New Flow Model of Crystallization

Calcium phosphate (CaP) has been detected in the majority of urinary stones containing predominantly calcium oxalate (CaOx). Therefore, crystal phases of CaP might play an important role with respect to the formation of urinary calcium stones in general. Very often, CaP found in stones or tissue of human kidney occurs in the shape of small spherulites. In this paper, we report on a new flow model of crystallization (FMCG), which has been used to generate spherulites of CaP in a gel matrix of 1% agar-agar at 37°C from a supersaturated, metastable solution continuously flowing over the gel surface. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction and microscopic Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that the particles formed (diameter: up to 200 μm) consisted of a poorly crystal-line core of carbonatoapatite which was partly surrounded by a well-crystallized shell of octacalcium phosphate (OCP) showing radially oriented sheet-like structures. Subsequently, CaOx was grown on these spherulites from a flow of a correspondingly supersaturated solution conducted over the gel matrix. It could be shown by SEM that growth of calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) was characteristically induced by the OCP shell. Radial sheet-like forms of OCP were directly continued by COM showing a certain radial orientation. The model of crystallization in gel matrices applied here should be well-suited to simulate the process of urinary stone formation under in vitro conditions

The Capacitive Magnetic Field Sensor

The results of a study of sensitive element magnetic field sensor are represented in this paper. The sensor is based on the change of the capacitance with an active dielectric (ferrofluid) due to the magnitude of magnetic field. To prepare the ferrofluid magnetic particles are used, which have a followingdispersion equal to 50 < [the empty set] <= 56, 45 < [the empty set] <= 50, 40 < [the empty set] <=45 and [the empty set] <= 40 micron of nanocrystalline alloy of brand 5BDSR. The dependence of the sensitivity of the capacitive element from the ferrofluid with different dispersion of magnetic particles is considered. The threshold of sensitivity and sensitivity of a measuring cell with ferrofluid by a magnetic field was determined. The experimental graphs of capacitance change of the magnitude of magnetic field are presented