Mircea Eliade : making sense of religion

This work argues that an interpretation of Eliade's thought as systematic, coherent, and finally rational is fully consistent with his writings. His thought is systematic in that the terms it utilises are inter-definable, although their relations are never explicitly clarified. Within this interpretation his thought is coherent and defensible. Particularly, it does not make unwarranted ontological assumptions but, through his a priori, taxonomic identification of the sacred with that which is apprehended as the real, defers to actual religious phenomena. That said, Eliade's method cannot be assimilated to phenomenology in any strict philosophical sense.The resultant understanding of religion is well-defined and eminently practical for the study and teaching of the varied religious beliefs of our contemporary world. It makes sense of religion in three ways; firstly it presents as coherent religious expressions of the human existential situation; secondly it seeks to increase the (recognition of) meaning, significance, and relevance of such expressions; and thirdly it attempts to provide direction (Fr. sens) for scholars of religion in our efforts to interpret the data of religious phenomena.Part one provides a concept-by-concept analysis of the terms of Eliade's understanding of religion, concluding with some observations on the implications of that understanding for the study of implicitly religious behaviour. Part two inspects and attempts to defend against the various criticisms which have been levelled against Eliade by other scholars in the field of the academic study of religion. It concludes with some observations on the significance of this interpretation for methodology in that study of a human phenomenon

A Scalable Biomimetic Synthesis of Resveratrol Dimers and Systematic Evaluation of their Antioxidant Activities

An efficient synthetic route to the resveratrol oligomers quadrangularin A and pallidol is reported. It features a scalable biomimetic oxidative dimerization that proceeds in excellent yield and with complete regioselectivity. A systematic evaluation of the natural products and their synthetic precursors as radical‐trapping antioxidants has revealed that, contrary to popular belief, this mode of action is unlikely to account for their observed biological activity.Hartnäckigkeit zahlt sich aus: Eine kurze Synthese der Resveratrol‐Oligomere Quadrangularin A und Pallidol macht sich die Stabilität der von 2,6‐Di‐tert‐butylphenol abgeleiteten Radikal‐ und der Chinonmethid‐Zwischenstufe zunutze. Untersuchungen dieser Verbindungen als antioxidative Radikalfänger ergaben, dass diese Eigenschaft höchstwahrscheinlich nicht die Ursache ihrer beobachteten biologischen Aktivität ist.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110868/1/3825_ftp.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110868/2/ange_201409773_sm_miscellaneous_information.pd

Neutron Correlations in the Decay of the First Excited State of 11Li

The decay of unbound excited 11Li was measured after being populated by a two-proton removal from a 13B beam at 71 MeV/nucleon. Decay energy spectra and Jacobi plots were obtained from measurements of the momentum vectors of the 9Li fragment and neutrons. A resonance at an excitation energy of ∼1.2 MeV was observed. The kinematics of the decay are equally well fit by a simple dineutron-like model or a phase-space model that includes final state interactions. A sequential decay model can be excluded

CloudMirror: Application-Aware Bandwidth Reservations in the Cloud

Cloud computing providers today do not offer guarantees for the network bandwidth available in the cloud, preventing tenants from running their applications predictably. To provide guarantees, several recent research proposals offer tenants a virtual cluster abstraction, emulating physical networks. Whereas offering dedicated virtual network abstractions is a significant step in the right direction, in this paper we argue that the abstractions exposed to tenants should aim to model tenant application structures rather than aiming to mimic physical network topologies. The fundamental problem in providing users with dedicated network abstractions is that the communication patterns of real applications do not typically resemble the rigid physical network topologies. Thus, the virtual network abstractions often poorly represent the actual communication patterns, resulting in overprovisioned/wasted network resources and underutilized computational resources. We propose a new abstraction for specifying bandwidth guarantees, which is easy to use because it closely follows application models; our abstraction specifies guarantees as a graph between application components. We then propose an algorithm to efficiently deploy this abstraction on physical clusters. Through simulations, we show that our approach is significantly more efficient than prior work for offering bandwidth guarantees.

Methyl mercury dynamics in a tidal wetland quantified using in situ optical measurements

Author Posting. © American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Society of Limnology and Oceanography for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Limnology and Oceanography 56 (2011): 1355-1371, doi:10.4319/lo.2011.56.4.1355.We assessed monomethylmercury (MeHg) dynamics in a tidal wetland over three seasons using a novel method that employs a combination of in situ optical measurements as concentration proxies. MeHg concentrations measured over a single spring tide were extended to a concentration time series using in situ optical measurements. Tidal fluxes were calculated using modeled concentrations and bi-directional velocities obtained acoustically. The magnitude of the flux was the result of complex interactions of tides, geomorphic features, particle sorption, and random episodic events such as wind storms and precipitation. Correlation of dissolved organic matter quality measurements with timing of MeHg release suggests that MeHg is produced in areas of fluctuating redox and not limited by buildup of sulfide. The wetland was a net source of MeHg to the estuary in all seasons, with particulate flux being much higher than dissolved flux, even though dissolved concentrations were commonly higher. Estimated total MeHg yields out of the wetland were approximately 2.5 µg m−2 yr−1—4–40 times previously published yields—representing a potential loading to the estuary of 80 g yr−1, equivalent to 3% of the river loading. Thus, export from tidal wetlands should be included in mass balance estimates for MeHg loading to estuaries. Also, adequate estimation of loads and the interactions between physical and biogeochemical processes in tidal wetlands might not be possible without long-term, high-frequency in situ measurements.This work was supported by funding from the California Bay Delta Authority Ecosystem Restoration and Drinking Water Programs (grant ERP-00-G01) and matching funds from the U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Research Program

Mercury Dynamics in a San Francisco Estuary Tidal Wetland: Assessing Dynamics Using In Situ Measurements

We used high-resolution in situ measurements of turbidity and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) to quantitatively estimate the tidally driven exchange of mercury (Hg) between the waters of the San Francisco estuary and Browns Island, a tidal wetland. Turbidity and FDOM-representative of particle-associated and filter-passing Hg, respectively-together predicted 94 % of the observed variability in measured total mercury concentration in unfiltered water samples (UTHg) collected during a single tidal cycle in spring, fall, and winter, 2005-2006. Continuous in situ turbidity and FDOM data spanning at least a full spring-neap period were used to generate UTHg concentration time series using this relationship, and then combined with water discharge measurements to calculate Hg fluxes in each season. Wetlands are generally considered to be sinks for sediment and associated mercury. However, during the three periods of monitoring, Browns Island wetland did not appreciably accumulate Hg. Instead, gradual tidally driven export of UTHg from the wetland offset the large episodic on-island fluxes associated with high wind events. Exports were highest during large spring tides, when ebbing waters relatively enriched in FDOM, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and filter-passing mercury drained from the marsh into the open waters of the estuary. On-island flux of UTHg, which was largely particle-associated, was highest during strong winds coincident with flood tides. Our results demonstrate that processes driving UTHg fluxes in tidal wetlands encompass both the dissolved and particulate phases and multiple timescales, necessitating longer term monitoring to adequately quantify fluxes

L'article 4 du Statut de Westminster et la souveraineté du Canada

The object of this paper is to inquire whether s. 4 of the Statute of Westminster, considered as an ordinary statutory provision, really constitutes a legally binding assurance that the Parliament of the United Kingdom may not pass laws for Canada without the latter's consent. In its first part, the paper discusses the validity of such an Act intended for application in Canada, that would not contain the declaration contemplated in s. 4. This is examined in reference to the principle of Parliamentary sovereignty and to the question as to the capacity of Parliament to bind itself for the future. The conclusion reached is that, because Canadian courts could treat s. 4 as an entrenched clause binding upon the United Kingdom Parliament, such an Act could be ruled invalid. The paper then discusses the case of a United Kingdom Act containing a declaration that Canada has requested and consented to such legislation, while in fact Canadian initiative or acquiescence would be lacking. The conclusion there is that s. 4, whether considered in isolation or together with the Preamble to the Statute, would not warrant a ruling of invalidity by Canadian courts. In particular, allegations of error or fraud in the passing of the Act would not make it invalid. The general conclusion is therefore that s. 4 does not really constitute a legally binding assurance that the United Kingdom Parliament may not pass laws for Canada without the latter's consent. While the legal issue discussed in this paper may seem academic, since the British Parliament was never, since 1931, attempted to pass laws intended for application in Canada without the latter's consent, it throws an interesting light on the foundations of Canadian sovereignty. The paper suggests that such sovereignty seems to be based at least as much on constitutional convention than on s. 4 of the Statute of Westminster

Towards Generating Richer Code by Binding Security Abstractions to BPMN Task Types

This paper presents an approach for binding security requirements to different BPMN task types to create secure executable business processes.This paper presents an approach for binding security requirements to different BPMN task types to create secure executable business processes