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Sample records for secular variation reveal

  1. geomagnetic secular variation and the 1969–1970 secular jerk

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

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    The plots of D rather strongly suggest the presence of a jerk around 1980 at most of the stations. Key words/phrases: Magnetic observatories, polynomial fitting, residuals, secular variation, secular jerk. INTRODUCTION. The magnetic field of the Earth has been observed to exhibit changes of remarkably wide spectral.

  2. Geomagnetic Core Field Secular Variation Models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gillet, N.; Lesur, V.; Olsen, Nils

    2010-01-01

    highlight the difficulty of resolving the time variability of the high degree secular variation coefficients (i.e. the secular acceleration), arising for instance from the challenge to properly separate sources of internal and of external origin. In addition, the regularisation process may also result...

  3. Lunar nitrogen: Secular variation or mixing?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norris, S.J.; Wright, I.P.; Pillinger, C.T.

    1986-01-01

    The two current models to explain the nearly 40% variation of the lunar nitrogen isotopic composition are: (1) secular variation of solar wind nitrogen; and (2) a two component mixing model having a constant, heavy solar wind admixed with varying amounts of indigenous light lunar N (LLN). Both models are needed to explain the step pyrolysis extraction profile. The secular variation model proposes that the low temperature release is modern day solar wind implanted into grain surfaces, the 900 C to 1100 C release is from grain surfaces which were once exposed to the ancient solar wind but which are now trapped inside agglutinates, and the >1100 C release as spallogenic N produced by cosmic rays. The mixing model ascribes the components to solar wind, indigenous lunar N and spallogenic N respectively. An extension of either interpretation is that the light N seen in lunar breccias or deep drill cores represent conditions when more N-14 was available to the lunar surface

  4. Long-Term Seafloor Electromagnetic Observation in the Northwest Pacific May Detect the Vector Geomagnetic Secular Variation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H Toh

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Sea Floor ElectroMagnetic Stations (SFEMSs are now operating at two deep seafloor sites called the 'WPB' and the 'NWP' in the West Philippine Basin and the Northwest Pacific Basin, respectively. One of the main objectives of the SFEMSs is to detect the geomagnetic secular variations on the deep seafloor where long-term geomagnetic observations have not so far been achieved. SFEMSs can measure the absolute geomagnetic total force as well as the geomagnetic vector field with precise attitude monitoring systems. The vector geomagnetic time-series that was observed for more than 5 years revealed that the westward drift of the equatorial dipole dominates in the geomagnetic secular variation at the NWP.

  5. Geomagnetic secular variation in India-regional and local features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Srivastava, B.J.; Abbas, H.

    1977-01-01

    A study of the secular variation in the geomagnetic elements H, Z, F and D at Colaba (Bombay)-Alibag for the period 1848-1973, has been made. Fifth degree polynomials are fitted to the data of annual mean values of H, Z and F, and third degree to D, and the residuals discussed. The trends are also examined at the six Indian observatories using the data for 1960-1974. The increasing trend of Z at Alibag is found to decrease from about 1937, while that of H and F from 1965 at 20-30 nT/year, it being of the same order at Sabhawala and Hyderabad but smaller at the equatorial stations, particularly for Z component. The westward annual change in D swings eastward again around 1965 at all the Indian stations. This reversal of the secular variation trend in India after 1965 emerges as an important regional feature connected with a southward migration of the dip equator in India from 1968. The secular change in D at Alibag (+0.4'/year) is somewhat anomalous in the sense that it is reduced as compared to Hyderabad and other stations (+1.6'/year), probably due to the local magnetic anomaly of the Deccan lavas, and calls for detailed investigations. (auth.)

  6. Crustal concealing of small-scale core-field secular variation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hulot, G.; Olsen, Nils; Thebault, E.

    2009-01-01

    of internal origin happen to be detectable now in spherical harmonic degrees up to, perhaps, 16. All of these changes are usually attributed to changes in the core field itself, the secular variation, on the ground that the lithospheric magnetization cannot produce such signals. It has, however, been pointed...... out, on empirical grounds, that temporal changes in the field of internal origin produced by the induced part of the lithospheric magnetization could dominate the core field signal beyond degree 22. This short note revisits this issue by taking advantage of our improved knowledge of the small...... cause of the observed changes in the field of internal origin up to some critical degree, N-C, is indeed likely to be the secular variation of the core field, but that the signal produced by the time-varying lithospheric field is bound to dominate and conceal the time-varying core signal beyond...

  7. Secular variations of radon in metropolitan Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghomshei, M.M.; Slawson, W.F.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper sampling of radon within the soil from three sites in metropolitan Vancouver is reported. Alpha trace bi-weekly measurements during a period of 4 years show secular variations with a period of 8-15 months. There are low-radon and high-radon episodes enduring several months to a year. Average radon level during the high-radon episodes reaches 5-10 times that of the low-radon periods. During high-radon episodes the high-frequency variations show very high amplitudes. After filtering of the high-frequency fluctuations, the data from different sites demonstrate remarkably similar trends. It is suggested that along with hydrogeological events, stress relaxation in rocks, earthquake, and magma emplacement may contribute to the sources of secular variations of radon. Because of long-term variations, radon level in urban areas should be monitored on a continuous basis. Single measurements, even those integrating radiation over a period of few months, may sample a low-radon episode, and provide a false assurance, or occur during a high-radon episode and give a false alarm

  8. The use of MAGSAT data to determine secular variation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cain, J.C.; Frayser, J.; Muth, L.; Schmitz, D.

    1983-01-01

    A combined spatial and secular variation model of the geomagnetic field, labeled M061581, is derived from a selection of MAGSAT data. Secular variation (SV) data computed from linear fits to midnight hourly values from 19 magnetic observatories were also included in the analysis but were seen to have little effect on the model. The SV patterns from this new model are compared with those from the 1980 IGRF and with those for 1970 computed by the DGRF and with the 1960 patterns computed using the GSFC(12/66) model. Most of the features of the M061581 are identical in location and level with those of the 1980 IGRF. Together they confirm that the reversals in sign of field change seen over Asia and North America between 1965 and 1975 are reverting to the pre-1965 states. The M061581 model gives -32 nT/yr for the dipole decay rate, larger than the 70% increase already reported since 1965. -Authors

  9. Gravitational dynamos and the low-frequency geomagnetic secular variation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, P

    2007-12-18

    Self-sustaining numerical dynamos are used to infer the sources of low-frequency secular variation of the geomagnetic field. Gravitational dynamo models powered by compositional convection in an electrically conducting, rotating fluid shell exhibit several regimes of magnetic field behavior with an increasing Rayleigh number of the convection, including nearly steady dipoles, chaotic nonreversing dipoles, and chaotic reversing dipoles. The time average dipole strength and dipolarity of the magnetic field decrease, whereas the dipole variability, average dipole tilt angle, and frequency of polarity reversals increase with Rayleigh number. Chaotic gravitational dynamos have large-amplitude dipole secular variation with maximum power at frequencies corresponding to a few cycles per million years on Earth. Their external magnetic field structure, dipole statistics, low-frequency power spectra, and polarity reversal frequency are comparable to the geomagnetic field. The magnetic variability is driven by the Lorentz force and is characterized by an inverse correlation between dynamo magnetic and kinetic energy fluctuations. A constant energy dissipation theory accounts for this inverse energy correlation, which is shown to produce conditions favorable for dipole drift, polarity reversals, and excursions.

  10. Bottom-up control of geomagnetic secular variation by the Earth's inner core

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aubert, Julien; Finlay, Chris; Fournier, Alexandre

    2013-01-01

    of geomagnetic secular variation. Here we show that it can be reproduced provided that two mechanisms relying on the inner core are jointly considered. First, gravitational coupling5 aligns the inner core with the mantle, forcing the flow of liquid metal in the outer core into a giant, westward drifting, sheet...... release in the outer core which in turn distorts the gyre, forcing it to become eccentric, in agreement with recent core flow inversions6, 10, 11. This bottom-up heterogeneous driving of core convection dominates top-down driving from mantle thermal heterogeneities, and localizes magnetic variations......Temporal changes in the Earth’s magnetic field, known as geomagnetic secular variation, occur most prominently at low latitudes in the Atlantic hemisphere1, 2 (that is, from −90 degrees east to 90 degrees east), whereas in the Pacific hemisphere there is comparatively little activity...

  11. Geographical localisation of the geomagnetic secular variation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aubert, Julien; Finlay, Chris; Olsen, Nils

    2013-01-01

    the model and geomagnetic data previously processed in the same way. Our results suggest that conservation of angular momentum and heterogeneous thermochemical boundary control in the coupled inner core / outer core / mantle system are central to understanding how Earth’s magnetic field currently evolves......., westward moving, magnetic flux patches at the core surface. Despite its successes in explaining the main morphological properties of Earth’s magnetic field, self-consistent numerical modelling of the geodynamo has so far failed to reproduce this field variation pattern. Furthermore its magnetohydrodynamic...... control from either, or both, the inner-core boundary and the core-mantle boundary. In addition to presenting an Earth-like magnetic field morphology, these new numerical models also reproduce the morphology and localization of geomagnetic secular variation. In our models, the conservation of the angular...

  12. Geomagnetic secular variation at the African observatories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haile, T.

    2002-10-01

    Geomagnetic data from ten observatories in the African continent with time series data length of more than three decades have been analysed. All-day annual mean values of the D, H and Z components were used to study secular variations in the African region. The residuals in D, H and Z components obtained after removing polynomial fits have been examined in relation to the sunspot cycle. The occurrence of the 1969-1970 worldwide geomagnetic impulse in each observatory is studied. It is found that the secular variation in the field can be represented for most of the observatories with polynomials of second or third degree. Departures from these trends are observed over the Southern African region where strong local magnetic anomalies have been observed. The residuals in the geomagnetic field components have been shown to exhibit parallelism with the periods corresponding to double solar cycle for some of the stations. A clear latitudinal distribution in the geomagnetic component that exhibits the 1969-70 jerk is shown. The jerk appears in the plots of the first differences in H for the southern most observatories of Hermanus, Hartebeesthoek, and Tsuemb, while the Z plots show the jerk for near equatorial and equatorial stations of Antananarivo, Luanda Belas, Bangui and Addis Ababa. There is some indication for this jerk in the first difference plots of D for the northern stations of M'Bour and Tamanrasset. The plots of D rather strongly suggest the presence of a jerk around 1980 at most of the stations. (author)

  13. Importance of selecting archaeomagnetic data for geomagnetic modelling: example of the new Western Europe directional and intensity secular variation curves from 1500 BC to 200 AD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herve, Gwenael; Chauvin, Annick; Lanos, Philippe

    2014-05-01

    At the regional scale, the dispersion between archaeomagnetic data and especially archaeointensities suggests that some of them may be biased. As a consequence, it appears necessary to perform a selection of available data before to compute mean regional secular variation curves or geomagnetic models. However the definition of suitable selection criteria is not obvious and we need to know how to manage "old" data acquired during the 60-70s. The Western Europe directional and intensity data set from 1500 BC to 200 AD allows to discuss these issues. It has recently been enhanced by 39 new archaeodirections and 23 new archaeointensities (Hervé et al., 2013a and 2013b data sets and 5 unpublished data). First, the whole Western Europe data set was selected but the strong dispersion restricted the accuracy and the reliability of the new Western Europe secular variation curves at Paris. The causes of the dispersion appear different between archaeodirections and archaeointensities. In the directional data set, the main problem comes from some age errors in the oldest published data. Since their publication their archaeological dating may have changed of 50 years or more. For intensity data that were acquired much more recently, the dispersion mainly results from the use of unreliable archaeointensity protocols. We propose a weighting approach based on the number of specimens and the use of pTRM-checks, anisotropy and cooling rate corrections. Only 63% of available archaeodirections and 32% of archaeointensities were used to build the new Western Europe secular variation curves from 1500 BC to 200 AD. These curves reveal that selecting the reference data avoids wrong estimations of the shape of the secular variation curves, the secular variation rate, the dating of archaeomagnetic jerks... Finally, it is worth pointing out that current geomagnetic global models take into account almost all the data that we decided to reject. It could partly explain why their predictions at

  14. Secular variation of cosmic ray intensity recorded in the radiocarbon concentration of tree rings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kigoshi, K.

    1978-01-01

    Study of the secular variations of cosmic ray intensity on the basis of the secular variations of atmospheric radiocarbon concentration in 8000 years is considered. The data on the radiocarbon concentration is received by three laboratories using the dendrochronologically dated tree ring samples. In order to use the data the variations due to geochemical process must be eliminated. From this point of view the climatic effect on the atmospheric radiocarbon concenttration is estimated using the data on sunspot number and global surface temperature during 1650-1800 y. The barge influence of climate on the atmospheric radiocarbon concentration syggests the small contribution of change of radiocarbon production rate to the short-period fluctuations in the atmospheric radiocarbon concentration. Elimination of variations caused by climate and sunspot activities from the variations in atmospheric radiocarbon concentration gives a long-term scale of its concentration which agrees well to the observed paleo-geomagnetic data

  15. Transit Duration Variations due to Secular Interactions in Systems with Tightly-packed Inner Planets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boley, Aaron; Van Laerhoven, Christa; Granados Contreras, A. Paula

    2018-04-01

    Secular interactions among planets in multi-planet systems will lead to variations in orbital inclinations and to the precession of orbital nodes. Taking known system architectures at face value, we calculate orbital precession rates for planets in tightly-packed systems using classical second-order secular theory, in which the orientation of the orbits can be described as a vector sum of eigenmodes and the eigenstructure is determined only by the masses and semi-major axes of the planets. Using this framework, we identify systems that have fast precession frequencies, and use those systems to explore the range of transit duration variation that could occur using amplitudes that are consistent with tightly-packed planetary systems. We then further assess how transit duration variations could be used in practice.

  16. The steady part of the secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloxham, Jeremy

    1992-01-01

    The secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field results from the effects of magnetic induction in the fluid outer core and from the effects of magnetic diffusion in the core and the mantle. Adequate observations to map the magnetic field at the core-mantle boundary extend back over three centuries, providing a model of the secular variation at the core-mantle boundary. Here we consider how best to analyze this time-dependent part of the field. To calculate steady core flow over long time periods, we introduce an adaptation of our earlier method of calculating the flow in order to achieve greater numerical stability. We perform this procedure for the periods 1840-1990 and 1690-1840 and find that well over 90 percent of the variance of the time-dependent field can be explained by simple steady core flow. The core flows obtained for the two intervals are broadly similar to each other and to flows determined over much shorter recent intervals.

  17. An upper limit to the secular variation of the gravitational constant from white dwarf stars

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    García-Berro, Enrique; Lorén-Aguilar, Pablo; Torres, Santiago [Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, c/Esteve Terrades, 5, 08860 Castelldefels (Spain); Althaus, Leandro G. [Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, (1900) La Plata (Argentina); Isern, Jordi, E-mail: garcia@fa.upc.edu, E-mail: loren@fa.upc.edu, E-mail: santi@fa.upc.edu, E-mail: althaus@fcaglp.fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar, E-mail: isern@ieec.cat [Institut de Ciències de l' Espai (CSIC), Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Spain)

    2011-05-01

    A variation of the gravitational constant over cosmological ages modifies the main sequence lifetimes and white dwarf cooling ages. Using an state-of-the-art stellar evolutionary code we compute the effects of a secularly varying G on the main sequence ages and, employing white dwarf cooling ages computed taking into account the effects of a running G, we place constraints on the rate of variation of Newton's constant. This is done using the white dwarf luminosity function and the distance of the well studied open Galactic cluster NGC 6791. We derive an upper bound Ġ/G ∼ −1.8 × 10{sup −12} yr{sup −1}. This upper limit for the secular variation of the gravitational constant compares favorably with those obtained using other stellar evolutionary properties, and can be easily improved if deep images of the cluster allow to obtain an improved white dwarf luminosity function.

  18. Secular Orbit and Spin Variations of Asteroid (16) Psyche

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bills, B. G.; Park, R. S.; Scott, B.

    2016-12-01

    The obliquity, or angular separation between spin and orbit poles, of asteroid (16) Psyche is currently 95 degrees. We are interested in knowing how much that angular separation varies, on time scales of 104 to 106 years. To answer that question, we have done several related analyses. On short time scales, the orbital element variations of Psyche are dominated by perturbations from Jupiter. Jupiter's dominance has two basic causes: first is the large mass and relatively close position of Jupiter, and second is a 19:8 mean motion resonance. Jupiter completes 8 orbits in 94.9009 years, while Psyche takes 94.9107 years to complete 19 orbits. As a result of this, all of the orbital elements of Psyche exhibit significant periodic variations, with a 94.9 year period dominating. There are also significant variations at the synodic period, which is 8.628 years, or 1/11 of the resonant period. Over a 1000 year time span, centered on the present, the eccentricity varies from 0.133 to 0.140, and the inclination varies from 2.961 to 3.229 degrees. On longer time scales, the orbital elements of Psyche vary considerably more than that, due to secular perturbations from the planets. The secular variations are modeled as the response of interacting mass rings, rather than point masses. Again, Jupiter is the main perturbing influence on Psyche. The eccentricity and inclination both oscillate, with dominant periods of 18.667 kyr. The range of values seen over a million year time span, is 0.057 to 0.147 for eccentricity, and 0.384 to 4.777 degrees for inclination. Using a recent shape model, and assumption of uniform density, to constrain relevant moments of inertia, we estimate the spin pole precession rate parameter to be 8.53 arcsec/year. The current spin pole is at ecliptic {lon, lat} = { 32, -7} deg, whereas the orbit pole is at {lon, lat} = {60.47, 86.91} deg. The current obliquity is thus 94.3 degree. Using nominal values of the input parameters, the recovered spin pole

  19. The geomagnetic jerk of 2003.5-characterisation with regional observatory secular variation data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Yan; Holme, Richard; Cox, Grace Alexandra; Jiang, Yi

    2018-05-01

    The 2003.5 geomagnetic jerk was identified in geomagnetic records from satellite data, and a matching feature reported in variations in length-of-day (ΔLOD), but detailed study has been hampered by lack of geomagnetic observatory data where it appears strongest. Here we examine secular variation (annual differences of monthly means) based on a new resource of 43 Chinese observatory records for 1998 until the present, focusing on 10 series of particularly high quality and consistency. To obtain a clean series, we calculate the covariance matrix of residuals between measurements and a state-of-the-art field model, CHAOS-6, and use eigenvalue analysis to remove noisy contributions from the uncorrected data. The magnitude of the most significant eigenvector correlates well with Dcx (corrected, extended Dst), suggesting the noise originates from unmodelled external magnetic field. Removal of this noise eliminates much coherent misfit around 2003-2005; nevertheless, the 2003.5 jerk is seen clearly in the first time derivative of the East component in Chinese data, and is also seen in the first time derivative of the vertical component in European data. Estimates of the jerk time are centred on 2003.5, but with some spatial variation; this variation can be eliminated if we allow a discontinuity in the secular variation as well as its temporal gradient. Both regions also provide evidence for a jerk around 2014, although less clearly than 2003.5. We create a new field model based on new data and CHAOS-6 to further examine the regional signals. The new model is close to CHAOS-6, but better fits Chinese data, although modelling also identifies some data features as unphysical.

  20. High-resolution chronology of sediment below CCD based on Holocene paleomagnetic secular variations in the Tohoku-oki earthquake rupture zone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanamatsu, Toshiya; Usami, Kazuko; McHugh, Cecilia M. G.; Ikehara, Ken

    2017-08-01

    Using high-resolution paleomagnetic data, we examined the potential for obtaining precise ages from sediment core samples recovered from deep-sea basins close to rupture zones of the 2011 and earlier earthquakes off Tohoku, Japan. Obtaining detailed stratigraphic ages from deep-sea sediments below the calcium compensation depth (CCD) is difficult, but we found that the samples contain excellent paleomagnetic secular variation records to constrain age models. Variations in paleomagnetic directions obtained from the sediments reveal systematic changes in the cores. A stacked paleomagnetic profile closely matches the Lake Biwa data sets in southwest Japan for the past 7000 years, one can establish age models based on secular variations of the geomagnetic field on sediments recovered uniquely below the CCD. Comparison of paleomagnetic directions near a tephra and a paleomagnetic direction of contemporaneous pyroclastic flow deposits acquired by different magnetization processes shows precise depositional ages reflecting the magnetization delay of the marine sediment record.Plain Language SummaryGenerally obtaining detailed ages from deep-sea sediments is difficult, because available dating method is very limited. We found that the deep-see sediment off North Japan recorded past sequential geomagnetic directions. If those records correlate well with the reference record in past 7000 years, then we could estimate age of sediment by pattern matching. Additionally a volcanic ash emitted in 915 A.D., which was intercalated in our samples, indicates a time lag in our age model. This observation makes our age model more precise.

  1. Geomagnetic secular variation from recent lake sediments, ancient fireplaces and historical measurements in southeastern Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, C. E.; Barbetti, Mike

    1982-07-01

    Compilations of historical observations, archaeomagnetic data from ancient fireplaces and palaemagetic results from short cores of sediment from lakes in southeastern Australia, particularly Lake Keilambete, provide a detailed record of the geomagnetic secular variation during the last 3000 years. The independent sets of data are in good agreement if the radiocarbon time scale for the lacustrine record is about 450 years too old. The error is attributed to systematic incorporation of ancient carbon into the lake floor sediments, mainly through erosion of sediment on the crater walls at times of low water level. A significant lag between deposition and the acquisition of stable magnetic remanence is ruled out. Inclination has been abnormally steep during the last 500 years but remained fairly close to the axial dipole field value prior to that. During the last 1000 years the predominant sense of looping of the magnetic vector corresponds to westward drift of the nondipole field. Secular variations on a time scale of ˜ 100 years can be resolved by the lacustrine record.

  2. The visible spectrum of Pluto: secular and longitudinal variation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorenzi, Vania; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemí; Emery, Joshua P.; Licandro, Javier; Cruikshank, Dale P.; Grundy, Will; Binzel, Richard P.

    2015-11-01

    Continuous near-infrared spectroscopic observations during the last 30 years enabled the characterization of the Pluto's surface and the study of its variability. Nevertheless, only few data are available in the visible range, where the nature of the complex-organics can be studied.For this reason, we started an observational campaign to obtain the Pluto's relative reflectance in the visible range, with the aim of characterizing the different components of its surface, and providing ground based observations in support of the New Horizons mission. We observed Pluto on six nights in 2014, with the imager/spectrograph ACAM@WHT (La Palma, Spain). We obtained six spectra in the 0.40 - 0.93 µm range, that covered a whole Pluto's rotational period (6.4 days).To study longitudinal variations, we computed for all the spectra the spectral slope, and the position and the depth of the methane ice absorption bands. Also, to search for secular or seasonal variations we compared our data with previously published results.All the spectra present a red slope, indicating the presence of complex organics on Pluto's surface, and show the methane ice absorption bands between 0.73 and 0.90 μm. We also report the detection of the CH4 absorption band at 0.62 μm, already detected in the spectra of Makemake and Eris. The measurement of the band depth at 0.62 μm in the new spectra of Pluto, and in the spectra of Makemake and Eris, permits us to estimate the Lambert coefficient, not measured yet at this wavelength, at a temperature of 30 K and 40 K.We find that all the CH4 bands present a blue shift. This shift is minimum at the Charon-facing hemisphere, where the CH4 is also more abundant, indicating a higher degree of saturation of CH4 in the CH4:N2 dilution at this hemisphere.Comparing with data in the literature, we found that the longitudinal and secular variations of the parameters measured in our spectra are in accordance with previous results and with the distribution of the dark

  3. A model of the geomagnetic field and its secular variation for epoch 2000 estimated from Orsted data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Nils

    2002-01-01

    as measured simultaneously by globally distributed geomagnetic observatories. In addition, the observatory data are used to constrain secular variation. The model is estimated using an iteratively reweighted least-squares method with Huber weights to account for the non-Gaussian data error distribution...

  4. Secular Variation and Physical Characteristics Determination of the HADS Star EH Lib

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pena, J. H.; Villarreal, C.; Pina, D. S.; Renteria, A.; Soni, A., Guillen, J. Calderon, J.

    2017-12-01

    Physical parameters of EH Lib have been determined based on observations carried out in 2015 with photometry. They have also served, along with samples from the years 1969 and 1986, to analyse the frequency content of EH Lib with Fourier Transforms. Recent CCD observations increased the times of maximum with twelve new times which helped us study the secular variation of the period with a method based on the minimization of the standard deviation of the O-C residuals. It is concluded that there may be a long-term period change.

  5. Geomagnetic Secular Variation and Its Applications to the Core

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jackson, Andrew; Finlay, Chris

    2015-01-01

    the mathematical models of the field’s evolution that can be derived from them. We discussthe prominent features of the field’s evolution, both at the Earth’s surface and at the surface of theliquid core. The final section concerns itself with a discussion of the interpretation of the field’sevolution, in terms......We review the observational constraints on the morphology and evolution of the magnetic field of the Earth over the last few centuries; these changes are referred to as the secular variation.Starting with a description of the available sources of original observations of the field, we thendiscuss...... of physical core processes. These divide themselves into processes associatedwith movement of core fluid, which is capable of advecting the field, and processes associated withthe finite resistivity of the core, commonly termed diffusive processes. We lay the foundations for some of the more theoretical...

  6. Evaluating secular acceleration in geomagnetic field model GRIMM-3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesur, V.; Wardinski, I.

    2012-12-01

    Secular acceleration of the magnetic field is the rate of change of its secular variation. One of the main results of studying magnetic data collected by the German survey satellite CHAMP was the mapping of field acceleration and its evolution in time. Questions remain about the accuracy of the modeled acceleration and the effect of the applied regularization processes. We have evaluated to what extent the regularization affects the temporal variability of the Gauss coefficients. We also obtained results of temporal variability of the Gauss coefficients where alternative approaches to the usual smoothing norms have been applied for regularization. Except for the dipole term, the secular acceleration of the Gauss coefficients is fairly well described up to spherical harmonic degree 5 or 6. There is no clear evidence from observatory data that the spectrum of this acceleration is underestimated at the Earth surface. Assuming a resistive mantle, the observed acceleration supports a characteristic time scale for the secular variation of the order of 11 years.

  7. Secularism, secular state and religious freedom | Nweke | Journal of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The historic separation of the Church and the State, as an immediate product of secularism, informs the reality of secular state, a state without official religion. This paper attempts to understudy the extent to which secularism enhances religious freedom within the frame of secular state. With the tools of phenomenological ...

  8. Archeointensities in Greece during the Neolithic period: New insights into material selection and secular variation curve

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fanjat, G.; Aidona, E.; Kondopoulou, D.; Camps, P.; Rathossi, C.; Poidras, T.

    2013-02-01

    Numerous archeomagnetic studies have provided high quality data for both the direction and the intensity of the geomagnetic field, essentially in Europe for the last 10 millennia. In particular, Greece supplies a lot of archeological materials due to its impressive cultural heritage and volcanic activity, so that numerous data have been obtained from burnt clays or historical lava flows. The most recent Greek secular variation curves are available for the last 8 millennia for the intensity and the last 6 millennia for the direction. Nevertheless, the coverage still presents several gaps for periods older than 2500 BC. In an effort to complete the Greek curve and extend it to older times, we present the archeointensity results from three Neolithic settlements in Northern Greece. The samples are of two different natures: burnt structures from Avgi (5250 ± 150 BC) and Vasili (4800 ± 200 BC), as well as ceramics from Dikili Tash (4830 ± 80 BC) and Vasili (4750 ± 250 BC). The samples have been subjected to standard rock magnetic analyses in order to estimate the thermal stability and the domain state of the magnetic carriers before archeointensity measurements. Surprisingly, very few ceramic samples provided reliable archeointensities whereas samples from burnt structures presented a very good success rate. Complementary studies showed that a detailed examination of the matrix color, following archeological information and classification standards can be a decisive test for pre-selection of sherds. In spite of these unsuccessful measurements from ceramics, we obtained an intensity value of 73.5 ± 1.1 μT for Dikili Tash, a higher value than the other data obtained in the same area, during the same period. However we do not have evidences for a technical artefact during the experiment. The burnt structures yielded two reliable archeointensities of 36.1 ± 1.8 μT and 46.6 ± 3.4 μT for Avgi and Vasili, respectively. Finally, we achieved a new archeomagnetic dating

  9. A model for solar constant secular changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schatten, Kenneth H.

    1988-01-01

    In this paper, contrast models for solar active region and global photospheric features are used to reproduce the observed Active Cavity Radiometer and Earth Radiation Budget secular trends in reasonably good fashion. A prediction for the next decade of solar constant variations is made using the model. Secular trends in the solar constant obtained from the present model support the view that the Maunder Minimum may be related to the Little Ice Age of the 17th century.

  10. Metaphysical Concept of Secularization versus Islamic Concept of Secularization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volkan ERTİT

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In early 21st century, the question “Is Turkey becoming secularized contrary to popular belief?” was one of the discussions occupying Turkish public opinion. These discussions led to the encounter of two different concepts of secularization, “theological (Islamic” and "metaphysical", and to put forward different claims using the same concept. Hence, it became evidentwas understood that a discussion was necessary to understand what secularization is and what it is not before starting any debate on Turkey's secularization. That is because the metaphysical discussion that defines secularization as the decline in the social influence of metaphysical realm (religion, religion-like mechanisms, folk religions, superstitious beliefs, etc. is overshadowed by the Islamic definition describing secularization as "irreligiousness" or "non-Islamism". Therefore, discussingTo understand the social transformation in Turkey, this article attempts to explain that metaphysical rather than theological definition of secularization is necessary for understanding the social implications of the process of modernization.

  11. Explanation of observable secular variations of gravity and alternative methods of determination of drift of the center of mass of the Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barkin, Yury

    2010-05-01

    The summary. On the basis of geodynamic model of the forced relative displacement of the centers of mass of the core and the mantle of the Earth the secular variations of a gravity and heights of some gravimetry stations on a surface of the Earth have ben studied. At the account of secular drift of the center of mass of the Earth which on our geodynamic model is caused by the unidirectional drift of the core of the Earth relatively to the mantle, the full explanation is given to observable secular variations of a gravity at stations Ny-Alesund (Norway), Churchill (Canada), Medicine (Italy), Sayowa (Antarctica), Strastburg (France), Membach (Belgium), Wuhan (China) and Metsahovi (Finland). Two new methods of determination of secular drift of the center of mass of the Earth, alternative to classical method of a space geodesy are offered: 1) on the basis of gravimetry data about secular trends of a gravity at the stations located on all basic regions of the Earth; 2) on the basis of the comparative analysis of altimetry and coastal data about secular changes of sea level also in basic regions of ocean. 1. Secular drift of the center of mass of the core and the center of mass of the Earth. A secular drift of the center of mass of the Earth to the North relatively to special center O on an axis of rotation of the Earth for which the coefficient of third zonal harmonic J3' = 0, has been predicted in the author work [1]. A drift in a direction to a geographical point (pole P) 70°0 N and 104°3 E has been established for the first time theoretically - as a result of the analysis of the global directed redistribution of masses of the Earth, explaining the observed secular drift of the pole of an axis of rotation of the Earth and not tidal acceleration of its axial rotation [2]. In [1] velocity of drift it has been estimated in 1-2 cm/yr. For specified center O the figure of a planet is as though deprived of pure-shaped form (J3' = 0). And in this sense the point O can be

  12. Time-causal decomposition of geomagnetic time series into secular variation, solar quiet, and disturbance signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rigler, E. Joshua

    2017-04-26

    A theoretical basis and prototype numerical algorithm are provided that decompose regular time series of geomagnetic observations into three components: secular variation; solar quiet, and disturbance. Respectively, these three components correspond roughly to slow changes in the Earth’s internal magnetic field, periodic daily variations caused by quasi-stationary (with respect to the sun) electrical current systems in the Earth’s magnetosphere, and episodic perturbations to the geomagnetic baseline that are typically driven by fluctuations in a solar wind that interacts electromagnetically with the Earth’s magnetosphere. In contrast to similar algorithms applied to geomagnetic data in the past, this one addresses the issue of real time data acquisition directly by applying a time-causal, exponential smoother with “seasonal corrections” to the data as soon as they become available.

  13. (Post Secular Discomforts: Religio-Secular Disclosures in the Indian Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Goldie Osuri

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The post-secular turn at the intersection of the fields of political philosophy, anthropology, religious, postcolonial and cultural studies has highlighted theological political formations which have informed differential histories of the secular. This essay examines how debates around the secular and the post-secular play out in the Indian context. Some questions that the essay addresses are: What does a reconsideration of the secular, a probing of its discomforts, offer in the Indian context? And what are the limits of a post-secular turn—in the sense of a reconsideration of spiritual belief or theological conventions as a resource for co-existence—if we think through the forms of power generated by this turn?

  14. 85 SECULARISM, SECULAR STATE AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    finds that, although more feasible within secular states, religious freedom and human rights are possibilities ... and values, nor uses its powers and offices to persecute religion.” According to ... Secularism is in fact an expression of humanism.

  15. Secular Religious Establishment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lægaard, Sune

    2013-01-01

    Secularism as a political doctrine claims that religion and politics should be separated. The compatibility question is whether secularism can accept some forms of religious establishment in the form of institutional linkages between state and organised religion. I argue that the answer...... to the compatibility question is not obvious and requires a systematic analysis of secularism. Based on a distinction between a general concept and specific conceptions of secularism I offer a general structure for conceptions of secularism that incorporates both a) basic values, e.g. political equality and freedom...

  16. Secular change in 13 metabolic phenotypes: A Chinese longitudinal twin study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Shuxia; Pang, Zengchang; Zhang, Dongfeng

    in prospective investigations. Based on Chinese twin data collected from Danish-Chinese collaboration research, we perform twin modeling on 13 metabolic phenotypes (total cholesterol; triglyceride; high density lipoprotein (HDL); low density lipoprotein (LDL); urine acid (UA); glucose; weight; body mass index...... fitted to the secular changes in each of the 13 phenotypes with best fitting model selected based on model performance. Age and sex were included as covariates in the models to adjust for their effects on secular trend. Results: Variations in secular change in 3 lipids (total cholesterol; triglyceride...

  17. Secular spirituality versus secular dualism: Towards postsecular ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The term “secular spirituality” is meant to convey the contemporary phenomenon of spirituality as experienced in different spheres not associated with structured, institutionalised religion. An outline is given of the relation between secular reality (the natural realm) and religious/spiritual reality (the supernatural realm), as it ...

  18. Contrasting irreligious orientation: atheism and secularity in the USA and Scandinavia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phil Zuckerman

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Atheism and secularity are not static, fixed orientations. Rather, atheism and secularity are contoured, malleable, and deeply shaped by cultural and social forces. A clear example of the degree to which atheism and secularity can be lived and expressed quite differently in different socio-cultural locations is revealed by comparing and contrasting the ways in which they are manifested in the United States and Scandinavia.

  19. Beyond comparing secularisms: a critique of religio-secularism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansen, Y.; Zuckerman, P.; Shook, J.R.

    2017-01-01

    “Religio-secularism” denotes the tendency to understand specific cultural and political conflicts in terms an opposition between religion on the one hand and secularism on the other. Religio-secularism as a cultural-political paradigm tends to obscure the intricacies of political, socioeconomic,

  20. Constraints on geomagnetic secular variation modeling from electromagnetism and fluid dynamics of the Earth's core

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benton, E. R.

    1986-01-01

    A spherical harmonic representation of the geomagnetic field and its secular variation for epoch 1980, designated GSFC(9/84), is derived and evaluated. At three epochs (1977.5, 1980.0, 1982.5) this model incorporates conservation of magnetic flux through five selected patches of area on the core/mantle boundary bounded by the zero contours of vertical magnetic field. These fifteen nonlinear constraints are included like data in an iterative least squares parameter estimation procedure that starts with the recently derived unconstrained field model GSFC (12/83). Convergence is approached within three iterations. The constrained model is evaluated by comparing its predictive capability outside the time span of its data, in terms of residuals at magnetic observatories, with that for the unconstrained model.

  1. Multiculturalism and secularism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lægaard, Sune

    2017-01-01

    . Secularism denotes what such principles imply for the relationship between politics and religion. Such formal understandings provide theoretical frameworks for specifying different conceptions of multiculturalism and secularism and for determining in precisely which respects conflicts might arise......Multiculturalism in a European context increasingly has come to denote a concern with religious minorities. Claims for multicultural accommodation of minorities therefore potentially conflict with secularist requirements of separation of politics and religion. Whether there is a conflict depends...... on the general understandings of multiculturalism and secularism. The paper therefore distinguishes and examines different general understandings. Both multiculturalism and secularism can be understood as sets of policies, or as forms of minority accommodation or views about the relationship between religion...

  2. Review: geological and experimental evidence for secular variation in seawater Mg/Ca (calcite-aragonite seas and its effects on marine biological calcification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. B. Ries

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Synchronized transitions in the polymorph mineralogy of the major reef-building and sediment-producing calcareous marine organisms and abiotic CaCO3 precipitates (ooids, marine cements throughout Phanerozoic time are believed to have been caused by tectonically induced variations in the Mg/Ca ratio of seawater (molar Mg/Ca>2="aragonite seas", <2="calcite seas". Here, I assess the geological evidence in support of secular variation in seawater Mg/Ca and its effects on marine calcifiers, and review a series of recent experiments that investigate the effects of seawater Mg/Ca (1.0–5.2 on extant representatives of calcifying taxa that have experienced variations in this ionic ratio of seawater throughout the geologic past.

    Secular variation in seawater Mg/Ca is supported by synchronized secular variations in (1 the ionic composition of fluid inclusions in primary marine halite, (2 the mineralogies of late stage marine evaporites, abiogenic carbonates, and reef- and sediment-forming marine calcifiers, (3 the Mg/Ca ratios of fossil echinoderms, molluscs, rugose corals, and abiogenic carbonates, (4 global rates of tectonism that drive the exchange of Mg2+ and Ca2+ along zones of ocean crust production, and (5 additional proxies of seawater Mg/Ca including Sr/Mg ratios of abiogenic carbonates, Sr/Ca ratios of biogenic carbonates, and Br concentrations in marine halite.

    Laboratory experiments have revealed that aragonite-secreting bryopsidalean algae and scleractinian corals and calcite-secreting coccolithophores exhibit higher rates of calcification and growth in experimental seawaters formulated with seawater Mg/Ca ratios that favor their skeletal mineral. These results support the assertion that seawater Mg/Ca played an important role in determining which hypercalcifying marine organisms were the major reef-builders and sediment-producers throughout Earth history. The observation that primary

  3. Craniofacial Secular Change in Recent Mexican Migrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spradley, Katherine; Stull, Kyra E; Hefner, Joseph T

    2016-01-01

    Research by economists suggests that recent Mexican migrants are better educated and have higher socioeconomic status (SES) than previous migrants. Because factors associated with higher SES and improved education can lead to positive secular changes in overall body form, secular changes in the craniofacial complex were analyzed within a recent migrant group from Mexico. The Mexican group represents individuals in the act of migration, not yet influenced by the American environment, and thus can serve as a starting point for future studies of secular change in this population group. The excavation of a historic Hispanic cemetery in Tucson, Arizona, also allows for a comparison between historic Hispanics and recent migrants to explore craniofacial trends over a broad time period, as both groups originate from Mexico. The present research addresses two main questions: (1) Are cranial secular changes evident in recent Mexican migrants? (2) Are historic Hispanics and recent Mexican migrants similar? By studying secular changes within a migrant population group, secular trends may be detected, which will be important for understanding the biological variation of the migrants themselves and will serve as a preliminary investigation of secular change within Mexican migrants. The comparison of a sample of recent Mexican migrants with a historic Hispanic sample, predominantly of Mexican origin, allows us to explore morphological similarities and differences between early and recent Mexicans within the United States. Vault and face size and a total of 82 craniofacial interlandmark distances were used to explore secular changes within the recent Mexican migrants (females, n = 38; males, n = 178) and to explore the morphological similarities between historic Hispanics (females, n = 54; males, n = 58) and recent migrants. Sexes were separated, and multivariate adaptive regression splines and basis splines (quadratic with one knot) were used to assess the direction and magnitude

  4. Moderate Secularism and Multicultural Equality

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lægaard, Sune

    2008-01-01

    Tariq Modood argues that European states are only ‘moderately secular' and that this kind of secularism is compatible with public accommodation of religious groups and provides a model of Muslim integration appropriate for European states. Although attention to the fact of moderate secularism...... provides a response to a prominent argument against multicultural accommodation of religious minorities, what is really at stake in discussions of multiculturalism and secularism are political principles. Modood's case for accommodation of Muslims along the lines of moderate secularism presupposes...

  5. Four billion years of ophiolites reveal secular trends in oceanic crust formation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harald Furnes

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available We combine a geological, geochemical and tectonic dataset from 118 ophiolite complexes of the major global Phanerozoic orogenic belts with similar datasets of ophiolites from 111 Precambrian greenstone belts to construct an overview of oceanic crust generation over 4 billion years. Geochemical discrimination systematics built on immobile trace elements reveal that the basaltic units of the Phanerozoic ophiolites are dominantly subduction-related (75%, linked to backarc processes and characterized by a strong MORB component, similar to ophiolites in Precambrian greenstone sequences (85%. The remaining 25% Phanerozoic subduction-unrelated ophiolites are mainly (74% of Mid-Ocean-Ridge type (MORB type, in contrast to the equal proportion of Rift/Continental Margin, Plume, and MORB type ophiolites in the Precambrian greenstone belts. Throughout the Phanerozoic there are large geochemical variations in major and trace elements, but for average element values calculated in 5 bins of 100 million year intervals there are no obvious secular trends. By contrast, basaltic units in the ophiolites of the Precambrian greenstones (calculated in 12 bins of 250 million years intervals, starting in late Paleo- to early Mesoproterozoic (ca. 2.0–1.8 Ga, exhibit an apparent decrease in the average values of incompatible elements such as Ti, P, Zr, Y and Nb, and an increase in the compatible elements Ni and Cr with deeper time to the end of the Archean and into the Hadean. These changes can be attributed to decreasing degrees of partial melting of the upper mantle from Hadean/Archean to Present. The onset of geochemical changes coincide with the timing of detectible changes in the structural architecture of the ophiolites such as greater volumes of gabbro and more common sheeted dyke complexes, and lesser occurrences of ocelli (varioles in the pillow lavas in ophiolites younger than 2 Ga. The global data from the Precambrian ophiolites, representative of nearly 50

  6. Striking Seasonality in the Secular Warming of the Northern Continents: Structure and Mechanisms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nigam, S.; Thomas, N. P.

    2017-12-01

    The linear trend in twentieth-century surface air temperature (SAT)—a key secular warming signal— exhibits striking seasonal variations over Northern Hemisphere continents; SAT trends are pronounced in winter and spring but notably weaker in summer and fall. The SAT trends in historical twentieth-century climate simulations informing the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change's Fifth Assessment show varied (and often unrealistic) strength and structure, and markedly weaker seasonal variation. The large intra-ensemble spread of winter SAT trends in some historical simulations was surprising, especially in the context of century-long linear trends, with implications for the detection of the secular warming signal. The striking seasonality of observed secular warming over northern continents warrants an explanation and the representation of related processes in climate models. Here, the seasonality of SAT trends over North America is shown to result from land surface-hydroclimate interactions and, to an extent, also from the secular change in low-level atmospheric circulation and related thermal advection. It is argued that the winter dormancy and summer vigor of the hydrologic cycle over middle- to high-latitude continents permit different responses to the additional incident radiative energy from increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. The seasonal cycle of climate, despite its monotony, provides an expanded phase space for the exposition of the dynamical and thermodynamical processes generating secular warming, and an exceptional cost-effective opportunity for benchmarking climate projection models.

  7. Post-Secularism or Liberal-Democratic Constitutionalism?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    V. Bader (Veit)

    2012-01-01

    markdownabstract__Abstract__ The increasingly fashionable concept and framing of post-secularism aims to construct simplistic dichotomies and clear-cut ruptures between pre-secular, secular and post-secular ages or epochs, in order to paint generalised and homogenised pictures of societies and

  8. Post-Secularism or Liberal-Democratic Constitutionalism?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bader, V.

    2012-01-01

    The increasingly fashionable concept and framing of post-secularism aims to construct simplistic dichotomies and clear-cut ruptures between pre-secular, secular and post-secular ages or epochs, in order to paint generalised and homogenised pictures of societies and their inevitable evolution. This

  9. The church and the secular: The effect of the post-secular on Christianity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaco Beyers

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Paradigms determine relationships. During the Enlightenment period Emile Durkheim proposed a relationship between the sacred and the profane. Religion, which is concerned with the sacred, was defined in terms of being different from the profane. The profane came to denote the secular. The organic character of religion caused some scholars to predict the end of the church at the hand of modernisation and rationalisation. Some scholars instead envisaged a new form and function of the church. Some scholars anticipated the growth of Christianity. Reality shows that Christianity has not died out but seems to be growing. The new era we are currently in (identified as the postmodern has been described as the post-secular age where a process of re-sacralisation takes place. How will the post-secular influence the church? What will the relationship between the church and the secular be like under a new paradigm? This article suggests that within a postmodern paradigm, the post-secular will emphasise the place of the individual in the church. Fragmentation of society will also be the result of the post-secular. Religiosity in future will have to contend with fundamentalism and civil religion.

  10. BLASPHEMY IN A SECULAR STATE:

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    MLR

    altogether the religious basis of secular authority'.2 Accordingly, it 'terminated the Pope's claim to universal authority and confirmed the diplomatic independence of secular rulers'.3 However, the meaning of the secular is itself in a continuous state of articulation and re-articulation, casting doubts also on its attributes.

  11. The Incidence and Management of Conflicts in Secular and Non-Secular Tertiary Institutions in South West Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayodele, Joseph Babatola; Adewumi, Joseph Olukayode

    2007-01-01

    This paper compared the incidence and management of conflicts in secular and non-secular tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The sample of this study was made of sixty staff, and two hundred and forty students randomly selected each from two secular and two non-secular tertiary institutions in south western Nigeria. A validated questionnaire was…

  12. Evidence in the auroral record for secular solar variability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sicoe, G.L.

    1980-01-01

    The historial record of aurorae is continuous and usefully dense for at least the 2000 years. Revival of interest in the secular variability in solar activity motivates a review of the auroral record. The existence of secular variations in the auroral occurrence frequency has been known since the early 1700's, including the existence of a significant attenuation of auroral activity during the Maunder Minimum. Investigation of secular variations prior to the Maunder Minimum is now possible based on six auroral catalogs that have been published within the last 20 years. The catalogs cover the time period from the fifth century B.C. to the seventeenth century A.D. and combine both oriental and European obsertions. Features corresponding to the previously recognized Medieval Minimum, Medieval Maximum, and the Spoerer Minimum are clearly evident in both oriental and European records. The global synchronicity of anomalies in the auroral occurrence frequency is used to argue that they are caused by changes in the level or state of solar activity. The combined catalogs provide a sufficient number of events in the Middle Ages to resolve a quasi-80-year periodicity in the recorded auroral occurrence frequency. Also in the unusually rich intervals of the Middle Ages, clear quasi-10-year periodicities appear in the recorded occurrence frequency wave from. These are most reasonably interpreted as manifestations of the 11-year solar cycle and indicate that the solar cycle was then operative

  13. HAS ROMANIA BECOME A SECULAR SOCIETY?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    IRINA STAHL

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The article examines the question of secularization of Europe, and in particular of Romania, by using multiple international data sets. Secularization has been defined separation of the state government and religious authority resulting in a decrease in church attendance, a diminished trust in religious institutions, a lessening of religions’ importance in society, an increase in religious diversity with a concomitant decrease in group cohesiveness, and the rise of situational ethics and moral relativism. Several theories of secularization are explored in an effort to determine the presence of a secular continuum. Although there may be an increase of secular behaviours in member states of the European Union, a claim of growing secularism in Romania is not supported by an examination of the multiple data sets

  14. Cognitive dissonance between religious and secular social attitudes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marković Jelena

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available The initial finding of the study, which served as the basis for the exploration of cognitive dissonance between religious and secular behavioral norms, was revealed in a tendency of the majority of religious students to accept behavioral norms, attitudes and believes (concerning interpersonal relationships and reproduction-related ethical issues which are not supported by Orthodox Christian Church viewpoint and teachings. However, certain cognitive and value system consistency appeared to exist: the intensity of religiousness was related to lower degrees of secular norms approval. It has been found that religious and nonreligious subjects differ significantly in their preference of the strategy used to maintain balance between dissonant religious and secular attitudes- in 3 out of 4 issues considered in the study. Religious subjects most frequently chose relativism strategy, claiming that some specific exceptions from a general rule or standpoint do not necessarily depreciate it, while nonreligious subjects most frequently chose dualistic viewpoint that principally separated and restricted domains of reasoning on spiritual and worldly issues, making them psychologically irrelevant to one another.

  15. Ethics of surrogacy: a comparative study of Western secular and islamic bioethics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islam, Sharmin; Nordin, Rusli Bin; Bin Shamsuddin, Ab Rani; Mohd Nor, Hanapi Bin; Al-Mahmood, Abu Kholdun

    2012-01-01

    The comparative approach regarding the ethics of surrogacy from the Western secular and Islamic bioethical view reveals both commensurable and incommensurable relationship. Both are eager to achieve the welfare of the mother, child and society as a whole but the approaches are not always the same. Islamic bioethics is straightforward in prohibiting surrogacy by highlighting the lineage problem and also other social chaos and anarchy. Western secular bioethics is relative and mostly follows a utilitarian approach.

  16. Ethics of Surrogacy: A Comparative Study of Western Secular and Islamic Bioethics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islam, Sharmin; Nordin, Rusli Bin; Bin Shamsuddin, Ab Rani; Mohd Nor, Hanapi Bin; Al-Mahmood, Abu Kholdun

    2012-01-01

    The comparative approach regarding the ethics of surrogacy from the Western secular and Islamic bioethical view reveals both commensurable and incommensurable relationship. Both are eager to achieve the welfare of the mother, child and society as a whole but the approaches are not always the same. Islamic bioethics is straightforward in prohibiting surrogacy by highlighting the lineage problem and also other social chaos and anarchy. Western secular bioethics is relative and mostly follows a utilitarian approach. PMID:23864994

  17. Post-secular religious practices entering traditional religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urszula Pękala

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays we can observe complex interactions between the religious and secular spheres. Several different processes take place simultaneously: the traditionally religious elements function in the secular sphere as if they were part of secular culture; elements of the secular sphere build a specific kind of post-secular religiosity; finally, this post-secular religiosity influences traditional religions. This article focuses on the last stage of these changes. The author's purpose is to describe and interpret the practices we can observe. Because of the complexity of this issue, the analyses are limited to examples taken from the Catholic Church in Germany, where this process seems to be as popular as it is paradoxical. Catholicism realises that the post-secular forms of religiosity are very popular and that many people choose them instead of the traditional Church. It could offer them spirituality based on ages of experience. But instead of making its own spiritual tradition competitive on the spiritual market, Catholicism seems to offer Christianised post-secular goods, or its own traditional elements represented in a secularised form. It seems difficult to predict how it will all end. However, we observe an interesting encounter and interaction between an ‘old’ religion and a new religiosity, which will certainly have impact on further presence of the Church in the society.

  18. Research on meaning-making and health in secular society: Secular, spiritual and religious existential orientations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvidt, Niels Christian; La Cour, Peter

    2010-01-01

    cultural basis for research in secular society. Reviewing the literature, three main domains of existential meaning-making emerge: Secular, spiritual, and religious. In reconfirming these three domains, we propose to couple them with the three dimensions of cognition (knowing), practice (doing...

  19. Religious Globalisms in the Post-Secular Age

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wilson, E.K.; B. Steger, Manfred

    2013-01-01

    This article explores the interconnections between mounting global crises and the emergence of the post-secular. Specifically, the article argues that the post-secular is both a description of and a response to shifting global realities in the twenty-first century. It describes the crisis of secular

  20. Dynamic Responses of the Earth's Outer Core to Assimilation of Observed Geomagnetic Secular Variation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuang, Weijia; Tangborn, Andrew

    2014-01-01

    Assimilation of surface geomagnetic observations and geodynamo models has advanced very quickly in recent years. However, compared to advanced data assimilation systems in meteorology, geomagnetic data assimilation (GDAS) is still in an early stage. Among many challenges ranging from data to models is the disparity between the short observation records and the long time scales of the core dynamics. To better utilize available observational information, we have made an effort in this study to directly assimilate the Gauss coefficients of both the core field and its secular variation (SV) obtained via global geomagnetic field modeling, aiming at understanding the dynamical responses of the core fluid to these additional observational constraints. Our studies show that the SV assimilation helps significantly to shorten the dynamo model spin-up process. The flow beneath the core-mantle boundary (CMB) responds significantly to the observed field and its SV. The strongest responses occur in the relatively small scale flow (of the degrees L is approx. 30 in spherical harmonic expansions). This part of the flow includes the axisymmetric toroidal flow (of order m = 0) and non-axisymmetric poloidal flow with m (is) greater than 5. These responses can be used to better understand the core flow and, in particular, to improve accuracies of predicting geomagnetic variability in future.

  1. Proper Motion and Secular Variations of Keplerian Orbital Elements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexey G. Butkevich

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available High-precision observations require accurate modeling of secular changes in the orbital elements in order to extrapolate measurements over long time intervals, and to detect deviation from pure Keplerian motion caused, for example, by other bodies or relativistic effects. We consider the evolution of the Keplerian elements resulting from the gradual change of the apparent orbit orientation due to proper motion. We present rigorous formulae for the transformation of the orbit inclination, longitude of the ascending node and argument of the pericenter from one epoch to another, assuming uniform stellar motion and taking radial velocity into account. An approximate treatment, accurate to the second-order terms in time, is also given. The proper motion effects may be significant for long-period transiting planets. These theoretical results are applicable to the modeling of planetary transits and precise Doppler measurements as well as analysis of pulsar and eclipsing binary timing observations.

  2. Prediction of secular acceleration of axial rotation of Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barkin, Yu. V.

    2009-04-01

    Secular motion of the Earth pole and non-tidal acceleration of its diurnal rotation have obtained rather precise explanation with the help of simple one-point model of the directed transport of fluid masses from a southern hemisphere in northern hemisphere with the general direction, given by geocentric axis OP directed to pole P with coordinates 700N, 10403 E[1]. The another generalized model represents a system of two material points with masses m2 and m1, located on surface of the Earth at poles of geocentric axis OP. Masses are linearly changed in the time with velocities [2]: ṁ2 = 0.179 × 1015kg/yrand ṁ1 = 0.043 × 1015kg/yr. A reduction of fluid masses of the appropriate thin spherical layer of the Earth correspond to secular increasing of masses of model points. The specified model has allowed to explain values of fundamental geodynamic parameters observably and determined during decades: a direction and velocity of drift of a pole of the Earth; value of non-tidal acceleration of axial rotation; to explain a secular variations of coefficients of the second, third, fourth, sixth and eighth zonal harmonics of a geopotential; coefficients of secular changes of a surface of ocean for the last approximately 150 years; a direction of secular drift of a geocenter and other planetary phenomena [3]. The role of the angular momentum of redistributed masses of the Earth in rotation of the Earth appeared not essential at the given stage of researches. On the essence the offered model has semi-empirical character as it bases on values of velocities of change of masses of points and the given position of axis OP. For their determination and estimations the part of the observant data was used, and other parameters were designed under analytical formulas. The obtained results have precisely confirmed competency and affectivity of geodynamic model [4] about existence of secular drift of a liquid core along radial direction OP with velocity about 2.6 cm/yr in the

  3. Out of time : the limits of secular critique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Randell-Moon, Holly

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available A review of Talal Asad, Wendy Brown, Judith Butler, Saba Mahmood, 'Is critique secular? Blasphemy, injury, and free speech' and Michael Warner, Jonathan Vanantwerpen, and Craig Calhoun (eds, 'Varieties of secularism in a secular age'.

  4. A secular technetium–molybdenum generator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Araujo, Wagner L., E-mail: wagnerleite@ufmg.br; Campos, Tarcisio P.R., E-mail: tprcampos@pq.cnpq.br

    2015-05-11

    A compact secular molybdenium generator is subject of this paper. This generator represents a nuclear system that comprises a hydrogen-isotopes fusor, moderator, reflector and shield. Deuterium fusion reactions in a tritiated or deuterated target provide the neutron source. A moderation fluid slowdown the neutron energy which increases {sup 98}Mo(n,γ){sup 99}Mo capture reaction rates. Neutron reflection minimizes the neutron escape and the radiation shield encloses the device. The neutron yield calculation along with electromagnetic and nuclear simulations were addressed. Results revealed the accelerator equipotential surfaces ranging from −30 to 150 kV, the ion trajectories and the energy beam profile define a deuteron current of 1 A with energy of 180 keV at the target, the spatial distribution of the neutron flux, and the {sup 99}Mo and {sup 99m}Tc activities in function of transmuter operation time. The kinetics of the {sup 99m}Tc correlated to its precursor activity demonstrates a secular equilibrium providing 2 Ci in a operational time of 150 h. As conclusion, the investigated nuclear and electromagnetic features have demonstrated that such generator shall have a notable potential for feeding the {sup 99m}Tc clinical application.

  5. SECULAR CHAOS AND THE PRODUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Yanqin; Lithwick, Yoram

    2011-01-01

    In a planetary system with two or more well-spaced, eccentric, inclined planets, secular interactions may lead to chaos. The innermost planet may gradually become very eccentric and/or inclined as a result of the secular degrees of freedom drifting toward equipartition of angular momentum deficit. Secular chaos is known to be responsible for the eventual destabilization of Mercury in our own solar system. Here we focus on systems with three giant planets. We characterize the secular chaos and demonstrate the criterion for it to occur, but leave a detailed understanding of secular chaos to a companion paper. After an extended period of eccentricity diffusion, the inner planet's pericenter can approach the star to within a few stellar radii. Strong tidal interactions and ensuing tidal dissipation extract orbital energy from the planet and pull it inward, creating a hot Jupiter. In contrast to other proposed channels for the production of hot Jupiters, such a scenario (which we term 'secular migration') explains a range of observations: the pile-up of hot Jupiters at 3 day orbital periods, the fact that hot Jupiters are in general less massive than other radial velocity planets, that they may have misaligned inclinations with respect to stellar spin, and that they have few easily detectable companions (but may have giant companions in distant orbits). Secular migration can also explain close-in planets as low in mass as Neptune; and an aborted secular migration can explain the 'warm Jupiters' at intermediate distances. In addition, the frequency of hot Jupiters formed via secular migration increases with stellar age. We further suggest that secular chaos may be responsible for the observed eccentricities of giant planets at larger distances and that these planets could exhibit significant spin-orbit misalignment.

  6. The Coming of Secular Buddhism: a Synoptic View

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Winton Higgins

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Secular Buddhism is coalescing today in response to two main factors. First, it rejects the incoherence of Buddhist modernism, a protean formation that accommodates elements as far afield as ancestral Buddhism and psychotherapies claiming the Buddhist brand. Second, it absorbs the cultural influence of modern secularity in the West. Historically understood, secularity has constituted a centuries-long religious development, not a victory of "science" over "religion." Today's secularity marks a further stage in the cultural decline of "enchanted" truth-claims and the intellectual eclipse of metaphysics, especially under the aegis of phenomenology. In Buddhism as in Christianity, secularity brings forth a new humanistic approach to ethical-spiritual life and creative this-worldly practices.

  7. Secular humanism and "scientific psychiatry"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szasz Thomas

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The Council for Secular Humanism identifies Secular Humanism as a "way of thinking and living" committed to rejecting authoritarian beliefs and embracing "individual freedom and responsibility ... and cooperation." The paradigmatic practices of psychiatry are civil commitment and insanity defense, that is, depriving innocent persons of liberty and excusing guilty persons of their crimes: the consequences of both are confinement in institutions ostensibly devoted to the treatment of mental diseases. Black's Law Dictionary states: "Every confinement of the person is an 'imprisonment,' whether it be in a common prison, or in private house, or in the stocks, or even by forcibly detaining one in the public streets." Accordingly, I maintain that Secular Humanism is incompatible with the principles and practices of psychiatry.

  8. Secular humanism and "scientific psychiatry".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szasz, Thomas

    2006-04-25

    The Council for Secular Humanism identifies Secular Humanism as a "way of thinking and living" committed to rejecting authoritarian beliefs and embracing "individual freedom and responsibility ... and cooperation." The paradigmatic practices of psychiatry are civil commitment and insanity defense, that is, depriving innocent persons of liberty and excusing guilty persons of their crimes: the consequences of both are confinement in institutions ostensibly devoted to the treatment of mental diseases. Black's Law Dictionary states: "Every confinement of the person is an 'imprisonment,' whether it be in a common prison, or in private house, or in the stocks, or even by forcibly detaining one in the public streets." Accordingly, I maintain that Secular Humanism is incompatible with the principles and practices of psychiatry.

  9. THEORY OF SECULAR CHAOS AND MERCURY'S ORBIT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lithwick, Yoram; Wu Yanqin

    2011-01-01

    We study the chaotic orbital evolution of planetary systems, focusing on secular (i.e., orbit-averaged) interactions, which dominate on long timescales. We first focus on the evolution of a test particle that is forced by multiple planets. To linear order in eccentricity and inclination, its orbit precesses with constant frequencies. But nonlinearities modify the frequencies, and can shift them into and out of resonance with either the planets' eigenfrequencies (forming eccentricity or inclination secular resonances), or with linear combinations of those frequencies (forming mixed high-order secular resonances). The overlap of these nonlinear secular resonances drives secular chaos. We calculate the locations and widths of nonlinear secular resonances, display them together on a newly developed map (the 'map of the mean momenta'), and find good agreement between analytical and numerical results. This map also graphically demonstrates how chaos emerges from overlapping secular resonances. We then apply this newfound understanding to Mercury to elucidate the origin of its orbital chaos. We find that since Mercury's two free precession frequencies (in eccentricity and inclination) lie within ∼25% of two other eigenfrequencies in the solar system (those of the Jupiter-dominated eccentricity mode and the Venus-dominated inclination mode), secular resonances involving these four modes overlap and cause Mercury's chaos. We confirm this with N-body integrations by showing that a slew of these resonant angles alternately librate and circulate. Our new analytical understanding allows us to calculate the criterion for Mercury to become chaotic: Jupiter and Venus must have eccentricity and inclination of a few percent. The timescale for Mercury's chaotic diffusion depends sensitively on the forcing. As it is, Mercury appears to be perched on the threshold for chaos, with an instability timescale comparable to the lifetime of the solar system.

  10. Fearing Secularism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sheikh, Mona Kanwal

    Secularism and Beyond - Comparative Perspectives: International og interdisciplinær konference, 29. maj-1. juni, 2007Arrangeret af Anders Berg-Sørensen for "Religion i det 21. århundrede" i samarbejde med kolleger fraKøbenhavns Universitet og universiteterne i Wien og Birmingham...

  11. Secular Evolution of Spiral Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-01-01

    recombination (z=1000). Furthermore, the BigBang nucleosynthesis model also requires a signi cantamount of non- baryonic dark matter (Primack 1999) ifthe universe...momentum (as well as energy) outward. Associ-ated with this outward angular momentum transport isan expected secular redistribution of disk matter , co...mode, a secular transfer of energy andangular momentum between the disk matter and thedensity wave. The existence of the phase shift betweenthe

  12. Secular trends in Cherokee cranial morphology: Eastern vs Western bands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutphin, Rebecca; Ross, Ann H; Jantz, Richard L

    2014-01-01

    The research objective was to examine if secular trends can be identified for cranial data commissioned by Boas in 1892, specifically for cranial breadth and cranial length of the Eastern and Western band Cherokee who experienced environmental hardships. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the degree of relationship between each of the cranial measures: cranial length, cranial breadth and cephalic index, along with predictor variables (year-of-birth, location, sex, admixture); the model revealed a significant difference for all craniometric variables. Additional regression analysis was performed with smoothing Loess plots to observe cranial length and cranial breadth change over time (year-of-birth) separately for Eastern and Western Cherokee band females and males born between 1783-1874. This revealed the Western and Eastern bands show a decrease in cranial length over time. Eastern band individuals maintain a relatively constant head breadth, while Western Band individuals show a sharp decline beginning around 1860. These findings support negative secular trend occurring for both Cherokee bands where the environment made a detrimental impact; this is especially marked with the Western Cherokee band.

  13. Secular humanism and "scientific psychiatry"

    OpenAIRE

    Szasz, Thomas

    2006-01-01

    Abstract The Council for Secular Humanism identifies Secular Humanism as a "way of thinking and living" committed to rejecting authoritarian beliefs and embracing "individual freedom and responsibility ... and cooperation." The paradigmatic practices of psychiatry are civil commitment and insanity defense, that is, depriving innocent persons of liberty and excusing guilty persons of their crimes: the consequences of both are confinement in institutions ostensibly devoted to the treatment of m...

  14. Feminist Practice and Solidarity in Secular Societies : Case Studies on Feminists Crossing Religious–Secular Divides in Politics and Practice in Antwerp, Belgium

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Brandt, H.P.

    2015-01-01

    In west European countries, public debates on migration, integration, and diversity are informed by particular understandings of secularism and the secular society. In our increasingly diverse societies, so the story goes, it is needed to implement a certain type of secularism and/or support

  15. Secular schools in Zaragoza (1885-1917

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfonso HEREDIA MANRIQUE

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This research has a very specific goal that is to know how many and which were secular schools that took place in Zaragoza city, in the period that goes from the first established at the end of the 19th century until the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923. Secular schools identified are described by the educational aspects most relevant to that appear in the scarce and scattered remains of them information, and mainly related to the urban location, organization and didactics, teachers and students. All these aspects allow us to glimpse something of how trying to implement his project of secular, rational, scientific education.

  16. Feeding secularism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fischer, Johan

    2005-01-01

    life. He shows how Islamic organizations in Britain claim authority through halal in the interfaces of expanding markets, secularism, and the rights and demands of a growing group of Muslim consumers. These claims emerge in a society where powerful political discourses identify the veiling of Muslim...

  17. Unsafe Gods: Security, Secularism and Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Lynn

    2014-01-01

    This book makes the compelling argument that religion can be complicit in conflict and that a new secularism is vital to foster security. Using insights from complexity science, it shows how dynamic secularism can be used to accommodate diverse faiths and beliefs within worldly politics. Exploration of the interplay of religion and education in…

  18. Explaining Global Secularity: Existential Security or Education?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claude M. J. Braun

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available At the time of data analysis for this report there were 193 countries in the world. Various institutions – the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the CIA, the World Values Survey, Gallup, and many others – have performed sophisticated statistical analyses on cross-national data. The present investigation demonstrates that valid and reliable data concerning religiosity and secularity exist for most countries and that these data are comparable. Cross-national data relating to social, political, economic and cultural aspects of life were tested for correlation with religiosity/secularity. In contrast to the most widely accepted general account of secularity, the Existential Security Framework (ESF; Norris & Inglehart, 2004, secularity was not most highly related to material security, though these were highly related. Rather, secularity was most strongly related to the degree of formal education attained. Material security explained no significant variance beyond education. Thus, religion’s primary function in the world today is being replaced, not so much by the pseudo-materialistic supplication for better living conditions as posited by the ESF, but by contemporary education – extensive knowledge of contemporary cultures, philosophy, modes of thought or processes of reasoning.

  19. Constitutionalizing secularism, alternative secularisms or liberal-democratic constitutionalism?
    A critical reading of some Turkish, ECtHR and Indian Supreme Court cases on ‘secularism’

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veit Bader

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent debates on the constitutional status of 'secularism' we can discern three positions. The first tries to overcome the absence of 'secularism' in most liberal-democratic constitutions by developing a more robust theory of constitutional secularism. The second develops theories of 'alternative secularisms'. The third, defended in this article, argues that we should drop secularism as a 'cacophonous' concept from our constitutional and legal language and replace it by liberal-democratic constitutionalism. I develop an analytical taxonomy of twelve different meanings of 'secularism' based on a comparative study of Turkish and Indian Supreme Court cases on secularism, and demonstrate that they are incompatible with each other and with the hard core of liberal-democratic constitutions. Next, I criticize the respective rulings in the Turkish and Indian context. Particularly in 'militant democracies', the appeal to a principle of 'secularism' turns out to be inimical to the liberal and to the democratic 'constitutional essentials'. I end with some normative recommendations on the role of constitutional review and judicial activism.

  20. Prospect of Using Numerical Dynamo Model for Prediction of Geomagnetic Secular Variation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuang, Weijia; Tangborn, Andrew

    2003-01-01

    Modeling of the Earth's core has reached a level of maturity to where the incorporation of observations into the simulations through data assimilation has become feasible. Data assimilation is a method by which observations of a system are combined with a model output (or forecast) to obtain a best guess of the state of the system, called the analysis. The analysis is then used as an initial condition for the next forecast. By doing assimilation, not only we shall be able to predict partially secular variation of the core field, we could also use observations to further our understanding of dynamical states in the Earth's core. One of the first steps in the development of an assimilation system is a comparison between the observations and the model solution. The highly turbulent nature of core dynamics, along with the absence of any regular external forcing and constraint (which occurs in atmospheric dynamics, for example) means that short time comparisons (approx. 1000 years) cannot be made between model and observations. In order to make sensible comparisons, a direct insertion assimilation method has been implemented. In this approach, magnetic field observations at the Earth's surface have been substituted into the numerical model, such that the ratio of the multiple components and the dipole component from observation is adjusted at the core-mantle boundary and extended to the interior of the core, while the total magnetic energy remains unchanged. This adjusted magnetic field is then used as the initial field for a new simulation. In this way, a time tugged simulation is created which can then be compared directly with observations. We present numerical solutions with and without data insertion and discuss their implications for the development of a more rigorous assimilation system.

  1. Moderate Secularism, Difference Sensitivity and Contextualism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lægaard, Sune

    2009-01-01

    The article is a rejoinder to Tariq Modood's reply (Politics, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2009) to my article 'Moderate Secularism and Multicultural Equality' (Politics, Vol 28, No. 3, 2008).......The article is a rejoinder to Tariq Modood's reply (Politics, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2009) to my article 'Moderate Secularism and Multicultural Equality' (Politics, Vol 28, No. 3, 2008)....

  2. Concept and Indications of Secular State

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philina N. V.

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the elaborate analysis of the concept and indications of a secular state. The paper has the interdisciplinary character and it is written on the verge of constitutional law, theory of state administration, philosophy, political science. The comparative analysis between the constitutional indicators of a secular state and democracy realia has been conducted

  3. The Problems of Teaching the Basics of Secular Ethics to Pedagogic Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. V. Shcheglova

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper looks at the specialists training for teaching the Basics of Secular Ethics course in the secondary school. In author’s opinion, the above course is entitled to develop children’s moral consciousness. The subject is practical rather than descriptive, focused on the spiritual work, and teaching how to live in harmony with themselves and the surrounding world. The author emphasizes the difference between the secular and religious ethics related to the specificity of moral consciousness - based either on the principle of personal moral autonomy or theonomy in case of the religious ethics. The problematic task of developing the morally independent personality in the modern society is complicated by the confusion of ethics and etiquette, wide spread ideas of pluralism, relativism, infantilism and sense gratification. The challenges and inner contradictions of the given educational module are revealed in dealing with such concepts as the mercy and moral ideal. In conclusion, the author points out the significance of active positions of teachers and students alike in pursuing the Secular Ethics course. 

  4. Modeling the secular evolution of migrating planet pairs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michtchenko, T. A.; Rodríguez, A.

    2011-10-01

    The secular regime of motion of multi-planetary systems is universal; in contrast with the 'accidental' resonant motion, characteristic only for specific configurations of the planets, secular motion is present everywhere in phase space, even inside the resonant region. The secular behavior of a pair of planets evolving under dissipative forces is the principal subject of this study, particularly, the case when the dissipative forces affect the planetary semi-major axes and the planets move inward/outward the central star, the process known as planet migration. Based on the fundamental concepts of conservative and dissipative dynamics of the three-body problem, we develop a qualitative model of the secular evolution of the migrating planetary pair. Our approach is based on analysis of the energy and the orbital angular momentum exchange between the two-planet system and an external medium; thus no specific kind of dissipative forces is invoked. We show that, under assumption that dissipation is weak and slow, the evolutionary routes of the migrating planets are traced by the Mode I and Mode II stationary solutions of the conservative secular problem. The ultimate convergence and the evolution of the system along one of these secular modes of motion is determined uniquely by the condition that the dissipation rate is sufficiently smaller than the proper secular frequency of the system. We show that it is possible to reassemble the starting configurations and migration history of the systems on the basis of their final states and consequently to constrain the parameters of the physical processes involved.

  5. A Statistical Model of the Fluctuations in the Geomagnetic Field from Paleosecular Variation to Reversal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camps; Prevot

    1996-08-09

    The statistical characteristics of the local magnetic field of Earth during paleosecular variation, excursions, and reversals are described on the basis of a database that gathers the cleaned mean direction and average remanent intensity of 2741 lava flows that have erupted over the last 20 million years. A model consisting of a normally distributed axial dipole component plus an independent isotropic set of vectors with a Maxwellian distribution that simulates secular variation fits the range of geomagnetic fluctuations, in terms of both direction and intensity. This result suggests that the magnitude of secular variation vectors is independent of the magnitude of Earth's axial dipole moment and that the amplitude of secular variation is unchanged during reversals.

  6. AN ORIGIN OF MULTIPLE RING STRUCTURE AND HIDDEN PLANETS IN HL TAU: A UNIFIED PICTURE BY SECULAR GRAVITATIONAL INSTABILITY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, Sanemichi Z.; Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro

    2016-01-01

    Recent ALMA observation has revealed multiple ring structures formed in a protoplanetary disk around HL Tau. Prior to the ALMA observation of HL Tau, theoretical analysis of secular gravitational instability (GI) described a possible formation of multiple ring structures with separations of 13 au around a radius of 100 au in protoplanetary disks under certain conditions. In this article, we reanalyze the viability of secular GI by adopting the physical values inferred from the observations. We derive the radial distributions of the most unstable wavelength and the growth timescale of secular GI and verify that secular GI can form the ring structures observed in HL Tau. When a turbulent viscosity coefficient α remains small in the inner region of the disk, secular GI grows in the whole disk. Thus, the formation of planetary mass objects should occur first in the inner region as a result of gravitational fragmentation after the nonlinear growth of secular GI. In this case, the resulting objects are expected to create gaps at r  ∼ 10 au and ∼30 au. As a result, all ring structures in HL Tau can be created by secular GI. If this scenario is realized in HL Tau, the outer region corresponds to the earlier growth phase of the most unstable mode of secular GI, and the inner region corresponds to the outcome of the nonlinear growth of secular GI. Therefore, this interpretation suggests that we are possibly witnessing both the beginning and the end of planet formation in HL Tau.

  7. AN ORIGIN OF MULTIPLE RING STRUCTURE AND HIDDEN PLANETS IN HL TAU: A UNIFIED PICTURE BY SECULAR GRAVITATIONAL INSTABILITY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Takahashi, Sanemichi Z. [Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aoba, Aramaki-aza, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi (Japan); Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro, E-mail: sanemichi@astr.tohoku.ac.jp, E-mail: inutsuka@nagoya-u.jp [Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8602 (Japan)

    2016-12-01

    Recent ALMA observation has revealed multiple ring structures formed in a protoplanetary disk around HL Tau. Prior to the ALMA observation of HL Tau, theoretical analysis of secular gravitational instability (GI) described a possible formation of multiple ring structures with separations of 13 au around a radius of 100 au in protoplanetary disks under certain conditions. In this article, we reanalyze the viability of secular GI by adopting the physical values inferred from the observations. We derive the radial distributions of the most unstable wavelength and the growth timescale of secular GI and verify that secular GI can form the ring structures observed in HL Tau. When a turbulent viscosity coefficient α remains small in the inner region of the disk, secular GI grows in the whole disk. Thus, the formation of planetary mass objects should occur first in the inner region as a result of gravitational fragmentation after the nonlinear growth of secular GI. In this case, the resulting objects are expected to create gaps at r  ∼ 10 au and ∼30 au. As a result, all ring structures in HL Tau can be created by secular GI. If this scenario is realized in HL Tau, the outer region corresponds to the earlier growth phase of the most unstable mode of secular GI, and the inner region corresponds to the outcome of the nonlinear growth of secular GI. Therefore, this interpretation suggests that we are possibly witnessing both the beginning and the end of planet formation in HL Tau.

  8. Secular trends in menarcheal age in India-evidence from the Indian human development survey.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Praveen Kumar Pathak

    Full Text Available Evidence from a number of countries in Europe and North America point towards the secular declining trend in menarcheal age with considerable spatial variations over the past two centuries. Similar trends were reported in several developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, data corroborating any secular trend in the menarcheal age of the Indian population remained sparse and inadequately verified.We examined secular trends, regional heterogeneity and association of socioeconomic, anthropometric and contextual factors with menarcheal age among ever-married women (15-49 years in India. Using the pseudo cohort data approach, we fit multiple linear regression models to estimate secular trends in menarcheal age of 91394 ever-married women using the Indian Human Development Survey.The mean age at menarche among Indian women was 13.76 years (95 % CI: 13.75, 13.77 in 2005. It declined by three months from 13.83 years (95% CI: 13.81, 13.85 among women born prior to 1955-1964, to nearly 13.62 years (95% CI: 13.58, 13.67 among women born during late 1985-1989. However, these aggregate national figures mask extensive spatial heterogeneity as mean age at menarche varied from 15.0 years in Himachal Pradesh during 1955-1964 (95% CI: 14.89-15.11 to about 12.1 years in Assam (95% CI: 11.63-12.56 during 1985-1989.The regression analysis established a reduction of nearly one month per decade, suggesting a secular decline in age at menarche among Indian women. Notably, the menarcheal age was significantly associated with the area of residence, geographic region, linguistic groups, educational attainment, wealth status, caste and religious affiliations among Indian women.

  9. There is a Sexular Body: Introducing a Material Approach to the Secular

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jelle Wiering

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This article calls for more ‘bottom-up inquiry’ into the secular, departing from the assumption that it features normative ideologies and practices that dominate current societies. I plea for collecting and analyzing manifestations of the secular, as the secular as an phenomenon in society is surprisingly unexplored. To stimulate such inquiry, I suggest a material approach to the secular, as it will provide researchers with tools to conduct empirical research on the secular in contemporary societies. Inspired by Joan Scott, Charles Hirschkind, and Talal Asad, this article explores the notion of a Dutch ‘sexular’ body: a body which affective-gestural repertoires, limited here to the context of sexuality, people in society (historically associate with the secular. I conclude by arguing that a material approach to the secular will contribute to (1 obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of the secular, including its cultural conceptualizations and manifestations, and (2 clarifying, and hence facing the normativity the secular imposes on the people living in secular societies.

  10. Varieties of Secularism in Asia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    of the North Atlantic rim. This anthology seeks to begin that task. It does so by suggesting that the kind of secularity described by Taylor is only one amongst others. By attending to the shifting relationship between proper religion and ‘bad faiths’; between politically valorised and embarrassing spiritual...... phenomena; between the new visibilities and silences of magic, ancestors, and religion in democratic politics, this book seeks to outline the particular formations of secularism that have become possible in Asia from China to Indonesia and from Bahrain to Timor-Leste....

  11. Secular tolerance? : Anti‐Muslim sentiment in Western Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ribberink, E.C.; Achterberg, P.H.J.; Houtman, D.

    2017-01-01

    he literature about secularization proposes two distinct explanations of anti-Muslim sentiment in secularized societies. The first theory understands it in terms of religious competition between Muslims and the remaining minority of orthodox Protestants; the second understands it as resulting from

  12. Sex, secularism and religious influence in US politics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernstein, Elizabeth; Jakobsen, Janet R

    2010-01-01

    Through an analysis of alliances between secular and religious actors in US politics and a specific case study on anti-trafficking policy, we show that the intertwining of religion and politics in the US comes from two sources: 1) the secular political and cultural institutions of American public life that have developed historically out of Protestantism, and which predominantly operate by presuming Protestant norms and values; and 2) the direct influence on US politics of religious groups and organisations, particularly in the past quarter-century of lobby groups and political action committees identified with conservative evangelical Christianity. The sources of policies that promote gender and sexual inequality in the US are both secular and religious and we conclude that it is inaccurate to assume that religious influence in politics is necessarily conservative or that more secular politics will necessarily be more progressive than the religious varieties.

  13. Social Boundaries and Secularism in the Lebanese Left

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haugbølle, Sune

    2013-01-01

    This article explores the social meaning of boundaries in Lebanon through debates about secularism in and around the Lebanese Left. The aim is to elucidate the political and social meaning of ‘Left’ in a Lebanese context, and the positioning of liminal political subjectivity in a system organized...... along sectarian boundaries. Based on readings of debates about secularism in 1975 and 1976, the article proposes that the Left has since that year been forced to embrace secularism as its primary ideological marker. This experience in turn has become constitutive for what it means to be a leftist...

  14. Really not god: Secularization and pragmatism in Gamblers Anonymous.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Browne, B R

    1994-09-01

    The paper argues that despite maintaining the image of a twelve-step organization, the central theme of the history of Gamblers Anonymous (GA) in the United States is the increasing secularization of the program of the recovery. The paper documents the increasing secularization and pragmatism of Gamblers Anonymous, as reflected in key documents, despite the spiritual vision of its founding member. The author speculates on why Gamblers Anonymous took a secularized development path. Further research is called for.

  15. Secularization- the promoter of “new type of man”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Traian-Alexandru MIU

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Secularization is a phenomenon supposing major mutations on the social level. Thus, based on the principle of rationality, secularization has led to the removal of religion from the social sphere, the desacralization, aiming, ultimately, that the sacred disappear altogether from man's life. Within the globalizing-secularizing society, economics seeks to take possession of the entire social and spiritual life, helped by a policy-aggressive mercantile mentality. Secularization has led to manipulation of man so that he believes he has to build his future by abstaining from religion. The secularized man has come to the conclusion that only by his own forces helped by reason, economy and technology he can be the one who creates progress, namely perfection for himself and for the world he lives in. The hypermodern man is a man of ephemerality, a human being looking for his accomplishment in trifles, who no longer has deification as his final goal. The problems that man is facing today can be solved by taking the eternity as reference system for them.

  16. Kosovar Society through Secularism and Religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MSc. Dritero Arifi

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper will analyze the importance and the effects of religion, in Kosovar society. A great part of the paper, will analyze the social and the political relations in Post-War Kosovo. Initially it will elaborate religion and secularism, especially in theoreticall aspect, what impact have these definitions in modern societies. In order to explain what the importance of the religion in Kosovo is, we will focus on analyzing ethnical, social and political relations within Kosovo society. A considerable component of the paper is also, the elaboration of secularism in Kosovo conditions. This implies that the formulation of the problem and the objective of this research, are the substance of the paper’s theme, which is, religion in Kosovo; its definition and the outlook of the Kosovar society on religion. Is Kosovo post-war society more or less religious? That means the elements of Religions and Secularism will be part of the analysis of developments in post-war Kosovo.

  17. Periodic and secular changes in SS 433

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collins, G.W.; Newsom, G.H.

    1983-01-01

    The recent history of SS 433 is reviewed with particular attention being given to the discovery of the periodic phenomena displayed by this object. Several periods ranging from days to months are established as being present in the spectrum of the ''moving'' lines as well as in other aspects of the emission from the object. In addition evidence for secular change in some of the defining parameters of the system is presented. Although these secular changes may eventually prove to be periodic on a rather long time scale, some interpretation of both the periodic and secular phenomena is possible. It is shown that it is possible to interpret all the known periodic phenomena in terms of a processing object responding to the time-varying torques that one would expect in a binary system

  18. Paleosecular variations from lake sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lund, S.P.; Banerjee, S.K.

    1979-01-01

    Data are presented on the secular variations of the magnetization of wet and dry lake sediments for 17 North American locations. The usefullness of this data in terms of the geomagnetic field is discussed

  19. Modelling the secular evolution of migrating planet pairs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michtchenko, T. A.; Rodríguez, A.

    2011-08-01

    The subject of this paper is the secular behaviour of a pair of planets evolving under dissipative forces. In particular, we investigate the case when dissipative forces affect the planetary semimajor axes and the planets move inwards/outwards the central star, in a process known as planet migration. To perform this investigation, we introduce fundamental concepts of conservative and dissipative dynamics of the three-body problem. Based on these concepts, we develop a qualitative model of the secular evolution of the migrating planetary pair. Our approach is based on the analysis of the energy and the orbital angular momentum exchange between the two-planet system and an external medium; thus no specific kind of dissipative forces is invoked. We show that, under the assumption that dissipation is weak and slow, the evolutionary routes of the migrating planets are traced by the Mode I and Mode II stationary solutions of the conservative secular problem. The ultimate convergence and the evolution of the system along one of these secular modes of motion are determined uniquely by the condition that the dissipation rate is sufficiently smaller than the proper secular frequency of the system. We show that it is possible to reassemble the starting configurations and the migration history of the systems on the basis of their final states and consequently to constrain the parameters of the physical processes involved.

  20. The post-secular city

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Greve, Anni

    ) elements in ritual and ceremonies. Second, emergent spaces of post-secular practices are not only connected to traditional religious sites. With Schmautz (1998) it is necessary to understand a sacred site in its original social and cultural setting, and in the present experience of it. With a point...... in research on trans-national identity making (Fortier 2002). This paper suggests a displacement of focus from trans-national to international identity making and the possible role of religious societies. It is argued that an international culture is not mainstream culture however there are (universal......’ the paper argues for a possible potential of storytelling and mutual recognition. Third, it offers an argument for detecting ‘post-secular sites’ at the urban level from two angles: From architecture (the iconic consciousness) and from performance (the sacred drama). Fourth, the paper closes with a case...

  1. Human Rights Education and the Post Secular Turn

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowie, Bob

    2012-01-01

    This article questions whether human rights education (HRE) scholarship is responding adequately to the post secular turn in thinking about the place and nature of religion in society. Here the post secular turn is used to describe the discrediting of secularisation theory, the recognition of religion as an enduring and pervasive global cultural…

  2. Pilgrimage as post-secular therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisbeth Mikaelsson

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the institutionalized pilgrim role and then turns to the therapeutic discourse which is so prominent in the modern pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Both the role and the discourse can be related to the concept of post-secularity, demonstrating that complex cultural fields such as religion and therapy, become intertwined in new ways through modern pilgrimage. This article also shows that churches cooperating in this type of pilgrimage are adapting to the post-secular age, finding a new sort of raison d’être in a multi-religious, international world. Here the author refers to the Church of Norway and its role in Norwegian pilgrimage. The latter is modelled upon the Santiago example.

  3. The „Pussy riot“ case and the post-secular hybrids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Uzlaner Dmitrij

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the analysis of the “Pussy riot” case and the peculiarities of Russian postsecularism. Special emphasis is placed on the phenomenon of post-secular hybrids, i.e. the overcoming of the situation of social differentiation between religion and other social subsystems (one of the main distinctive features of secularization. It is claimed that the materials of the trial against “Pussy riot” make evident the appearance in Russia of at least three post-secular hybrids: 1 the blending of religion and politics; 2 installation of religious norms into the public order of the secular state; 3 significance of confessional legal experts as part of the new “ideological state apparatus”.

  4. Secularization and de-secularization processes under the light of Max Weber’s rationalization sociology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Weisz

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This article starts posing a number of problems with which the classical understanding of the end of religions in Modernity has been confronted. This allows for a framework from which Max Weber’s theory of secularization can be addressed. From 1904 onwards, this author was engaged in the understanding of the historical-universal process of rationalization, and it is in this analysis where his prospective of secularization has to be looked for. His sociology of religion is therefore deconstructed from this point of view, so as to grasp why he understood that religions were displaced in the constitution of modern life conducts. After this analysis, the article poses the importance of this author’s legacy for the understanding of different issues concerning the present process of rebirth of religions.

  5. The Jesuit Imaginary: Higher Education in a Secular Age

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendrickson, Daniel Scott

    2012-01-01

    The philosopher Charles Taylor argues in "A Secular Age" (2007) that people who live in secular cultures are losing the capacity to experience genuine "fullness." Described by Taylor as a philosophical-anthropological conception of human flourishing that corresponds with existential senses of meaning and purpose, fullness is…

  6. Secular Islam and the Rhetoric of Humanity

    OpenAIRE

    Kharputly, Nadeen Sh B

    2017-01-01

    Secular Islam and the Rhetoric of Humanity” examines competing notions of humanity in representations of Islam in the United States from the Civil Rights period to the present. In post-9/11 representations, Islam is rhetorically “humanized” by the dominant culture in attempts to determine Islam’s role in the United States. This humanizing framework not only presumes an inherent lack of humanity in Islam; it establishes the ideal of the human as white, rational, and secular. To critique this ...

  7. On the problem of secular variability in the stellar initial mass function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meusinger, H.

    1987-01-01

    The hypothesis of secular variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is studied. It is found that neither the present-day mass function of the nearby main sequence field stars nor the velocity distribution of these stars are contradictory with this hypothesis. The luminosity functions of unbiased kinematically defined age-groups of the nearby stars also provide no strong constraints. Simple evoluion models with time-dependent IMF and star formation rate enable to fit the data of blue irregular galaxies. Some problems with an universal IMF are pointed out. (author)

  8. Secular changes in Earth's shape and surface mass loading derived from combinations of reprocessed global GPS networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Booker, David; Clarke, Peter J.; Lavallée, David A.

    2014-09-01

    The changing distribution of surface mass (oceans, atmospheric pressure, continental water storage, groundwater, lakes, snow and ice) causes detectable changes in the shape of the solid Earth, on time scales ranging from hours to millennia. Transient changes in the Earth's shape can, regardless of cause, be readily separated from steady secular variation in surface mass loading, but other secular changes due to plate tectonics and glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) cannot. We estimate secular station velocities from almost 11 years of high quality combined GPS position solutions (GPS weeks 1,000-1,570) submitted as part of the first international global navigation satellite system service reprocessing campaign. Individual station velocities are estimated as a linear fit, paying careful attention to outliers and offsets. We remove a suite of a priori GIA models, each with an associated set of plate tectonic Euler vectors estimated by us; the latter are shown to be insensitive to the a priori GIA model. From the coordinate time series residuals after removing the GIA models and corresponding plate tectonic velocities, we use mass-conserving continental basis functions to estimate surface mass loading including the secular term. The different GIA models lead to significant differences in the estimates of loading in selected regions. Although our loading estimates are broadly comparable with independent estimates from other satellite missions, their range highlights the need for better, more robust GIA models that incorporate 3D Earth structure and accurately represent 3D surface displacements.

  9. SECULAR GRAVITATIONAL INSTABILITY OF A DUST LAYER IN SHEAR TURBULENCE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Michikoshi, Shugo; Kokubo, Eiichiro; Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro

    2012-01-01

    We perform a linear stability analysis of a dust layer in a turbulent gas disk. Youdin investigated the secular gravitational instability (GI) of a dust layer using hydrodynamic equations with a turbulent diffusion term. We obtain essentially the same result independently of Youdin. In the present analysis, we restrict the area of interest to small dust particles, while investigating the secular GI in a more rigorous manner. We discuss the time evolution of the dust surface density distribution using a stochastic model and derive the advection-diffusion equation. The validity of the analysis by Youdin is confirmed in the strong drag limit. We demonstrate quantitatively that the finite thickness of a dust layer weakens the secular GI and that the density-dependent diffusion coefficient changes the growth rate. We apply the results obtained to the turbulence driven by the shear instability and find that the secular GI is faster than the radial drift when the gas density is three times as large as that in the minimum-mass disk model. If the dust particles are larger than chondrules, the secular GI grows within the lifetime of a protoplanetary disk.

  10. A 20-15 ka high-resolution paleomagnetic secular variation record from Black Sea sediments - no evidence for the 'Hilina Pali excursion'?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jiabo; Nowaczyk, Norbert R.; Frank, Ute; Arz, Helge W.

    2018-06-01

    A comprehensive magnetostratigraphic investigation on sixteen sediment cores from the southeastern Black Sea yielded a very detailed high-quality paleosecular variation (PSV) record spanning from 20 to 15 ka. The age models are based on radiocarbon dating, stratigraphic correlation, and tephrochronology. Further age constraints were obtained by correlating four meltwater events, described from the western Black Sea, ranging in age from about 17 to 15 ka, with maxima in K/Ti ratios, obtained from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning, and minima in S-ratios, reflecting increased hematite content, in the studied cores. Since the sedimentation rates in the investigated time window are up to 50 cm ka-1, the obtained PSVs records enabled a stacking using 50-yr bins. A directional anomaly at 18.5 ka, associated with pronounced swings in inclination and declination, as well as a low in relative paleointensity (rPI), is probably contemporaneous with the Hilina Pali excursion, originally reported from Hawaiian lava flows. However, virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) calculated from Black Sea sediments are not located at latitudes lower than 60°N, which denotes normal, though pronounced secular variations. During the postulated Hilina Pali excursion, the VGPs calculated from Black Sea data migrated clockwise only along the coasts of the Arctic Ocean from NE Canada (20.0 ka), via Alaska (18.6 ka) and NE Siberia (18.0 ka) to Svalbard (17.0 ka), then looping clockwise through the Eastern Arctic Ocean.

  11. The New Secular Humanists: Ronald Dworkin and Philip Kitcher on Life without God

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles Taliaferro

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Ronald Dworkin and Philip Kitcher recognize that traditional, religious faith—especially in Christian theistic tradition—has virtues that seem to be missing in a secular worldview. To remedy this apparent deficit, they both propose that a secular worldview can provide a satisfying foundation for a flourishing, meaningful life. Moreover, Kitcher argues that secular humanism is far more justified than a religious worldview because it does not face the problem of diversity that arises in the case of religion. I argue that secular humanism faces the same problem of diversity that Kitcher proposes undermines religious belief. I further argue that Dworkin’s and Kitcher’s secular alternative to a religious worldview is problematic.

  12. Observations of secular changes in the kinematic model of SS433

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Collins, G.W. II; Newsom, G.H.

    1982-01-01

    In this paper the authors present evidence that several of the defining parameters of the Kinematic Model for SS433 are not constant but rather exhibit long term systematic changes. Recent data confirm the existence of the previously reported decrease in the precessional period. The value for this period change, when combined with the observed change in the period of the synodic spectral variations, implies that the orbital period is not significantly changing on a time scale less than 1000 years. In addition they find mounting evidence for a statistically significant (4sigma) secular change in the cone angle theta at a rate of about -1.5 x 10 -3 deg/day. However, the surprisingly short time scales implied by the observed values of dP/dt and dtheta/dt when combined with estimates of the system age suggest the possible existence of detectable higher time derivatives. This view is supported by the most recent data which suggest a value for d 2 P/dt 2 approximately 10 -5 (days) -1 . It is possible to understand these secular changes in terms of the motions to be expected from an object exhibiting classical precession in response to an external torque. (Auth.)

  13. Tendência secular em estatura: uma revisão da literatura Secular height trend: a literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gilberto Kac

    1999-09-01

    Full Text Available Esse trabalho constitui-se em uma revisão de literatura sobre tendência secular em estatura (TSE. Os principais tópicos abordados foram a definição do fenômeno, a utilização de dados históricos de estatura como estratégia alternativa no monitoramento de mudanças econômicas, as principais explicações teóricas sugeridas para a ocorrência do fenômeno, o início da antropometria militar, sua utilização no passado e no presente, e a magnitude da tendência em recrutas e na população infantil. Os principais achados revelaram que a TSE tem sido atribuída, sobretudo, a influências ambientais, em particular, a melhorias nas condições sanitárias, econômicas e sociais. As taxas médias de incremento variaram conforme a idade, o estrato sócio-econômico e o país considerado; portanto, deve-se ter cautela nas comparações interpopulacionais. A Segunda Guerra Mundial reduziu a tendência em diversos países, entre eles o Brasil, mas as taxas de incremento no pós-guerra foram ainda maiores do que as observadas no início do século. Constatou-se, por fim, que dados provenientes da antropometria militar são os mais utilizados para estimativas de TSE.This paper presents a literature review of secular height trends. The principal topics included were definition of the phenomenon, use of historical data sets on height as an alternative approach for monitoring economic changes, the main theoretical explanations of the phenomenon, the beginning of military anthropometry, and past and current use in measuring secular height trends in recruits and children. The most important results showed that the positive secular trend can be attributed to environmental influences, especially improvements in health, economic, and social conditions. The mean reported rates in height increases varied with age, socioeconomic status, and country, so one must exercise caution in drawing inferences. World War II slowed the trend in several countries

  14. Non-linear development of secular gravitational instability in protoplanetary disks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tominaga, Ryosuke T.; Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro; Takahashi, Sanemichi Z.

    2018-01-01

    We perform non-linear simulation of secular gravitational instability (GI) in protoplanetary disks, which has been proposed as a mechanism of planetesimal and multiple ring formation. Since the timescale of the growth of the secular GI is much longer than the Keplerian rotation period, we develop a new numerical scheme for a long-term calculation utilizing the concept of symplectic integration. With our new scheme, we first investigate the non-linear development of the secular GI in a disk without a pressure gradient in the initial state. We find that the surface density of dust increases by more than a factor of 100 while that of gas does not increase even by a factor of 2, which results in the formation of dust-dominated rings. A line mass of the dust ring tends to be very close to the critical line mass of a self-gravitating isothermal filament. Our results indicate that the non-linear growth of the secular GI provides a powerful mechanism to concentrate the dust. We also find that the dust ring formed via the non-linear growth of the secular GI migrates inward with a low velocity, which is driven by the self-gravity of the ring. We give a semi-analytical expression for the inward migration speed of the dusty ring.

  15. Harmonically excited orbital variations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morgan, T.

    1985-01-01

    Rephrasing the equations of motion for orbital maneuvers in terms of Lagrangian generalized coordinates instead of Newtonian rectangular cartesian coordinates can make certain harmonic terms in the orbital angular momentum vector more readily apparent. In this formulation the equations of motion adopt the form of a damped harmonic oscillator when torques are applied to the orbit in a variationally prescribed manner. The frequencies of the oscillator equation are in some ways unexpected but can nonetheless be exploited through resonant forcing functions to achieve large secular variations in the orbital elements. Two cases are discussed using a circular orbit as the control case: (1) large changes in orbital inclination achieved by harmonic excitation rather than one impulsive velocity change, and (2) periodic and secular changes to the longitude of the ascending node using both stable and unstable excitation strategies. The implications of these equations are also discussed for both artificial satellites and natural satellites. For the former, two utilitarian orbits are suggested, each exploiting a form of harmonic excitation. 5 refs

  16. Secular stability of rotating stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Imamura, J.N.; Friedman, J.L.; Durisen, R.H.

    1984-01-01

    In this work, the authors calculate the secular stability limits of rotating polytropes to nonaxisymmetric perturbations of low m. Polytropic indices ranging from 1 to 3 and several angular momentum distributions are considered. Results are most conveniently presented in terms of the t-parameter, defined as the ratio of the rotational kinetic energy to the absolute value of the gravitational energy of the fluid. Previous work on polytropes considered only the m = 2 mode, which is unstable for values of the t-parameter greater than 0.14 +- 0.01 for the n values n = 1.5 and 3 and the angular momentum distributions tested (see Durisen and Imamura 1981). The GRR secular stability limit of the m - 2 mode for the Maclaurin spheroids (n = 0) was determined by Chandrasekhar (1970). GRR stability limits of higher m modes for the Maclaurin spheroids were located approximately by Comins (1979a,b) and more precisely by Friedman (1983). 16 references, 2 tables

  17. Secular stability of rotating stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Imamura, J.N.; Friedman, J.L.; Durisen, R.H.

    1984-01-01

    In this work, we calculate the secular stability limits of rotating polytropes to nonaxisymmetric perturbations of low m. We consider polytropic indices ranging from 1 to 3 and several angular momentum distributions. Results are most conveniently presented in terms of the t-parameter, defined as the ratio of the rotational kinetic energy to the absolute value of the gravitational energy of the fluid. Previous work on polytropes considered only the m = 2 mode, which is unstable for values of the t-parameter greater than 0.14 +- 0.01 for the n values n = 1.5 and 3 and the angular momentum distributions tested (see Durisen and Imamura 1981). The GRR secular stability limit of the m = 2 mode for the Maclaurin spheroids (n = O) was determined by Chandrasekhar (1970). GRR stability limits of higher m modes for the Maclaurin spheroids were located approximately by Comins (1979a,b) and more precisely by Friedman (1983)

  18. Contemporary environmentalism as a current of spiritual post-secular practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Wickström

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary spirituality often bears the stamp of an eco-discourse. It is characteristic of post-spiritual practices that there is a blurring of the boundaries between the sacred and profane and in this sphere, influenced by the eco-consciousness, nature and the body can be sacralised. In this article the author looks into environmentalism as a current in spirituality. First spirituality as a concept is discussed. Second follows a section on aspects of contemporary environmentalism, dealing with new social movements, new identity and the main directions of environmentalism. After that, the distinction between environmentally motivated spirituality and spir­itually motivated environmentalism is presented. At the end there is a short discussion of post-secular issues concerning environmentalism. Worldviews are no longer necessarily either religious or secular, but may also combine elements of rational secularity with enchanted spirituality. The blurring of the boundaries between secular and religious views and motives occur, as well as the separation of mind and body, rationality and belief, and human and nature.

  19. Familial resemblance in religiousness in a secular society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvidtjørn, Dorte; Petersen, Inge; Hjelmborg, Jacob

    2013-01-01

    generally considered more religious than the very secular northern European countries. Comparisons of the results are complicated by diverse definitions of religiousness, but several studies indicate that the influence of the family environment is most predominant in early life, whereas genetic influences...... increase with age. We performed a population-based twin study of religiousness in a secular society using data from a Web-based survey sent to 6,707 Danish twins born 1970-1989, who were identified in the Danish Twin Registry. We applied Fishman's three conceptual dimensions of religiousness: cognition...

  20. Post-religional perspective and secular Buddhism: Stephen Batchelor and the post-metaphysical religion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leandro Durazzo

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to present one of the contemporary trends on Buddhism, specially from the last decades in West, for its encounter with the globalized and dynamic context of present societies. This Buddhist trend, the progressive secularization of its traditions and practices, not to mention its increasing acceptance of historical-textual refutation, finds in Stephen Batchelor - a former monk in two different Buddhist traditions, Tibetan and Korean Zen - a catalyzer and a well-known advocate of secular perspective to the contemporary Buddhism. Here we will present the potential dialogue between the Secular Buddhism - besides the secularizing perspectives over orthodox cultural traditions - and the post-religional subject, as proposed by Marià Corbí and the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. For the purposes of this paper we will focus on the modernizing and secular hermeneutics on Dharma practice, as defended by Stephen Batchelor and others.

  1. Technical Limitations in Merging Secular and Sacred Functions in Monumental Churches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piatkowska, Ksenia

    2017-10-01

    The abandonment of churches and their adaptation for secular purposes is a current subject in Europe and worldwide. Most cases involve objects that were desacralized and then rebuilt as a whole object for alternative functions. Thus far, the merging of secular and sacred functions in one monumental Catholic church has not raised any issues. The paper describes the case of St. Catherine’s Church in Gdansk, Poland, where sacred function exists parallel to the new secular function being implemented. The study is based on the authentic, professional experience of the author. It describes the technical limitations arising from the need to ensure destinies for the optimal conditions of both sacred and secular function, while avoiding undesirable interference between them. The author further identifies architectural solutions most relevant to current requirements for protection of sacred zones in the church, for preservation of the monument, and for optimal function of a modern science museum. Significant design issues include: the inviolability of the sacred zone, preservation of the historical value of the monument, proper operation of new secular zones in compliance with contemporary standards of safety, performance of the assumed mission and profitability. The research indicates specific areas where the highest probability of collision exists between the sacred and profane and where technical problems are likely to occur.

  2. Small-scale density variations in the lunar crust revealed by GRAIL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansen, J. C.; Andrews-Hanna, J. C.; Li, Y.; Lucey, P. G.; Taylor, G. J.; Goossens, S.; Lemoine, F. G.; Mazarico, E.; Head, J. W.; Milbury, C.; Kiefer, W. S.; Soderblom, J. M.; Zuber, M. T.

    2017-07-01

    Data from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission have revealed that ∼98% of the power of the gravity signal of the Moon at high spherical harmonic degrees correlates with the topography. The remaining 2% of the signal, which cannot be explained by topography, contains information about density variations within the crust. These high-degree Bouguer gravity anomalies are likely caused by small-scale (10‧s of km) shallow density variations. Here we use gravity inversions to model the small-scale three-dimensional variations in the density of the lunar crust. Inversion results from three non-descript areas yield shallow density variations in the range of 100-200 kg/m3. Three end-member scenarios of variations in porosity, intrusions into the crust, and variations in bulk crustal composition were tested as possible sources of the density variations. We find that the density anomalies can be caused entirely by changes in porosity. Characteristics of density anomalies in the South Pole-Aitken basin also support porosity as a primary source of these variations. Mafic intrusions into the crust could explain many, but not all of the anomalies. Additionally, variations in crustal composition revealed by spectral data could only explain a small fraction of the density anomalies. Nevertheless, all three sources of density variations likely contribute. Collectively, results from this study of GRAIL gravity data, combined with other studies of remote sensing data and lunar samples, show that the lunar crust exhibits variations in density by ± 10% over scales ranging from centimeters to 100‧s of kilometers.

  3. Orbital period variations of two W UMa-type binaries: UY UMa and EF Boo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Yun-Xia; Zhang, Xu-Dong; Hu, Ke; Xiang, Fu-Yuan

    2017-08-01

    The orbital period variations of two W UMa-type contact binaries, UY UMa and EF Boo, are analyzed by using all available times of light minimum. It is detected that the general trends of their (O - C) curves show an upward parabolic variation, which reveals their continuous period increases at the rates of dP / dt = 2.545 ×10-7 days yr-1 and dP / dt = 2.623 ×10-7 days yr-1 , respectively. Meanwhile, UY UMa also shows a cyclic period variation with a small amplitude of A = 0.0026 days superposed on the long-term increase. Due to their contact configurations, the secular period increases are interpreted as a result of mass transfer from the less massive component to the more massive one. The cyclic period variation of UY UMa may be interpreted in terms of either the magnetic activity or the light time effect.

  4. Secular Examination of Spirituality-Prosociality Association

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dong, Mengchen; Wu, Song; Zhu, Yijie; Jin, Shenghua; Zhang, Yanjun

    2017-01-01

    Religious beliefs in Chinese cultural background, especially in Chinese secular society, have rarely been systematically investigated. The nonreligious-based population in China endorses certain supernatural beliefs or has related transcendent experience, even though they usually claim themselves as

  5. Questioning Engelhardt's assumptions in Bioethics and Secular Humanism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmadi Nasab Emran, Shahram

    2016-06-01

    In Bioethics and Secular Humanism: The Search for a Common Morality, Tristram Engelhardt examines various possibilities of finding common ground for moral discourse among people from different traditions and concludes their futility. In this paper I will argue that many of the assumptions on which Engelhardt bases his conclusion about the impossibility of a content-full secular bioethics are problematic. By starting with the notion of moral strangers, there is no possibility, by definition, for a content-full moral discourse among moral strangers. It means that there is circularity in starting the inquiry with a definition of moral strangers, which implies that they do not share enough moral background or commitment to an authority to allow for reaching a moral agreement, and concluding that content-full morality is impossible among moral strangers. I argue that assuming traditions as solid and immutable structures that insulate people across their boundaries is problematic. Another questionable assumption in Engelhardt's work is the idea that religious and philosophical traditions provide content-full moralities. As the cardinal assumption in Engelhardt's review of the various alternatives for a content-full moral discourse among moral strangers, I analyze his foundationalist account of moral reasoning and knowledge and indicate the possibility of other ways of moral knowledge, besides the foundationalist one. Then, I examine Engelhardt's view concerning the futility of attempts at justifying a content-full secular bioethics, and indicate how the assumptions have shaped Engelhardt's critique of the alternatives for the possibility of content-full secular bioethics.

  6. Small-Scale Density Variations in the Lunar Crust Revealed by GRAIL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansen, J. C.; Andrews-Hanna, J. C.; Li, Y.; Lucey, P. G.; Taylor, G. J.; Goossens, S.; Lemoine, F. G.; Mazarico, E.; Head, J. W., III; Milbury, C.; hide

    2017-01-01

    Data from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission have revealed that approximately 98 percent of the power of the gravity signal of the Moon at high spherical harmonic degrees correlates with the topography. The remaining 2 percent of the signal, which cannot be explained by topography, contains information about density variations within the crust. These high-degree Bouguer gravity anomalies are likely caused by small-scale (10's of km) shallow density variations. Here we use gravity inversions to model the small-scale three-dimensional variations in the density of the lunar crust. Inversion results from three non-descript areas yield shallow density variations in the range of 100-200 kg/m3. Three end-member scenarios of variations in porosity, intrusions into the crust, and variations in bulk crustal composition were tested as possible sources of the density variations. We find that the density anomalies can be caused entirely by changes in porosity. Characteristics of density anomalies in the South Pole-Aitken basin also support porosity as a primary source of these variations. Mafic intrusions into the crust could explain many, but not all of the anomalies. Additionally, variations in crustal composition revealed by spectral data could only explain a small fraction of the density anomalies. Nevertheless, all three sources of density variations likely contribute. Collectively, results from this study of GRAIL gravity data, combined with other studies of remote sensing data and lunar samples, show that the lunar crust exhibits variations in density by plus or minus 10 percent over scales ranging from centimeters to 100’s of kilometers.

  7. Loners, Groupies, and Long-term Eccentricity (and Inclination) Behavior: Insights from Secular Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Laerhoven, Christa L.

    2015-05-01

    Considering the secular dynamics of multi-planet systems provides substantial insight into the interactions between planets in those systems. Secular interactions are those that don't involve knowing where a planet is along its orbit, and they dominate when planets are not involved in mean motion resonances. These interactions exchange angular momentum among the planets, evolving their eccentricities and inclinations. To second order in the planets' eccentricities and inclinations, the eccentricity and inclination perturbations are decoupled. Given the right variable choice, the relevant differential equations are linear and thus the eccentricity and inclination behaviors can be described as a sum of eigenmodes. Since the underlying structure of the secular eigenmodes can be calculated using only the planets' masses and semi-major axes, one can elucidate the eccentricity and inclination behavior of planets in exoplanet systems even without knowing the planets' current eccentricities and inclinations. I have calculated both the eccentricity and inclination secular eigenmodes for the population of known multi-planet systems whose planets have well determined masses and periods. Using this catalog of secular character, I will discuss the prevalence of dynamically grouped planets ('groupies') versus dynamically uncoupled planets ('loners') and how this relates to the exoplanets' long-term eccentricity and inclination behavior. I will also touch on the distribution of the secular eigenfreqiencies.

  8. Substitution or Symbiosis? Assessing the Relationship between Religious and Secular Giving

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Jonathan P.; Vaidyanathan, Brandon

    2011-01-01

    Research on philanthropy has not sufficiently examined whether charitable giving to religious causes impinges on giving to secular causes. Examining three waves of national panel data, we find that the relationship between religious and secular giving is generally not of a zero-sum nature; families that increase their religious giving also…

  9. Resurrecting Democracies : Secularity Recast in Charles Taylor, Paul Valadier, and Joseph Ratzinger

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ossewaarde-Lowtoo, Roshnee

    In this article, the alternative conception of secularity of Charles Taylor, Paul Valadier and Joseph Ratzinger (former Benedict XVI) is explored. A secularized society, which they take as an established condition, does not necessarily exclude religion, Christianity or Christian transcendence, in

  10. Secular trends in hip fractures worldwide: opposing trends East versus West.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballane, Ghada; Cauley, Jane A; Luckey, Marjorie M; Fuleihan, Ghada El-Hajj

    2014-08-01

    Despite wide variations in hip rates fractures worldwide, reasons for such differences are not clear. Furthermore, secular trends in the age-specific hip fracture rates are changing the world map of this devastating disease, with the highest rise projected to occur in developing countries. The aim of our investigation is to systematically characterize secular trends in hip fractures worldwide, examine new data for various ethnic groups in the United States, evidence for divergent temporal patterns, and investigate potential contributing factors for the observed change in their epidemiology. All studies retrieved through a complex Medline Ovid search between 1966 and 2013 were examined. For each selected study, we calculated the percent annual change in age-standardized hip fracture rates de-novo. Although occurring at different time points, trend breaks in hip fracture incidence occurred in most Western countries and Oceania. After a steep rise in age-adjusted rates in these regions, a decrease became evident sometimes between the mid-seventies and nineties, depending on the country. Conversely, the data is scarce in Asia and South America, with evidence for a continuous rise in hip fracture rates, with the exception of Hong-Kong and Taiwan that seem to follow Western trends. The etiologies of these secular patterns in both the developed and the developing countries have not been fully elucidated, but the impact of urbanization is at least one plausible explanation. Data presented here show close parallels between rising rates of urbanization and hip fractures across disparate geographic locations and cultures. Once the proportion of the urban population stabilized, hip fracture rates also stabilize or begin to decrease perhaps due to the influence of other factors such as birth cohort effects, changes in bone mineral density and BMI, osteoporosis medication use and/or lifestyle interventions such as smoking cessation, improvement in nutritional status and fall

  11. Secular variation of the amount of nuclear information and its interpretation by a media-public interaction model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohnishi, Teruaki

    1998-01-01

    Time dependent characteristics of the amount of nuclear information fed by the Japanese press are explained by a nonlinear model with mutual interaction between the media and the public. In the secular variation of that amount since the early 1950s, there appears semicyclicly oscillating fine structure of that amount with a period of several months superposed on a background having a feature of slowly varying wave of information with a period of around ten years. A model is proposed such that an individual media determines its reportorial stance using the response of the public to the preceding information and the general tendency of the other media as measures of judgement. Since the structure of this model resembles to that of an evolving ecosystem, the paradigm shift in nuclear information can be interpreted by analogy with the succession of facies in an ecological system. Moreover, the slowly time-varying waves of information associated with the paradigm shift is found to be grasped as a resultant of prevalence phenomenon if the nuclear paradigm is regarded as a sort of prevalence. The oscillation of the amount of information in a short time scale, on the other hand, is found to appear as a result of the competition between the extent of reflection of the present amount of information to the next information and the extent of reflection of the reportorial state of the other media also to the next information under the existence of public response. Those characteristics regarding the amount of nuclear information are found to come out as necessary consequences of the society with mutual stimulation between the media and the public. (author)

  12. One Size Does Not Fit All: Complexity, Religion, Secularism and Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Lynn

    2014-01-01

    The continuing incidence of extremist acts committed in the name of religion underscores the need to examine the interplay between religion and learning. This article argues for a secular foundation in society and school to protect against religion contributing to conflict and extremism. However, this is not a hard version of secularism, but a…

  13. Institutional Confidence in the United States: Attitudes of Secular Americans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabella Kasselstrand

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The First Amendment to the United States’ Constitution addresses freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. However, the historical influence of religion in laws, policies, and political representation have left secular individuals feeling excluded. At the same time, levels of confidence in social and political institutions in the United States are at an all-time low. This begs the question: Is there a relationship between secularity and confidence in various social and political institutions (e.g. the armed forces, churches, major companies, government, police, and political parties? This question is examined using data on the United States from the World Values Survey from 1995–2011. While controlling for a range of key demographics, the findings show a negative relationship between secularity and institutional confidence. More specifically, atheists and nonreligious individuals are less likely than those who are religious to have confidence in all six institutions. Based on previous literature and the empirical evidence presented in this study, we argue that overall lower levels of institutional confidence among secular Americans is an outcome of the exclusion of such individuals from American social life. Thus, it highlights the importance of addressing the stereotypes and prejudice that this minority group faces.

  14. Secular Orbit Evolution in Systems with a Strong External Perturber—A Simple and Accurate Model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andrade-Ines, Eduardo [Institute de Mécanique Céleste et des Calcul des Éphémérides—Observatoire de Paris, 77 Avenue Denfert Rochereau, F-75014 Paris (France); Eggl, Siegfried, E-mail: eandrade.ines@gmail.com, E-mail: siegfried.eggl@jpl.nasa.gov [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, 91109 Pasadena, CA (United States)

    2017-04-01

    We present a semi-analytical correction to the seminal solution for the secular motion of a planet’s orbit under gravitational influence of an external perturber derived by Heppenheimer. A comparison between analytical predictions and numerical simulations allows us to determine corrective factors for the secular frequency and forced eccentricity in the coplanar restricted three-body problem. The correction is given in the form of a polynomial function of the system’s parameters that can be applied to first-order forced eccentricity and secular frequency estimates. The resulting secular equations are simple, straight forward to use, and improve the fidelity of Heppenheimers solution well beyond higher-order models. The quality and convergence of the corrected secular equations are tested for a wide range of parameters and limits of its applicability are given.

  15. Secular and Koranic Literacies in South Asia: From Colonisation to Contemporary Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maddox, Bryan

    2007-01-01

    This paper explores the distinction between "secular" and "Koranic" schooling and literacy in South Asia. It begins by tracing an archaeology of the distinction between secular "literacy" and religious "illiteracy". It locates the emergence of the distinction in the colonial census of the 19th century, in…

  16. Spatial patterns and secular trends in human leishmaniasis incidence in Morocco between 2003 and 2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadeq, Mina

    2016-05-11

    Few studies on spatial patterns or secular trends in human leishmanias have been conducted in Morocco. This study aimed to examine spatial patterns and trends associated with the human leishmaniasis incidence rate (HLIR) at the province/prefecture level between 2003 and 2013 in Morocco. Only the available published country data on the HLIR between 2003 and 2013, from the open access files of the Ministry of Health, were used. Secular trends were examined using Kendall's rank correlation. An exploratory spatial data analysis was also conducted to examine the spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran's I and local indicator of spatial association [LISA]), and spatial diffusion at the province/prefecture level. The influence of various covariates (poverty rate, vulnerability rate, population density, and urbanization) on the HLIR was tested via spatial regression (ordinary least squares regression). At the country level, no secular variation was observed. Poisson annual incidence rate estimates were 13 per 100 000 population (95 % CI = 12.9-13.1) for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and 0.4 per 100 000 population (95 % CI = 0.4-0.5) for visceral leishmaniasis (VL). The available data on HLIR were based on combined CL and VL cases, however, as the CL cases totally outnumbered the VL ones, HLIR may be considered as CL incidence rate. At the provincial level, a secular increase in the incidence rate was observed in Al Hoceima (P = 0.008), Taounate (P = 0.04), Larache (P = 0.002), Tétouan (P = 0.0003), Khenifra (P = 0.008), Meknes (P = 0.03), and El Kelaa (P = 0.0007), whereas a secular decrease was observed only in the Chichaoua province (P = 0.006). Even though increased or decreased rate was evident in these provinces, none of them showed clustering of leishmaniasis incidence. Significant spatial clusters of high leishmaniasis incidence were located in the northeastern part of Morocco, while spatial clusters of low leishmaniasis

  17. Secular Ethics Education as an Alternative to Religious Education--Finnish Teachers' Views

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zilliacus, Harriet; Kallioniemi, Arto

    2016-01-01

    This study provides a Finnish perspective to international discussions on religious and worldviews education through the subject of secular ethics. This subject has been offered in Finland since 1985 throughout comprehensive schools and is primarily directed at students who are non-affiliated. Secular ethics education has scarcely been researched…

  18. Comments on equilibrium, transient equilibrium, and secular equilibrium in serial radioactive decay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prince, J.R.

    1979-01-01

    Equations describing serial radioactive decay are reviewed along with published descriptions or transient and secular equilibrium. It is shown that terms describing equilibrium are not used in the same way by various authors. Specific definitions are proposed; they suggest that secular equilibrium is a subset of transient equilibrium

  19. Calling in Work: Secular or Sacred?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steger, Michael F.; Pickering, N. K.; Shin, J. Y.; Dik, B. J.

    2010-01-01

    Recent scholarship indicates that people who view their work as a calling are more satisfied with their work and their lives. Historically, calling has been regarded as a religious experience, although modern researchers frequently have adopted a more expansive and secular conceptualization of calling, emphasizing meaning and personal fulfillment…

  20. Secular decline in male testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin serum levels in Danish population surveys

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersson, Anna-Maria; Jensen, Tina K; Juul, Anders

    2007-01-01

    Adverse secular trends in male reproductive health have been reported to be reflected in increased testicular cancer risk and decreased semen quality in more recently born men. These secular trends may also be reflected by changes in Leydig cell function.......Adverse secular trends in male reproductive health have been reported to be reflected in increased testicular cancer risk and decreased semen quality in more recently born men. These secular trends may also be reflected by changes in Leydig cell function....

  1. Secularization and its Impact on the Jews’ Religious Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasile Adrian

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Secularization brings forward a desacralized world, exclusively oriented to the material and concerned with the “fashion of the day” rather than with the Spirit of God. Secularism made man wander from god and ignore the religious, spiritual and moral principles found in Christianity and Judaism. Secularization caused all social, economic or political aspects be expressed outside these principles and, many times, against them. Man’s religiousness has become something personal and original that has nothing to do with community or the life of the community, thus becoming a strictly private or intimate option, and in many case even a taboo. Therefore we speak about a privatization of the religious feeling that has no connection to Christianity or Judaism. Unfortunately Judaism has been affected in some other way besides what concerns religious life. We are referring to the anti-Semite feeling that reached its peak at the beginning of the last century and tragically ended in the holocaust in which millions of Jews lost their lives.

  2. Habermas and the Meaning of the Post-Secular Society: Complementary Learning Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welton, Michael R.

    2014-01-01

    This essay argues that if social justice is to prevail in our world, we must understand the post-secular nature of our globalized society as a prerequisite for moving beyond "might is right" to national and international relations that heed all voices towards evidence-based interaction. Our post-secular world and postmetaphysical…

  3. Surviving Secularization: Masking the Spirit in the Jankunu (John Canoe Festivals of the Caribbean

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth M. Bilby

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Jankunu (Jonkonnu, Junkanoo, an Afro-Caribbean Yuletide tradition centering on masked dance, is generally characterized as a secular festival. This article presents contemporary ethnographic evidence showing that certain older variants of the tradition remain closely connected with African-derived religious concepts and practices. On the basis of this new evidence, the author argues for a reexamination and reevaluation of the historical significance of this tradition, which even today, despite its ostensible secularity, has vaguely "spiritual" associations for many in the region—including some of those who represent it as "secular." The article interprets this apparent contradiction as the result of a historical process of secularization (in response to the stigmatization of African modes of religiosity that was only partly successful.

  4. Secular variations in carbon-14 and their geophysical implications

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Vogel

    2002-03-01

    Full Text Available . The identification of the causes and magnitudes of these deviations has created a new too that is contributing to the investigation of different geophysical: phenomena. Variations in the activity of the Sun produce fluctuations of the C-14 level in the atmosphere...

  5. Secular trends in the geologic record and the supercontinent cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradley, Dwight C.

    2011-01-01

    to form Rodinia. Rodinia broke up in stages from ca. 1000 to ca. 520 Ma. Before Rodinia had completely come apart, some of its pieces had already been reassembled in a new configuration, Gondwana, which was completed by 530 Ma. Gondwana later collided with Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia to form Pangea by about 300 Ma. Breakup of Pangea began at about 180 Ma (Early Jurassic) and continues today. In the suggested scenario, no supercontinent cycle in Earth history corresponded to the ideal, in which all the continents were gathered together, then broke apart, then reassembled in a new configuration. Nuna and Gondwana ended their tenures not by breakup but by collision and name change; Rodinia's assembly overlapped in time with its disassembly; and Pangea spalled Tethyan microcontinents throughout much of its tenure. Many other secular trends show a weak or uneven imprint of the supercontinent cycle, no imprint at all. Instead, these secular trends together reveal aspects of the shifting background against which the supercontinents came and went, making each cycle unique. Global heat production declined; plate tectonics sped up through the Proterozoic and slowed down through the Phanerozoic; the atmosphere and oceans became oxidized; life emerged as a major geochemical agent; some rock types went extinct or nearly so (BIF, massif-type anorthosite, komatiite); and other rock types came into existence or became common (blueschists, bioclastic limestone, coal).

  6. Secular chaos and its application to Mercury, hot Jupiters, and the organization of planetary systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lithwick, Yoram; Wu, Yanqin

    2014-09-02

    In the inner solar system, the planets' orbits evolve chaotically, driven primarily by secular chaos. Mercury has a particularly chaotic orbit and is in danger of being lost within a few billion years. Just as secular chaos is reorganizing the solar system today, so it has likely helped organize it in the past. We suggest that extrasolar planetary systems are also organized to a large extent by secular chaos. A hot Jupiter could be the end state of a secularly chaotic planetary system reminiscent of the solar system. However, in the case of the hot Jupiter, the innermost planet was Jupiter (rather than Mercury) sized, and its chaotic evolution was terminated when it was tidally captured by its star. In this contribution, we review our recent work elucidating the physics of secular chaos and applying it to Mercury and to hot Jupiters. We also present results comparing the inclinations of hot Jupiters thus produced with observations.

  7. Secular chaos and its application to Mercury, hot Jupiters, and the organization of planetary systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lithwick, Yoram; Wu, Yanqin

    2014-01-01

    In the inner solar system, the planets’ orbits evolve chaotically, driven primarily by secular chaos. Mercury has a particularly chaotic orbit and is in danger of being lost within a few billion years. Just as secular chaos is reorganizing the solar system today, so it has likely helped organize it in the past. We suggest that extrasolar planetary systems are also organized to a large extent by secular chaos. A hot Jupiter could be the end state of a secularly chaotic planetary system reminiscent of the solar system. However, in the case of the hot Jupiter, the innermost planet was Jupiter (rather than Mercury) sized, and its chaotic evolution was terminated when it was tidally captured by its star. In this contribution, we review our recent work elucidating the physics of secular chaos and applying it to Mercury and to hot Jupiters. We also present results comparing the inclinations of hot Jupiters thus produced with observations. PMID:24367108

  8. Low Amplitude of Geomagnetic Secular Variations Recorded in Traps of the Southern Siberian Platform: Very Fast Emplacement or Regional Remagnetization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veselovskiy, R. V.; Latyshev, A. V.; Pavlov, V. E.

    2011-12-01

    We have studied the lowest part of the Permo-Triassic Siberian trap sequence which is located in the middle course of the Angara river (Southern Siberia). This sequenced is composed by 200m thick volcanoclastic rocks (tuffs with bombs of different composition) and includes numerous mafic subvolcanic bodies (dykes and sills). Altogether more than 20 sites representing tuffs, bombs, dykes and sills stretched along the valley of the Angara river over the distance more than 30 km have been sampled and studied. Obtained site mean paleomagnetic directions are tightly grouped, showing very lower scatter. Taking into account that amplitude of geomagnetic secular variation at the P-T boundary was about of same order as in Late Cenozoic (Pavlov et al., 2011) this lower scatter can be either a sequence of very fast traps emplacement which could have disastrous environmental impact or a result of subsequent regional remagnetization. The only geological event in the region which seems to be capable to cause this remagnetization is emplacement of Early Triassic sills in nearby areas. In such the case we should expect that mean paleomagnetic directions from these sills will be very close to these ones obtained from site presented in this report. We present results of paleomagnetic studies of these sills and make a choice in favor of one of discussed options. This work was supported by grants NSF EAR 0807585 ("The Siberian Traps and end-Permian extinction") and RFBR 09-05-01180, 10-05-00557.

  9. Sacralizando o secular. Os movimentos etno-fundamentalistas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enzo Pace

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Os movimentos religiosos fundamentalistas encaram o Estado secular como um inimigo, porque pretendem sistematizar seu poder como se Deus não atuasse. Esses movimentos consideram sua religião como o repositório de verdade absoluta, a fonte derradeira que legitima as leis humanas. Assim, conquanto sejam pós-seculares, ao mesmo tempo tentam transformar os princípios religiosos em agendas políticas. Com efeito, os militantes agem frequentemente de acordo com princípios políticos, procurando afirmar o primado de sua própria fé sobre a dos outros. Eles se movem dentro das sociedades contemporâneas em nome de uma teologia política radical. Os principais argumentos baseiam-se em dois estudos de caso: o Bodu Bala Sena no Sri Lanka e os movimentos para o Hindutva na Índia.

  10. What Lies between the Religious and the Secular?: Education beyond the Human

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, Yong-Seok

    2014-01-01

    The current age is characterised by many as secular, and a source of such a characterisation can be found in the Nietzschean claim that thoughts about there being some ultimate reality have to be jettisoned, and human existence and the world need to be embraced as they are. That claim is renewed by some secular thinkers who insist that education…

  11. Religious law versus secular law
    The example of the get refusal in Dutch, English and Israeli law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthijs de Blois

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The tension between religious law and secular law in modern democracies is illustrated in this article by a discussion of the different approaches to the get (a bill of divorce refusal (based on Jewish law under Dutch, English and Israeli law. These legal orders share many characteristics, but also display important differences as to the role of religion and religious law in the public realm. The Dutch system is the most secular of the three; it does not recognize a role for religious law within the secular system as such. The English legislation provides for means that to a certain extent facilitate the effectuation of a religious divorce. In Israel, finally, the law of marriage and divorce is as such governed by the religious law of the parties concerned; for the majority of the population that is Jewish law. An evaluation of the different approaches in the framework of human rights law reveals the complexities of the collision of the underlying values in terms of equality, religious freedom and minority rights, also having regard to the diversity of opinions within religious communities.

  12. Public debt, secular stagnation and functional finance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skott, Peter

    2016-01-01

    Fiscal policy and public debt may be required to maintain full employment and avoid secular stagnation. This conclusion emerges from a range of different models, including OLG specifications and stock-flow consistent (post-) Keynesian models. One of the determinants of the required long-run debt ...

  13. Distinguish natural sources out of secular equilibrium with their parents or daughters in Gamma ray spectrum analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mao Yahong; Liu Yigang

    2005-01-01

    Objective: To determine materials containing natural radionuclides in or out secular equilibrium with their parents or daughters. Methods: In gamma ray spectrum analyses, the activity concentration of every daughter is the same as that of its parent when the material is in secular equilibrium. The activity concentrations of daughters and their parents are different when the material is out of secular equilibrium. Results: It is different to determine whether the exposures from these materials should be exempted that materials containing natural radionuclides are in or out of secular equilibrium with their parents or daughters. Conclusion: It is important to determine materials containing natural radionuclides in or out secular equilibrium with their parents or daughters in gamma ray spectrum analyses. (authors)

  14. Secular Love number of Phobos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bursa, M.

    1988-01-01

    The secular Love number of Phobos was estimated k s =10.4. It only deviates by one order of magnitude from that corresponding to the ideal equilibrium state. It is not in contradiction with the theory of the origin of Phobos as a result of the accretion around Mars. In its early history, the rotation period of Phobos had been estimated to be approx. 2.4 hours. (author). 1 tab., 4 refs

  15. Secular Evolution in Disk Galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kormendy, John

    2013-10-01

    Self-gravitating systems evolve toward the most tightly bound configuration that is reachable via the evolution processes that are available to them. They do this by spreading -- the inner parts shrink while the outer parts expand -- provided that some physical process efficiently transports energy or angular momentum outward. The reason is that self-gravitating systems have negative specific heats. As a result, the evolution of stars, star clusters, protostellar and protoplanetary disks, black hole accretion disks and galaxy disks are fundamentally similar. How evolution proceeds then depends on the evolution processes that are available to each kind of self-gravitating system. These processes and their consequences for galaxy disks are the subjects of my lectures and of this Canary Islands Winter School. I begin with a review of the formation, growth and death of bars. Then I review the slow (`secular') rearrangement of energy, angular momentum, and mass that results from interactions between stars or gas clouds and collective phenomena such as bars, oval disks, spiral structure and triaxial dark haloes. The `existence-proof' phase of this work is largely over: we have a good heuristic understanding of how nonaxisymmetric structures rearrange disk gas into outer rings, inner rings and stuff dumped onto the centre. The results of simulations correspond closely to the morphology of barred and oval galaxies. Gas that is transported to small radii reaches high densities. Observations confirm that many barred and oval galaxies have dense central concentrations of gas and star formation. The result is to grow, on timescales of a few Gyr, dense central components that are frequently mistaken for classical (elliptical-galaxy-like) bulges but that were grown slowly out of the disk (not made rapidly by major mergers). The resulting picture of secular galaxy evolution accounts for the richness observed in galaxy structure. We can distinguish between classical and pseudo

  16. Secular trends in seasonal variation in birth weight

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Camilla Bjørn; Gamborg, M; Raymond, K

    2015-01-01

    and phase of the yearly cycles to change. RESULTS: There was a clear seasonal pattern in BW which, however, changed gradually across the study period. The highest BWs were seen during fall (September - October) from 1936 to 1963, but a new peak gradually grew from the early 1940s during early summer (May...... again. Sunshine did not explain the seasonal variation in BW. CONCLUSION: There was a clear seasonal pattern in BW in Denmark 1936-1989, which however changed across the study period. Throughout the study period we observed a peak in BW during the fall, but gradually, starting in the early 1940s...

  17. Perils of the Future: A Discussion of Marx’s Secularization Thesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clava Brodsky

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available As both a journalist and a philosopher, Karl Marx had one eye on the present and the other on the future. This dual concern is particularly clear in On the Jewish Question, where Marx persons his theory of secularization. In this article, I claim that his account of political secularization is far more convincing; while his account of human emancipation – his wish for the future – rests on a thin reading of human rights.

  18. Secular Extragalactic Parallax and Geometric Distances with Gaia Proper Motions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paine, Jennie; Darling, Jeremiah K.

    2018-06-01

    The motion of the Solar System with respect to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) rest frame creates a well measured dipole in the CMB, which corresponds to a linear solar velocity of about 78 AU/yr. This motion causes relatively nearby extragalactic objects to appear to move compared to more distant objects, an effect that can be measured in the proper motions of nearby galaxies. An object at 1 Mpc and perpendicular to the CMB apex will exhibit a secular parallax, observed as a proper motion, of 78 µas/yr. The relatively large peculiar motions of galaxies make the detection of secular parallax challenging for individual objects. Instead, a statistical parallax measurement can be made for a sample of objects with proper motions, where the global parallax signal is modeled as an E-mode dipole that diminishes linearly with distance. We present preliminary results of applying this model to a sample of nearby galaxies with Gaia proper motions to detect the statistical secular parallax signal. The statistical measurement can be used to calibrate the canonical cosmological “distance ladder.”

  19. Religion, Education and the Post-Secular Child

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Robert A.

    2014-01-01

    This essay endeavours to reframe current discussion of the relationship of religion to education by highlighting an often seriously neglected element of contemporary educational thought: the changing, post-secular understanding of childhood in the globalised age. Drawing upon recent ethnographies of childhood, and an older anthropological…

  20. Spirituality and secularization: nursing and the sociology of religion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paley, John

    2008-01-01

    The concept of spirituality is much discussed in the UK nursing literature, despite the fact that Britain is one of the most secular countries in the world, and steadily becoming more so. Here, I pose the following question: given this increasing secularization, what accounts for the current interest in spirituality among UK nurses? The literature on spirituality in nursing has blossomed in the last 10 years, and various attempts have been made to define 'spirituality', 'spiritual need' and 'spiritual care'. Most definitions distinguish between 'spirituality' and 'religion', acknowledging that the latter is more institutional, and theologically more restrictive, than the former; and they suggest that spirituality is universal, something which (unlike religion) all human beings share. I draw on the sociology of religion - neglected, for the most part, in the nursing literature - to establish two main points. Firstly, that the UK and the USA are at opposite ends of the religion/secularity spectrum, implying that it is a mistake to assimilate USA and UK sources. Secondly, that the concept of spirituality, as currently understood, is of very recent origin, and is still 'under construction', having become separated from its associations with Christian piety and mysticism only since the 1980s. The extension of spirituality into secular domains is part of a professionalization project in nursing, a claim to jurisdiction over a newly invented sphere of work. For the time being, it remains an academic project (in the UK) as it is not one with which many clinicians identify. Relevance to clinical practice. What counts as 'spiritual need' or 'spiritual care' may not be the same in both countries, and UK clinicians are unlikely to welcome the role of surrogate chaplain, which their USA colleagues are apparently willing to embrace.

  1. Secularities, Diversities and Pluralities: Understanding the Challenges of Religious Diversity in Latin America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edgar Zavala-Pelayo

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Latin America is experiencing today the greatest religious diversity in its entire history. However, it must also be noted that a large number of the growing religious minorities may be classified into types of Christianity with conservative overtones. In this paper we will suggest that the literature streams on multiple secularities in contemporary (Western societies and religious diversity in Latin America do offer insightful perspectives yet fail to adequately convey the challenges raised by the religious across contemporary Latin America. Addressing Latin America’s historical background, we will distinguish conceptually and empirically among different degrees of secularities, diversities and pluralities and will construct with these distinctions a descriptive-normative model that can guide future analyses of secular and religious phenomena in Latin America. It is only through a comprehensive understanding of diversities, pluralities and secularities that the debates on those human rights crucial for social inclusion—from sexual and reproductive rights to gender and religious equality—can be fruitfully conducted in and beyond Latin America.

  2. Thinking beyond Secularism: The Catholic Church and Political Practice in Rural South India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aparna Sundar

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available This article re-opens the debate on secularism in India by looking at a religion and a region that has historically been marginal to this discourse, focusing on the way in which the Catholic Church has historically mediated the relationship between individuals and the state, among the fishing communities of South India. The Catholic Church’s dominant position among the fishing communities, its minority status within India, as well as theological and other shifts that have taken place within the global Church, lead it to articulate a secular, even radical politics as its primary mode of religious engagement. Radical clergy, many from fishing backgrounds, act as both organic and traditional intellectuals in the Gramscian sense, linking the traditional religious concerns of the Church to the secular interests of their parishioners. Likewise, villagers participate in Church-generated associations spaces to secure wider political goals. The paper concludes that certain forms of religious organisation in the public sphere might indeed be compatible with democracy, citizenship, and even secularism.

  3. Secular and Religious Social Support Better Protect Blacks than Whites against Depressive Symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Assari, Shervin; Moghani Lankarani, Maryam

    2018-05-04

    Purpose: Although the protective effect of social support against depression is well known, limited information exists on racial differences in this association. The current study examined Black-White differences in the effects of religious and secular emotional social support on depressive symptoms in a national sample of older adults in the United States. Methods: With a longitudinal prospective design, the Religion, Aging and Health Survey, 2001⁻2004, followed 1493 Black ( n = 734) and White ( n = 759) elderly individuals (age 66 and older) for three years. Race, demographics (age and gender), socio-economics (education and marital status) and frequency of church attendance were measured at baseline in 2001. Secular social support, religious social support, chronic medical conditions and depressive symptoms [8- item Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D)] were measured in 2004. Multiple linear regression models were used for data analysis. In the pooled sample, secular and religious social support were both protective against depressive symptoms, net of all covariates. Race interacted with secular ( β = −0.62 for interaction) and religious ( β = −0.21 for interaction) social support on baseline depressive symptoms ( p social support on depressive symptoms was larger for Blacks ( β = −0.64) than Whites ( β = −0.16). Conclusion: We found Black—White differences in the protective effects of secular and religious social support against depressive symptoms. Blacks seem to benefit more from the same level of emotional social support, regardless of its source, compared to Whites.

  4. Post-Secularism, Religious Knowledge and Religious Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, David

    2012-01-01

    Post-secularism seems to follow in the wake of other (what are here called) "postal" perspectives--post-structuralism, postmodernism, post-empiricism, post-positivism, post-analytical philosophy, post-foundationalism and so on--in questioning or repudiating what it takes to be the epistemic assumptions of "modernism." To be sure, post-secularism…

  5. Aggregate demand, functional finance and secular stagnation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skott, Peter

    2016-01-01

    This paper makes three main points. Fiscal policy, first, may be needed in the long run to maintain full employment and avoid secular stagnation. If fiscal policy is used in this way, second, the long-run debt ratio depends (i) inversely on the rate of growth, (ii) inversely on government consump...

  6. The Role of Interreligious and Interfaith Dialogue in the Post-Secular World

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Biljana Popovska

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Today, western liberal democratic societies are secular, or in other words, religion is set apart from the state. However, the beginning of the 21st century has seen a re-politicizing of the religion. This paper argues that religion plays an important role in current global politics and events. Moreover, it has been used as tool to recruit masses for a wrong cause. Hence, Interreligious and interfaith dialog can play a role of catalysts and a future trend in cultural diplomacy. The paper provides definitions of a secular and post secular society. Then, it discusses the general concept of dialogue and explores it from an interreligious and interfaith point of view as a way to mitigate the role religion has undertaken. Finally, it provides examples of what European Union has been doing in that respect.

  7. IQ variations across time, race, and nationality: an artifact of differences in literacy skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, David F

    2010-06-01

    A body of data on IQ collected over 50 years has revealed that average population IQ varies across time, race, and nationality. An explanation for these differences may be that intelligence test performance requires literacy skills not present in all people to the same extent. In eight analyses, population mean full scale IQ and literacy scores yielded correlations ranging from .79 to .99. In cohort studies, significantly larger improvements in IQ occurred in the lower half of the IQ distribution, affecting the distribution variance and skewness in the predicted manner. In addition, three Verbal subscales on the WAIS show the largest Flynn effect sizes and all four Verbal subscales are among those showing the highest racial IQ differences. This pattern of findings supports the hypothesis that both secular and racial differences in intelligence test scores have an environmental explanation: secular and racial differences in IQ are an artifact of variation in literacy skills. These findings suggest that racial IQ distributions will converge if opportunities are equalized for different population groups to achieve the same high level of literacy skills. Social justice requires more effective implementation of policies and programs designed to eliminate inequities in IQ and literacy.

  8. Religion, Education, and Secularism in International Agencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stambach, Amy; Marshall, Katherine; Nelson, Matthew J.; Andreescu, Liviu; Kwayu, Aikande C.; Wexler, Philip; Hotam, Yotam; Fischer, Shlomo; El Bilawi, Hassan

    2011-01-01

    During the interwar years of the early twentieth century, and through at least the 1980s, education was seen by scholars, state leaders, and international agency representatives alike as a way to modernize and secularize underdeveloped communities. Arguments about the modernizing power of education did not erase or discount the presence of…

  9. The conditions of believe and unbelieve in a secular Age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Manuel Cincunegui

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In A Secular Age the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor offered an analytical description and a genealogy of the current conditions of belief and unbelief in the North Atlantic contemporary societies. He encouraged as well a set of similar investigations in other cultural settings that are affected by the processes of modernization. He argues about the existence of ‘alternative modernities’ each one of them facing critically the univocal sociological theories of modernity and secularization that interpreted as universal the process of disenchantment occurred in the West and the setbacks with regard to the presence of religion in the public sphere and religious practice in some contemporary Western societies

  10. "Doing the Secular": Academic Practices in the Study of Religion at Two Danish Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johansen, Birgitte Schepelern

    2011-01-01

    The academic study of religion at the public university often presents itself as a secular, non-religious, scientific endeavor. The identity of the study is thus firmly rooted within one of the central secular-religious divides, namely that between science and religion. Based on the assumption that such distinctions between religion and the…

  11. Secular change of LOD caused by core evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denis, C.; Rybicki, K. R.; Varga, P.

    2003-04-01

    Fossils and tidal deposits suggest that, on the average, the Earth's despinning rate had been five times less in the Proterozoic than in the Phanerozoic. This difference is probably due, for the major part, to the existence of a Proterozoic supercontinent. Nevertheless, core formation and core evolution should have compensated to some extent the effect of tidal friction, by diminishing the Earth's inertia moment. We have investigated quantitatively this contribution of the evolving core to the change of LOD. For the present epoch, we find that the solidification of the inner core causes a relative secular decrease of LOD of approximately 3 μs per century, whereas the macrodiffusion of iron oxides and sulfides from the D" into the outer core across the CMB (inasfar as Majewski's theory holds) leads to a relative secular decrease of LOD by about 15 μs per century. On the other hand, the theory of slow core formation developped by Runcorn in the early 1960s as a by-product of his theory of mantle-wide convection, leads to a relative secular decrease of LOD during most of the Proterozoic of about 0.25 ms per century. Although core formation is now widely assumed to have been a thermal run-away process that occurred shortly after the Earth itself had formed, Runcorn's theory of the growing core would nicely explain the observed palaeo-LOD curve. In any case, formation of the core implies, all in all, a relative decrease of LOD of typically 3 hours.

  12. Towards an exact theory of linear absorbance and circular dichroism of pigment-protein complexes: Importance of non-secular contributions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dinh, Thanh-Chung; Renger, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    A challenge for the theory of optical spectra of pigment-protein complexes is the equal strength of the pigment-pigment and the pigment-protein couplings. Treating both on an equal footing so far can only be managed by numerically costly approaches. Here, we exploit recent results on a normal mode analysis derived spectral density that revealed the dominance of the diagonal matrix elements of the exciton-vibrational coupling in the exciton state representation. We use a cumulant expansion technique that treats the diagonal parts exactly, includes an infinite summation of the off-diagonal parts in secular and Markov approximations, and provides a systematic perturbative way to include non-secular and non-Markov corrections. The theory is applied to a model dimer and to chlorophyll (Chl) a and Chl b homodimers of the reconstituted water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein (WSCP) from cauliflower. The model calculations reveal that the non-secular/non-Markov effects redistribute oscillator strength from the strong to the weak exciton transition in absorbance and they diminish the rotational strength of the exciton transitions in circular dichroism. The magnitude of these corrections is in a few percent range of the overall signal, providing a quantitative explanation of the success of time-local convolution-less density matrix theory applied earlier. A close examination of the optical spectra of Chl a and Chl b homodimers in WSCP suggests that the opening angle between Q y transition dipole moments in Chl b homodimers is larger by about 9 ∘ than for Chl a homodimers for which a crystal structure of a related WSCP complex exists. It remains to be investigated whether this change is due to a different mutual geometry of the pigments or due to the different electronic structures of Chl a and Chl b

  13. Towards an exact theory of linear absorbance and circular dichroism of pigment-protein complexes: Importance of non-secular contributions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dinh, Thanh-Chung; Renger, Thomas, E-mail: thomas.renger@jku.at [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Str. 69, 4040 Linz (Austria)

    2015-01-21

    A challenge for the theory of optical spectra of pigment-protein complexes is the equal strength of the pigment-pigment and the pigment-protein couplings. Treating both on an equal footing so far can only be managed by numerically costly approaches. Here, we exploit recent results on a normal mode analysis derived spectral density that revealed the dominance of the diagonal matrix elements of the exciton-vibrational coupling in the exciton state representation. We use a cumulant expansion technique that treats the diagonal parts exactly, includes an infinite summation of the off-diagonal parts in secular and Markov approximations, and provides a systematic perturbative way to include non-secular and non-Markov corrections. The theory is applied to a model dimer and to chlorophyll (Chl) a and Chl b homodimers of the reconstituted water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein (WSCP) from cauliflower. The model calculations reveal that the non-secular/non-Markov effects redistribute oscillator strength from the strong to the weak exciton transition in absorbance and they diminish the rotational strength of the exciton transitions in circular dichroism. The magnitude of these corrections is in a few percent range of the overall signal, providing a quantitative explanation of the success of time-local convolution-less density matrix theory applied earlier. A close examination of the optical spectra of Chl a and Chl b homodimers in WSCP suggests that the opening angle between Q{sub y} transition dipole moments in Chl b homodimers is larger by about 9{sup ∘} than for Chl a homodimers for which a crystal structure of a related WSCP complex exists. It remains to be investigated whether this change is due to a different mutual geometry of the pigments or due to the different electronic structures of Chl a and Chl b.

  14. Variational cellular model of the molecular and crystal electronic structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, L.G.; Leite, J.R.

    1977-12-01

    A variational version of the cellular method is developed to calculate the electronic structure of molecules and crystals. Due to the simplicity of the secular equation, the method is easy to be implemented. Preliminary calculations on the hydrogen molecular ion suggest that it is also accurate and of fast convergence [pt

  15. Sacred Spaces: Religious and Secular Coping and Family Relationships in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brelsford, Gina M; Ramirez, Joshua; Veneman, Kristin; Doheny, Kim K

    2016-08-01

    Preterm birth is an unanticipated and stressful event for parents. In addition, the unfamiliar setting of the intensive care nursery necessitates strategies for coping. The primary study objective of this descriptive study was to determine whether secular and religious coping strategies were related to family functioning in the neonatal intensive care unit. Fifty-two parents of preterm (25-35 weeks' gestation) infants completed the Brief COPE (secular coping), the Brief RCOPE (religious coping), and the Family Environment Scale within 1 week of their infant's hospital admission. This descriptive study found that parents' religious and secular coping was significant in relation to family relationship functioning. Specifically, negative religious coping (ie, feeling abandoned or angry at God) was related to poorer family cohesion and use of denial. These findings have relevance for interventions focused toward enhancing effective coping for families. Further study of religious and secular coping strategies for neonatal intensive care unit families is warranted in a larger more diverse sample of family members.

  16. Internal and environmental secular evolution of disk galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kormendy, John

    2015-03-01

    This Special Session is devoted to the secular evolution of disk galaxies. Here `secular' means `slow' i.e., evolution on time scales that are generally much longer than the galaxy crossing or rotation time. Internal and environmentally driven evolution both are covered. I am indebted to Albert Bosma for reminding me at the 2011 Canary Islands Winter School on Secular Evolution that our subject first appeared in print in a comment made by Ivan King (1977) in his introductory talk at the Yale University meeting on The Evolution of Galaxies and Stellar Populations: `John Kormendy would like us to consider the possibility that a galaxy can interact with itself.. . . I'm not at all convinced, but John can show you some interesting pictures.' Two of the earliest papers that followed were Kormendy (1979a, b); the first discusses the interaction of galaxy components with each other, and the second studies these phenomena in the context of a morphological survey of barred galaxies. The earliest modeling paper that we still use regularly is Combes & Sanders (1981), which introduces the now well known idea that box-shaped bulges in edge-on galaxies are side-on, vertically thickened bars. It is gratifying to see how this subject has grown since that time. Hundreds of papers have been written, and the topic features prominently at many meetings (e.g., Block et al. 2004; Falcoń-Barroso & Knapen 2012, and this Special Session). My talk here introduces both internal and environmental secular evolution; a brief abstract follows. My Canary Islands Winter School review covers both subjects in more detail (Kormendy 2012). Kormendy & Kennicutt (2004) is a comprehensive review of internal secular evolution, and Kormendy & Bender (2012) covers environmental evolution. Both of these subject make significant progress at this meeting. Secular evolution happens because self-gravitating systems evolve toward the most tightly bound configuration that is reachable by the evolution processes

  17. Refined permo-triassic paleomagnetic pole for the Siberian platform and geomagnetic secular variations at the Paleozoic-Mesozoic boundary as recorded in volcanic traps key sections of northern Siberia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlov, V. E.; Veselovskiy, R. V.; Khokhlov, A.; Latyshev, A. V.; fluteau, F.

    2011-12-01

    Two new volcanic key sections of the Siberian traps erupted ~ 250 million years ago have been studied in the Norilsk region (NW of the Siberian platform). Along with results obtained earlier from both this area (Heunemann et al., 2004) and Maymecha-Kotuy region (northern Siberian platform, Pavlov et al., 2011) these data constitute rather extensive database, including paleomagnetic information on about 200 volcanic flows. Using this information we can not only get refined permo-triassic paleomagnetic pole for the Siberian platform, based exceptionally on lava flows data, but also estimate amplitude of geomagnetic secular variation at the Paleozoic-Mesozoic boundary and check their compatibility with statistic models, suggested for description of recent (Late Cenozoic) Earth's magnetic field. Moreover, our results can be also used to obtain additional time constraints on duration of the trap emplacement and to isolate volcanic pulses within the traps sections. We present a report where we discuss all these topics. This work was supported by grants NSF # EAR 0807585 and RBRF #09-05-01180, 11-05-00601,10-05- 00557.

  18. Secular decline in male testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin serum levels in Danish population surveys

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersson, Anna-Maria; Jensen, Tina Kold; Juul, Anders

    2007-01-01

    Adverse secular trends in male reproductive health have been reported to be reflected in increased testicular cancer risk and decreased semen quality in more recently born men. These secular trends may also be reflected by changes in Leydig cell function....

  19. An instance of secularization? The Finnish online discussion of the issue of same-sex marriages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenni Hokka

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In October 2010 one of Finland’s four national TV channels aired a panel discussion dealing with gay and lesbian rights in society. Among the debaters were members of parliament from various parties, well-known actors and other public figures, as well as a priest, a bishop and other religious spokespeople. Afterwards, a great number of people publicly expressed their views on same-sex marriages. The ways the Lutheran Church treated the same-sex couples, as well as the reasons and outcomes of a vast number of resignations from the Church were discussed, particularly in the online discussion forums. The public discussion spread rapidly, especially through the social media. Resignations from the Church are often perceived as a clear sign of the decline of religious beliefs and practices, which is an integral aspect of the secularization process. But lately the whole notion of a secularization of society has been questioned and a growing number of researchers have stated that the concepts of resacralization, desecularization, or a resurgence of religion would actually better describe the current situation than the theory of secularization. The aim of this article is to examine whether the concept of secularization still has some explanatory power at least in the Nordic countries. Another aim is to contemplate what kind of knowledge this special case has to offer when rethinking secularization.

  20. Kosovar Society through Secularism and Religion

    OpenAIRE

    MSc. Dritero Arifi; Dr.Sc. Ylber Sela

    2013-01-01

    This paper will analyze the importance and the effects of religion, in Kosovar society. A great part of the paper, will analyze the social and the political relations in Post-War Kosovo. Initially it will elaborate religion and secularism, especially in theoreticall aspect, what impact have these definitions in modern societies. In order to explain what the importance of the religion in Kosovo is, we will focus on analyzing ethnical, social and political relations within Kosovo society. A...

  1. Proper Elements and Secular Resonances for Irregular Satellites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaugé, C.; Nesvorný, D.

    2007-06-01

    We present results of an analytical study of proper elements and secular resonances for the irregular satellites of the outer planets. In the case of the Jovian system we identify three satellite families, two of them previously known (Carme and Ananke), plus a new agglomeration of four bodies that includes Pasiphae as its largest member. While the distribution of proper elements for Saturn's moons seems to be more random, a small cluster was found for the direct moons formed by Albiorix, Erriapo, and 2004 S1, slightly different from the so-called Gaulish cluster. No significant families are detected in the present study for the Uranian or Neptunian satellite systems. For each satellite system we determine the location of several secular resonances in the proper element space. Apart from the well-known resonance locks of Pasiphae, Sinope, and Siarnaq, a comparison between the resonance locations and proper elements shows that Saturn's satellite Narvi also exhibits temporary librations in the ϖ-ϖsolar resonance. However, unlike the resonant Jovian moons that are located in the same configuration, Narvi's critical argument librates alternately around values near 90° and 270°. Neither the Uranian nor Neptunian systems seem to have resonant moons. The resonant dynamics of the real satellites in the vicinity of ϖ˙-ϖ˙solar=0 is studied with a simple model for secular resonances based on the restricted three-body problem. Depending on the initial conditions, we show the existence of one or two modes of libration that can occur at different values of the critical angle, showing a good correspondence with the observed behavior of all the resonant moons. Finally, we discuss the global distribution of the real satellites with respect to the secular resonances, as compared with synthetic populations of bodies drawn solely from stability conditions. For Saturn, we find that the present satellite population appears compatible with simple random distributions. Although

  2. Religiousness and religious coping in a secular society: the gender perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hvidtjørn, Dorte; Hjelmborg, Jacob; Skytthe, Axel; Christensen, Kaare; Hvidt, Niels Christian

    2014-10-01

    Women are found to be more religious than men and more likely to use religious coping. Only few studies have explored religious gender differences in more secular societies. This population-based study comprised 3,000 Danish men and women (response rate 45 %) between 20 and 40 years of age. Information about demographics, religiousness and religious coping was obtained through a web-based questionnaire. We organized religiousness in the three dimensions: Cognition, Practice and Importance, and we assessed religious coping using the brief RCOPE questionnaire. We found substantial gender differences in both religiousness and religious coping. Nearly, 60 % of the women believed in some sort of spirit or in God compared to 40 % of the men. Generally, both men and women scored low on the RCOPE scale. However, for respondents reporting high levels of religiousness, the proportion of men who scored high in the RCOPE exceeded the proportion of women in using positive and especially negative coping strategies. Also, in a secular society, women are found to be more religious than men, but in a subset of the most religious respondents, men were more inclined to use religious coping. Further studies on religious coping in secular societies are required.

  3. Assessment of the Spatial and Temporal Variations in TWS and GWS in Michigan's Lower Peninsula and Identification of the Controlling Factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahour, H.; Sultan, M.; Fathy, K.; Yellich, J. A.; Karki, S.; Wireman, M.

    2017-12-01

    The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been successfully used to track changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) and ground water storage (GWS) across the globe. We use GRACE RL05 monthly mascon solutions from the Center for Space Research (CSR) and outputs of the Global Land Data Assimilation Systems (GLDAS) to investigate/extract: (1) secular trends in TWS over the entire landscape of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan throughout the GRACE operational period (2002 to 2016), (2) secular trends in GWS using the extracted TWS trends and GLDAS outputs (soil moisture, canopy water storage, surface runoff and snow water equivalent), and (3) the major natural and anthropogenic factors controlling the observed TWS and GWS variations. The extracted TWS and GWS trends were downscaled from 1º x 1º to 0.25º x 0.25º (local county scale) using logistical regression techniques. Findings include: (1) in the central and northern sections of the Lower Peninsula (43.06 °N to 45.77 °N ) the secular trends in TWS reveal two general patterns a near-steady state to modest increase in TWS (0.3 to 0.8 mm/year) for the period 2002 to 2011 (hereafter referred to as the early period [EP]), followed by an increase in TWS (9.6 to 13.8 mm/year) for the period 2012 to 2016 (hereafter referred to as the late period [LP]). (2) Similar trends for TWS were observed for the southern sections of the Lower Peninsula (41.76 °N to 43.06 °N); a near-steady to a slight increase during the EP (0.6 to 0.8 mm/year), yet a less pronounced increase was detected during the LP (4.8 to7.2 mm/year). (3) The GWS secular trends over northern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula on one hand and those for the southern sections follow the general observed patterns for the TWS throughout the EP and LP. Research is underway to accomplish the following: (1) correlate spatially and temporarily the observed variations in TWS and GWS with variations in other relevant datasets including snowfall

  4. SPIRITUALITY IN A SECULAR AGE: FROM CHARLES TAYLOR TO ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    the secular is ignored or where exclusive humanism is seen as the inevitable conclusion of a .... responsible for ordinary events in the world. Various .... immanent frame is dependent on and open to a transcendent source while for others, the ...

  5. Fuzzy Law and the Boundaries of Secularism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W Menski

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The author delivered a speech at a Religare Conference. Showing his distaste for fuzzy law, he argues that "moderate secularism" is not merely another fuzzy concept, but it is "super-fuzzy", and that lawyers claiming to love certainty "have a tendency to sit in judgment over matters and even pre-judge things they know little about, including legal pluralism" leading to much irritation.

  6. Evaluation of a new paleosecular variation activity index as a diagnostic tool for geomagnetic field variations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panovska, Sanja; Constable, Catherine

    2015-04-01

    Geomagnetic indices like Dst, K and A, have been used since the early twentieth century to characterize activity in the external part of the modern geomagnetic field and as a diagnostic for space weather. These indices reflect regional and global activity and serve as a proxy for associated physical processes. However, no such tools are yet available for the internal geomagnetic field driven by the geodynamo in Earth's liquid outer core. To some extent this reflects limited spatial and temporal sampling for longer timescales associated with paleomagnetic secular variation, but recent efforts in both paleomagnetic data gathering and modeling activity suggest that longer term characterization of the internal geomagnetic weather/climate and its variability would be useful. Specifically, we propose an index for activity in paleosecular variation, useful as both a local and global measure of field stability during so-called normal secular variation and as a means of identifying more extreme behavior associated with geomagnetic excursions and reversals. To date, geomagnetic excursions have been identified by virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) deviating more than some conventional limit from the geographic pole (often 45 degrees), and/or by periods of significant intensity drops below some critical value, for example 50% of the present-day field. We seek to establish a quantitative definition of excursions in paleomagnetic records by searching for synchronous directional deviations and lows in relative paleointensity. We combine paleointensity variations with deviations from the expected geocentric axial dipole (GAD) inclination in a single parameter, which we call the paleosecular variation (PSV) activity index. This new diagnostic can be used on any geomagnetic time series (individual data records, model predictions, spherical harmonic coefficients, etc.) to characterize the level of paleosecular variation activity, find excursions, or even study incipient reversals

  7. PEDIATRIC FITNESS: SECULAR TRENDS AND GEOGRAPHIC VARIABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grant R. Tomkinson

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available DESCRIPTION This book describes and discusses children's physical capacity in terms of aerobic and anaerobic power generation according to secular trends and geographic variability. PURPOSE To discuss the controversial issue of whether present day's children and adolescents are fitter than their equals of the past and whether they are fitter if they live in the more prosperous countries. AUDIENCE Pediatricians, medical practitioners, physical educators, exercise and/or sport scientists, exercise physiologists, personal trainers and graduate students in relevant fields will find this book helpful when dealing with contemporary trends and geographic variability in pediatric fitness. FEATURES The volume starts by examining the general picture on children fitness by the editors. The individual chapter's authors discuses the data gathered since the late 1950s on secular trends and geographic changeability in aerobic and anaerobic pediatric fitness performances of children and adolescents from 23 countries in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. There are chapters proposing that there is proof that there has been a world-wide decline in pediatric aerobic performance in recent decades, relative stability in anaerobic performance, and that the best performing children come from northern and central Europe. In final chapters possible causes to that end are considered, including whether weakening in aerobic performance are the result of distributional or widespread declines, and whether increases in obesity alone can explain the failure in aerobic performance. ASSESSMENT The editors have assembled a volume of Medicine and Sports Science that is necessary and essential reading for all who are interested in understanding and improving the fitness of children. The readers will find useful information in this book on secular trends and geographic variability in pediatric fitness. I believe, the book will serve as a first

  8. Secularism in Nigeria: An Assessment | Ogoloma | AFRREV IJAH ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Secularism is not the absence of religions in the state. Rather, it is the absence of a state sponsored religion where everyone will be made to choose a religion of their choice. People are free to follow which religious tenets they like without any fear, intimidation, victimization or favour. The central and state administrations ...

  9. Why religion deserves a place in secular medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biggar, Nigel

    2015-03-01

    As a science and practice transcending metaphysical and ethical disagreements, 'secular' medicine should not exist. 'Secularity' should be understood in an Augustinian sense, not a secularist one: not as a space that is universally rational because it is religion-free, but as a forum for the negotiation of rival reasonings. Religion deserves a place here, because it is not simply or uniquely irrational. However, in assuming his rightful place, the religious believer commits himself to eschewing sheer appeals to religious authorities, and to adopting reasonable means of persuasion. This can come quite naturally. For example, Christianity (theo)logically obliges liberal manners in negotiating ethical controversies in medicine. It also offers reasoned views of human being and ethics that bear upon medicine and are not universally held-for example, a humanist view of human dignity, the bounding of individual autonomy by social obligation, and a special concern for the weak. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  10. Paracelsus, Paracelsianism, and the secularization of the worldview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webster, Charles

    2002-03-01

    This paper examines Paracelsus and Paracelsianism in the light of the ideas of Max Weber concerning the social consequences of the Reformation, with special reference to his theories of Entzauberung and secularization. He linked these tendencies both to the rise of capitalism and the growth of experimental science. The detailed case study of Paracelsus' account of diseases linked with saints, in common with his interpretation of many other conditions, demonstrates that he self-consciously extended the boundaries of medicine and eroded the role of magic and witchcraft associated with the church. On the other hand, Paracelsus adopted the Neoplatonic worldview, was immersed in popular magic, and evolved a system of medicine that self-consciously revolved around magic. These factors seem to place a distinct limit on his role in the demystification of knowledge. However, the magic of Paracelsus entailed a decisive break with the entrenched elitist and esoteric tradition of the occultists and hermeticists. It is argued that this reconstructed magic re-establishes the credentials of Paracelsus as a significant contributor to the disenchantment and secularization of the worldview.

  11. Study of secular equilibrium reinstatement on UO2 pellets manufactured by AUC route

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carnaval, João Paulo R.; Beltran, Dalton J.M.C.; Oliveira, Carlos A.

    2017-01-01

    The fuel assemblies manufactured by INB for Angra-1 power plant has axial blanket fuel rods which must be inspected due the columns formed by different enrichment pellets. The equipment used for inspection is built with a group of BGO scintillators detectors which measurement principle is based on the absorption of gamma rays emitted from Uranium decay. The commercial grade UF 6 used by INB is stored into cylinders type 30B. The uranium inside these cylinders is in secular equilibrium before the processing. It has been found that the AUC route causes the loss of that equilibrium because the UF 6 is volatilized from the cylinder and the uranium daughters remain in the container. As AUC is converted to powder and pellets, the secular equilibrium is restored through time. The purpose of this work is to present a study of the secular equilibrium reinstatement on UO 2 pellets manufactured by AUC route before being inspected on Rod Scanner. (author)

  12. SECULAR GROWTH AND MATURATION CHANGES IN HUNGARY IN RELATION TO SOCIOECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodzsar, Eva B; Zsakai, Annamaria; Mascie-Taylor, Nicholas

    2016-03-01

    This paper analyses the secular changes in the body development patterns of Hungarian children between the 1910s and the beginning of the 2000s in relation to socioeconomic and demographic changes in the country. Individual growth data of children were available from two national growth studies (1983-86, 2003-06), while sample-size weighted means of children's body dimensions were collected through regional studies between the 1920s and 1970s. Gross domestic product, Gini index, life expectancy at birth and under-5 mortality rate were used to assess the changes in economic status, income inequalities of the society and the population's general health status, respectively. Secular changes in food consumption habits were also examined. The positive Hungarian secular changes in socioeconomic status were associated with a continuous increase in children's body dimensions. The negative socioeconomic changes reflected only in wartime and post-war periods of children's growth, and the considerable socioeconomic changes at the beginning of the 1990s did not appear to influence the positive trend in children's growth. The positive secular trend in stature and body mass did not level off at the beginning of the 2000s: the socioeconomic conditions that support optimal growth and maturation could improve in Hungary.

  13. Genetic variation architecture of mitochondrial genome reveals the differentiation in Korean landrace and weedy rice

    OpenAIRE

    Wei Tong; Qiang He; Yong-Jin Park

    2017-01-01

    Mitochondrial genome variations have been detected despite the overall conservation of this gene content, which has been valuable for plant population genetics and evolutionary studies. Here, we describe mitochondrial variation architecture and our performance of a phylogenetic dissection of Korean landrace and weedy rice. A total of 4,717 variations across the mitochondrial genome were identified adjunct with 10 wild rice. Genetic diversity assessment revealed that wild rice has higher nucle...

  14. Secularity and religiosity: keystones of Turkish national identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey V. Olyunin

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available According to many experts Turkish National Federation experiences crisis of its national identity. The article concerns the problem of secular and religious balance in Turkish nationalism. Special attention is attached to Turkey as a project and Turkey as a process, war factor in a birth of the nation, national idea reproduction, Islam nationalization and nationalism Islamisation.

  15. Transcriptomic variation in a coral reveals pathways of clonal organisation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    K Bay, Line; Nielsen, Henrik Bjørn; Jarmer, Hanne Østergaard

    2009-01-01

    A microarray study was undertaken to examine the potential for clonal gene expression variation in a branching reef building coral, Acropora millepora. The role of small-scale gradients in light and water flow was examined by comparing gene expression levels between branch elevation (tip and base......) and position (centre and edge) of replicate coral colonies (n=3). Analyses of variance revealed that almost 60% of variation in gene expression was present between colonies and 34 genes were considered differentially expressed between colonies (minimum P=6.5 x 10(-4)). These genes are associated with energy...... of corymbose-like branching coral colonies such as A. millepora. Four genes were differentially expressed between the tip and base of branches (P=3.239 x 10(-4)) and were associated with lysosome lipase activity and fluorescence, suggesting that branch tips may encounter higher pathogen loads or levels...

  16. Secular Feminisms and Attitudes towards Religion in the Context of a West-European Society – Flanders, Belgium

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Brandt, H.P.

    2014-01-01

    Ideologies and politics of humanism and secularism in Western Europe historically have a tensioned relationship with religion as well as with feminism and the women's movement. In this article, I aim to demonstrate the multiplicity and complexity of several recent secular feminist responses to

  17. The Role of Secularism of State on the Relationship Between Catholic Identity, Political Orientation, and Gay Rights Issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hichy, Zira; Gerges, Mina Halim Helmy; Platania, Silvia; Santisi, Giuseppe

    2015-01-01

    In discussions of regulations governing same-sex marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians, the issue of state secularism is often called into question. This study aims to test the mediating effects of state secularism on the relationship between Catholic identity, political orientation, and gay civil rights. Participants were Catholic Italians who completed a questionnaire measuring the constructs under investigation. Results showed that state secularism mediates the effects of Catholic identity and political orientation on attitudes toward same-sex marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians.

  18. Secular instability of axisymmetric rotating stars to gravitational radiation reaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Managan, R.A.

    1985-01-01

    A generalization of the Eulerian variational principle derived by Ipser and Managan, for nonaxisymmetric neutral modes of axisymmetric fluid configurations, is developed. The principle provides a variational basis for calculating the frequencies of nonaxisymmetric normal modes proportional to e/sup i/(sigmat + mphi). A modified form of this principle, valid for sigma near 0, is also developed. The latter principle is used to locate the points where the frequency of a nonaxisymmetric normal mode of an axisymmetric rotating fluid configuration passes through zero. lt is at these points that the configuration becomes secularly unstable to gravitational radiation reaction (GRR). This is demonstrated directly by including the GRR potential and showing that the imaginary part of sigma passes through zero and becomes negative at these points. The imaginary part of the frequency is used to estimate the e-folding time of the mode. This variational principle is applied to sequences of rotating polytropes. The sequences are constructed using four rotation laws at each value of the polytropic index n = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0. The values of (T/W)/sub m/, the ratio of the rotational kinetic energy to the magnitude of the gravitational potential energy at the onset of instability, and timescales for the modes with m = 2, 3, and 4 are estimated for each sequence. The value of (T/W) 2 is largely independent of the equation of state and rotation law. For m > 2, (T/W)/sub m/ decreases as the equation of state becomes softer, i.e., as the polytropic index n increases, and increases as the amount of differential rotation increases. The most striking result of this behavior occurs for uniform rotation

  19. Measurement of Secular Motion Frequency in Miniature Paul Trap to Ascertain the Stability Parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bin, Guo; Hua, Guan; Qu, Liu; Yao, Huang; Xue-Ren, Huang; Ke-Lin, Gao

    2010-01-01

    40 Ca + ions are trapped and laser cooled in a miniature Paul trap. The secular motion was observed by the radio-frequency resonance of the ion cloud and Zeeman profile sidebands of a single ion experimentally. The trap stability parameters a and q are determined with an uncertainty under 1 % by the secular motion frequency measurement. The trap efficiency is 0.75. A practicable suggestion is given for the benefits of a new trap design. (atomic and molecular physics)

  20. Predicting Precession Rates from Secular Dynamics for Extra-solar Multi-planet Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Laerhoven, Christa

    2015-12-01

    Considering the secular dynamics of multi-planet systems provides substantial insight into the interactions between planets in those systems. Secular interactions are those that don't involve knowing where a planet is along its orbit, and they dominate when planets are not involved in mean motion resonances. These interactions exchange angular momentum among the planets, evolving their eccentricities and inclinations. To second order in the planets' eccentricities and inclinations, the eccentricity and inclination perturbations are decoupled. Given the right variable choice, the relevant differential equations are linear and thus the eccentricity and inclination behaviors can be described as a sum of eigenmodes. Since the underlying structure of the secular eigenmodes can be calculated using only the planets' masses and semi-major axes, one can elucidate the eccentricity and inclination behavior of planets in exoplanet systems even without knowing the planets' current eccentricities and inclinations. I have calculated both the eccentricity and inclination secular eigenmodes for the population of known multi-planet systems whose planets have well determined masses and periods and have used this to predict what range of pericenter precession (and nodal regression) rates the planets may have. One might have assumed that in any given system the planets with shorter periods would have faster precession rates, but I show that this is not necessarily the case. Planets that are 'loners' have narrow ranges of possible precession rates, while planets that are 'groupies' can have a wider range of possible precession rates. Several planets are expected to undergo significant precession on few-year timescales and many planets (though not the majority of planets) will undergo significant precession on decade timescales.

  1. RELIGIOUS QUESTION AND SECULAR STATE: CRISIS OF REGULATION BY DANI LE HERVIEU-L GER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. V. Trophimov

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The proposed paper outlines concepts of the Religious individualism in modern Western society analyzed by the French sociologist Danièle Hervieu-Léger in “Religion in movement (1999”. Author proposes an assessment of the religious situation in the French society at the end of the XX century and discuss some examples. Particular attention is given to crisis of secular regulation of the religious in the modern society. The weakening of the regulatory capacity of religious institutions leads to a weakening of the secular state. Religious institutions should be able to implement the regime of the truth of faith, which makes the institutional power of the superior guarantor of common faith principles shared by all believers of the denomination. The system of “copying” the structures of the Catholic Church of the XVIII century adopted by the secular state, today is not more correspond nor religious organizations in general, neither even the modern structures of the organization of the Catholic Church in France, that become a problem for a state-confessional relation. Modern institutional disorganization in the religious field, contributing to the destabilization of the French model of secularism, weakened by political cultural and economic liberalization that undermine its principles values that historically based secular system itself. Institutional crisis of the truths of faith approval favours an increase in the number of belief systems of individual communities. The problem can not be solved a priori, legally separating the traditional, “recognized by law” and other religions. The changing religious situation the state must find a new model of interaction with religious groups and organizations. The material is useful for comparative studies of the religious situation in Russia and Western Europe.

  2. When Science Replaces Religion: Science as a Secular Authority Bolsters Moral Sensitivity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Onurcan Yilmaz

    Full Text Available Scientific and religious thinking compete with each other on several levels. For example, activating one generally weakens the other. Since priming religion is known to increase moral behaviour and moral sensitivity, priming science might be expected to have the opposite effect. However, it was recently demonstrated that, on the contrary, science priming increases moral sensitivity as well. The present set of studies sought to replicate this effect and test two explanations for it. Study 1 used a sentence unscrambling task for implicitly priming the concept of science but failed to replicate its effect on moral sensitivity, presumably due to a ceiling effect. Study 2 replicated the effect with a new measure of moral sensitivity. Study 3 tested whether science-related words create this effect by activating the idea of secular authority or by activating analytic thinking. It was demonstrated that words related to secular authority, but not words related to analytic thinking, produced a similar increase in moral sensitivity. Religiosity level of the participants did not influence this basic finding. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that science as a secular institution has overtaken some of the functions of religion in modern societies.

  3. When Science Replaces Religion: Science as a Secular Authority Bolsters Moral Sensitivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yilmaz, Onurcan; Bahçekapili, Hasan G

    2015-01-01

    Scientific and religious thinking compete with each other on several levels. For example, activating one generally weakens the other. Since priming religion is known to increase moral behaviour and moral sensitivity, priming science might be expected to have the opposite effect. However, it was recently demonstrated that, on the contrary, science priming increases moral sensitivity as well. The present set of studies sought to replicate this effect and test two explanations for it. Study 1 used a sentence unscrambling task for implicitly priming the concept of science but failed to replicate its effect on moral sensitivity, presumably due to a ceiling effect. Study 2 replicated the effect with a new measure of moral sensitivity. Study 3 tested whether science-related words create this effect by activating the idea of secular authority or by activating analytic thinking. It was demonstrated that words related to secular authority, but not words related to analytic thinking, produced a similar increase in moral sensitivity. Religiosity level of the participants did not influence this basic finding. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that science as a secular institution has overtaken some of the functions of religion in modern societies.

  4. The equations of motion of a secularly precessing elliptical orbit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casotto, S.; Bardella, M.

    2013-01-01

    The equations of motion of a secularly precessing ellipse are developed using time as the independent variable. The equations are useful when integrating numerically the perturbations about a reference trajectory which is subject to secular perturbations in the node, the argument of pericentre and the mean motion. Usually this is done in connection with Encke's method to ensure minimal rectification frequency. Similar equations are already available in the literature, but they are either given based on the true anomaly as the independent variable or in mixed mode with respect to time through the use of a supporting equation to track the anomaly. The equations developed here form a complete and independent set of six equations in time. Reformulations both of Escobal's and Kyner and Bennett's equations are also provided which lead to a more concise form.

  5. Secular stagnation or stagnation policy? Steindl after Summers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eckhard Hein

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The debate on secular stagnation suffers from vagueness and several shortcomings, which affect its economic policy implications. In this work we provide an alternative view on the advanced economies’ tendencies to stagnation, based on Josef Steindl’s contributions. Steindl’s pioneering 1952 book in particular is not prone to several problems that affect the current debate on secular stagnation. It does not rely on the dubious notion of an equilibrium real interest rate as the equilibrating force of saving and investment at full employment levels. Rather, it is based on the notion that modern capitalist economies face aggregate demand constraints, and that saving adjusts to investment through income growth and changes in capacity utilisation in the long run. Steindl’s treatment allows for potential growth to become endogenous to actual demand, and it seriously considers the role of institutions and power relationships for long-run growth. In illustrating Steindl’s contributions on this topic, the article presents an original model synthetizing the main points in particular concerning long run growth and stagnation. JEL codes: B22, E11, E12, E65, O11

  6. Study of secular equilibrium reinstatement on UO{sub 2} pellets manufactured by AUC route

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carnaval, João Paulo R.; Beltran, Dalton J.M.C.; Oliveira, Carlos A., E-mail: joaocarnaval@inb.gov.br, E-mail: daltonbeltran@inb.gov.br, E-mail: carlossilva@inb.gov.br [Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil S.A. (INB), Resende, RJ (Brazil)

    2017-07-01

    The fuel assemblies manufactured by INB for Angra-1 power plant has axial blanket fuel rods which must be inspected due the columns formed by different enrichment pellets. The equipment used for inspection is built with a group of BGO scintillators detectors which measurement principle is based on the absorption of gamma rays emitted from Uranium decay. The commercial grade UF{sub 6} used by INB is stored into cylinders type 30B. The uranium inside these cylinders is in secular equilibrium before the processing. It has been found that the AUC route causes the loss of that equilibrium because the UF{sub 6} is volatilized from the cylinder and the uranium daughters remain in the container. As AUC is converted to powder and pellets, the secular equilibrium is restored through time. The purpose of this work is to present a study of the secular equilibrium reinstatement on UO{sub 2} pellets manufactured by AUC route before being inspected on Rod Scanner. (author)

  7. Use of GRACE determined secular gravity rates for glacial isostatic adjustment studies in North-America

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Wal, Wouter; Wu, Patrick; Sideris, Michael G.; Shum, C. K.

    2008-10-01

    Monthly geopotential spherical harmonic coefficients from the GRACE satellite mission are used to determine their usefulness and limitations for studying glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) in North-America. Secular gravity rates are estimated by unweighted least-squares estimation using release 4 coefficients from August 2002 to August 2007 provided by the Center for Space Research (CSR), University of Texas. Smoothing is required to suppress short wavelength noise, in addition to filtering to diminish geographically correlated errors, as shown in previous studies. Optimal cut-off degrees and orders are determined for the destriping filter to maximize the signal to noise ratio. The halfwidth of the Gaussian filter is shown to significantly affect the sensitivity of the GRACE data (with respect to upper mantle viscosity and ice loading history). Therefore, the halfwidth should be selected based on the desired sensitivity. It is shown that increase in water storage in an area south west of Hudson Bay, from the summer of 2003 to the summer of 2006, contributes up to half of the maximum estimated gravity rate. Hydrology models differ in the predictions of the secular change in water storage, therefore even 4-year trend estimates are influenced by the uncertainty in water storage changes. Land ice melting in Greenland and Alaska has a non-negligible contribution, up to one-fourth of the maximum gravity rate. The estimated secular gravity rate shows two distinct peaks that can possibly be due to two domes in the former Pleistocene ice cover: west and south east of Hudson Bay. With a limited number of models, a better fit is obtained with models that use the ICE-3G model compared to the ICE-5G model. However, the uncertainty in interannual variations in hydrology models is too large to constrain the ice loading history with the current data span. For future work in which GRACE will be used to constrain ice loading history and the Earth's radial viscosity profile, it is

  8. Influence of secular trends and sample size on reference equations for lung function tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quanjer, P H; Stocks, J; Cole, T J; Hall, G L; Stanojevic, S

    2011-03-01

    The aim of our study was to determine the contribution of secular trends and sample size to lung function reference equations, and establish the number of local subjects required to validate published reference values. 30 spirometry datasets collected between 1978 and 2009 provided data on healthy, white subjects: 19,291 males and 23,741 females aged 2.5-95 yrs. The best fit for forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)), forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV(1)/FVC as functions of age, height and sex were derived from the entire dataset using GAMLSS. Mean z-scores were calculated for individual datasets to determine inter-centre differences. This was repeated by subdividing one large dataset (3,683 males and 4,759 females) into 36 smaller subsets (comprising 18-227 individuals) to preclude differences due to population/technique. No secular trends were observed and differences between datasets comprising >1,000 subjects were small (maximum difference in FEV(1) and FVC from overall mean: 0.30- -0.22 z-scores). Subdividing one large dataset into smaller subsets reproduced the above sample size-related differences and revealed that at least 150 males and 150 females would be necessary to validate reference values to avoid spurious differences due to sampling error. Use of local controls to validate reference equations will rarely be practical due to the numbers required. Reference equations derived from large or collated datasets are recommended.

  9. On the side of Barrabas or on the side of Christ. The harassment again the secular private schools in Spain, 1880-1910

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Miguel LÁZARO LORENTE

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The introduction of secular education in Spain from the eighties in the nineteenth century will come from the hand of associations linked to freethinking and masonry, of Republican groups, and of anarchist groups. Since its inception, its development was extremely difficult. Funding was not readily available for premises, nor was for teachers or appropriate textbooks. But, above all, proponents of the secular school will soon have to face systematic harassment by the Spanish Church, social groups and the Conservatives who, at all levels, will oppose a fierce resistance to the timid and limited attempts of secularization in the Spanish social life. In that effort, the secular school should have played an important role, which will, in fact, be severely limited by the small number of secular schools put in place in Spain.

  10. Secular Changes in the Solar Semidiurnal Tide of the Western North Atlantic Ocean

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ray, Richard D.

    2009-01-01

    An analysis of twentieth century tide gauge records reveals that the solar semidiurnal tide S, has been decreasing in amplitude along the eastern coast of North America and at the mid-ocean site Bermuda. In relative terms the observed rates are unusually large, of order 10% per century. Periods of greatest change, however, are inconsistent among the stations, and roughly half the stations show increasing amplitude since the late 1990s. Excepting the Gulf of Maine, lunar tides are either static or slightly increasing in amplitude; a few stations show decreases. Large changes in solar, but not lunar, tides suggest causes related to variable radiational forcing, but the hypothesis is at present unproven. Citation: Ray, R. D. (2009), Secular changes in the solar semidiurnal tide of the western North Atlantic Ocean

  11. Zero Secular Torque on Asteroids from Impinging Solar Photons in the YORP Effect: A Simple Proof

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubincam, David Perry; Paddack, Stephen J.

    2010-01-01

    YORP torques, where "YORP" stands for "Yarokovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack." arise mainly from sun light reflected off a Solar System object and the infrared radiation emi tted by it. We show here, through the most elementary demonstration that we Can devise, that secular torques from impinging solar photons are generally negligible and thus cause little secular evolution of an asteroid's obliquity or spin rate.

  12. The secular and the supernatural: madness and psychiatry in the short stories of Muriel Spark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beveridge, A W

    2015-01-01

    Edinburgh-born Muriel Spark is one of modern Scotland's greatest writers. Examination of her work reveals that the subjects of madness and psychiatry are recurrent themes in her writing. She herself had a mental breakdown when she was a young woman and she took an interest in the world of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. In her short stories, Spark approaches the subject of madness in a variety of ways: she relates it to the supernatural; to writing fiction; and to religion. She frequently juxtaposes secular and supernatural explanations of mental disturbance. Spark adopts a sceptical and, at times, mocking view of psychiatrists and psychiatric treatment. Both psychoanalysis and pills are seen as problematic.

  13. Celebrating the Secular

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amanda Lohrey

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available On 4 November 2004 I read a report in the Sydney Morning Herald that I found genuinely shocking, a statement by Cardinal George Pell, of the Catholic diocese of Sydney, on what’s wrong with democracy. This report was of a speech given to the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in the United States. In it, Dr Pell told his audience that liberal democracy is a world of ‘empty secularism’ that is over-focused on ‘individual autonomy’. The problem with democracy, said the Cardinal, quoting John Paul II, is that it is not a good thing in itself; its value depends on the moral vision that it serves, and a secular democracy is lacking in moral vision. If democracy is not a good thing in and of itself, then why have we sent troops to Iraq to enable it? And what about the principle of equality before the law? Freedom of conscience? Freedom of speech and of action? Responsibility for community? Sounds like a moral vision to me.

  14. Rapid separation of pure 144Ce fraction from fuel dissolver solution for demonstration experiment on secular equilibrium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ashok Kumar, G.V.S.; Kumar, R.; Venkata Subramani, C.R.

    2015-01-01

    Radioactive equilibrium is a condition in which the activity ratio of parent to its daughter is maintained constant with time which occurs only when the parent half-life is greater than daughter half-life. It is transient equilibrium in the case of the ratio of their half-lives of parent to daughter being less than an order whereas it becomes secular equilibrium when it is more than an order. In the case of secular equilibrium, the ratio of the activities becomes unity whereas the same depends on the decay constants of the parent and daughter nuclide for the transient equilibrium. 144 Ce- 144 Pr pair is a good example for the demonstration of secular equilibrium

  15. The Possibility of Religion in a Scientific and Secular Culture ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... anthropological arguments in the modern period, to a contemporary argument from interpersonal relationships, a deepening insight into human nature produces an evermore comprehensive conception of a god, one that is not incompatible with a scientific worldview, or the secular rejection of the supernatural in the name ...

  16. Secular Life Philosophy as a Subject in Schools in Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horn, Kristian

    1981-01-01

    In Norway changes in legislation in recent years have loosened the firm hold of Christian philosophy in the schools and given room for alternative secular philosophy. This article presents background information and an outline of the basic plan for life philosophy as a school subject. (Author/SJL)

  17. Post-Newtonian templates for binary black-hole inspirals: the effect of the horizon fluxes and the secular change in the black-hole masses and spins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isoyama, Soichiro; Nakano, Hiroyuki

    2018-01-01

    Black holes (BHs) in an inspiraling compact binary system absorb the gravitational-wave (GW) energy and angular-momentum fluxes across their event horizons and this leads to the secular change in their masses and spins during the inspiral phase. The goal of this paper is to present ready-to-use, 3.5 post-Newtonian (PN) template families for spinning, non-precessing, binary BH inspirals in quasicircular orbits, including the 2.5 PN and 3.5 PN horizon-flux contributions as well as the correction due to the secular change in the BH masses and spins through 3.5 PN order, respectively, in phase. We show that, for binary BHs observable by Advanced LIGO with high mass ratios (larger than  ∼10) and large aligned-spins (larger than  ∼ 0.7 ), the mismatch between the frequency-domain template with and without the horizon-flux contribution is typically above the 3% mark. For (supermassive) binary BHs observed by LISA, even a moderate mass-ratios and spins can produce a similar level of the mismatch. Meanwhile, the mismatch due to the secular time variations of the BH masses and spins is well below the 1% mark in both cases, hence this is truly negligible. We also point out that neglecting the cubic-in-spin, point-particle phase term at 3.5 PN order would deteriorate the effect of BH absorption in the template.

  18. Religion and modernity in a secular city: A public theology of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2011-07-20

    Jul 20, 2011 ... The theme of the conference,1 'Religion and Modernity in a Secular City', brings together old enemies who ...... and Habermas seek it, but a language of pure mathematics, .... 236–252, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

  19. Amplitude Variations in Pulsating Red Giants. II. Some Systematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Percy, J. R.; Laing, J.

    2017-12-01

    In order to extend our previous studies of the unexplained phenomenon of cyclic amplitude variations in pulsating red giants, we have used the AAVSO time-series analysis package vstar to analyze long-term AAVSO visual observations of 50 such stars, mostly Mira stars. The relative amount of the variation, typically a factor of 1.5, and the time scale of the variation, typically 20-35 pulsation periods, are not significantly different in longer-period, shorter-period, and carbon stars in our sample, and they also occur in stars whose period is changing secularly, perhaps due to a thermal pulse. The time scale of the variations is similar to that in smaller-amplitude SR variables, but the relative amount of the variation appears to be larger in smaller-amplitude stars, and is therefore more conspicuous. The cause of the amplitude variations remains unclear, though they may be due to rotational modulation of a star whose pulsating surface is dominated by the effects of large convective cells.

  20. Les fluctuations du champ magnétique terrestre : des variations séculaires récentes aux renversements

    OpenAIRE

    FANJAT , Gregory

    2012-01-01

    The Earth's magnetic field shows a large range of temporal variations from the year to several million years. I studied during my PhD thesis several aspects of these fluctuations, from recent secular variations to reversals. The first part of my manuscript deals with archeomagnetism, a discipline that allows to track the temporal variations of the Earth's magnetic field through millennia, mainly from archeological materials. I studied two sets of samples , one from Greece (Neolithic period 68...

  1. WOMEN, CRIME AND THE SECULAR COURT IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CLUJ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Fehér

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this presentation is to address the issue of female criminality in early modern Cluj, and to analyze women’s position before the law. Our investigation is based on the records of the secular Court from the town Cluj, where we have identified more than 250 cases of women accused of fornication, adultery, witchcraft, infanticide, theft and drunkenness, poisoning, swearing and slander. There were a significant number of female convictions during the century, from which most ended with light sentences, such as banishment, corporal punishments, stigmatizations with hot iron, mutilations and only occasionally death. We would like to analyze in detail the types of crime and their punishments presenting the legal background, the jurisdiction and the habitual practices of the Court. We would also like to underline the importance of the narrative strategies used in these inquisitorial trials, since our documents reveal female criminality from a male perspective, as in these times men ran the legal system, consequently the Court records, in our reading contain moral, legal and sexual elements of a male discourse on female crime.

  2. Teaching about Religion in History Classes: Sacred and Secular History.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrahamson, Brant; Smith, Fred

    In teaching about religion there is the fundamental distinction between secular history, which is restricted to natural cause and effect relationships, and sacred histories, which assume that a spirit world exists and that human/divine interaction has taken place. In the United States, the academically approved way of dealing with these…

  3. The sacred, the secular, and the profane

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tsinovoi, Alexei

    2017-01-01

    types of power relations, which can provide a basis for critical re-formulation of the concepts of securitisation and desecuritisation. The article illustrates the analytical purchase of these ideal types through an analysis of the politics of Israel’s natural gas discoveries. Due to neoliberal reforms......In security studies, the dichotomy between ‘security’ and ‘regular’ politics has been effectively challenged in recent years, both theoretically and empirically. To address this challenge, the article develops Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of the sacred, the profane and the secular into three ideal...

  4. Secular and seasonal trends of Neospora abortion in California dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thurmond, M C; Anderson, M L; Blanchard, P C

    1995-06-01

    This study was undertaken to determine if the proportion of dairy cow abortions attributable to Neospora sp. infection increased or occurred in a seasonal cycle during a 6-yr period. Abortions caused by Neospora sp. were tallied for all fetuses submitted to the Tulare branch of the California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory between January 1985 and December 1990. Regression analysis of 221 cases of Neospora among 762 fetuses submitted showed a weak increasing secular trend (P = 0.053, r2 = 0.05), with predicted monthly proportions at the beginning and end of the 6 yr of 0.16 and 0.33, respectively. Using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov-type statistic, comparison of the 12-mo distribution of Neospora sp. cases and a hypothetical distribution of cows at risk of aborting found about 16% of variation in cases was attributable to season (P fall. Results indicate that Neospora sp. abortion in California dairy cows is not new or recently emerging and that seasonally related factors influence some of the risk of abortion. Results suggest that Neospora sp. has contributed to the high dairy cow abortion rate for many years, and that seasonally varying exposures may predispose to transmission or recrudescence of infection.

  5. The practice of mindfulness: from Buddhism to secular mainstream in a post-secular society

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liselotte Frisk

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article focuses on the practice of mindfulness, which has migrated from being part of a religion, Buddhism, to being an integral part of Western psychology. Mindfulness is especially used in cognitive behavioural therapy, but also in, e.g., dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT. In Sweden several doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists use and recommend mindfulness for therapeutic purposes. Mindfulness is used today in many segments of mainstream medical and therapeutic care. Mindfulness is also used outside the mainstream medical and therapeutic sector, in the area of personal development or spirituality, as well as in more traditional Buddhist groups and innovative Buddhist groups such as vipassana groups. This paper investigates the migration of mindfulness from a religious to a secular sphere, and discusses whether mindfulness is a religious practice or not.

  6. Secular trends of growth and pubertal maturation of school children in Southern Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaruratanasirikul, Somchit; Sriplung, Hutcha

    2015-01-01

    In Thailand, studies of growth date back to 1975, but there have been no studies examining any trends in increasing/decreasing growth. To determine if there have been any secular trends of increasing/decreasing growth and/or ages at puberty in Thai children. In 2012, a cross-sectional study of growth was conducted in 3460 children. The median heights and weights and the ages of pubertal maturation were compared with previous studies. Correlations between the secular trends and the health statistics indicators were calculated. From 1975-2012, the median final height of boys and girls had increased by 1.32 and 0.86 cm/decade and weight by 2.49 and 1.76 kg/decade, respectively. In girls, the age at thelarche and menarche had declined by 0.39 and 0.12 years/decade, respectively. In boys, the age at testicular enlargement Tanner II had declined by 0.15 years/decade. Increased physical growth was positively correlated to life expectancy, per capita income and prevalence of overweight/obesity was negatively correlated to prevalence of malnutrition and under-five mortality rate. The positive secular trend towards an increase in growth and a decline in the age at onset of puberty of Thai children is correlated with improvements in overall living conditions in Thailand.

  7. Formation of the Russian Federation as a secular state (XVII century - beginning of the XXI century: historical and theoretical aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor Pibaev

    2015-10-01

     Abstract: The article examines main stages of formation of the secular state in the Russian Federation. The author provides historical and legal overview of the development of secularism in Russia in the period starting from 1701 to the present days.

  8. Genetic variation in Phoca vitulina (the harbour seal) revealed by DNA fingerprinting and RAPDs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kappe, A.L.; van de Zande, L.; Vedder, E.J.; Bijlsma, R.; van Delden, Wilke

    Genetic variation in two harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) populations from the Dutch Wadden Sea and Scotland was examined by RAPD analysis and DNA fingerprinting. For comparison a population of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) was studied. The RAPD method revealed a very low number of polymorphic bands.

  9. Access to abortion and secular liberties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Arriada Lorea

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In Brazil, facing an issue like abortion requires a secular perspective since the freedom of conscience assured by the Federal Constitution places upon the State the need to regard not only different viewpoints of different religions, but more specifically assure the right to diversity existing within a same religion, as well as the right to exercise different views from those of the hierarchy of his/her own religion. As such, there is no legal barrier for the decriminalization of abortion in the country. It is up to legislators to reform the present law and decriminalize abortion, assuming the commitments Brazil has assumed with international human-rights organizations, thus assuring the efficacy of civil liberties.

  10. Secular trends on traditional ecological knowledge: An analysis of different domains of knowledge among Tsimane' men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyes-García, Victoria; Luz, Ana C; Gueze, Maximilien; Paneque-Gálvez, Jaime; Macía, Manuel J; Orta-Martínez, Martí; Pino, Joan

    2013-10-01

    Empirical research provides contradictory evidence of the loss of traditional ecological knowledge across societies. Researchers have argued that culture, methodological differences, and site-specific conditions are responsible for such contradictory evidences. We advance and test a third explanation: the adaptive nature of traditional ecological knowledge systems. Specifically, we test whether different domains of traditional ecological knowledge experience different secular changes and analyze trends in the context of other changes in livelihoods. We use data collected among 651 Tsimane' men (Bolivian Amazon). Our findings indicate that different domains of knowledge follow different secular trends. Among the domains of knowledge analyzed, medicinal and wild edible knowledge appear as the most vulnerable; canoe building and firewood knowledge seem to remain constant across generations; whereas house building knowledge seems to experience a slight secular increase. Our analysis reflects on the adaptive nature of traditional ecological knowledge, highlighting how changes in this knowledge system respond to the particular needs of a society in a given point of time.

  11. [Civic religion, civil religion, secular religion. a historiographical investigation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boucheron, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    Because of its conceptual plasiticity, the term civic religion is now widely used by historians, particularly historians of the Middle Ages. Yet, as this article suggests, historians would do well to interrogate the relationships (which can be hidden) that this term bears to similar concepts such as Greek Roman civic religion, Enlightenment civil religion or even the secular religion that emerged in the work of 20(th) century thinkers.

  12. Cohorts based on decade of death: no evidence for secular trends favoring later cohorts in cognitive aging and terminal decline in the AHEAD study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hülür, Gizem; Infurna, Frank J; Ram, Nilam; Gerstorf, Denis

    2013-03-01

    Studies of birth-year cohorts examined over the same age range often report secular trends favoring later-born cohorts, who are cognitively fitter and show less steep cognitive declines than earlier-born cohorts. However, there is initial evidence that those advantages of later-born cohorts do not carry into the last years of life, suggesting that pervasive mortality-related processes minimize differences that were apparent earlier in life. Elaborating this work from an alternative perspective on cohort differences, we compared rates of cognitive aging and terminal decline in episodic memory between cohorts based on the year participants had died, earlier (between 1993 and 1999) or later in historical time (between 2000 and 2010). Specifically, we compared trajectories of cognitive decline in 2 death-year cohorts of participants in the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old study that were matched on age at death and education and controlled for a variety of additional covariates. Results revealed little evidence of secular trends favoring later cohorts. To the contrary, the cohort that died in the 2000s showed a less favorable trajectory of age-related memory decline than the cohort that died in the 1990s. In examinations of change in relation to time to death, the cohort dying in the 2000s experienced even steeper terminal declines than the cohort dying in the 1990s. We suggest that secular increases in "manufacturing" survival may exacerbate age- and mortality-related cognitive declines among the oldest old.

  13. Lateral temperature variations at the core-mantle boundary deduced from the magnetic field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloxham, Jeremy; Jackson, Andrew

    1990-01-01

    Recent studies of the secular variation of the earth's magnetic field over periods of a few centuries have suggested that the pattern of fluid motion near the surface of earth's outer core may be strongly influenced by lateral temperature variations in the lowermost mantle. This paper introduces a self-consistent method for finding the temperature variations near the core surface by assuming that the dynamical balance there is geostrophic and that lateral density variations there are thermal in origin. As expected, the lateral temperature variations are very small. Some agreement is found between this pattern and the pattern of topography of the core-mantle boundary, but this does not conclusively answer to what extent core surface motions are controlled by the mantle, rather than being determined by processes in the core.

  14. Revisiting diversity: cultural variation reveals the constructed nature of emotion perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gendron, Maria

    2017-10-01

    The extent of cultural variation in emotion perception has long been assumed to be bounded by underlying universality. A growing body of research reveals, however, that evidence of universality in emotion perception is method-bound. Without the assumption of underlying universality, new lines of inquiry become relevant. Accumulating evidence suggests that cultures vary in what cues are relevant to perceptions of emotion. Further, cultural groups vary in their spontaneous inferences; mental state inference does not appear to be the only, or even most routine, mode of perception across cultures. Finally, setting universality assumptions aside requires innovation in the theory and measurement of culture. Recent studies reveal the promise of refinements in psychological approaches to culture. Together, the available evidence is consistent with a view of emotion perceptions as actively constructed by perceivers to fit the social and physical constraints of their cultural worlds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The Universal Constitutionalism in an Age of Religious Diversity. Western Secularism Tested by “New” Cultural Conflicts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesco Alicino

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available An abridged version of this article (reported by Prof. Nicola Colaianni, University of Bari “Aldo Moro” was presented at the Seminar on “Secularism and Liberal Constitutionalism”, held at the University of LUISS “Guido Carli” (Rome on 6th July 2010.This article is due to be published in the International Review of Sociology, in 2011. SUMMARY: 1. Introduction – 2. Relation-Collaboration between the State and Churches in Constitutional Democracies – 3. The laicité à la française Tested by a Deprivatised Religious Process – 3.1. The French Rigid Secularism. Freedom (of Religion through the State – 4. Canada’s Open Secularism. The  question of Religious-Based Family Law Disputes – 4.1 Reasonable Accommodation and “New” Religious Nomoi Groups – 5. Collaboration-Relation between the State and Churches in Italy – 5.1. The Italian Secularism Tested by the New “Religious Geography” – 6. Conclusion. Abstract Under the pressing process of immigration and globalisation many Western constitutional democracies have moved from a number of religions, sharing a common culture, to today's age of diversity. As opposed to the past, the current democracies are facing the lack of overlapping consensus over the basic constitutional laws: namely, the meaning and the scope of freedom of religion, secularism, the separation Church-State, equal treatment and the rule of law. This is because individuals often come to adopt their basic values by very different ways. The nature, scope and force of such values are likely to be affected by competing and, sometimes, contested fundamental values and worldviews. From here stems the pressing tension – or dilemma – between “unity” and “diversity”. This essay starts with general considerations about the freedom of religion principle, strictly related with the “separation” as well as “collaboration” between secular States and Churches; then the author analyses three case

  16. Metabolomics reveals variation and correlation among different tissues of olive (Olea europaea L.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rao Guodong

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Metabolites in olives are associated with nutritional value and physiological properties. However, comprehensive information regarding the olive metabolome is limited. In this study, we identified 226 metabolites from three different tissues of olive using a non-targeted metabolomic profiling approach, of which 76 named metabolites were confirmed. Further statistical analysis revealed that these 76 metabolites covered different types of primary metabolism and some of the secondary metabolism pathways. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA statistical assay was performed to calculate the variations within the detected metabolites, and levels of 65 metabolites were differentially expressed in different samples. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA dendrograms showed variations among different tissues that were similar to the metabolite profiles observed in new leaves and fruit. Additionally, 5776 metabolite-metabolite correlations were detected by a Pearson correlation coefficient approach. Screening of the calculated correlations revealed 3136, 3025, and 5184 were determined to metabolites and had significant correlations in three different combinations, respectively. This work provides the first comprehensive metabolomic of olive, which will provide new insights into understanding the olive metabolism, and potentially help advance studies in olive metabolic engineering.

  17. Zeno dynamics and high-temperature master equations beyond secular approximation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Militello, B; Messina, A; Scala, M

    2013-01-01

    Complete positivity of a class of maps generated by master equations derived beyond the secular approximation is discussed. The connection between such a class of evolutions and the physical properties of the system is analyzed in depth. It is also shown that under suitable hypotheses a Zeno dynamics can be induced because of the high temperature of the bath. (paper)

  18. Leo Tolstoy’s Anticlericalism in Its Context and Beyond: A Case against Churches and Clerics, Religious and Secular

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandre Christoyannopoulos

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available In the last thirty years of his life, Leo Tolstoy wrote numerous books, essays and pamphlets expounding his newly-articulated views on violence, the state, the church, and on how to improve the human condition. Since then, these “Christian anarchist” views have often been dismissed as utopian or naive, and, despite inspiring many activists and intellectuals, often forgotten or ignored. Some of those views and arguments, however, arguably remain apposite today—and can in some cases be applied to broader phenomena than those he identified. This article focuses on one of the aspects of his Christian anarchist thought: his anticlericalism. The first Section recounts the evolution of Tolstoy’s views on religion and the church, and briefly describes Tolstoy’s peculiar metaphysics. The second outlines his main charges against the church, discusses some common objections to it, and considers the continuing relevance of his anticlericalism. The third seeks to secularise his anticlerical arguments by applying them beyond the church, against secular preachers and institutions, and does so by reflecting on the quality of debate in the contemporary public sphere, on the hypocritical distance between the morality preached by secular “clerics” and their practice, and on the steady process of ossification and betrayal which befalls secular political ideals. The article thus contributes to the literature firstly by summarising, discussing and reflecting upon the anticlericalism of a famous writer who also espoused controversial religious and political views; secondly by succinctly outlining his idiosyncratic metaphysics, including his peculiar reinterpretation of traditional Christian referents; and thirdly by applying the arguments that informed his criticisms of the church to a broader variety of religious and secular secular institutions.

  19. Secular and religious: the intrinsic doubleness of analytical psychology and the hegemony of naturalism in the social sciences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Main, Roderick

    2013-06-01

    In recent years a number of prominent social theorists, including Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, have voiced concern about the hegemony of naturalistic, secular assumptions in the social sciences, and in their different ways have sought to address this by establishing greater parity between secular and religious perspectives. This paper suggests that C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, which hitherto has been largely ignored by social theory, may have something to contribute on this issue as it can be understood coherently both empirically, without reference to transcendent reality, and metaphysically, with reference to transcendent reality. It is argued that, despite his denials of any metaphysical intent, Jung does in fact engage in metaphysics and that together the empirical and metaphysical vectors of his thought result in a rich and distinctive double perspective. This dual secular and religious perspective can be seen as part of Jung's own critique of the hegemony of naturalism and secularism, which for Jung has profound social as well as clinical relevance. The concern and approach that Habermas and Taylor share with Jung on this issue may provide some grounds for increased dialogue between analytical psychology and the social sciences. © 2013, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

  20. Secular Trends in the Incidence of Dementia in a Multi-Ethnic Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noble, James M; Schupf, Nicole; Manly, Jennifer J; Andrews, Howard; Tang, Ming-Xin; Mayeux, Richard

    2017-10-03

    Determination of secular trends in cognitive aging is important for prioritization of resources, services, and research in aging populations. Prior studies have identified declining dementia incidence associated with changes in cardiovascular risk factors and increased educational attainment. However, few studies have examined these factors in multi-ethnic cohorts. To identify secular trends in the incidence rate of dementia in an elderly population. Participants in this study were drawn from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project, a multi-ethnic cohort study of northern Manhattan residents aged 65 years and older. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine differences in the incidence of dementia in cohorts recruited in 1992 and 1999, with age at dementia or age at last follow-up visit as the "time-to-event" variable. Overall, there was a 41% reduction in the hazard ratio for dementia among participants in the 1999 cohort compared with those in the 1992 cohort, adjusting for age, sex, race, and baseline memory complaints (HR = 0.59). The reduction in incidence was greatest among non-Hispanic Whites and African-Americans and lowest among Hispanic participants (HRs = 0.60, 0.52 and 0.64, respectively), and was associated with increases in level of educational attainment, especially among African-Americans. Reduction in incidence of dementia was also greater among persons 75 years or older than among younger participants (HR = 0.52 versus HR = 0.69). Our results support previous findings that secular trends in dementia incidence are changing, including in aging minority populations.

  1. Neo-Hindu Fundamentalism Challenging the Secular and Pluralistic Indian State

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gino Battaglia

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Secularism seems to require separation between religion and State. Regarding India, it would be better to speak of ‘equidistance’ between State and religious denominations. Nonetheless a ‘balanced treatment’ towards the religions leaves the question open as to what form that equidistance should take. This is the reason of some contradictions in today’s Indian social and political life. It is likely that without the Moghul and British domination Hinduism would not have acquired a militant identity. It was the ‘epiphany’ of well-armed, powerful ‘Others’ (Muslim, Christian or secular which generated frustration and fear to such an extent that a religious nationalism (Hindutva was born. Nehru and the Left of the Congress Party leadership thought that modernity would overcome religion, which is a remnant of the past. They were confident that a political culture based on pluralism and tolerance would become the foundations of the new society. This is exactly what Hindu Nationalism takes issue with: the ‘pseudo-seculars’ project of building the national identity without Hinduism or against Hinduism. Hindutva asserts that Hinduism is the basis of the Indian civilization. The Hindu ethos is the soul of the nation.

  2. New methods for deriving cometary secular light curves: C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Womack, Maria; Lastra, Nathan; Harrington, Olga; Curtis, Anthony; Wierzchos, Kacper; Ruffini, Nicholas; Charles, Mentzer; Rabson, David; Cox, Timothy; Rivera, Isabel; Micciche, Anthony

    2017-10-01

    We present an algorithm for reducing scatter and increasing precision in a comet light curve. As a demonstration, we processed apparent magnitudes of comet Hale-Bopp from 16 highly experienced observers (archived with the International Comet Quarterly), correcting for distance from Earth and phase angle. Different observers tend to agree on the difference in magnitudes of an object at different distances, but the magnitude reported by observer is shifted relative to that of another for an object at a fixed distance. We estimated the shifts using a self-consistent statistical approach, leading to a sharper light curve and improving the precision of the measured slopes. The final secular lightcurve for comet Hale-Bopp ranges from -7 au (pre-perihelion) to +8 au (post-perihelion) and is the best secular light curve produced to date for this “great” comet. We discuss Hale-Bopp’s lightcurve evolution and possibly related physical implications, and potential usefulness of this light curve for comparisons with other future bright comets. We also assess the appropriateness of using secular lightcurves to characterize dust production rates in Hale-Bopp and other dust-rich comets. M.W. acknowledges support from NSF grant AST-1615917.

  3. Effects of Antipsychotics on Secular Mortality Trends in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, René Ernst; Valentin, Jan B; Lolk, Annette

    2018-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To investigate secular changes in mortality rates between patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the general population as well as changes in antipsychotic drug treatment and the association between drug treatment and mortality in patients with AD in Denmark during a 12-year study...

  4. A Multi-Disciplinary Inquiry of Secular and Christian Approaches to Sex Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Chong Ho; Lee, Hyun Seo

    2018-01-01

    Secular scholars have criticized Christian education and counseling on sex as restrictive, ineffective, and outdated. The authors of the current study explored both common non-Christian and Christian approaches to human sexuality with reference to overarching domains of religion, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Secular…

  5. Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities Convergence: Introduction to the Special Issue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Small, Jenny L.; Bowman, Nicholas A.

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this special issue is to share the best research, theory, practice, and perspectives from presenters at the 2017 Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities Convergence conference, alongside the new writing of scholars and practitioners who were inspired by the themes of the conference. Readers will have access both to the best of…

  6. The European Court of Human Rights, Secular Education and Public Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arthur, James; Holdsworth, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Since 9/11 the European Court of Human Rights (the European Court) has raised anew the question of the relationship between religion and public education. In its reasoning, the European Court has had to consider competing normative accounts of the secular, either to accept or deny claims to religious liberty within Europe's public education…

  7. Secular Trends in the Physical Fitness of American Youth, Young Adults and Army Recruits

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Knapik, Joseph

    2004-01-01

    This paper reviews the literature and existing databases for information on secular trends in the physical fitness of young Americans and describes changes in fitness during Basic Combat Training (BCT...

  8. Examining secular trend  and seasonality in count data using dynamic generalized linear modelling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lundbye-Christensen, Søren; Dethlefsen, Claus; Gorst-Rasmussen, Anders

    series regression model for Poisson counts. It differs in allowing the regression coefficients to vary gradually over time in a random fashion. Data  In the period January 1980 to 1999, 17,989 incidents of acute myocardial infarction were recorded in the county of Northern Jutland, Denmark. Records were......Aims  Time series of incidence counts often show secular trends and seasonal patterns. We present a model for incidence counts capable of handling a possible gradual change in growth rates and seasonal patterns, serial correlation and overdispersion. Methods  The model resembles an ordinary time...... updated daily. Results  The model with a seasonal pattern and an approximately linear trend was fitted to the data, and diagnostic plots indicate a good model fit. The analysis with the dynamic model revealed peaks coinciding with influenza epidemics. On average the peak-to-trough ratio is estimated...

  9. Secular trend of the leading causes of death in China from 2003 to ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Secular trend of the leading causes of death in China from 2003 to 2013. ... African Health Sciences ... respiratory, and digestive system diseases in urban areas and genito-urinary system diseases in rural areas decreased during this period ...

  10. A few more comments on secularly growing loop corrections in strong electric fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akhmedov, E.T.; Popov, F.K.

    2015-01-01

    We extend the observations of our previous paper http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2014)071 [http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.5285]. particular, we show that the secular growth of the loop corrections to the two-point correlation functions is gauge independent: we observe the same growth in the case of the static gauge for the constant background electric field. Furthermore we solve the kinetic equation describing photon production from the background fields, which was derived in our previous paper and allows one to sum up leading secularly growing corrections from all loops. Finally, we show that in the constant electric field background the one-loop correction to the current of the produced pairs is not zero: it also grows with time and violates time translational and reversal invariance of QED on the constant electric field background.

  11. Examination of US puberty-timing data from 1940 to 1994 for secular trends

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Euling, Susan Y; Herman-Giddens, Marcia E; Lee, Peter A

    2008-01-01

    or girls. A majority of the panelists agreed that data are sufficient to suggest a trend toward an earlier breast development onset and menarche in girls but not for other female pubertal markers. A minority of panelists concluded that the current data on girls' puberty timing for any marker...... are insufficient. Almost all panelists concluded, on the basis of few studies and reliability issues of some male puberty markers, that current data for boys are insufficient to evaluate secular trends in male pubertal development. The panel agreed that altered puberty timing should be considered an adverse effect......Whether children, especially girls, are entering and progressing through puberty earlier today than in the mid-1900s has been debated. Secular trend analysis, based on available data, is limited by data comparability among studies in different populations, in different periods of time, and using...

  12. Debating Modernity as Secular Religion: Hans Kelsen’s futile exchange with Eric Voegelin

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomassen, Bjørn

    2014-01-01

    This article reviews the mysterious and recently published last book by Hans Kelsen, “Secular Religion. A Polemic Against the Misinterpretation of Modern Social Philosophy, Science and Politics as ‘New Religions’”, contextualizing it with reference to the little known dialogue between Hans Kelsen...... and Eric Voegelin. The confrontation between Kelsen and Voegelin, two of the most illustrious émigré scholars who found in America their new home, is important to revisit because it touches upon several axes of debate of crucial importance to postwar intellectual history: the religion/secularity debate......, the positivist/anti-positivist debates, and the controversy that also led to the famous Voegelin/Arendt debate: how to read the horrors of totalitarianism into a historical trajectory of modernity. Although the Kelsen/Voegelin exchange ended in failure and bitterness its substance matter goes to the heart...

  13. 1H NMR-based metabolic profiling reveals inherent biological variation in yeast and nematode model systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szeto, Samuel S. W.; Reinke, Stacey N.; Lemire, Bernard D.

    2011-01-01

    The application of metabolomics to human and animal model systems is poised to provide great insight into our understanding of disease etiology and the metabolic changes that are associated with these conditions. However, metabolomic studies have also revealed that there is significant, inherent biological variation in human samples and even in samples from animal model systems where the animals are housed under carefully controlled conditions. This inherent biological variability is an important consideration for all metabolomics analyses. In this study, we examined the biological variation in 1 H NMR-based metabolic profiling of two model systems, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Using relative standard deviations (RSD) as a measure of variability, our results reveal that both model systems have significant amounts of biological variation. The C. elegans metabolome possesses greater metabolic variance with average RSD values of 29 and 39%, depending on the food source that was used. The S. cerevisiae exometabolome RSD values ranged from 8% to 12% for the four strains examined. We also determined whether biological variation occurs between pairs of phenotypically identical yeast strains. Multivariate statistical analysis allowed us to discriminate between pair members based on their metabolic phenotypes. Our results highlight the variability of the metabolome that exists even for less complex model systems cultured under defined conditions. We also highlight the efficacy of metabolic profiling for defining these subtle metabolic alterations.

  14. SECULAR EVOLUTION OF COMPACT BINARIES NEAR MASSIVE BLACK HOLES: GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SOURCES AND OTHER EXOTICA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Antonini, Fabio; Perets, Hagai B.

    2012-01-01

    The environment near supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei contains a large number of stars and compact objects. A fraction of these are likely to be members of binaries. Here we discuss the binary population of stellar black holes and neutron stars near SMBHs and focus on the secular evolution of such binaries, due to the perturbation by the SMBH. Binaries with highly inclined orbits with respect to their orbit around the SMBH are strongly affected by secular Kozai processes, which periodically change their eccentricities and inclinations (Kozai cycles). During periapsis approach, at the highest eccentricities during the Kozai cycles, gravitational wave (GW) emission becomes highly efficient. Some binaries in this environment can inspiral and coalesce at timescales much shorter than a Hubble time and much shorter than similar binaries that do not reside near an SMBH. The close environment of SMBHs could therefore serve as a catalyst for the inspiral and coalescence of binaries and strongly affect their orbital properties. Such compact binaries would be detectable as GW sources by the next generation of GW detectors (e.g., advanced-LIGO). Our analysis shows that ∼0.5% of such nuclear merging binaries will enter the LIGO observational window while on orbits that are still very eccentric (e ∼> 0.5). The efficient GW analysis for such systems would therefore require the use of eccentric templates. We also find that binaries very close to the SMBH could evolve through a complex dynamical (non-secular) evolution, leading to emission of several GW pulses during only a few years (though these are likely to be rare). Finally, we note that the formation of close stellar binaries, X-ray binaries, and their merger products could be induced by similar secular processes, combined with tidal friction rather than GW emission as in the case of compact object binaries.

  15. Contemplative Science and Secular Ethics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brendan Ozawa-de Silva

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This article argues that the emerging project of contemplative science will be best served if it is informed by two perspectives. First, attention should be paid not only to non-analytical and/or mindfulness-based practices, but to a fuller range of contemplative practices, including analytical styles of meditation. Second, the issue of ethics must be addressed as a framework within which to understand contemplative practice: both theoretically in order to understand better the practices themselves and the traditions they come from, and practically in order to understand the ways in which contemplative practices are deployed in contemporary societies. The Tibetan Buddhist Lojong (blo sbyong tradition and secularized practices derived from it, which are now an area of study in contemplative science, are examined as a kind of case study in order to make these two points and illustrate their importance and relevance for the future of this emerging field.

  16. Between Christianity and secularity: counselling and psychotherapy provision in Scotland

    OpenAIRE

    Bondi, Liz

    2013-01-01

    Counselling and psychotherapy services have become increasingly prominent within modern urban welfare. Although often perceived to be intrinsically secular, since psychoanalytic thinking and practice arrived in Scotland it has been shaped by the Christian culture it encountered. Early Scottish-born contributors to psychoanalytic theory, including Ian Suttie and W.R.D. Fairbairn, reframed Freud’s ideas in ways that incorporated Scottish Presbyterian understandings of what it is to be human. A ...

  17. Integrative analysis of RNA, translation, and protein levels reveals distinct regulatory variation across humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cenik, Can; Cenik, Elif Sarinay; Byeon, Gun W; Grubert, Fabian; Candille, Sophie I; Spacek, Damek; Alsallakh, Bilal; Tilgner, Hagen; Araya, Carlos L; Tang, Hua; Ricci, Emiliano; Snyder, Michael P

    2015-11-01

    Elucidating the consequences of genetic differences between humans is essential for understanding phenotypic diversity and personalized medicine. Although variation in RNA levels, transcription factor binding, and chromatin have been explored, little is known about global variation in translation and its genetic determinants. We used ribosome profiling, RNA sequencing, and mass spectrometry to perform an integrated analysis in lymphoblastoid cell lines from a diverse group of individuals. We find significant differences in RNA, translation, and protein levels suggesting diverse mechanisms of personalized gene expression control. Combined analysis of RNA expression and ribosome occupancy improves the identification of individual protein level differences. Finally, we identify genetic differences that specifically modulate ribosome occupancy--many of these differences lie close to start codons and upstream ORFs. Our results reveal a new level of gene expression variation among humans and indicate that genetic variants can cause changes in protein levels through effects on translation. © 2015 Cenik et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  18. Defining and Distinguishing Secular and Religious Terrorism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heather S. Gregg

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Religious terrorism is typically characterised as acts of unrestrained, irrational and indiscriminant violence, thus offering few if any policy options for counterterrorism measures. This assumption about religious terrorism stems from two challenges in the literature: disproportionate attention to apocalyptic terrorism, and a lack of distinction between religious terrorism and its secular counterpart. This article, therefore, aims to do four things: define and differentiate religiously motivated terrorism from traditional terrorism; investigate three goals of religious terrorism (fomenting the apocalypse, creating a religious government, and establishing a religiously pure state; consider the role of leadership and target selection of religious terrorists; and, finally, suggest a range of counterterrorism strategies based on these observations.

  19. Variaciones seculares de período en las RR Lyrae de ω~Centauri

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marraco, H. G.; Milesi, G. E.

    Utilizando 689 observaciones de 35 estrellas RR Lyrae del cúmulo globular ω Centauri hemos obtenido nuevas determinaciones de sus períodos y sus correspondientes variaciones seculares. Las observaciones fueron obtenidas de la literatura con la excepción de un grupo 66 determinaciones que se presentan por vez primera aquí. Utilizando el parámetro testigo σ descripto en Marraco & Muzzio (Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific 92, 700, 1980), hemos realizado un ajuste bidimensional en P y β (donde β es la variación secular del período). Con este fin la totalidad de las 689 observaciones fueron llevadas a un sistema fotométrico común. Para esto se realizó un cuidadoso análisis de los numerosos errores en la identificación de las estrellas de las series de comparación. Los resultados de los ajustes bidimensionales fueron analizados utilizando técnicas de procesamiento de imágenes. Con este fin el parámetro de ajuste σ fue representado como función de P y β. En las imágenes resultantes se buscaron los mínimos y al menor de ellos se lo aceptó como período instantáneo verdadero y su variación secular β. La determinación precisa de cada parámetro se realizó mediante ajuste de gaussianas y se determinaron sus errores. A modo de ejemplo la variable #8 fue analizada en una matriz de 501 × 501 elementos representando el parámetro σ para valores comprendidos entre 0,521034 son P = 0,5212859±0,0000001 días y β 14,012±,010×10-10 días/día respectivamente. Con estos valores el parámetro testigo resulta σ= 0,127 . Si no se tiene en cuenta la variación secular del período y se busca aquél de mejor ajuste para β = 0, se obtiene P = 0,5212960 días, pero entonces el parámetro de ajuste resulta tan alto como σ = 0,23 .

  20. Reference frame access under the effects of great earthquakes: a least squares collocation approach for non-secular post-seismic evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez, D. D.; Piñón, D. A.; Smalley, R.; Bevis, M.; Cimbaro, S. R.; Lenzano, L. E.; Barón, J.

    2016-03-01

    The 2010, (Mw 8.8) Maule, Chile, earthquake produced large co-seismic displacements and non-secular, post-seismic deformation, within latitudes 28°S-40°S extending from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans. Although these effects are easily resolvable by fitting geodetic extended trajectory models (ETM) to continuous GPS (CGPS) time series, the co- and post-seismic deformation cannot be determined at locations without CGPS (e.g., on passive geodetic benchmarks). To estimate the trajectories of passive geodetic benchmarks, we used CGPS time series to fit an ETM that includes the secular South American plate motion and plate boundary deformation, the co-seismic discontinuity, and the non-secular, logarithmic post-seismic transient produced by the earthquake in the Posiciones Geodésicas Argentinas 2007 (POSGAR07) reference frame (RF). We then used least squares collocation (LSC) to model both the background secular inter-seismic and the non-secular post-seismic components of the ETM at the locations without CGPS. We tested the LSC modeled trajectories using campaign and CGPS data that was not used to generate the model and found standard deviations (95 % confidence level) for position estimates for the north and east components of 3.8 and 5.5 mm, respectively, indicating that the model predicts the post-seismic deformation field very well. Finally, we added the co-seismic displacement field, estimated using an elastic finite element model. The final, trajectory model allows accessing the POSGAR07 RF using post-Maule earthquake coordinates within 5 cm for ˜ 91 % of the passive test benchmarks.

  1. Tendencia secular da amamentacao no Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Isoyama Venancio

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Com o objetivo de documentar a tendência secular da amamentação no Brasil, foram reanalisadas as bases de dados de sete pesquisas nacionais realizadas de 1975 a 2008. Para obter dados comparáveis entre os diferentes inquéritos, foram analisadas as mesmas faixas etárias e indicadores, e utilizadas as mesmas técnicas estatísticas. A duração mediana da amamentação aumentou de 2,5 para 11,3 meses e a prevalência da amamentação exclusiva em menores de seis meses passou de 3,1% para 41,0% no período. Os resultados apontam importantes desafios no sentido de acelerar o ritmo de crescimento dessa prática no País, rumo às recomendações internacionais.

  2. The Shi'ites, the West and the Future of Democracy: Reframing Political Change in a Religio-secular World

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John A Rees

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available The present article critically reviews Paul McGeough’s important analysis of the most recent Iraq war within a broader consideration of secular-religious relations in international affairs. The thesis of Mission Impossible: The Sheikhs, the US and the Future of Iraq (2004 can be summarised around two ideas: that the US strategy in Iraq was flawed because it wilfully bypassed the traditional power structures of Iraqi society; and that these structures, formed around the tribe and the mosque, are anti-democratic thus rendering attempts at democratisation impossible. The article affirms McGeough’s argument concerning the inadequacy of the US strategy, but critically examines the author’s fatalism toward the democratic capacity of Iraqi structures, notably the structure of the mosque. By broadening the notion of democracy to include religious actors and agendas, and by an introductory interpretation of the Shi’ite community as vital players in an emerging Iraqi democracy, the article attempts to deconstruct the author’s secularist view that the world of the mosque exists in a ‘parallel universe’ to the liberal democratic West. Reframing the Shi’ites as essential actors in the democratic project thus situates political discourse in a ‘religio-secular world’ and brings the ‘other worlds’ of religion and secularism together in a sphere of interdependence. Such an approach emphasises the importance of post-secular structures in the discourses on democratic change.

  3. Secular Volunteerism among Texan Emerging Adults: Exploring Pathways of Childhood and Adulthood Religiosity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reed T. DeAngelis

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Prior research suggests that religiosity, especially public religious participation, is related to greater volunteerism. However, less is known about religious transmission across the life course, in particular whether and how religiosity in childhood is linked to later life volunteerism. This study investigates a sample of emerging adults in South Texas (n = 701 with a high percent of Hispanic Americans (53 percent. Specifically, we examine pathways of childhood and emerging adulthood religiosity leading to secular volunteerism. Findings indicate that both childhood and emerging adulthood religiosity are associated with greater volunteerism, but the effects of childhood religiosity on emerging adulthood volunteerism are mediated through emerging adulthood religiosity. These findings provide further confirmation of the importance of childhood religiosity only insofar as religiousness persists into adulthood. In other words, we find that it is emerging adulthood religiosity that transmits childhood religiosity into greater secular volunteerism in later life. Furthermore, emerging adulthood public religiosity has the most robust direct effects on volunteerism.

  4. Religious and territorial identities in a cosmopolitan and secular city: youth in Amsterdam

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mamadouh, V.; van der Welle, I.; Brunn, S.D.

    2015-01-01

    Religion is a much contested issue in Dutch politics and more specifically in Amsterdam. We investigate whether and how religion works as an obstacle or a vehicle for integration for youth in the secular and cosmopolitan Amsterdam. First, we describe the role religion played in the process of nation

  5. Secular Trends in Meal and Snack Patterns among Adolescents from 1999 to 2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Nicole; Story, Mary; Eisenberg, Marla E; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

    2016-02-01

    Linkages between snack patterns, diet, and obesity in adolescents likely depend on the consumption of main meals, how often snacks are prepared away from home, and whether energy-dense, nutrient-poor snack foods and sugary drinks are frequently consumed. Nutrition-based interventions need to be informed by an understanding of how secular changes in the contribution of snacks to dietary intake may be related to changes in meal frequency as well as how these trends differ by sociodemographic characteristics. To examine secular trends from 1999 to 2010 in meal and snack patterns among adolescents. A repeated cross-sectional design was used. Participants from Minneapolis/St Paul, MN, secondary schools completed classroom-administered surveys and food frequency questionnaires in 1999 (n=2,598) and 2010 (n=2,540). Weekly meal frequencies; number of snacks consumed on school and vacation/weekend days; frequent consumption of snacks prepared away from home (≥3 times/week); and daily servings of energy-dense, nutrient-poor food/drinks that are commonly consumed at snack occasions. Trends from 1999 to 2010 were examined using inverse probability weighting to control for differences in sociodemographic characteristics in the two samples. Mean frequencies of breakfast and lunch increased modestly in the overall population (both P values snacks consumed on schools days (Psnacks prepared away from home, there was a secular decrease in energy-dense, nutrient-poor food/drink consumption (Psnack trends among adolescents suggests the need for targeted efforts to ensure public health messages reach low-income and ethnic/racial minority population subgroups most vulnerable to poor nutrition and the development of obesity. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Solar wind velocity and daily variation of cosmic rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahluwalia, H.S.; Riker, J.F.

    1985-01-01

    Recently parameters applicable to the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) have become much better defined. Superior quality of data bases that are now available, particularly for the post-1971 period, make it possible to believe the long-term trends in the data. These data are correlated with the secular changes observed in the diurnal variation parameters obtained from neutron monitor data at Deep River and underground muon telescope data at Embudo (30 MEW) and Socorro (82 MWE). The annual mean amplitudes appear to have large values during the epochs of high speed solar wind streams. Results are discussed

  7. Examination of US puberty-timing data from 1940 to 1994 for secular trends

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Euling, Susan Y; Herman-Giddens, Marcia E; Lee, Peter A

    2008-01-01

    different methods. As a result, conclusions from data comparisons have not been consistent. An expert panel was asked to evaluate the weight of evidence for whether the data, collected from 1940 to 1994, are sufficient to suggest or establish a secular trend in the timing of puberty markers in US boys...

  8. A good social work: women's clubs, libraries, and the construction of a secular society in Utah, 1890-1920.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stauffer, Suzanne M

    2011-01-01

    After the renunciation of polygamy, Mormon women formed secular women's clubs as a means of collaborating with non-Mormon women in the construction of a shared secular society. Their common goal was the establishment and maintenance of the mainstream American social order. Activity in these clubs extended women's sphere into the public realm through socially acceptable public activities such as the temperance cause, civic improvements, political reform movements, and child welfare. The women campaigned for public support of libraries as institutions that would construct, preserve, and transmit American culture, educate the young, strengthen the home and family, and reform society.

  9. Secular trends of body sizes in Korean children and adolescents: from 1965 to 2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin Soo Moon

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available An anthropometric survey is one of the most important approaches to use when evaluating the health status of children. Secular trends in body sizes, such as height, weight, head circumference, chest circumference, and body mass index showed significant changes over 40 years in Korea. A series of periodic surveys were conducted in 1967, 1975, 1985, 1997, and 2005 by the Korean Pediatric Society and Ministry of Health and Welfare. The quality of data from school health examinations and the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has improved, so we can use them now as resources for anthropometric analysis. The final height differences between 1965 and 1997 were 4.5 cm both in boys (168.9 cm in 1965; 173.4 cm in 1997 and girls (155.9 cm in 1965; 160.4 cm in 1997. The differences between 1997 and 2005 were 0.9 cm in boys (174.3cm in 2005 and 0.8 cm in girls (161.2 cm in 2005. There was no difference in final height measurements between 2005 and 2010. An increase in body size at earlier teen ages was pronounced during these decades compared to the previous generation; however, little change has been identified more recently. Body size has been increasing, and obesity has become more prevalent. Systems that gather data should be updated in order to cope with these secular trends. In an upcoming era of secular trends that would be in a slow transition, several surveys that include body measurements should be prepared to meet future needs.

  10. [Adolphe Quetelet and biopolitics as secularized theology].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pich, Santiago

    2013-01-01

    The article recaptures the work of an author who has been forgotten by the contemporary social sciences, that is, the Belgium polymath Adolphe Quetelet. Focusing on his main work, Sur l'homme et le développement de ses facultés, ou Essai de physique sociale, the study underscores how the secularization of theological principles within the realm of science was important to the construction of Quetelet's work. His dual engagement in science and politics is pertinent here, as he was the main nineteenth-century force behind the incorporation of statistics as a science essential to the State's ability to govern its people. He also played a relevant role in the realization of the hegemonic political project of modernity, biopolitics, and its influence in the field of biomedicine in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

  11. {sup 1}H NMR-based metabolic profiling reveals inherent biological variation in yeast and nematode model systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szeto, Samuel S. W.; Reinke, Stacey N.; Lemire, Bernard D., E-mail: bernard.lemire@ualberta.ca [University of Alberta, Department of Biochemistry, School of Molecular and Systems Medicine (Canada)

    2011-04-15

    The application of metabolomics to human and animal model systems is poised to provide great insight into our understanding of disease etiology and the metabolic changes that are associated with these conditions. However, metabolomic studies have also revealed that there is significant, inherent biological variation in human samples and even in samples from animal model systems where the animals are housed under carefully controlled conditions. This inherent biological variability is an important consideration for all metabolomics analyses. In this study, we examined the biological variation in {sup 1}H NMR-based metabolic profiling of two model systems, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Using relative standard deviations (RSD) as a measure of variability, our results reveal that both model systems have significant amounts of biological variation. The C. elegans metabolome possesses greater metabolic variance with average RSD values of 29 and 39%, depending on the food source that was used. The S. cerevisiae exometabolome RSD values ranged from 8% to 12% for the four strains examined. We also determined whether biological variation occurs between pairs of phenotypically identical yeast strains. Multivariate statistical analysis allowed us to discriminate between pair members based on their metabolic phenotypes. Our results highlight the variability of the metabolome that exists even for less complex model systems cultured under defined conditions. We also highlight the efficacy of metabolic profiling for defining these subtle metabolic alterations.

  12. Religious and secular volunteering: A comparison between immigrants and non-immigrants in the Netherlands.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Carabain, C.L.; Bekkers, R.H.F.P.

    2011-01-01

    Using new survey data from the Netherlands, we find that non-immigrants are more likely to volunteer for secular organisations than guest worker immigrants and postcolonial citizen immigrants. In contrast, non-immigrants are less likely to engage in religious volunteering than both immigrant groups.

  13. Fast geomagnetic Field Intensity Variations between 1400 and 400 BCE: New Archaeointensity Data from Germany

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hervé, G.; Schnepp, E.; Metzler-Nebelsick, C.; Lhuillier, F.; Gilder, S.; Genevey, A.; Fassbinder, J.; Gallet, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Thirty-five mean archaeointensity data were obtained on ceramic sherds dated between 1400 and 400 BCE from sites located near Munich, Germany. The 453 sherds were collected from 52 graves, pits and wells dated by archaeological correlation, radiocarbon and/or dendrochronology. Rock magnetic analyses indicate that the remanent magnetization was mainly carried by magnetite. Data from Thellier-Thellier experiments were corrected for anisotropy and cooling rate effects. Triaxe and multispecimen (MSP-DSC) protocols were also measured on a subset of specimens. Around 60% of the samples provide reliable results when using stringent criteria selection. The 35 average archaeointensity values based on 154 pots are consistent with previous data and triple the Western Europe database between 1400 and 400 BCE. A secular variation curve for central-western Europe, built using a Bayesian approach, shows a double oscillation in geomagnetic field strength with intensity maxima of 70 μT around 1000-900 BCE and another up to 90 μT around 600-500 BCE. The maximum rate of variation was 0.25 μT/yr circa 700 BCE. The secular variation trend in Western Europe is similar to that observed in the Middle East and the Caucasus except that we find no evidence for hyper-rapid field variations (i.e. geomagnetic spikes). Virtual Axial Dipole Moments from Western Europe, the Middle East and central Asia differ by more than 20 ZA·m2 prior to 600 BCE, which signifies a departure from an axial dipole field especially between 1000 and 600 BCE. Our observations suggest that the regional Levantine Iron Age anomaly has been accompanied by an increase of the axial dipole moment together with a tilt of the dipole.

  14. Secular dynamics of hierarchical multiple systems composed of nested binaries, with an arbitrary number of bodies and arbitrary hierarchical structure - II. External perturbations: flybys and supernovae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamers, Adrian S.

    2018-05-01

    We extend the formalism of a previous paper to include the effects of flybys and instantaneous perturbations such as supernovae on the long-term secular evolution of hierarchical multiple systems with an arbitrary number of bodies and hierarchy, provided that the system is composed of nested binary orbits. To model secular encounters, we expand the Hamiltonian in terms of the ratio of the separation of the perturber with respect to the barycentre of the multiple system, to the separation of the widest orbit. Subsequently, we integrate over the perturber orbit numerically or analytically. We verify our method for secular encounters and illustrate it with an example. Furthermore, we describe a method to compute instantaneous orbital changes to multiple systems, such as asymmetric supernovae and impulsive encounters. The secular code, with implementation of the extensions described in this paper, is publicly available within AMUSE, and we provide a number of simple example scripts to illustrate its usage for secular and impulsive encounters and asymmetric supernovae. The extensions presented in this paper are a next step towards efficiently modelling the evolution of complex multiple systems embedded in star clusters.

  15. Traditional vs. secular values and work-life well being across Europe

    OpenAIRE

    Georgellis, Y; Lange, T

    2007-01-01

    This paper examines how culture, defined in our analysis by reference to traditional versus secular values, affects the work-life balance across Europe. Specifically, we focus on the factors that affect the propensity of individuals across 30 European countries to exhibit behavioural patterns in the work and life domains consistent with the segmentation, spillover or compensation hypotheses. Testing the latter assertions, our empirical analysis replicates the study by Judge and Watanabe (1994...

  16. American medicine as religious practice: care of the sick as a sacred obligation and the unholy descent into secularization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wardlaw, Margaret P

    2011-03-01

    Modern medicine serves a religious function for modern Americans as a conduit through which science can be applied directly to the human body. The first half of this paper will focus on the theoretical foundations for viewing medicine as a religious practice arguing that just as a hierarchical structured authoritarian church historically mediated access to God, contemporary Western medicine provides a conduit by which the universalizable truths of science can be applied to the human being thereby functioning as a new established religion. I will then illustrate the many parallels between medicine and religion through an analysis of rituals and symbols surrounding and embedded within the modern practice of medicine. This analysis will pay special attention to the primacy placed on secret interior knowledge of the human body. I will end by responding to the hope for a "secularization of American medicine," exploring some of the negative consequences of secularization, and arguing that, rather than seeking to secularize, American medicine should strive to use its religious features to offer hope and healing to the sick, in keeping with its historically religious legacy.

  17. Ancient Ephesus: Processions as Media of Religious and Secular Propaganda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lilian Portefaix

    1993-01-01

    Full Text Available The significance of religious rituals often reaches beyond their strict religious intentions. Specifically a procession, performed in front of the public, is a most effective instrument of disseminating a message to the crowds. Consequently, this ritual, as is well known, has often been used not only in religious but also in secular contexts; a procession under the cloak of religion can even become a politically useful medium to avoid popular disturbances on peaceful terms. This was the case in ancient Ephesus, where Roman power conflicted with Greek culture from the middle of the first century B.C. onwards. In the beginning of the second century A.D. the public religious life in the city of Ephesus was to a great extent characterized by processions relating to the cult of Artemis Ephesia. The one traditionally performed on the birthday of the goddess called to mind the Greek origin of the city; it was strictly associated with the religious sphere bringing about a close relationship between the goddess and her adherents. The other, artificially created by a Roman, was entirely secular, and spread its message every fortnight in the streets of Ephesus. It referred to the political field of action and intended to strengthen the Roman rule over the city. The Greek origin of Ephesian culture was later included in the message of the procession, reminding the Greeks not to rebel against Roman rule.

  18. An investigation of the unexpectedly high fertility of secular, native-born Jews in Israel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okun, Barbara S

    2016-07-01

    Secular, native-born Jews in Israel enjoy the socio-economic status of many affluent populations living in other democratic countries, but have above-replacement period and cohort fertility. This study revealed a constellation of interrelated factors which together characterize the socio-economic, cultural, and political environment of this fertility behaviour and set it apart from that of other advanced societies. The factors are: a combination of state and family support for childbearing; a dual emphasis on the social importance of women's employment and fertility; policies that support working mothers within a conservative welfare regime; a family system in which parents provide significant financial and caregiving aid to their adult children; relatively egalitarian gender-role attitudes and household behaviour; the continuing importance of familist ideology and of marriage as a social institution; the role of Jewish nationalism and collective behaviour in a religious society characterized by ethno-national conflict; and a discourse which defines women as the biological reproducers of the nation. Supplementary material for this article is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2016.1195913.

  19. Situational influences of religious VS. secular symbols on cognition in Nigeria

    OpenAIRE

    Iruayenama, Mark, Abiye

    2016-01-01

    This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London. Nigeria is constitutionally a secular country but its citizens are rated among the most religious in the world by several surveys. Religious symbolism is conspicuous in Nigeria, littered from educational institutions to work environments and market places. Semiotics and semantics have a rich history of the study of symbols, however, symbols are also utilized as primes in psycholog...

  20. Shelley’s Unknown Eros: Post-Secular Love in Epipsychidion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Tomko

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Whether Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Epipsychidion—a Platonic poem on love addressed to the patriarchally imprisoned Theresa Viviani or “Emily”—receives praise or blame has generally been determined by two focal passages: a secular sermon on free love and a planetary allegorical thinly veiling his own imbroglio. This essay re-reads Shelley’s 1821 work drawing on two recent arguments: Stuart Curran’s Dantean call to take the poem’s Florentine narrator seriously as a character, not just as an autobiographical cypher, and Colin Jager’s outline of Shelley’s move beyond the assumptions of his professed atheism after 1816. Based on the poem’s structure and imagery, the paper argues that Epipsychidion critiques the false sense of revolutionary ascent and dualistic escape offered to Emily, who is commodified and erased by the narrator’s egocentric, “counterfeit divinization of eros” (Benedict XVI. Turning from this Radical Enlightenment Platonism, the poem momentarily realizes an embodied, hylomorphic romantic union akin to the Christian nuptial mystery of two becoming “one flesh” (Mark 10:8. This ideal, however, collapses back into solipsism when the narrator cannot understand or accept love as a “unity in duality” (Benedict XVI. This paper thus claims Epipsychidion as a post-secular inquiry into the problem of love whose philosophic limits and theological horizons are both surprising and instructive. It also reclaims Shelley as a phenomenological poet who can open up the world to Christian and non-Christian readers, one whose Platonic and Dantean formation lend him an openness to transcendence and one whose countercultural path through life makes him wary of inhumane appropriations of religion.

  1. The secular rise in IQs in the Netherlands: Is the Flynn Effect on g?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    te Nijenhuis, J.; van der Flier, H.

    2007-01-01

    IQ scores have been increasing over the last half century, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. In this study, we focused on the question to what extent these secular gains are on the g factor. Two IQ batteries: the Interest-School achievement-Intelligence Test (ISI) and the Groningen Final

  2. Religion, secular medicine and utilitarianism: a response to Biggar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Kevin R

    2015-11-01

    Nigel Biggar has argued that religion ought to be given a seat at the negotiating table of medical ethics. I respond in broadly utilitarian terms, arguing that the flawed empirical basis, lack of rationality and non-universality inherent in religion disqualify it from ethical discourse. I conclude that while it would be unacceptable to attempt to debar religious individuals from the negotiating table, an exclusively secular approach is required for ethical decision making in medicine. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  3. The influence of ENSO, PDO and PNA on secular rainfall variations in Hawai‘i

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abby G. Frazier; Oliver Elison Timm; Thomas W. Giambelluca; Henry F. Diaz

    2017-01-01

    Over the last century, significant declines in rainfall across the state of Hawai‘i have been observed, and it is unknown whether these declines are due to natural variations in climate, or manifestations of human-induced climate change. Here, a statistical analysis of the observed rainfall variability was applied as first step towards better understanding causes for...

  4. The timing of normal puberty and the age limits of sexual precocity: variations around the world, secular trends, and changes after migration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parent, Anne-Simone; Teilmann, Grete; Juul, Anders; Skakkebaek, Niels E; Toppari, Jorma; Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre

    2003-10-01

    During the past decade, possible advancement in timing of puberty has been reported in the United States. In addition, early pubertal development and an increased incidence of sexual precocity have been noticed in children, primarily girls, migrating for foreign adoption in several Western European countries. These observations are raising the issues of current differences and secular trends in timing of puberty in relation to ethnic, geographical, and socioeconomic background. None of these factors provide an unequivocal explanation for the earlier onset of puberty seen in the United States. In the formerly deprived migrating children, refeeding and catch-up growth may prime maturation. However, precocious puberty is seen also in some nondeprived migrating children. Attention has been paid to the changing milieu after migration, and recently, the possible role of endocrine- disrupting chemicals from the environment has been considered. These observations urge further study of the onset of puberty as a possible sensitive and early marker of the interactions between environmental conditions and genetic susceptibility that can influence physiological and pathological processes.

  5. Secular variations in composition of the solar wind - Evidence and causes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kerridge, J.F.

    1980-01-01

    Variations in the composition of the regolith due to irradiation by the solar wind are examined by categorizing the exposure history recorded in each sample. The history can be defined by two parameters: the duration of solar wind exposure (maturity) and a measure of how long the exposure took place (antiquity). Three partially successful methods for determining antiquity are described: the regolith contains small amounts of unsupported, trapped radiogenic noble gases, the most common being Ar-40. Assuming relatively prompt outgassing of the lunar interior, the amount of Ar-40 implanted per unit time should be proportional to the lunar content of K-40, and thus should have decayed exponentially over the lifetime of the moon. Normalization to constant exposure duration is achieved by taking the ratio Ar-40/Ar-36 in trapped gas, Ar-36 being an efficiently trapped solar wind species. The second method involves the interaction between galactic cosmic rays and lunar material producing certain spallogenic nuclides which may be analyzed in terms of a cosmic ray exposure age. The third method deals with the fact that there is a general tendency for depth within a core to be related to time deposition; two variants of this method are presented

  6. Exploring the determinants of secular decreases in dental caries among Korean children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hye-Ju; Han, Dong-Hun

    2015-08-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the contributions of sealant and water fluoridation to the time trends in dental caries from 2003 to 2010. Data were from three waves of the Korean National Oral Health Surveys between 2003 and 2010, including a total of 23 059 children (11 889 boys and 11 170 girls) aged 8, 10, and 12 years. The impacts of sealant and water fluoridation on dental caries were obtained by logistic regression for each age group of children. The contributions of sealant and water fluoridation to the time trends in the prevalence of dental caries were examined by a series of logistic regression models, and changes in the adjusted odds ratios for each survey year were also calculated. Over the past 7 years, the prevalence of dental caries decreased dramatically. Although sealant had a significant impact on dental caries in each survey year, remarkable decreases in dental caries from 2003 to 2010 were not explained by the secular changes in the dental sealant or water fluoridation factor. We observed important population declines in dental caries in Korea in children aged 8-12 years; however, the likely causes for these secular trends remain to be determined. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Applications of Pharmacogenetics in Revealing Variations in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    acer

    taking place in molecular biology techniques. Drug action is now more ... the latest findings of genetic variations in pharmacological targets related to disorders of major .... Similarly, Gly 9 allele. (Ser9Gly) of the dopamine D3 receptor gene.

  8. Secular painting in the Ionian islands and Italian art: Aspects of a multi-faceted relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aphrodite Kouria

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The contribution of Italian art, especially Venetian, was decisive to the secularisation of art in the Ionian Islands and the shaping of the so-called Ionian School, in the context of a broader Western influence affecting all aspects of life and culture, especially on the islands of Zakynthos and Corfu. Italian influences, mainly of Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque art, can be identified both on the iconographic and the stylistic level of artworks, with theoretical support. This article explores facets of the dialogue of secular painting in the Ionian with Italian art in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, focussing on works and artists that highlight significant aspects of this multilayered phenomenon and also through secondary channels that expand the horizon of analysis. Procession paintings, with their various connotations, and portraiture, which flourished in secular Ionian art, offer the most interesting material as regards the selection, reception and management of Italian models and points of reference.

  9. Secularization versus religious revival in Eastern Europe: Church institutional resilience, state repression and divergent paths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Northmore-Ball, Ksenia; Evans, Geoffrey

    2016-05-01

    Despite continuing for over two decades, the debate about the nature of the trends in religiosity in post-Communist Eastern Europe remains unresolved: some arguing that these countries are undergoing the same process of secularization as the West, while others insist that the entire region is experiencing a religious revival. Using national sample surveys from the early 1990s to 2007 to examine the change in demographic predictors of religiosity, we show that Catholic and Orthodox countries are experiencing different trends, the first group displaying evidence of secularization and the second of revival, and that these two different trends are likely to derive from the legacies of state repression and the differing abilities of the churches to resist such repression. We argue that the current literature has thus taken a mistakenly general approach, and that the post-Communist region consists of at least two distinct groups of societies with different trends in religiosity. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  10. On the consequences of strong stable stratification at the top of earth's outer core

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloxham, Jeremy

    1990-01-01

    The consequences of strong stable stratification at the top of the earth's fluid outer core are considered, concentrating on the generation of the geomagnetic secular variation. It is assumed that the core near the core-mantle boundary is both strongly stably stratified and free of Lorentz forces: it is found that this set of assumptions severely limits the class of possible motions, none of which is compatible with the geomagnetic secular variation. Relaxing either assumption is adequate: tangentially geostrophic flows are consistent with the secular variation if the assumption that the core is strongly stably stratified is relaxed (while retaining the assumption that Lorentz forces are negligible); purely toroidal flows may explain the secular variation if Lorentz forces are included.

  11. Secularism e post-modernità: qualche eco da oltreoceano

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Ferrari

    2018-01-01

    ABSTRACT: The paper focuses on the works of six North American authors stemming from the conviction that the end of the ‘modern world’ is nigh and we are locked into the irreversible entropy of a secularism understood as a wall of separation between politics and religion. These convictions, together with a strong criticism towards legal positivism, imply the idea of the porousness of the borders between the sacred and profane, and a resulting reciprocal adjustment, an osmosis between the political and the religious spheres. In this paper, I would like to concentrate on the new approaches proposed by these authors and on the historical end epistemological connotations of the posited osmosis between the political and religious spheres.

  12. The sociology of late secularization: social divisions and religiosity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruce, Steve

    2016-12-01

    At the start of the twentieth century the religious differed from the religiously indifferent largely in being religious. Now they differ in a number of other social and demographic characteristics that reduce interaction between the two populations further than simple numbers would require. That some of the main carriers of religion are immigrants or adherents of recently imported faiths reinforces the sense that religion is what other people do. In the context of the stock of religious knowledge being depleted and religion-taken-too-seriously being unpopular, the narrow demographic base of the religious makes conversion unlikely and thus makes the reversal of secularization unlikely. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2016.

  13. A case for variational geomagnetic data assimilation: insights from a one-dimensional, nonlinear, and sparsely observed MHD system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Fournier

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Secular variations of the geomagnetic field have been measured with a continuously improving accuracy during the last few hundred years, culminating nowadays with satellite data. It is however well known that the dynamics of the magnetic field is linked to that of the velocity field in the core and any attempt to model secular variations will involve a coupled dynamical system for magnetic field and core velocity. Unfortunately, there is no direct observation of the velocity. Independently of the exact nature of the above-mentioned coupled system – some version being currently under construction – the question is debated in this paper whether good knowledge of the magnetic field can be translated into good knowledge of core dynamics. Furthermore, what will be the impact of the most recent and precise geomagnetic data on our knowledge of the geomagnetic field of the past and future? These questions are cast into the language of variational data assimilation, while the dynamical system considered in this paper consists in a set of two oversimplified one-dimensional equations for magnetic and velocity fields. This toy model retains important features inherited from the induction and Navier-Stokes equations: non-linear magnetic and momentum terms are present and its linear response to small disturbances contains Alfvén waves. It is concluded that variational data assimilation is indeed appropriate in principle, even though the velocity field remains hidden at all times; it allows us to recover the entire evolution of both fields from partial and irregularly distributed information on the magnetic field. This work constitutes a first step on the way toward the reassimilation of historical geomagnetic data and geomagnetic forecast.

  14. Applications of Pharmacogenetics in Revealing Variations in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This review article presents the latest findings of genetic variations in pharmacological targets related to disorders of major systems such as central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and the respiratory system especially in relation to asthma and the HLA antigen genotype in hypersensitivity reactions. East and Central ...

  15. Familial resemblance in religiousness in a secular society: a twin study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hvidtjørn, Dorte; Petersen, Inge; Hjelmborg, Jacob; Skytthe, Axel; Christensen, Kaare; Hvidt, Niels C

    2013-04-01

    It is well known that human behavior and individual psychological traits are moderately to substantially heritable. Over the past decade, an increasing number of studies have explored the genetic and environmental influence on religiousness. These studies originate predominantly from countries generally considered more religious than the very secular northern European countries. Comparisons of the results are complicated by diverse definitions of religiousness, but several studies indicate that the influence of the family environment is most predominant in early life, whereas genetic influences increase with age. We performed a population-based twin study of religiousness in a secular society using data from a Web-based survey sent to 6,707 Danish twins born 1970-1989, who were identified in the Danish Twin Registry. We applied Fishman's three conceptual dimensions of religiousness: cognition, practice, and importance. In all polygenic models and biometric analyses, we controlled for gender and age. The study sample comprised 2,237 same sex twins, a response rate of 45%. We found high correlations within both monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs in most items of religiousness, indicating a large influence from shared environmental factors. Personal religiousness such as praying to God, believing in God, and finding strength and comfort in religion were more influenced by genetic factors than were social forms of religiousness such as church attendance. We found a small tendency for increasing genetic influence with increasing age for some religious items, but not for all.

  16. The Post-Secular Transformation of the Relation between Religion and Rationality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Miguel Gómez Rincón

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The article examines the idea of a direct link between modernization and the loss of plausibility of religious belief, explores the contemporary image of the relation between religion and rationality, and shows why it is not possible to say that the advance of science leads to secularization. In view of the question regarding whether postsecularization entails the mutual exclusion of religion and rationality, it examines the proposals of J. Habermas and N. Wolterstorff, in a search for normative criteria for the dialogue between religious and non-religious rationalities.

  17. Genome-size Variation in Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum: Flow Cytometry and Cytology Reveal Rampant Aneuploidy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise E. Costich

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Switchgrass ( L., a native perennial dominant of the prairies of North America, has been targeted as a model herbaceous species for biofeedstock development. A flow-cytometric survey of a core set of 11 primarily upland polyploid switchgrass accessions indicated that there was considerable variation in genome size within each accession, particularly at the octoploid (2 = 8 = 72 chromosome ploidy level. Highly variable chromosome counts in mitotic cell preparations indicated that aneuploidy was more common in octoploids (86.3% than tetraploids (23.2%. Furthermore, the incidence of hyper- versus hypoaneuploidy is equivalent in tetraploids. This is clearly not the case in octoploids, where close to 90% of the aneuploid counts are lower than the euploid number. Cytogenetic investigation using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH revealed an unexpected degree of variation in chromosome structure underlying the apparent genomic instability of this species. These results indicate that rapid advances in the breeding of polyploid biofuel feedstocks, based on the molecular-genetic dissection of biomass characteristics and yield, will be predicated on the continual improvement of our understanding of the cytogenetics of these species.

  18. Secular gains in fluid intelligence: evidence from the Culture-Fair intelligence test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colom, Roberto; García-López, Oscar

    2003-01-01

    There is no doubt about the reality of the secular increase in cognitive test scores. However, there is disagreement about a key issue: does the observed increase reflect a genuine upward trend in intelligence? Evidence from the Raven test is clear, although there are some doubts about its adequacy as a fine-grained measure of fluid intelligence. Evidence from the so-called 'method of correlated vectors' is much less clear. When a crystallized battery is considered, the results leave little doubt: the increase does not reflect gains in general intelligence. However, when a fluid battery is analysed, the increase does reflect gains in general intelligence. The present study uses one of the best available measures of fluid intelligence (the Culture-Fair intelligence test) to provide new evidence for the secular increase in fluid intelligence, beyond the findings from the Raven test and the method of correlated vectors. A total of 4498 Spanish high school students and high school graduates were tested within a time interval of 20 and 23 years, respectively. The results show that there is a clear upward trend in intelligence. Moreover, students show an average increase equivalent to 6 IQ points, while graduates show an average increase of 4 IQ points. Therefore, more selected people (graduates) show a smaller increase than less selected people (students). Some implications are discussed.

  19. Religiousness and religious coping in a secular society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvidtjørn, Dorte; Hjelmborg, Jacob; Skytthe, Axel

    2014-01-01

    Women are found to be more religious than men and more likely to use religious coping. Only few studies have explored religious gender differences in more secular societies. This population-based study comprised 3,000 Danish men and women (response rate 45 %) between 20 and 40 years of age....... Information about demographics, religiousness and religious coping was obtained through a web-based questionnaire. We organized religiousness in the three dimensions: Cognition, Practice and Importance, and we assessed religious coping using the brief RCOPE questionnaire. We found substantial gender...... differences in both religiousness and religious coping. Nearly, 60 % of the women believed in some sort of spirit or in God compared to 40 % of the men. Generally, both men and women scored low on the RCOPE scale. However, for respondents reporting high levels of religiousness, the proportion of men who...

  20. Anomalous changes of vertical geomagnetic field in Kamchatka

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moroz Yuriy

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Secular variations of the vertical geomagnetic field at Paratunka (Kamchatka, Kakioka (Honshu, Mamambetsu (Hokkaido and Patrony (Irkutsk are considered from 1968 to 2014. Comparative analysis of secular variations showed that from 1968 to 2001, similar variations with the intensity of first hundreds on nT are obvious at four observatories. For the following period from 2001 to 2014, the secular variation at Paratunka observatory differs from other observatories. This disagreement of the secular geomagnetic variation at Paratunka observatory is timed to the increase of seismicity at the depth of 400-700 km in South Kamchatka region. It is suggested that in the result of increase of the seismicity in the region of transition from the upper to lower mantle, physical and chemical processes became more active. That caused formation of a large geo-electrical inhomogeneity which affected the behavior of the vertical component of geomagnetic field.

  1. Christian Resistance to Gay-Proselytism in a Secular Nigeria: Anathema or Social Heroism?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Endong Floribert

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The criminalization of homosexuality in Nigeria has partially been inspired and acclaimed by a number of religious schools of thought, including Christian opinion leaders. Such an influence of religion on politics has been seriously questioned. Using observations and literary sources, this paper underlines the unconstitutionality of Christian antigay proselytism at the political sphere of the Nigerian State, anchoring its claim on the constitutional provision stipulating the secular character of Nigeria. It however interprets such a move (the “influential” Christian anti-gay proselytism as an inevitable expression of the religious character of Nigeria’s social and cultural spheres. Furthermore, the paper argues that the Nigerian Federation is “fully secular” only on paper and not in practice. Secularity is partially observed at the political sphere of the State. Religion and populism continue to shape major socio-political schemes (as seen in the criminalization of homosexuality in Nigeria. With such a socio-political influence of religion, legislative projects such as the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition Act and political strategies such as the Nigerian Government’s resistance against western gay-proselytism can only be massively celebrated. In line with this, (Christian anti-gay proselytism at the Nigeria’s political sphere is logically viewed less as an anathema, and more as socio-political heroism.

  2. Illumina based whole mitochondrial genome of Junonia iphita reveals minor intraspecific variation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine Vanlalruati

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In the present study, the near complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome of Junonia iphita (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae was determined to be 14,892 bp. The gene order and orientation are identical to those in other butterfly species. The phylogenetic tree constructed from the whole mitogenomes using the 13 protein coding genes (PCGs defines the genetic relatedness of the two J. iphita species collected from two different regions. All the Junonia species clustered together, and were further subdivided into clade one consisting of J. almana and J. orithya and clade two comprising of the two J. iphita which were collected from Indo and Indochinese subregions separated by river barrier. Comparison between the two J. iphita sequences revealed minor variations and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms were identified at 51 sites amounting to 0.4% of the entire mitochondrial genome.

  3. A Secular Resonant Origin for the Loneliness of Hot Jupiters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spalding, Christopher; Batygin, Konstantin

    2017-09-01

    Despite decades of inquiry, the origin of giant planets residing within a few tenths of an astronomical unit from their host stars remains unclear. Traditionally, these objects are thought to have formed further out before subsequently migrating inwards. However, the necessity of migration has been recently called into question with the emergence of in situ formation models of close-in giant planets. Observational characterization of the transiting subsample of close-in giants has revealed that “warm” Jupiters, possessing orbital periods longer than roughly 10 days more often possess close-in, co-transiting planetary companions than shorter period “hot” Jupiters, that are usually lonely. This finding has previously been interpreted as evidence that smooth, early migration or in situ formation gave rise to warm Jupiter-hosting systems, whereas more violent, post-disk migration pathways sculpted hot Jupiter-hosting systems. In this work, we demonstrate that both classes of planet may arise via early migration or in situ conglomeration, but that the enhanced loneliness of hot Jupiters arises due to a secular resonant interaction with the stellar quadrupole moment. Such an interaction tilts the orbits of exterior, lower-mass planets, removing them from transit surveys where the hot Jupiter is detected. Warm Jupiter-hosting systems, in contrast, retain their coplanarity due to the weaker influence of the host star’s quadrupolar potential relative to planet-disk interactions. In this way, hot Jupiters and warm Jupiters are placed within a unified theoretical framework that may be readily validated or falsified using data from upcoming missions, such as TESS.

  4. The contribution of radioisotopes in secular equilibrium in the transport index of fissile uranium compounds in different enrichments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, Teresinha de Moraes da; Sordi, Gian M.A.A.

    2008-01-01

    Full text: This work shows the contribution of radioisotopes in secular equilibrium in the transport index (TI) of some fissile uranium compounds: uranium oxides UO 2 , U 3 O 8 and uranium silicide U 3 Si 2 , taking into account the different enrichment grades.The range of enrichment (E%) studied was 3,4,5,7,10,20,30,40,50,93 and 100. Initially, the cell of optimum moderation ratio was built, since it represents the most reactive of the system (consisting of uranium), with maximum infinitive multiplication factor k∞, in certain concentration of uranium for each enrichment. This was made using the computer program Gamtec II. The critical radius of a sphere was calculated for a cell of optimum moderation ratio, in order to calculate the critical mass of the uranium compound or of the uranium element for each specific enrichment. For this the program Citation was used. In this study it was calculated the smallest critical mass of the uranium compound or the smallest critical mass of the uranium element. The objective was to match the largest mass of the uranium with each specific enrichment. The largest safety mass corresponds to 45% the critical mass the compound uranium or uranium element. Then, we calculated the uranium element safety mass, which it related to a fifth of this mass to the value 50, which corresponds to criticality safety index (CSI). That is, 20% of the safety mass is the value where the transport is carried out with subcritical mass, going in favor of the security. From the uranium element safety mass (USM) was determined for each enrichment , and it was calculated the mass of 235 U, activity 235 U and dose rate of 235 U, the same items were calculated for the isotope 238 U. The total dose rate was calculated for two isotopes, and applying the transport index definition as the gamma dose rate for the distance of 1 m from the packed, it was determined the TI for 20% of the safety mass for each enrichment of the compound studied. The study of

  5. Secular instabilities of Keplerian stellar discs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaur, Karamveer; Kazandjian, Mher V.; Sridhar, S.; Touma, Jihad R.

    2018-05-01

    We present idealized models of a razor-thin, axisymmetric, Keplerian stellar disc around a massive black hole, and study non-axisymmetric secular instabilities in the absence of either counter-rotation or loss cones. These discs are prograde mono-energetic waterbags, whose phase-space distribution functions are constant for orbits within a range of eccentricities (e) and zero outside this range. The linear normal modes of waterbags are composed of sinusoidal disturbances of the edges of distribution function in phase space. Waterbags that include circular orbits (polarcaps) have one stable linear normal mode for each azimuthal wavenumber m. The m = 1 mode always has positive pattern speed and, for polarcaps consisting of orbits with e normal modes for each m, which can be stable or unstable. We derive analytical expressions for the instability condition, pattern speeds, growth rates, and normal mode structure. Narrow bands are unstable to modes with a wide range in m. Numerical simulations confirm linear theory and follow the non-linear evolution of instabilities. Long-time integration suggests that instabilities of different m grow, interact non-linearly, and relax collisionlessly to a coarse-grained equilibrium with a wide range of eccentricities.

  6. Secular Trends in Habitual Physical Activities of Mozambican Children and Adolescents from Maputo City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Karina dos Santos

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Social and economic changes occurring in the last two decades in Mozambique may have induced lifestyle changes among youth. This study aimed to document secular changes in habitual physical activities of Mozambican youth between 1992, 1999 and 2012. A total of 3393 youth (eight–15 years, were measured in three different time periods (1992, 1999, 2012. Habitual physical activity (PA was estimated with a questionnaire, including items related to household chores, sport participation, traditional games and walking activities. Biological maturation was assessed. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA was used to compare mean differences in PA across the years. Significant decreases between 1992–1999 and 1992–2012 were observed for boys in household chores, games and walking, and a significant decline between 1999 and 2012 was found in sport participation. Among girls, a significant and consistent decline (1992 > 1999 > 2012 was observed for household chores, a decline between 1992–1999 and 1992–2012 for games and walking, and a significant increase between 1992 and 1999 in sport participation. In general, a negative secular trend was found in habitual PA among Mozambican youth. Interventions aimed at increasing PA represent important educational and public health opportunities.

  7. Trophic calculations reveal the mechanism of population-level variation in mercury concentrations between marine ecosystems: Case studies of two polar seabirds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brasso, Rebecka L.; Polito, Michael J.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • Ecosystem-specific baseline and consumer δ 15 N paired for population-specific trophic level. • Source of population-level variation in mercury exposure identified in two seabirds. • High mercury and trophic position suggests trophic driver of population-level variation. • Trophic similarities, differing mercury reveals geographic differences in bioavailability. -- Abstract: The incorporation of quantitative trophic level analysis in ecotoxicological studies provides explanatory power to identify the factors, trophic or environmental, driving population-level variation in mercury exposure at large geographic scales. In the Antarctic marine ecosystem, mercury concentrations and stable isotope values in Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) were compared between the Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea. Correcting tissue δ 15 N values for baseline δ 15 N values revealed population-level differences in trophic position which contributes to differences in mercury. Data from Thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) were synthesized from published values from Baffin Bay and Svalbard to demonstrate the utility of baseline δ 15 N values in identifying differences in environmental mercury exposure independent of diet. Here, we demonstrate the importance of calculating population-specific trophic level data to uncover the source of variation in mercury concentrations between geographically distinct populations of marine predators

  8. Longitudinal and secular trends in adolescent whole-grain consumption, 1999-2004.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgess-Champoux, Teri L; Larson, Nicole I; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne R; Hannan, Peter J; Story, Mary T

    2010-01-01

    The replacement of refined grains in the diet with whole grains may help prevent chronic disease and excess weight gain, but intakes in adolescents are often lower than recommended. This study aimed to examine demographic disparities and 5-y longitudinal and secular trends (1999-2004) in whole-grain intake among 2 cohorts of Minnesota adolescents. Whole-grain intake was examined among 996 adolescent males and 1222 adolescent females who were Project EAT (Eating Among Teens) participants in 1999 and 2004. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine demographic differences in whole-grain intake. Mixed linear regression models were used to estimate 1) longitudinal trends among 2 cohorts of adolescents during developmental transitions and 2) age-matched secular trends between the cohorts at middle adolescence. In 1999, 11% of adolescent males and 13% of adolescent females reported that they consumed more than one daily serving of whole grains. Whole-grain intake was lowest among youth of the Native American and white races and among youth of high socioeconomic status. During the transition from middle to late adolescence, whole-grain intake increased by a mean of 0.14 daily servings among adolescent males and 0.09 daily servings among adolescent females. No significant changes in whole-grain intake were shown among either sex during the transition from early to middle adolescence. Yeast breads, popcorn, and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals were major sources of whole grains in 1999 and 2004. Findings suggest the need to advance efforts that target improvements in the amount of whole-grain foods selected by adolescents.

  9. The Role of Interreligious and Interfaith Dialogue in the Post-Secular World

    OpenAIRE

    Biljana Popovska; Zhanet Ristoska; Pablo Payet

    2017-01-01

    Today, western liberal democratic societies are secular, or in other words, religion is set apart from the state. However, the beginning of the 21st century has seen a re-politicizing of the religion. This paper argues that religion plays an important role in current global politics and events. Moreover, it has been used as tool to recruit masses for a wrong cause. Hence, Interreligious and interfaith dialog can play a role of catalysts and a future trend in cultural diplomacy. The paper prov...

  10. PSEUDOBULGE FORMATION AS A DYNAMICAL RATHER THAN A SECULAR PROCESS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guedes, Javiera; Mayer, Lucio; Carollo, Marcella [Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zuerich, Wolgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093 Zurich (Switzerland); Madau, Piero [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)

    2013-07-20

    We investigate the formation and evolution of the pseudobulge in 'Eris', a high-resolution N-body + smoothed particle hydrodynamic cosmological simulation that successfully reproduces a Milky-Way-like massive late-type spiral in an cold dark matter universe. At the present epoch, Eris has a virial mass M{sub vir} {approx_equal} 8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun }, a photometric stellar mass M{sub *} = 3.2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun }, a bulge-to-total ratio B/T = 0.26, and a weak nuclear bar. We find that the bulk of the pseudobulge forms quickly at high redshift via a combination of non-axisymmetric disk instabilities and tidal interactions or mergers, both occurring on dynamical timescales, not through slow secular processes at lower redshift. Its subsequent evolution is not strictly secular either, and is closely intertwined with the evolution of the stellar bar. In fact, the structure that we recognize as a pseudobulge today evolved from a stellar bar that formed at high redshift due to tidal interactions with satellites, was destroyed by minor mergers at z {approx} 3, re-formed shortly after, and weakened again following a steady gas inflow at z {approx}< 1. The gradual dissolution of the bar ensued at z {approx} 1 and continues until the present without increasing the stellar velocity dispersion in the inner regions. In this scenario, the pseudobulge is not a separate component from the inner disk in terms of formation path; rather, it is the first step in the inside-out formation of the baryonic disk, in agreement with the fact that pseudobulges of massive spiral galaxies typically have a dominant old stellar population. If our simulations do indeed reproduce the formation mechanisms of massive spirals, then the progenitors of late-type galaxies should have strong bars and small photometric pseudobulges at high redshift.

  11. Elemental concentration variations in Plio-Pleistocene sediments from ODP Site 1143 (southern South China Sea) obtained by XRF analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, J.; Xie, X.; Jin, H.; Wang, P.; Jian, Z.

    2009-12-01

    in secular variations. The benthic d18O implies the final formation of the northern hemisphere glaciation between ~2.5 Ma and ~3.3 Ma, as indicated by gradually increased values of d18O. During this period, both Ba and Ca show gradually increased values of relative concentration, indicating increased productivity which was probably caused by intensified East Asia summer monsoon. The close relationship of the productivity related elemental variations with benthic foraminiferal d18O reveals that the Plio-Pleistocene variations of the East Asian monsoon have been greatly dominated by global ice volume change. Although the elements related to terrigenous detrital matter composition of site 1143 such as Ti, Fe, As, Co and Ni display distinct glacial-interglacial cycles for the past 5 Myr, they display different patterns in secular variation with that of the benthic foraminiferal d18O. The mismatch indicates that besides northern hemisphere glaciation other multiple processes including changes in provenance and weathering intensity caused by monsoonal climate variability and sea level fluctuations could have affected the terrigenous detrital matter composition of site 1143.

  12. Constitutional legitimacy: Sharia Law, Secularism and the Social Compact

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zia Akhtar

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This article considers the general points relating to the application of Sharia law which challenges legislators in the political instability of a number of Middle Eastern countries. The question explored is how governments of these countries who are facing discontent can work towards constitutional governance. As an example comparison is made between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Indonesia with the largest Muslim populations. In Pakistan an inherited Westminster Parliamentary system with a common law codified dated at the time of the British rule is supplemented by criminal penalties as present in the Hudood ordinances. These codes enforce punishments for some crimes and these were promulgated in the early 1980s during the reign of the Pakistani conservative military government. These different layers of jurisprudence do not accord with a uniform legal precedence and creates a clash between liberals and the fundamentalists who want an all pervasive Sharia law. The Pakistani legal canon of Islamic law has been restricted by the secular ideology of the state which has parallels in other Asian countries with a Muslim majority. However, there is an issue of compatibility of a secular ideology and the application of Sharia. It needs an exposition of thought that takes account of the enlightenment in Europe which led to the social contract theory in the 18th century. This theory rejects the narrow interpretation of divine authority and presents the jurist with a challenge to make modernize the laws. In recent times Muslim academics have adopted a critical approach against the tenets of conservatism in temporal Islam and called them unrepresentative of the true spirit of the Sharia. The present turmoil in the Arab countries has raised the question of legitimacy and the need arises to evaluate the principles of the Compact of Medina, which was proclaimed by the first Islamic state, and secondly, to enquire if the adoption of Sharia can be made

  13. Tendência secular da altura na idade adulta de crianças nascidas na cidade de São Paulo entre 1950 e 1976 Secular trends in the adult height of children born in S. Paulo city, Brazil, from 1950 to 1976

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivan França Júnior

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Estimar a tendência/mudança secular das estaturas de jovens do sexo masculino, aos 18 anos de idade, nascidos na cidade de São Paulo, SP, entre 1950 e 1976. MÉTODOS: Foi coletada amostra aleatória e representativa de 6.942 indivíduos avaliados no alistamento militar. A análise estatística compreendeu a avaliação da normalidade da distribuição estatural (teste de Shapiro-Wilk e a análise da tendência pelas técnicas de regressão linear. RESULTADOS/CONCLUSÕES: A distribuição das estaturas foi considerada normal para todas as coortes. O aumento total das estaturas foi de 3,42 centímetros ao longo dos 27 anos do estudo (1,26 cm/década. A tendência no período não foi linear, havendo aumento significativo na década de 50 (0,84 cm/década, aumento não significativo na década de 60 (0,5 cm/década e aumento expressivo no período 1970-76 (2,9 cm/década. O ritmo de mudança secular observado é comparável ao de outros países e estados do Brasil. As coortes mais recentes (1975 e 1976 atingiram a maior estatura (~175 cm; contudo, este valor ainda indica déficits de 1,8 cm e 6,2 cm quando comparado às estaturas de jovens americanos nascidos em 1961 (NCHS e holandeses em 1972. Mantidas as aceleradas taxas de mudança secular da década de 70, os jovens paulistas poderão recuperar estes déficits entre uma a três décadas. Isto indica a necessidade de contínua monitoração da tendência secular das alturas na cidade de São Paulo.OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the secular trend/change in the height of young males born in the city of S. Paulo between 1950 and 1976 and measured in the year they turn 18 years. METHODS: A random and representative sample (6,942 individuals was evaluated in military draft. Statistical analyses included Shapiro-Wilk test for normality of height distribution in each birth cohort, and linear regression analysis for trend on heights. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: Stature has

  14. On the univocity of rationality: a response to Nigel Biggar's 'Why religion deserves a place in secular medicine'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Symons, Xavier

    2015-11-01

    Nigel Biggar (2015) argues that religion deserves a place in secular medicine. Biggar suggests we abandon the standard rationalistic conception of the secular realm and see it rather as "a forum for the negotiation of rival reasonings". Religious reasoning is one among a number of ways of thinking that must vie for acceptance. Medical ethics, says Biggar, is characterised by "spiritual and moral mixture and ambiguity". We acknowledge this uncertainty by recognising rival viewpoints and agreeing to provisional compromises.In this response, I object to Biggar's characterisation of medical ethics as "morally ambiguous" and "provisional". I argue that Biggar has failed to provide adequate support for his conception of ethics as a "forum for negotiation and compromise". I criticise Biggar's attempt to 'pluralise' rationality, and assert that if religion is to play a role in secular medicine, it must be ready to defend itself against a universal standard of reason. In the second section of my response, I argue that 'theistic natural law' gives us the resources to defend using reason alone ostensibly faith-based positions in healthcare ethics. In doing so, we retain a univocal conception of rationality, while at the same time leaving space for 'theism' in healthcare ethics. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  15. Genomic Analysis of Hepatitis B Virus Reveals Antigen State and Genotype as Sources of Evolutionary Rate Variation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Abby; Lemey, Philippe; Hurles, Matthew; Moyes, Chris; Horn, Susanne; Pryor, Jan; Malani, Joji; Supuri, Mathias; Masta, Andrew; Teriboriki, Burentau; Toatu, Tebuka; Penny, David; Rambaut, Andrew; Shapiro, Beth

    2011-01-01

    Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes are small, semi-double-stranded DNA circular genomes that contain alternating overlapping reading frames and replicate through an RNA intermediary phase. This complex biology has presented a challenge to estimating an evolutionary rate for HBV, leading to difficulties resolving the evolutionary and epidemiological history of the virus. Here, we re-examine rates of HBV evolution using a novel data set of 112 within-host, transmission history (pedigree) and among-host genomes isolated over 20 years from the indigenous peoples of the South Pacific, combined with 313 previously published HBV genomes. We employ Bayesian phylogenetic approaches to examine several potential causes and consequences of evolutionary rate variation in HBV. Our results reveal rate variation both between genotypes and across the genome, as well as strikingly slower rates when genomes are sampled in the Hepatitis B e antigen positive state, compared to the e antigen negative state. This Hepatitis B e antigen rate variation was found to be largely attributable to changes during the course of infection in the preCore and Core genes and their regulatory elements. PMID:21765983

  16. Morphometric distances among five ethnic groups and evaluation of the secular trend in historical Libya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danubio, Maria Enrica; Martorella, Domenico; Rufo, Fabrizio; Vecchi, Elvira; Sanna, Emanuele

    2011-01-01

    This study analysed the variations, both in space and time, of 10 body dimensions and 2 anthropometric indexes of 745 adult males belonging to 5 ethnic groups of historical Lybia (el-Haràbi, el-Baraghìts, Marabtìn, Oases inhabitants and Tuareg). The data were collected in the years 1928 and 1932 by Puccioni and Cipriani, two Italian anthropologists. The aim was to reconstruct the biological history of Libya at the time, and thus contribute to the ongoing debate on the evolution of the biological standard of living in developing Countries. The subjects were analysed by ethnicity and by 10-year age groups, after adjusting for age. The results of ANCOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test show that among and between groups there are statistical significant differences overall for armspan, height, head breadth, bizygomatic breadth, biiliac breadth/height and head breadth/head length indexes. By means of the cluster analysis, the el-Haràbi, el-Baraghìts and Marabtìn groups cluster together, whereas the Tuareg and Oases inhabitants cluster separately one from the other and both from the other three ethnic groups. Within-group variations are not very marked in all ethnicities. In general, there is the tendency, not statistically significant, to the reduction and/or stasis of body dimensions from the older to the younger, and the differences are greater among the older than the younger age classes. In conclusion, it can be argued that these groups, all different culturally and geographically, were following the same tendency of stasis of the secular trend of the body dimensions considered in this study, and such stasis persisted since, at least, the last twenty years of the 19th century, when the older were born.

  17. Secular evolution of galaxies and galaxy clusters in decaying dark matter cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrer, Francesc; Nipoti, Carlo; Ettori, Stefano

    2009-01-01

    If the dark matter sector in the Universe is composed by metastable particles, galaxies and galaxy clusters are expected to undergo significant secular evolution from high to low redshift. We show that the decay of dark matter, with a lifetime compatible with cosmological constraints, can be at the origin of the observed evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation of disk galaxies and alleviate the problem of the size evolution of elliptical galaxies, while being consistent with the current observational constraints on the gas fraction of clusters of galaxies.

  18. Tendência secular de crescimento em escolares de Paulínia, São Paulo-Brasil (1979/80 - 1993/94 Secular trends of growth of schoolchildren from Paulínia, São Paulo - Brazil (1979/80 - 1993/94

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Barbieri Marmo

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Avaliar a tendência secular de altura, peso e da relação peso/altura em escolares de Paulínia, São Paulo, Brasil, entre 1979/80 e 1993/94. MÉTODOS: Medidas antropométricas de peso (P e altura (A e da relação P/A de 1.903 crianças de 6,5 a 12,5 anos (51,5% M e 48,5% F de escolas públicas de Paulínia foram comparadas com dados de estudo anterior realizado na mesma cidade, com intervalo de 15 anos. Calculou-se o incremento por década e alisou-se os dados pela técnica de médias e medianas móveis (3H3H3. RESULTADOS: As médias de altura e peso foram sempre superiores às do estudo anterior, com incrementos positivos. Os incrementos para a altura variaram de 1,13 a 5 cm no sexo masculino e 1,2 a 4,33 cm nas meninas, já para o peso a variação foi de 0,53 a 4,13 kg nos meninos e 0,87 a 3,0 kg nas meninas. Para a relação P/A, as médias dos dois estudos foram muito semelhantes em ambos os sexos. CONCLUSÕES: A tendência secular positiva da estatura e do peso neste período deve-se principalmente ao desenvolvimento econômico, de saneamento básico, de habitação, de educação e na área de saúde ocorrido na cidade de Paulínia. A tendência secular positiva encontrada foi semelhante à observada em países desenvolvidos após a II Guerra Mundial e de outros trabalhos brasileiros.BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the secular trends in height, weight and weight/height of schoolchildren from the city of Paulínia, São Paulo, Brazil between 1979/80 and 1993/94. METHODS: Anthropometric measurements (height, weight and weight/height of 1,903 children (6.5-12.5y; 51.5% M: 48.5% F, from Paulínia public schools were compared with data from a previous study carried out in the same city 15 years earlier. Decade increments were calculated and data was smoothed by the technique of means and medians (3H3H3. RESULTS: Height and weight mean values were always greater than those of the previous study, with positive

  19. Mapping structural influences on sex and HIV education in church and secular schools in Zimbabwe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mpofu, Elias; Mutepfa, Magen Mhaka; Hallfors, Denise Dion

    2012-09-01

    The authors used state-of-the-art concept mapping approaches to examine structural institutional effects of church and secular high schools on the types of sexual and HIV-prevention education messages transmitted to learners in Zimbabwe. Participants were school teachers (n = 26), school counselors (n = 28), and pastors involved in student pastoral care (n = 14; males = 27, females = 41). They reported on messages perceived to influence sexual decisions of learners in their school setting. The self-report data were clustered into message types using concept mapping and contrasted for consistency of content and structure both between and within type of school. The authors also engaged in curriculum document study with member checks in the participant schools to determine convergence of the evidence on school-type effects of the messages transmitted to students. Church schools prioritized faith-informed sexual and HIV-prevention messages, whereas both types of schools prioritized Life skills education and a future focus. Secular schools prioritized sex and HIV messages in the context of community norms. Facts about HIV and AIDS were relatively underemphasized by church schools. The implicit knowledge values that differentiate types of schools influence learner access to information important for their sexual decisions.

  20. Religious law versus secular law The example of the get refusal in Dutch, English and Israeli law

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blois, M. de

    2010-01-01

    The tension between religious law and secular law in modern democracies is illustrated in this article by a discussion of the different approaches to the get (a bill of divorce) refusal (based on Jewish law) under Dutch, English and Israeli law. These legal orders share many characteristics, but

  1. Die Versprachlichung des Sakralen: The Transformation of the Authority of the Sacred into Secular Political Deliberation in Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Øjvind Larsen

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available bermas claims in connection with his development of the theory of communicative action that the sacred is transformed in a positive way and can take the form of free deliberation in society, the so called Versprachlichung des Sakralen. The thesis is that the authority which could be found in religion and which is of fundamental significance for the integration of pre-modern societies is taken over by modern societies in forms of deliberation. Habermas develops his thesis in a discussion of Durkheim’s religious-sociological considerations. Habermas presents his thesis about the linguistic transformation of the sacred as a harmonious theory of secularization. However, if we follow Weber in his religious-sociological considerations of modernity, we reach a tragic theory of secularization which poses the real problem that modernity’s connection to the sacred has been dissolved. Cornelius Castoriadis’ theory of the imaginary institution and Claude Lefort’s theory of the empty place of the political as a new insecure moral ground for modern society are presented together as an alternative theory of secularization which can serve as a new framework for Habermas’ theory of communicative ethics and deliberative politics in modern society.

  2. S-N secular ocean tide: explanation of observably coastal velocities of increase of a global mean sea level and mean sea levels in northern and southern hemispheres and prediction of erroneous altimetry velocities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barkin, Yury

    2010-05-01

    solidification of materials at core-mantle boundary in opposite (northern - southern) hemispheres [7]. 2 Atmospheric and oceanic inversion tides. The gravitational attraction of superfluous mass of the drifting to the North core (in 17 masses of the Moon) causes a planetary inversion tide of air masses of the Earth and its oceanic masses, from the southern hemisphere - to the northern hemisphere [8]. On our theoretical estimations the mean atmospheric pressure in the northern hemisphere accrues with velocity about 0.17 mbar/yr and with similar negative velocity in southern hemisphere. Although mentioned estimations are draft the predicted phenomenon of a slow redistribution of air masses from the southern hemisphere in northern partially has already obtained confirmation according to the meteorological observations in period 1.4. 2002 - 1.4. 2005 [9]: 0.17-0.22 mbar/yr (northern hemisphere) and -0.18 mbar/yr (southern hemisphere). On the basis of modern data of satellite altimetry for 1993-2007 years we for the first time appreciate velocities of secular variations of the mean sea level in northern and southern hemispheres of the Earth which, as well as was supposed, appeared various [10]. In the report the mechanisms of the revealed phenomena, their dynamic interrelation are discussed and an possible interpretation to the data of observations is given. 3 Contrast changes of mean sea levels in northern and southern hemispheres. The air masses slowly are transported from a southern hemisphere in northern. They form an original inversion secular atmospheric tide which existence proves to be true by the modern data of observations [9-11]. The gravitational attraction of the core which is displaced along a polar axis causes the similar tide of oceanic masses [5]. The barometric effect of influence of atmospheric tide will result in reduction of expected secular oceanic tide. Really, an increase of mean atmospheric pressure in the northern hemisphere results in replacement of oceanic

  3. Long term stability of yttria-stabilized zirconia waste forms. Stability for secular change of partitioned TRU waste composition by disintegration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuramoto, Ken-ichi; Banba, Tsunetaka; Mitamura, Hisayoshi; Sakai, Etsuro; Uno, Masayoshi; Kinoshita, H.; Yamanaka, Shinsuke

    1999-01-01

    In this study, the stability of YSZ waste forms for secular change of partitioned TRU waste composition by disintegration, one of important terms in long-term stability, is the special concern. Designed amount of waste and YSZ powder were mixed and sintered. These TRU waste forms were submitted to tests of phase stability, chemical durability, mechanical property and compactness. The results were compared with those of another YSZ waste forms, non-radioactive Ce and/or Nd doped YSZ samples, and glass and Synroc waste forms. Experimental results show following: (1) Phase stability of (Np+Am)-, (Np+U)-, and (Np+U+Bi)-doped YSZ waste forms could be maintained of that of the initial Np+Am-doped YSZ waste form permanently even when the composition of partitioned TRU waste were changed by disintegration. (2) Secular change also accelerated volume increase of YSZ waste forms as well as alpha-decay damage. (3) Hv, E and K IC of (Np+U)- and (Np+U+Bi)-doped YSZ waste forms were independent of the secular change of the partitioned TRU waste composition by disintegration. (4) Mechanical properties of YSZ waste forms were more than those of a glass and Synroc waste forms. (5) Compactness of YSZ waste forms was good as waste forms for the partitioned TRU wastes. (J.P.N.)

  4. Extending religion-health research to secular minorities: issues and concerns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Karen; Hammer, Joseph H; Cragun, Ryan T

    2011-09-01

    Claims about religion's beneficial effects on physical and psychological health have received substantial attention in popular media, but empirical support for these claims is mixed. Many of these claims are tenuous because they fail to address basic methodological issues relating to construct validity, sampling methods or analytical problems. A more conceptual problem has to do with the near universal lack of atheist control samples. While many studies include samples of individuals classified as "low spirituality" or religious "nones", these groups are heterogeneous and contain only a fraction of members who would be considered truly secular. We illustrate the importance of including an atheist control group whenever possible in the religiosity/spirituality and health research and discuss areas for further investigation.

  5. Religion and survival in a secular region. A twenty year follow-up of 734 Danish adults born in 1914.

    Science.gov (United States)

    la Cour, Peter; Avlund, Kirsten; Schultz-Larsen, Kirsten

    2006-01-01

    The aim of the study was to analyse associations of religiosity and mortality in a secular region. The sample consisted of 734 Danish, community dwelling elderly persons, living in a secular culture, and all aged 70 when primary data were collected. Secondary data consisted of a 20 year follow-up on vital status or exact age of death. The study was designed to be highly comparable to studies conducted in more religious environments in order to compare results. Three variables of religion were investigated in relation to survival: importance of affiliation, church attendance and listening to religious media. Relative hazards (RH) of dying were controlled in models including gender, education, medical and mental health, social relations, help given and received, and health behaviour. The results showed significant and positive associations between claiming religious affiliation important and survival (relative hazard of dying=RH .70; 95% CI .58-.85) and church attendance and survival (RH .73; 95% CI .64-.87). Results decreased and only stayed significant regarding church attendance when controlled for covariates. Nearly all significant effects were seen in women, but not in men. The effect size of the full sample is less than in more religious environments in United States samples. Although the positive overall RHs are comparable to those of other studies, the mediating variables and pathways of effects seem dissimilar in this sample from a secular environment. Receiving and especially giving help to others are suggested as variables of explanatory value.

  6. The impact of a religious opera on a secular audience : The existential and religious importance of art

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zock, T.H.; Alma, H.

    2005-01-01

    What role does art play in the life of contemporary, secularized people who are looking for existential and spiritual meaning? This was the leading question in our empirical research on the opera ‘‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’’ by the French composer, Francis Poulenc. First, we will sketch the

  7. Tendência secular do peso ao nascer na cidade de São Paulo (1976-1998 Secular trends in birth weight in S. Paulo city, Brazil (1976-1998

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Augusto Monteiro

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Resgatar a tendência secular da distribuição do peso ao nascer na cidade de São Paulo, SP, bem como examinar suas possíveis causas, com base em dados coletados por dois inquéritos domiciliares sobre condições de saúde na infância realizados em 1984/85 e em 1995/96, complementados por informações procedentes de levantamento de prontuários de maternidades e por informações do Sistema Estadual de Declarações de Nascidos Vivos. MÉTODOS: Os inquéritos domiciliares estudaram amostras probabilísticas da população infantil de São Paulo com idade inferior a cinco anos (n=1.016 em 1984/85; n=1.280 em 1995/96. O levantamento de prontuários estudou uma amostra probabilística dos partos ocorridos nas maternidades da cidade no ano de 1976 (n=5.734. As declarações de nascidos vivos referem-se às coortes de crianças nascidas na cidade entre 1993 e 1998 (cerca de 200 mil crianças por ano. O estudo da distribuição social do peso ao nascer levou em conta a renda familiar per capita e a escolaridade materna. A estratégia analítica para estudar os determinantes da tendência secular do peso ao nascer empregou modelos hierárquicos de causalidade, análises multivariadas de regressão e procedimentos análogos aos utilizados para calcular riscos atribuíveis populacionais. RESULTADOS/CONCLUSÕES: A distribuição do peso ao nascer na cidade de São Paulo (média de 3.160 g com 8,9% de pesos OBJECTIVE: Data from two household surveys on infant and child health status undertaken in the mid-80s and mid-90s, complemented with previous data collected from maternity hospitals records and more recent data provided by the state system on birth registries, allowed to characterize and analyse secular trends in birth weight in the city of S. Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: The household surveys included random samples of children under 5 years old (n=1,016 children in 1984-85 and n=1,280 children in 1995-96. A random sample of births that

  8. Secular trends of salted fish consumption and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a multi-jurisdiction ecological study in 8 regions from 3 continents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lau, Hiu-Ying; Leung, Chit-Ming; Chan, Yap-Hang; Lee, Anne Wing-Mui; Kwong, Dora Lai-Wan; Lung, Maria Li; Lam, Tai-Hing

    2013-01-01

    Despite salted fish being a classical risk factor of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC), whether secular trends in salted fish consumption worldwide accounted for changes in NPC rates were unknown. The relationship between vegetable and cigarette consumption to NPC risk worldwide were also largely uncertain. We investigated the longitudinal trends in standardised NPC incidence/mortality rates across 8 regions and their associations with secular trends in salted fish, vegetable and tobacco consumptions. Age standardised mortality rate (ASMR) and age standardised incidence rate (ASIR) of NPC were obtained from the WHO cancer mortality database and Hong Kong Cancer Registry. Per capita consumption of salted fish, tobacco and vegetables in Hong Kong and 7 countries (China, Finland, Japan, Portugal, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States) were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) and Hong Kong Trade and Census Statistics. Pearson correlation and multivariate analysis were performed to examine both crude and adjusted associations. There were markedly decreasing trends of NPC ASIR and ASMR in Hong Kong over the past three decades, which were correlated with corresponding secular changes in salted fish consumption per capita (Pearson r for 10 cumulative years : ASIR = 0.729 (male), 0.674 (female); ASMR = 0.943 (male), 0.622 (female), all p < 0.05 except for female ASMR). However such associations no longer correlated with adjustments for decreasing tobacco and increasing vegetable consumption per capita (Pearson r for 10 cumulative years: ASIR = 2.007 (male), 0.339 (female), ASMR = 0.289 (male), 1.992 (female), all p > 0.05). However, there were no clear or consistent patterns in relations between NPC ASIR and ASMR with salted fish consumption across 7 regions in 3 continents. Our results do not support the notion that changes in salted fish consumption had played an important role in explaining secular trends of NPC rates in Hong

  9. Secular trends of salted fish consumption and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a multi-jurisdiction ecological study in 8 regions from 3 continents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Hiu-Ying; Leung, Chit-Ming; Chan, Yap-Hang; Lee, Anne Wing-Mui; Kwong, Dora Lai-Wan; Lung, Maria Li; Lam, Tai-Hing

    2013-06-19

    Despite salted fish being a classical risk factor of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC), whether secular trends in salted fish consumption worldwide accounted for changes in NPC rates were unknown. The relationship between vegetable and cigarette consumption to NPC risk worldwide were also largely uncertain. We investigated the longitudinal trends in standardised NPC incidence/mortality rates across 8 regions and their associations with secular trends in salted fish, vegetable and tobacco consumptions. Age standardised mortality rate (ASMR) and age standardised incidence rate (ASIR) of NPC were obtained from the WHO cancer mortality database and Hong Kong Cancer Registry. Per capita consumption of salted fish, tobacco and vegetables in Hong Kong and 7 countries (China, Finland, Japan, Portugal, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States) were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) and Hong Kong Trade and Census Statistics. Pearson correlation and multivariate analysis were performed to examine both crude and adjusted associations. There were markedly decreasing trends of NPC ASIR and ASMR in Hong Kong over the past three decades, which were correlated with corresponding secular changes in salted fish consumption per capita (Pearson r for 10 cumulative years : ASIR = 0.729 (male), 0.674 (female); ASMR = 0.943 (male), 0.622 (female), all p ASMR). However such associations no longer correlated with adjustments for decreasing tobacco and increasing vegetable consumption per capita (Pearson r for 10 cumulative years: ASIR = 2.007 (male), 0.339 (female), ASMR = 0.289 (male), 1.992 (female), all p > 0.05). However, there were no clear or consistent patterns in relations between NPC ASIR and ASMR with salted fish consumption across 7 regions in 3 continents. Our results do not support the notion that changes in salted fish consumption had played an important role in explaining secular trends of NPC rates in Hong

  10. Secular changes of LOD associated with a growth of the inner core

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denis, C.; Rybicki, K. R.; Varga, P.

    2006-05-01

    From recent estimates of the age of the inner core based on the theory of thermal evolution of the core, we estimate that nowadays the growth of the inner core may perhaps contribute to the observed overall secular increase of LOD caused mainly by tidal friction (i.e., 1.72 ms per century) by a relative decrease of 2 to 7 μs per century. Another, albeit much less plausible, hypothesis is that crystallization of the inner core does not produce any change of LOD, but makes the inner core rotate differentially with respect to the outer core and mantle.

  11. The Secularization of Russian Orthodoxy in the Late Russian Empire, 1860–1910: the Indoctrination and De-Institutionalization (Problem Statement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrey Yu. Mikhailov

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This article is based on the methodology of intellectual history examines the process of secularization of Orthodoxy in the late Russian Empire 1860 – 1910-ies. The focus of the formulation of a scientific problem: consideration of secularization as indoctrination Orthodoxy and de-institutionalization of the Synod Church. Under the first attempt to synthesize the doctrine Orthodoxy with modernist ideologies (socialism, nationalism, secularism (laicism, under the second – the erosion of the church as an institution by dividing into various inner-group. As a consequence of early modern rationalization to 1830–1840 there are three ways of indoctrination orthodoxy as synthesis with modern ideology. Firstly, synthesis with a modernist nationalism in its evolution from the "civilian" to the "political". The concept of late imperial political nationalism (N.P. Ignatiev, A.A. Kireev, tied to version of neoslavyanofily (new slavyanofily (N.P. Aksakov, D.A. Khomyakov and civilizational theory (L. Leontiev, N.I. Danilevsky tried synthesize Orthodoxy and nationalism in the spirit of religious interpretation of the nation and society. Secondly, with social theories of modern European socialism and positivism. (archimandrite Fedor (Bukharev, S.N. Bulgakov, archimandrite Michael (Semenov, and others.. Thirdly, with a modernist secularism (laicism and liberalism: P.V. Valuev, D.A. Tolstoy, K.P. Pobedonostsev. De-institutionalization of the Synodal Church took place in the following ways. In the period of early modernity (1700–1840, konfessionaliztion (die Konfessionalisierung, happened embedding religious institution in the state organism (nationalization on the practical and theoretical level. The evolution from the early modernity to late modernity (1830–1860 itself has raise the question of the "internal" secularization as activation of layman or parishioner. Theory A.S. Khomyakov (new criteria and the nature of the Church as a divine

  12. Study of morphological variation of northern Neotropical Ariidae reveals conservatism despite macrohabitat transitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stange, Madlen; Aguirre-Fernández, Gabriel; Salzburger, Walter; Sánchez-Villagra, Marcelo R

    2018-03-27

    Morphological convergence triggered by trophic adaptations is a common pattern in adaptive radiations. The study of shape variation in an evolutionary context is usually restricted to well-studied fish models. We take advantage of the recently revised systematics of New World Ariidae and investigate skull shape evolution in six genera of northern Neotropical Ariidae. They constitute a lineage that diversified in the marine habitat but repeatedly adapted to freshwater habitats. 3D geometric morphometrics was applied for the first time in catfish skulls and phylogenetically informed statistical analyses were performed to test for the impact of habitat on skull diversification after habitat transition in this lineage. We found that skull shape is conserved throughout phylogeny. A morphospace analysis revealed that freshwater and marine species occupy extreme ends of the first principal component axis and that they exhibit similar Procrustes variances. Yet freshwater species occupy the smallest shape space compared to marine and brackish species (based on partial disparity), and marine and freshwater species have the largest Procrustes distance to each other. We observed a single case of shape convergence as derived from 'C-metrics', which cannot be explained by the occupation of the same habitat. Although Ariidae occupy such a broad spectrum of different habitats from sea to freshwater, the morphospace analysis and analyses of shape and co-variation with habitat in a phylogenetic context shows that conservatism dominates skull shape evolution among ariid genera.

  13. Parental age and offspring mortality: Negative effects of reproductive ageing may be counterbalanced by secular increases in longevity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barclay, Kieron; Myrskylä, Mikko

    2018-07-01

    As parental ages at birth continue to rise, concerns about the effects of fertility postponement on offspring are increasing. Due to reproductive ageing, advanced parental ages have been associated with negative health outcomes for offspring, including decreased longevity. The literature, however, has neglected to examine the potential benefits of being born at a later date. Secular declines in mortality mean that later birth cohorts are living longer. We analyse mortality over ages 30-74 among 1.9 million Swedish men and women born 1938-60, and use a sibling comparison design that accounts for all time-invariant factors shared by the siblings. When incorporating cohort improvements in mortality, we find that those born to older mothers do not suffer any significant mortality disadvantage, and that those born to older fathers have lower mortality. These findings are likely to be explained by secular declines in mortality counterbalancing the negative effects of reproductive ageing.

  14. Genetic and epigenetic variation in 5S ribosomal RNA genes reveals genome dynamics in Arabidopsis thaliana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Lauriane; Rabanal, Fernando A; Dubos, Tristan; Oliver, Cecilia; Lauber, Damien; Poulet, Axel; Vogt, Alexander; Mandlbauer, Ariane; Le Goff, Samuel; Sommer, Andreas; Duborjal, Hervé; Tatout, Christophe; Probst, Aline V

    2018-04-06

    Organized in tandem repeat arrays in most eukaryotes and transcribed by RNA polymerase III, expression of 5S rRNA genes is under epigenetic control. To unveil mechanisms of transcriptional regulation, we obtained here in depth sequence information on 5S rRNA genes from the Arabidopsis thaliana genome and identified differential enrichment in epigenetic marks between the three 5S rDNA loci situated on chromosomes 3, 4 and 5. We reveal the chromosome 5 locus as the major source of an atypical, long 5S rRNA transcript characteristic of an open chromatin structure. 5S rRNA genes from this locus translocated in the Landsberg erecta ecotype as shown by linkage mapping and chromosome-specific FISH analysis. These variations in 5S rDNA locus organization cause changes in the spatial arrangement of chromosomes in the nucleus. Furthermore, 5S rRNA gene arrangements are highly dynamic with alterations in chromosomal positions through translocations in certain mutants of the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway and important copy number variations among ecotypes. Finally, variations in 5S rRNA gene sequence, chromatin organization and transcripts indicate differential usage of 5S rDNA loci in distinct ecotypes. We suggest that both the usage of existing and new 5S rDNA loci resulting from translocations may impact neighboring chromatin organization.

  15. In Depth Characterization of Repetitive DNA in 23 Plant Genomes Reveals Sources of Genome Size Variation in the Legume Tribe Fabeae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macas, Jiří; Novák, Petr; Pellicer, Jaume; Čížková, Jana; Koblížková, Andrea; Neumann, Pavel; Fuková, Iva; Doležel, Jaroslav; Kelly, Laura J; Leitch, Ilia J

    2015-01-01

    The differential accumulation and elimination of repetitive DNA are key drivers of genome size variation in flowering plants, yet there have been few studies which have analysed how different types of repeats in related species contribute to genome size evolution within a phylogenetic context. This question is addressed here by conducting large-scale comparative analysis of repeats in 23 species from four genera of the monophyletic legume tribe Fabeae, representing a 7.6-fold variation in genome size. Phylogenetic analysis and genome size reconstruction revealed that this diversity arose from genome size expansions and contractions in different lineages during the evolution of Fabeae. Employing a combination of low-pass genome sequencing with novel bioinformatic approaches resulted in identification and quantification of repeats making up 55-83% of the investigated genomes. In turn, this enabled an analysis of how each major repeat type contributed to the genome size variation encountered. Differential accumulation of repetitive DNA was found to account for 85% of the genome size differences between the species, and most (57%) of this variation was found to be driven by a single lineage of Ty3/gypsy LTR-retrotransposons, the Ogre elements. Although the amounts of several other lineages of LTR-retrotransposons and the total amount of satellite DNA were also positively correlated with genome size, their contributions to genome size variation were much smaller (up to 6%). Repeat analysis within a phylogenetic framework also revealed profound differences in the extent of sequence conservation between different repeat types across Fabeae. In addition to these findings, the study has provided a proof of concept for the approach combining recent developments in sequencing and bioinformatics to perform comparative analyses of repetitive DNAs in a large number of non-model species without the need to assemble their genomes.

  16. In Depth Characterization of Repetitive DNA in 23 Plant Genomes Reveals Sources of Genome Size Variation in the Legume Tribe Fabeae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Macas

    Full Text Available The differential accumulation and elimination of repetitive DNA are key drivers of genome size variation in flowering plants, yet there have been few studies which have analysed how different types of repeats in related species contribute to genome size evolution within a phylogenetic context. This question is addressed here by conducting large-scale comparative analysis of repeats in 23 species from four genera of the monophyletic legume tribe Fabeae, representing a 7.6-fold variation in genome size. Phylogenetic analysis and genome size reconstruction revealed that this diversity arose from genome size expansions and contractions in different lineages during the evolution of Fabeae. Employing a combination of low-pass genome sequencing with novel bioinformatic approaches resulted in identification and quantification of repeats making up 55-83% of the investigated genomes. In turn, this enabled an analysis of how each major repeat type contributed to the genome size variation encountered. Differential accumulation of repetitive DNA was found to account for 85% of the genome size differences between the species, and most (57% of this variation was found to be driven by a single lineage of Ty3/gypsy LTR-retrotransposons, the Ogre elements. Although the amounts of several other lineages of LTR-retrotransposons and the total amount of satellite DNA were also positively correlated with genome size, their contributions to genome size variation were much smaller (up to 6%. Repeat analysis within a phylogenetic framework also revealed profound differences in the extent of sequence conservation between different repeat types across Fabeae. In addition to these findings, the study has provided a proof of concept for the approach combining recent developments in sequencing and bioinformatics to perform comparative analyses of repetitive DNAs in a large number of non-model species without the need to assemble their genomes.

  17. Seasonal latitudinal and secular variations in temperature trend - evidence for influence of anthropogenic sulfate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hunter, D E; Schwartz, S E; Wagener, R; Benkovitz, C M [University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States). Scripps Institute of Oceanography

    1993-11-19

    Tropospheric aerosols increase the shortwave reflectivity of the Earth-atmosphere system both by scattering light directly, in the absence of clouds, and by enhancing cloud reflectivity. The radiative forcing of climate exerted by anthropogenic sulfate aerosols, derived mainly from SO[sub 2] emitted from fossil fuel combustion, is opposite that due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases and is estimated to be of comparable average magnitude in Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes. However, persuasive evidence of climate response to this forcing has thus far been lacking. Here we examine patterns of seasonal and latitudinal variations in temperature anomaly trend for evidence of such a response. Pronounced minima in the rate of temperature increase in summer months in Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes are consistent with the latitudinal distribution of anthropogenic sulfate and changes in the rate of SO[sub 2] emissions over the industrial era.

  18. Survey of secular change for the buildings of nuclear fuel facility in JNC Tokai Works

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uryu, Mitsuru; Kyue, Tadashi; Satoko, Hiroyuki; Yamazaki, Toshihiko

    2002-06-01

    Some nuclear facilities of JNC such as Tokai Reprocessing Plant or Tokai Plutonium Fuel plant have been operating over 20 years since their completion. These facilities' buildings are constructed near the seaside, so we are that, we are surveying the secular change, estimating the tendency and counterplan to operate the facilities stably. In this paper, we report the abstract of the result of the survey, and the maintenance stage of the diagnostic techniques etc. (author)

  19. Revealing metabolomic variations in Cortex Moutan from different root parts using HPLC-MS method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Chaoni; Wu, Man; Chen, Yongyong; Zhang, Yajun; Zhao, Xinfeng; Zheng, Xiaohui

    2015-01-01

    The distribution of metabolites in the different root parts of Cortex Moutan (the root bark of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews) is not well understood, therefore, scientific evidence is not available for quality assessment of Cortex Moutan. To reveal metabolomic variations in Cortex Moutan in order to gain deeper insights to enable quality control. Metabolomic variations in the different root parts of Cortex Moutan were characterised using high-performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) and multivariate data analysis. The discriminating metabolites in different root parts were evaluated by the one-way analysis of variance and a fold change parameter. The metabolite profiles of Cortex Moutan were largely dominated by five primary and 41 secondary metabolites . Higher levels of malic acid, gallic acid and mudanoside-B were mainly observed in the second lateral roots, whereas dihydroxyacetophenone, benzoyloxypaeoniflorin, suffruticoside-A, kaempferol dihexoside, mudanpioside E and mudanpioside J accumulated in the first lateral and axial roots. The highest contents of paeonol, galloyloxypaeoniflorin and procyanidin B were detected in the axial roots. Accordingly, metabolite compositions of Cortex Moutan were found to vary among different root parts. The axial roots have higher quality than the lateral roots in Cortex Moutan due to the accumulation of bioactive secondary metabolites associated with plant physiology. These findings provided important scientific evidence for grading Cortex Moutan on the general market. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  20. Decadal-to-centennial-scale climate variability: Insights into the rise and fall of the Great Salt Lake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mann, Michael E.; Lall, Upmanu; Saltzman, Barry

    1995-01-01

    We demonstrate connections between decadal and secular global climatic variations, and historical variations in the volume of the Great Salt Lake. The decadal variations correspond to a low-frequency shifting of storm tracks which influence winter precipitation and explain nearly 18% of the interannual and longer-term variance in the record of monthly volume change. The secular trend accounts for a more modest approximately 1.5% of the variance.

  1. Composition of 12-18th century window glass in Belgium: Non-figurative windows in secular buildings and stained-glass windows in religious buildings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schalm, Olivier; Janssens, Koen; Wouters, Hilde; Caluwe, Danielle

    2007-01-01

    A set of ca. 500 window glass fragments originating from different historical sites in Belgium and covering the period 12 th -18 th century was analyzed by means of electron probe microanalysis. Most samples are archaeological finds deriving from non-figurative windows in secular buildings. However, the analyzed set also contains glass sampled from still existing non-figurative windows in secular buildings and stained-glass windows in religious buildings. A sudden compositional change at the end of the 14 th century can be noticed among the series of glass compositions that were obtained. These changes could be related to the use of different glassmaker recipes and to the introduction of new raw materials for glass making

  2. Composition of 12-18 th century window glass in Belgium: Non-figurative windows in secular buildings and stained-glass windows in religious buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schalm, Olivier; Janssens, Koen; Wouters, Hilde; Caluwé, Danielle

    2007-07-01

    A set of ca. 500 window glass fragments originating from different historical sites in Belgium and covering the period 12 th-18 th century was analyzed by means of electron probe microanalysis. Most samples are archaeological finds deriving from non-figurative windows in secular buildings. However, the analyzed set also contains glass sampled from still existing non-figurative windows in secular buildings and stained-glass windows in religious buildings. A sudden compositional change at the end of the 14 th century can be noticed among the series of glass compositions that were obtained. These changes could be related to the use of different glassmaker recipes and to the introduction of new raw materials for glass making.

  3. Secular trends in dietary intake in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briefel, Ronette R; Johnson, Clifford L

    2004-01-01

    This review focuses on dietary intake and dietary supplement use among the U.S. population age 1-74 based on four National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted in 1971-74, 1976-80, 1988-94, and 1999-2000. Secular trends in intake of energy, macronutrients, cholesterol, sodium, calcium, iron, folate, zinc, vitamins A and C, fruits, vegetables, and grain products are summarized. During the 30-year period, mean energy intake increased among adults, and changed little among children age 1-19, except for an increase among adolescent females. Factors contributing to increases in energy intake include increases in the percentage of the population eating away from home (particularly at fast-food restaurants), larger portion sizes of foods and beverages, increased consumption of sweetened beverages, changes in snacking habits, and improved dietary methodology. Dietary supplement use increased among adult men and women, decreased among children age 1-5, and was stable for children age 6-11 and adolescents.

  4. Secular effects on inflation from one-loop quantum gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cabrer, J.A.; Espriu, D.

    2008-01-01

    In this Letter we revisit and extend a previous analysis where the possible relevance of quantum gravity effects in a cosmological setup was studied. The object of interest are non-local (logarithmic) terms generated in the effective action of gravity due to the exchange in loops of massless modes (such as photons or the gravitons themselves). We correct one mistake existing in the previous work and discuss the issue in a more general setting in different cosmological scenarios. We obtain the one-loop quantum-corrected evolution equations for the cosmological scale factor up to a given order in a derivative expansion in two particular cases: a matter dominated universe with vanishing cosmological constant, and in a de Sitter universe. We show that the quantum corrections, albeit tiny, may have a secular effect that eventually modifies the expansion rate. For a de Sitter universe they tend to slow down the rate of the expansion, while the effect may be the opposite in a matter dominated universe

  5. Genetic Architecture of Natural Variation in Rice Chlorophyll Content Revealed by a Genome-Wide Association Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Quanxiu; Xie, Weibo; Xing, Hongkun; Yan, Ju; Meng, Xiangzhou; Li, Xinglei; Fu, Xiangkui; Xu, Jiuyue; Lian, Xingming; Yu, Sibin; Xing, Yongzhong; Wang, Gongwei

    2015-06-01

    Chlorophyll content is one of the most important physiological traits as it is closely related to leaf photosynthesis and crop yield potential. So far, few genes have been reported to be involved in natural variation of chlorophyll content in rice (Oryza sativa) and the extent of variations explored is very limited. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a diverse worldwide collection of 529 O. sativa accessions. A total of 46 significant association loci were identified. Three F2 mapping populations with parents selected from the association panel were tested for validation of GWAS signals. We clearly demonstrated that Grain number, plant height, and heading date7 (Ghd7) was a major locus for natural variation of chlorophyll content at the heading stage by combining evidence from near-isogenic lines and transgenic plants. The enhanced expression of Ghd7 decreased the chlorophyll content, mainly through down-regulating the expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll and chloroplast. In addition, Narrow leaf1 (NAL1) corresponded to one significant association region repeatedly detected over two years. We revealed a high degree of polymorphism in the 5' UTR and four non-synonymous SNPs in the coding region of NAL1, and observed diverse effects of the major haplotypes. The loci or candidate genes identified would help to fine-tune and optimize the antenna size of canopies in rice breeding. Copyright © 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Latitudinal and seasonal variations of lower atmospheric inertial gravity wave energy revealed by US radiosonde data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, S.D.; Yi, F. [Wuhan Univ., Hubei (China). School of Electronic Information; Ministry of Education, Wuhan, Hubei (China). Key Lab. of Geospace Environment and Geodesy; State Observatory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing, Wuhan (China); Huang, C.M. [Wuhan Univ., Hubei (China). School of Electronic Information; Ministry of Education, Wuhan, Hubei (China). Key Lab. of Geospace Environment and Geodesy; State Observatory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing, Wuhan (China); Miami Univ., Oxford, OH (United States). Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.; Zhou, Q. [Miami Univ., Oxford, OH (United States). Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.

    2010-07-01

    The latitudinal and seasonal variations of gravity wave (GW) potential energy density (E{sub P}), kinetic energy density (E{sub K}), and total energy density (E{sub T}), i.e, the sum of potential and kinetic energy densities in the tropospheric (typically 2-10 km) and lower stratospheric (typically 18- 25 km) segments have been derived from 10 years (1998- 2007) of radiosonde observations over 92 United States stations in the Northern Hemisphere. The latitudinal variation of E{sub P} in the lower stratosphere is in good agreement with satellite observations. However, E{sub K} and E{sub T} in the lower stratosphere are different from satellite observations and the difference is believed to be linked with the latitudinal dependence of GW sources. Our analysis reveals that GW energy properties exhibit distinctive latitudinal and seasonal variations. The upward-propagating GW energy in the troposphere is larger than that in the lower stratosphere at low latitudes but the opposite holds true at high latitudes. The transition latitude, where the upward- propagating energies in the two altitude regions are the same, occurs at 35 N throughout the year. So striking differences between GW activity in the troposphere and lower stratosphere are not likely explained only by the background wind Doppler shifting due to strong tropospheric jets. Our analysis indicates that the region around tropopause, roughly from 10 km to 18 km, is an important source region, especially at latitudes below 35 N. Our studies strongly suggest that in order to fully understand the global GW activity in the lower atmosphere, the GW kinetic energy and its geographical and seasonal variations should be included, and more attention should be given to GWs in the troposphere and GW sources within the intermediate region, especially the upper troposphere. (orig.)

  7. Latitudinal and seasonal variations of lower atmospheric inertial gravity wave energy revealed by US radiosonde data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. D. Zhang

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available The latitudinal and seasonal variations of gravity wave (GW potential energy density (EP, kinetic energy density (EK, and total energy density (ET, i.e, the sum of potential and kinetic energy densities in the tropospheric (typically 2–10 km and lower stratospheric (typically 18–25 km segments have been derived from 10 years (1998–2007 of radiosonde observations over 92 United States stations in the Northern Hemisphere. The latitudinal variation of EP in the lower stratosphere is in good agreement with satellite observations. However, EK and ET in the lower stratosphere are different from satellite observations and the difference is believed to be linked with the latitudinal dependence of GW sources. Our analysis reveals that GW energy properties exhibit distinctive latitudinal and seasonal variations. The upward-propagating GW energy in the troposphere is larger than that in the lower stratosphere at low latitudes but the opposite holds true at high latitudes. The transition latitude, where the upward- propagating energies in the two altitude regions are the same, occurs at 35° N throughout the year. So striking differences between GW activity in the troposphere and lower stratosphere are not likely explained only by the background wind Doppler shifting due to strong tropospheric jets. Our analysis indicates that the region around tropopause, roughly from 10 km to 18 km, is an important source region, especially at latitudes below 35° N. Our studies strongly suggest that in order to fully understand the global GW activity in the lower atmosphere, the GW kinetic energy and its geographical and seasonal variations should be included, and more attention should be given to GWs in the troposphere and GW sources within the intermediate region, especially the upper troposphere.

  8. Effects of socioeconomic factors on secular trends in suicide in Japan, 1953-86.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motohashi, Y

    1991-04-01

    The effects of socioeconomic factors on secular trends in suicide rates in Japan for the periods 1953-72 and 1973-86 were investigated using twelve socioeconomic indicators. Multiple regression analysis showed that the socioeconomic indicators affecting suicide rates were not identical in the two periods. The rates in both sexes in 1953-72 were closely related to unemployment rate and the labour force but between 1973 and 1986, divorce rate and the proportion in tertiary industry were most influential. The changes reflect the socioeconomic changes in industrial structure in Japan in transition from an industrial to a service economy.

  9. SECULAR EVOLUTION OF BINARIES NEAR MASSIVE BLACK HOLES: FORMATION OF COMPACT BINARIES, MERGER/COLLISION PRODUCTS AND G2-LIKE OBJECTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prodan, Snezana; Antonini, Fabio; Perets, Hagai B.

    2015-01-01

    Here we discuss the evolution of binaries around massive black holes (MBHs) in nuclear stellar clusters. We focus on their secular evolution due to the perturbation by the MBHs, while simplistically accounting for their collisional evolution. Binaries with highly inclined orbits with respect to their orbits around MBHs are strongly affected by secular processes, which periodically change their eccentricities and inclinations (e.g., Kozai-Lidov cycles). During periapsis approach, dissipative processes such as tidal friction may become highly efficient, and may lead to shrinkage of a binary orbit and even to its merger. Binaries in this environment can therefore significantly change their orbital evolution due to the MBH third-body perturbative effects. Such orbital evolution may impinge on their later stellar evolution. Here we follow the secular dynamics of such binaries and its coupling to tidal evolution, as well as the stellar evolution of such binaries on longer timescales. We find that stellar binaries in the central parts of nuclear stellar clusters (NSCs) are highly likely to evolve into eccentric and/or short-period binaries, and become strongly interacting binaries either on the main sequence (at which point they may even merge), or through their later binary stellar evolution. The central parts of NSCs therefore catalyze the formation and evolution of strongly interacting binaries, and lead to the enhanced formation of blue stragglers, X-ray binaries, gravitational wave sources, and possible supernova progenitors. Induced mergers/collisions may also lead to the formation of G2-like cloud-like objects such as the one recently observed in the Galactic center

  10. The field of the sociology of religion: secularization versus the “God’s revenge”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabiana Luci de Oliveira

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The manuscript discusses the field of the Sociology of Religion, focusing on the debate “secularization versus non-secularization”; decline/ mercantilization/ privatization of religion versus the “God’s revenge” (phenomenon of explosion of new religious movements. The discussion gives attention to authors like Weber, Durkheim, Tocqueville, Pierucci, Campbell, Woodhead e Heelas. The argument presented here is that religion had reappeared as a new kind of moral, meaning not a traditional moral, but new values, a new ethics that critically opposes to reason and science.

  11. Religious morality (and secular humanism) in Western civilization as precursors to medical ethics: A historic perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Miguel A Faria

    2015-01-01

    In discussing bioethics and the formulation of neuroethics, the question has arisen as to whether secular humanism should be the sole philosophical guiding light, to the exclusion of any discussion (or even mention) of religious morality, in professional medical ethics. In addition, the question has arisen as to whether freedom or censorship should be part of medical (and neuroscience) journalism. Should independent medical journals abstain from discussing certain issues, or should only the m...

  12. WAHHABISM, IDENTITY AND SECULAR RITUAL: Graduation at an Indonesian High School

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inayah Rohmaniyah

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper concerns the social and ritual construction of social identities at Pondok Pesantren Madrasah Wathoniyah Islamiyah (PPMWI, a theologically Wahhabi oriented pesantren (traditional Islamic school in Central Java, Indonesia. We focus on the inter-play of religious and secular symbols in the school’s graduation ceremonies (wisuda for secondary school students and the ways it contributes to the construction of individual and social identities. Our analysis builds on Turner’s studies of the processual logic of rites of passage, Moore and Meyerhoff’s distinction between religious and secular ritual and Tambiah’s application of the Piercian concept of indexical symbols to the analysis of ritual. Theoretically we will be concerned with ritual, cognitive and social processes involved in the construction of religious identities. Empirically, we critique the common assumption that Salafi, and more specifically, Wahhabi, religious teachings contribute to the construction of exclusivist identities, social conflict and violence. In the case we are concerned with, religious tolerance and non-violence are among the defining features of Wahhabi identity.[Tulisan membahas konstruksi identitas ritual dan sosial pada sebuah pesantren yang berorientasi teologi Wahhabi, yaitu Pondok Pesantren Madrasah Wathoniyah Islamiyah (PPMWI. Diskusi akan difokuskan pada saling silang simbol-simbol agama dan sekuler dalam peringatan wisuda siswa menengah pertama serta signifikansinya dalam konstruksi identitas sosial dan individual. Analisis tulisan ini berdasarkan studi Turner mengenai logika proses dalam daur ritus (the processual logic of rites of passage, pembagian ritual agama dan sekuler oleh Moore dan Meyerhoff serta konsep Piercian mengenai indek simbolis dalam ritual oleh Tambiah. Secara teoritis, artikel ini akan mendiskusikan ritual, kognisi, dan proses sosial yang menjadi bagian dalam konstruksi identitas agama. Selain itu, penulis juga melakukan

  13. Human rights and faith: a ‘world-wide secular religion’?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henri Féron

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available While human rights are meant to represent a secular morality, there are surprising parallels to be drawn with religions. Perhaps most striking is the realization that human rights are actually based on faith, as was already recognized at the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This dependence on faith has deep implications for the way we understand and propagate them, because it puts rights in situations of epistemological stalemate vis-à-vis other cultural, religious, or ideological moral systems. This paper proposes to compare human rights doctrine to a religion to identify potential threats to its long-term credibility, and how to address them. In particular, it explains why coercive propagation of rights risks degenerating into a form of self-contradictory fundamentalism. Ultimately, the article argues for a return to the values of tolerance and mutual respect that rights actually stand for.

  14. General variational many-body theory with complete self-consistency for trapped bosonic systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Streltsov, Alexej I.; Alon, Ofir E.; Cederbaum, Lorenz S.

    2006-01-01

    In this work we develop a complete variational many-body theory for a system of N trapped bosons interacting via a general two-body potential. The many-body solution of this system is expanded over orthogonal many-body basis functions (configurations). In this theory both the many-body basis functions and the respective expansion coefficients are treated as variational parameters. The optimal variational parameters are obtained self-consistently by solving a coupled system of noneigenvalue--generally integro-differential--equations to get the one-particle functions and by diagonalizing the secular matrix problem to find the expansion coefficients. We call this theory multiconfigurational Hartree theory for bosons or MCHB(M), where M specifies explicitly the number of one-particle functions used to construct the configurations. General rules for evaluating the matrix elements of one- and two-particle operators are derived and applied to construct the secular Hamiltonian matrix. We discuss properties of the derived equations. We show that in the limiting cases of one configuration the theory boils down to the well-known Gross-Pitaevskii and the recently developed multi-orbital mean fields. The invariance of the complete solution with respect to unitary transformations of the one-particle functions is utilized to find the solution with the minimal number of contributing configurations. In the second part of our work we implement and apply the developed theory. It is demonstrated that for any practical computation where the configurational space is restricted, the description of trapped bosonic systems strongly depends on the choice of the many-body basis set used, i.e., self-consistency is of great relevance. As illustrative examples we consider bosonic systems trapped in one- and two-dimensional symmetric and asymmetric double well potentials. We demonstrate that self-consistency has great impact on the predicted physical properties of the ground and excited states

  15. Ultra Deep Sequencing of a Baculovirus Population Reveals Widespread Genomic Variations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aurélien Chateigner

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Viruses rely on widespread genetic variation and large population size for adaptation. Large DNA virus populations are thought to harbor little variation though natural populations may be polymorphic. To measure the genetic variation present in a dsDNA virus population, we deep sequenced a natural strain of the baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus. With 124,221X average genome coverage of our 133,926 bp long consensus, we could detect low frequency mutations (0.025%. K-means clustering was used to classify the mutations in four categories according to their frequency in the population. We found 60 high frequency non-synonymous mutations under balancing selection distributed in all functional classes. These mutants could alter viral adaptation dynamics, either through competitive or synergistic processes. Lastly, we developed a technique for the delimitation of large deletions in next generation sequencing data. We found that large deletions occur along the entire viral genome, with hotspots located in homologous repeat regions (hrs. Present in 25.4% of the genomes, these deletion mutants presumably require functional complementation to complete their infection cycle. They might thus have a large impact on the fitness of the baculovirus population. Altogether, we found a wide breadth of genomic variation in the baculovirus population, suggesting it has high adaptive potential.

  16. Imagining Exodus for Israel-Palestine: Reading the Secular and the Sacred, Diaspora and Homeland, in Edward Said and David Grossman

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Hartnell

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper takes as its starting point Edward Said's distinction between 'religious' and 'secular' modes of cultural affiliation. As these simultaneously diverging and converging modes also trammel the particular grounds of thinking that have been Said's natural target of criticism - Zionism - his work speaks particularly powerfully to the debate surrounding the religious genealogy of Jewish identity. This paper argues that Said's interventions on Zionism highlight as problematic the position whereby the 'Ingathering of the Exiles' is promoted as coexisting with a 'diasporic consciousness' nurtured by Judaism during exile; messianic hopes of religious Jews cannot be reconciled with physical return to the Promised Land; identity circumscribed by ethnicity and place cannot stand in as exemplary for the exiled, unsettled and ultimately homeless identity trumpeted by discourses of the 'post', as many contemporary theorists would have it. And yet through an exploration of the writings of David Grossman, whose construction of Jewish identity is envisaged through the regulating, competing and collaborating tropes of Zionism and Diaspora, I argue that this position is crucial for the elaboration of Israeli identity. I also argue that in fact there is room within Said's thinking both for the anti-essentialist elaboration of 'homeless' identities as well as 'the permission to narrate' an identity politics, and that his own distinction between the 'secular' and the 'religious' begins to disassemble. I explore this blurring of the sacred and the secular through the prism of Exodus - as both concept and narrative. This paper suggests that it is precisely Said's achievement to embody these tensions between religion and its other, divine providence and human agency, historical materialism and postmodernism, alienation and its perennially tempting opposite: home.

  17. Functional Coding Variation in Recombinant Inbred Mouse Lines Reveals Novel Serotonin Transporter-Associated Phenotypes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carneiro, Ana [Vanderbilt University; Airey, David [University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis; Thompson, Brent [Vanderbilt University; Zhu, C [Vanderbilt University; Rinchik, Eugene M [ORNL; Lu, Lu [University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis; Chesler, Elissa J [ORNL; Erikson, Keith [University of North Carolina; Blakely, Randy [Vanderbilt University

    2009-01-01

    The human serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) transporter (hSERT, SLC6A4) figures prominently in the etiology or treatment of many prevalent neurobehavioral disorders including anxiety, alcoholism, depression, autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Here we utilize naturally occurring polymorphisms in recombinant inbred (RI) lines to identify novel phenotypes associated with altered SERT function. The widely used mouse strain C57BL/6J, harbors a SERT haplotype defined by two nonsynonymous coding variants (Gly39 and Lys152 (GK)). At these positions, many other mouse lines, including DBA/2J, encode Glu39 and Arg152 (ER haplotype), assignments found also in hSERT. Synaptosomal 5-HT transport studies revealed reduced uptake associated with the GK variant. Heterologous expression studies confirmed a reduced SERT turnover rate for the GK variant. Experimental and in silico approaches using RI lines (C57Bl/6J X DBA/2J=BXD) identifies multiple anatomical, biochemical and behavioral phenotypes specifically impacted by GK/ER variation. Among our findings are multiple traits associated with anxiety and alcohol consumption, as well as of the control of dopamine (DA) signaling. Further bioinformatic analysis of BXD phenotypes, combined with biochemical evaluation of SERT knockout mice, nominates SERT-dependent 5-HT signaling as a major determinant of midbrain iron homeostasis that, in turn, dictates ironregulated DA phenotypes. Our studies provide a novel example of the power of coordinated in vitro, in vivo and in silico approaches using murine RI lines to elucidate and quantify the system-level impact of gene variation.

  18. Exploring the Sacred-Secular Dialect in Everyday Social Work Practice: An Analysis of Religious Responses to Managerialism among Outreach Social Workers in Hong Kong.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groves, Julian M; Ho, Wai-Yip; Siu, Kaxton

    2016-07-01

    We examine the recent proliferation of religious discourses among front line social workers in the former British Colony of Hong Kong in order to explore the nature of 're-enchantment' in modern social work practice. In-depth qualitative interviews with twenty social workers who identify as 'Christian social workers' in a variety of social work organisations (both religious and secular) reveal the adoption of religious identities and discourses to navigate the encroachment of managerialism. A systematic analysis of these narratives suggests that Christian social workers evoke religion to reclaim feelings of authenticity in their work, to facilitate more personalised relationships with their clients, and to empower themselves following the introduction of managerialist policies. We illuminate the dialectical relationship between religious discourses and managerialism to critique claims in the literature about a 're-enchantment' in social work, and to understand the essence of religion in modern social work practice.

  19. Compassion in Jewish, Christian and Secular Nursing. A Systematic Comparison of a Key Concept of Nursing (Part I)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Käppeli, Silvia

    2008-01-01

    Background The topos of the Compassionate God is a dominant motive of the Jewish and Christian traditions. It is relevant for nursing because it asks the nurse to imitate God so as to become God-like. Also, to think that God suffers with the suffering believers is thought to give comfort to them. Because in the western world the topos of the Compassionate God represents the basis of the ethics of compassion/caring, this piece of basic research is important for clinical practice. This study explores to what extent Jewish and Christian nursing adhered to the biblical topos of the Compassionate God at different periods and in different cultural contexts. Method A mixed methods approach was used. It included variations of hermeneutical text analysis as used in historical, philosophical, theological, science of religion, and nursing research. Results The analysis of the literary sources shows that the topos of the Compassionate God was interpreted differently in different cultural contexts. However, at all times it directed religious and secular nursing. Since the beginning of the 21st century it builds the core of “compassionate caring” as propagated by North American nursing science. Conclusions The topos of the Compassionate God laid the foundation of the tradition of the ethics of compassion in nursing. More research is required to learn whether it also plays a role in Islamic nursing. PMID:23908713

  20. Insights into pre-reversal paleosecular variation from stochastic models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klaudio ePeqini

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available To provide insights on the paleosecular variation of the geomagnetic field and the mechanism of reversals, long time series of the dipolar magnetic moment are generated by two different stochastic models, known as the domino model and the inhomogeneous Lebovitz disk dynamo model, with initial values taken from the from paleomagnetic data. The former model considers mutual interactions of N macrospins embedded in a uniformly rotating medium, where random forcing and dissipation act on each macrospin. With an appropriate set of the model’s parameters values, the series generated by this model have similar statistical behaviour to the time series of the SHA.DIF.14K model. The latter model is an extension of the classical two-disk Rikitake model, considering N dynamo elements with appropriate interactions between them.We varied the parameters set of both models aiming at generating suitable time series with behaviour similar to the long time series of recent secular variation (SV. Such series are then extended to the near future, obtaining reversals in both cases of models. The analysis of the time series generated by simulating the models show that the reversals appears after a persistent period of low intensity geomagnetic field, as it is occurring in the present times.

  1. Within-Host Variations of Human Papillomavirus Reveal APOBEC-Signature Mutagenesis in the Viral Genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirose, Yusuke; Onuki, Mamiko; Tenjimbayashi, Yuri; Mori, Seiichiro; Ishii, Yoshiyuki; Takeuchi, Takamasa; Tasaka, Nobutaka; Satoh, Toyomi; Morisada, Tohru; Iwata, Takashi; Miyamoto, Shingo; Matsumoto, Koji; Sekizawa, Akihiko; Kukimoto, Iwao

    2018-03-28

    Persistent infection with oncogenic human papillomaviruses (HPVs) causes cervical cancer, accompanied with the accumulation of somatic mutations into the host genome. There are concomitant genetic changes in the HPV genome during viral infection; however, their relevance to cervical carcinogenesis is poorly understood. Here we explored within-host genetic diversity of HPV by performing deep sequencing analyses of viral whole-genome sequences in clinical specimens. The whole genomes of HPV types 16, 52 and 58 were amplified by type-specific PCR from total cellular DNA of cervical exfoliated cells collected from patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC), and were deep-sequenced. After constructing a reference vial genome sequence for each specimen, nucleotide positions showing changes with > 0.5% frequencies compared to the reference sequence were determined for individual samples. In total, 1,052 positions of nucleotide variations were detected in HPV genomes from 151 samples (CIN1, n = 56; CIN2/3, n = 68; ICC, n = 27), with varying numbers per sample. Overall, C-to-T and C-to-A substitutions were the dominant changes observed across all histological grades. While C-to-T transitions were predominantly detected in CIN1, their prevalence was decreased in CIN2/3 and fell below that of C-to-A transversions in ICC. Analysis of the tri-nucleotides context encompassing substituted bases revealed that Tp C pN, a preferred target sequence for cellular APOBEC cytosine deaminases, was a primary site for C-to-T substitutions in the HPV genome. These results strongly imply that the APOBEC proteins are drivers of HPV genome mutation, particularly in CIN1 lesions. IMPORTANCE HPVs exhibit surprisingly high levels of genetic diversity, including a large repertoire of minor genomic variants in each viral genotype. Here, by conducting deep sequencing analyses, we show for the first time a comprehensive snapshot of the "within

  2. Phylogenomics Reveals Three Sources of Adaptive Variation during a Rapid Radiation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James B Pease

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Speciation events often occur in rapid bursts of diversification, but the ecological and genetic factors that promote these radiations are still much debated. Using whole transcriptomes from all 13 species in the ecologically and reproductively diverse wild tomato clade (Solanum sect. Lycopersicon, we infer the species phylogeny and patterns of genetic diversity in this group. Despite widespread phylogenetic discordance due to the sorting of ancestral variation, we date the origin of this radiation to approximately 2.5 million years ago and find evidence for at least three sources of adaptive genetic variation that fuel diversification. First, we detect introgression both historically between early-branching lineages and recently between individual populations, at specific loci whose functions indicate likely adaptive benefits. Second, we find evidence of lineage-specific de novo evolution for many genes, including loci involved in the production of red fruit color. Finally, using a "PhyloGWAS" approach, we detect environment-specific sorting of ancestral variation among populations that come from different species but share common environmental conditions. Estimated across the whole clade, small but substantial and approximately equal fractions of the euchromatic portion of the genome are inferred to contribute to each of these three sources of adaptive genetic variation. These results indicate that multiple genetic sources can promote rapid diversification and speciation in response to new ecological opportunity, in agreement with our emerging phylogenomic understanding of the complexity of both ancient and recent species radiations.

  3. Secular trends in salt and soy sauce intake among Chinese adults, 1997-2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Lianlong; Li, Suyun; Zhao, Jinshan; Zhang, Junli; Wang, Liansen; Wang, Kebo

    2018-03-01

    Salt and soy sauce are the main ways of sodium intake in Chinese dietary. In this study, we used the data of the China Health and Nutrition Surveys to describe the secular trends of salt and soy sauce intake among Chinese adults from 1997 to 2011. Trends were tested by multiple linear regression models. During the past 14 years, the consumption of sodium, salt and soy sauce intake values decreased significantly across the six study periods (p sauce intake values decreased by 9.0 g/d among men and 7.3 g/d among women. Similar significant trends were observed in all age groups, activity levels and regions (p < .0001).

  4. Visiting Ground Zero: sacred echoes in secular rites

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    Richard C. Martin

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available For the past several years since September 11, 2001, large numbers of people from across the continent and around the world have visited the site of the devastated World Trade Center in New York. Scholars in religious studies and the social sciences have noticed that there were and continue to be (though less so over time religious aspects to the observances and performances of visitors to ‘Ground Zero’, as the site of the former World Trade Center almost immediately came to be called. A central argument of this article is that the ongoing stream of visitors to Ground Zero, strictly speaking, does not qualify this phenomenon as a pilgrimage in the traditional religious sense; it is more akin to the growing phenomenon of religious tourism, although it is not exactly that either. Nonetheless the event of 9/11 generated many ritualized activities; the article will also address the pro­cess scholars call ‘ritualization’ and related terms in ritual studies. Although ritualized performances at Ground Zero do not amount to a pilgrimage in the narrow sense that historians of religion mean when they analyse traditional pilgrimages, such as the Hajj to Mecca, or following the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, visiting Ground Zero has taken on both secular and religious elements.

  5. Secular trend of menarche in Zagreb (Croatia) adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veček, Nenad; Veček, Andrea; Zajc Petranović, Matea; Tomas, Zeljka; Arch-Veček, Branka; Skarić-Jurić, Tatjana; Miličić, Jasna

    2012-01-01

    To study the secular trend of menarche in high-school urban adolescent girls (Zagreb, Croatia) over the last two decades, and to evaluate the possible impact of worsening of socio-economic conditions on age at menarche during the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995). Three surveys of female adolescents aged 15-19 years: (a) 523 girls interviewed in 1990, (b) 888 girls interviewed in 1997, and (c) 399 girls interviewed in 2010. Self-reported age at menarche (in decimal years) was presented by age groups and year of interview. Differences in mean age at menarche between adolescent age groups as well as between surveys were tested using One-way ANOVA. The mean age at menarche was 12.82 years in 1990, 12.92 years in 1997 and 12.31 years in 2010. It increased by 0.10 years from 1990 to 1997 (p=0.290) and then declined by 0.61 years from 1997 to 2010 (pZagreb adolescents continued to decline significantly from 1990 to 2010 (p<0.001), in spite of a statistically insignificant initial increase between 1990 and 1997. When put in broader context, age at menarche mirrored socio-economic changes in the war period. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. The role of religious faith, spirituality and existential considerations among heart patients in a secular society: relation to depressive symptoms 6 months post acute coronary syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekke-Hansen, Sidsel; Pedersen, Christina G; Thygesen, Kristian; Christensen, Søren; Waelde, Lynn C; Zachariae, Robert

    2014-06-01

    We explored the significance of religious faith/coping and spirituality and existential considerations reported during hospitalisation on depressive symptoms at 6-month follow-up and addressed patients' perceived influence of their faith among 97 consecutive acute coronary syndrome patients (72.2% male patients; mean age, 60.6 years) in a secular society. All faith variables were found unrelated to depressive symptoms. Having unambiguous religious or spiritual faith at follow-up was associated with a perceived positive influence of this faith on quality of life and the disease itself compared to patients with ambiguous faith. These findings underscore the importance of examining degrees of faith in secular settings. © The Author(s) 2013.

  7. Research on the neutron flux, secular equilibrium of chlorine-36 and groundwater age of the deep quaternary sediments, Hebei plain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dong Yuean; He Ming; Jiang Songsheng; Wu Shaoyong; Jiang Shan

    2001-01-01

    For the study of the neutron flux, secular equilibrium of chlorine-36 in the deep quaternary sediments of Hebei plain, the main chemical composition of water sand and confining bed was determined by neutron activation analysis. The mean neutron flux is 2.79 x 10 -5 cm -2 s -1 which was calculated by the chemical composition of the strata. The mean 36 Cl/Cl ratio in secular equilibrium is 1.27 x 10 -14 in the deep quaternary sediments, Hebei Plain. For the study of the groundwater age of the deep Quaternary sediments of Hebei Plain, the 36 Cl/Cl ratio of groundwater samples were determined by tandem accelerator mass spectrometry. The mixed groundwater 36 Cl/Cl ratio of the second and the third aquifer of Quaternary sediments in Baoding district is 247 x 10 -15 , that of the fourth aquifer in Baoding city is 224 x 10 -15 and the third aquifer in Cangzhou district is 40.5 x 10 -15 . The groundwater age of Baoding district was young and that of the third aquifer in Cangzhou was 229.2 ka

  8. Gandhi on Religion, Faith and Conversion: Secular Blueprint Relevant Today*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Ajai R.; Singh, Shakuntala A.

    2004-01-01

    symbols could not be made into a fetish to prove the superiority of one religion over another. In a multi-religious secular polity like that of India, Gandhi's ideas on religion and attitude toward other religions could serve as a secular blueprint to ponder over and implement. PMID:22815610

  9. The Egyptian geomagnetic reference field to the Epoch, 2010.0

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H.A. Deebes

    2017-06-01

    The geomagnetic anomaly maps, the normal geomagnetic field maps with their corresponding secular variation maps, the normal geomagnetic field equations of the geomagnetic elements (EGRF and their corresponding secular variations equations, are outlined. The anomalous sites, as discovered from the anomaly maps are, only, mentioned. In addition, a correlation between the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF 2010.0 and the Egyptian Geomagnetic Reference Field (EGRF 2010 is indicated.

  10. Talla final de mujeres de Córdoba, Argentina, y exploración de la tendencia secular (1978­1988) Full adult height of women in Cordoba, Argentina, and an exploration of secular trends 1978­1988

    OpenAIRE

    Fernando Agrelo; Laura Rosa Pascual; Beatriz Lobo; Jacobo Sabulsky

    1999-01-01

    Este trabajo tuvo por objeto aportar datos locales sobre la talla final de mujeres de Córdoba, Argentina, y explorar la posibilidad de una tendencia secular en su crecimiento. Se examinaron 513 mujeres de 18 a 40 años de edad, madres de niños incluidos en el estudio CLACYD (Córdoba: lactancia, alimentación, crecimiento y desarrollo). Las mediciones se realizaron según técnicas estandarizadas, durante mayo y junio de 1994. Usando como normas de referencia datos del Centro Nacional de Estadísti...

  11. Facing suffering and death: alternative therapy as post-secular religious practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Kalvig

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The idea of religious practice being ‘post-secular’ raises questions concerning secularisation, sacralisation and the various meanings of the prefix ‘post’. This paper investigates a kind of practice that is ever increasing in late modern, Western societies and elsewhere; namely, the practice of alternative therapy and the conceptualisations and world-views pertaining to it. The focus is on the themes of suffering and death in relation to alternative spirituality and therapy. Some answers are given to the following questions: is alternative therapy a kind of post-secular religious practice? If so, what kinds of answers or consolations does alternative therapy offer in the face of suffering and death? How do possible ‘alternative theodicies’ relate to holism as a paradigmatic principle? To what extent does, for example, ‘reincarnationism’ seem to function as explanatory model regarding suffering, evil and death?

  12. Short-term secular change in height, body mass and Tanner-Whitehouse 3 skeletal maturity of Madeira youth, Portugal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freitas, Duarte; Malina, Robert M; Maia, José; Lefevre, Johan; Stasinopoulos, Mikis; Gouveia, Élvio; Claessens, Albrecht; Thomis, Martine; Lausen, Berthold

    2012-05-01

    Secular trends in height and weight are reasonably well documented in Europe. Corresponding observations for skeletal maturation are lacking. To assess secular trends in height, body mass and skeletal maturity of Portuguese children and adolescents and to provide updated reference values for skeletal maturity scores (SMSs). Data for 2856 children and adolescents of 4-17 years, 1412 boys and 1444 girls, from The 'Madeira Growth Study' (MGS; 1996-1998) and from the'Healthy Growth of Madeira Children Study' (CRES; 2006) were used. Height and body mass were measured. Skeletal maturity was assessed with the Tanner-Whitehouse 2 and 3 methods. Children from CRES were taller and heavier than peers from MGS. Differences in height reached 5.8 cm in boys and 5.5 cm in girls. RUS SMSs did not differ consistently between surveys boys, while higher RUS scores were observed in CRES girls. Adult RUS SMSs for MGS and CRES combined were attained at 15.8 years in boys and 14.8 years in girls. Corresponding ages for adult Carpal SMSs were 14.4 and 14.0, respectively. The short-term trends for height and mass were not entirely consistent with the trends in RUS and Carpal SMSs and SAs.

  13. Secular bathymetric variations of the North Channel in the Changjiang (Yangtze) Estuary, China, 1880-2013: Causes and effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mei, Xuefei; Dai, Zhijun; Wei, Wen; Li, Weihua; Wang, Jie; Sheng, Hao

    2018-02-01

    As the interface between the fluvial upland system and the open coast, global estuaries are facing serious challenges owing to various anthropogenic activities, especially to the Changjiang Estuary. Since the establishment of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD), currently the world's largest hydraulic structure, and certain other local hydraulic engineering structures, the Changjiang Estuary has experienced severe bathymetric variations. It is urgent to analyze the estuarine morphological response to the basin-wide disturbance to enable a better management of estuarine environments. North Channel (NC), the largest anabranched estuary in the Changjiang Estuary, is the focus of this study. Based on the analysis of bathymetric data between 1880 and 2013 and related hydrological data, we developed the first study on the centennial bathymetric variations of the NC. It is found that the bathymetric changes of NC include two main modes, with the first mode representing 64% of the NC variability, which indicates observable deposition in the mouth bar and its outer side area (lower reach); the second mode representing 11% of the NC variability, which further demonstrates channel deepening along the inner side of the mouth bar (upper reach) during 1970-2013. Further, recent erosion observed along the inner side of the mouth bar is caused by riverine sediment decrease, especially in relation to TGD induced sediment trapping since 2003, while the deposition along the lower reach since 2003 can be explained by the landward sediment transport because of flood-tide force strengthen under the joint action of TGD induced seasonal flood discharge decrease and land reclamation induced lower reach narrowing. Generally, the upper and lower NC reach are respectively dominated by fluvial and tidal discharge, however, episodic extreme floods can completely alter the channel morphology by smoothing the entire channel. The results presented herein for the NC enrich our understanding of bathymetric

  14. Saturn's Internal Magnetic Field Revealed by Cassini Grand Finale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, H.; Dougherty, M. K.; Khurana, K. K.; Hunt, G. J.; Provan, G.; Kellock, S.; Burton, M. E.; Burk, T. A.

    2017-12-01

    Saturn's internal magnetic field has been puzzling since the first in-situ measurements during the Pioneer 11 Saturn flyby. Cassini magnetometer measurements prior to the Grand Finale phase established 1) the highly axisymmetric nature of Saturn's internal magnetic field with a dipole tilt smaller than 0.06 degrees, 2) at least an order of magnitude slower secular variation rate compared to that of the current geomagnetic field, and 3) expulsion of magnetic fluxes from the equatorial region towards high latitude. The highly axisymmetric nature of Saturn's intrinsic magnetic field not only challenges dynamo theory but also makes an accurate determination of the interior rotation rate of Saturn extremely difficult. The Cassini spacecraft entered the Grand Finale phase in April 2017, during which time the spacecraft dived through the gap between Saturn's atmosphere and the inner edge of the D-ring 22 times before descending into the deep atmosphere of Saturn. The unprecedented proximity to Saturn (reaching 2500 km above the cloud deck) and the highly inclined nature of the Grand Finale orbits provided an ideal opportunity to decode Saturn's internal magnetic field. The fluxgate magnetometer onboard Cassini made precise vector measurements during the Grand Finale phase. Magnetic signals from the interior of the planet, the magnetospheric ring current, the high-latitude field-aligned current (FAC) modulated by the 10.7 hour planetary period oscillation, and low-latitude FACs were observed during the Grand Finale phase. Here we report the magnetometer measurements during the Cassini Grand Finale phase, new features of Saturn's internal magnetic field revealed by these measurements (e.g., the high degree magnetic moments of Saturn, the level of axisymmetry beyond dipole), and implications for the deep interior of Saturn.

  15. Arabian Sea GEOSECS stations revisited: Tracer-depth profiles reveal temporal variations?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mulsow, S.; Povinec, P.P.; Somayajulu, B.L.K.

    2002-01-01

    In March-April 1998, the Physical Research Laboratory and the Regional Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad, India) together with the IAEA Marine Environment Laboratory, Monaco, participated in the research mission to visit GEOSECS (Geochemical Ocean Sections Study) stations in the Arabian Sea. The main objective was to reoccupy these stations which were sampled in the early seventies to observe possible time variations in trace behaviour in this region. It is generally accepted that both natural (climate variations) and anthropogenic (greenhouse effect) changes can cause modifications of the oceanic characteristics and properties of deep waters on yearly and decadal scales. For long time-scales (100 to 1000 years) one needs to look at the sediments where these changes are subtly recorded. Tracers such as 14 C and 3 H (deep waters) and 228 Ra surface waters are useful markers of water circulation patterns and changes. Also man-made radiotracers such as 90 Sr, 137 Cs, 99 Tc, 238 Pu, 239 , 240 Pu and 241 Am, can give information on air-sea exchange as well as penetration (vertical change) rates in the open ocean [2]. We visited GEOSECS stations 415 to 419. In each station, CTD profiles, 3 H, 14 C, 90 Sr, 137 Cs, Pu and Am profiles, nutrients, Be, TOC and oxygen were determined from surface to bottom. Also uranium and trace elements were sampled in function of the oxygen minimum zone. In this paper we report the findings on the physical properties as well as the variations in water circulation patterns and also vertical exchange rates in the Arabian Sea. PSU profiles collected in this mission compared with those PSU profiles measured in 1974 (GEOSECS) showed marked differences in those stations located in the southeast part of the Arabian Sea. In contrast, those located more towards the north (415-416) showed little temporal variation. We think these changes may be real given that the PSU values at depth are comparable and reflect the presence of deep Antarctic bottom

  16. ‘Culture’ as a discursive resource in newspaper articles from Le Monde about secularism : Constructing ‘us’ through strategic oppositions with religion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. Sommier (Mélodine)

    2018-01-01

    markdownabstractBuilding on research highlighting the complex webs of relations between secularism, culture, and religion, this study investigates how the concept of culture was utilized in discourses of laïcité from the newspaper _le Monde_. Articles (_N_ = 76) published between 2011 and 2014 were

  17. Genetic variation in the Staphylococcus aureus 8325 strain lineage revealed by whole-genome sequencing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristoffer T Bæk

    Full Text Available Staphylococcus aureus strains of the 8325 lineage, especially 8325-4 and derivatives lacking prophage, have been used extensively for decades of research. We report herein the results of our deep sequence analysis of strain 8325-4. Assignment of sequence variants compared with the reference strain 8325 (NRS77/PS47 required correction of errors in the 8325 reference genome, and reassessment of variation previously attributed to chemical mutagenesis of the restriction-defective RN4220. Using an extensive strain pedigree analysis, we discovered that 8325-4 contains 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP arising prior to the construction of RN4220. We identified 5 indels in 8325-4 compared with 8325. Three indels correspond to expected Φ11, 12, 13 excisions, one indel is explained by a sequence assembly artifact, and the final indel (Δ63bp in the spa-sarS intergenic region is common to only a sub-lineage of 8325-4 strains including SH1000. This deletion was found to significantly decrease (75% steady state sarS but not spa transcript levels in post-exponential phase. The sub-lineage 8325-4 was also found to harbor 4 additional SNPs. We also found large sequence variation between 8325, 8325-4 and RN4220 in a cluster of repetitive hypothetical proteins (SA0282 homologs near the Ess secretion cluster. The overall 8325-4 SNP set results in 17 alterations within coding sequences. Remarkably, we discovered that all tested strains of the 8325-4 lineage lack phenol soluble modulin α3 (PSMα3, a virulence determinant implicated in neutrophil chemotaxis, biofilm architecture and surface spreading. Collectively, our results clarify and define the 8325-4 pedigree and reveal clear evidence that mutations existing throughout all branches of this lineage, including the widely used RN6390 and SH1000 strains, could conceivably impact virulence regulation.

  18. Technological Progress, Globalization, and Secular Stagnation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Popović Milenko

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available After the 2008 crisis, despite economic recovery that started in 2009, the world economy has experienced a downward shift of its growth path and a consequent decline. As shown at the beginning of this paper, this shift and growth rate stagnation are totally attributable to the economic dynamics in developed economies, the USA and the EU. Explanations of this phenomenon can be divided into two large groups: explanations that belong to the demand side and those that belong to the supply side. The aim of this paper is to give a critical survey of the most important explanations for the ongoing growth stagnation in developed countries and consequently in the entire world economy. This ongoing prolonged stagnation can only be explained by looking at both, the demand and supply sides of the explanation, and particularly by taking a closer look at the interaction between aggregate demand and aggregate supply. In other words, secular stagnation manifests itself as a problem of the limitation of long run growth of aggregate demand. However, in order to explain the causes of those demand limitations, we have to undertake a careful analysis of the supply side dynamics, especially the dynamics of innovations, which bring us to circular and cumulative causation. In order to explain the numerous consequences of this stagnation and to solve some important puzzles, like the productivity paradox for example, a special emphasis is given to the analysis of deindustrialization and the consequent strange reoccurrence of a dual economy within most developed countries during the period of the IT revolution and hyper-globalization. It will also be shown that this new dual economy presents serious limitations for further technological advancement and economic development, quite contrary to the old dualism which contributed to an acceleration of economic growth.

  19. Secular trends in consultations for asthma in early childhood, the 16 administrative regions of Morocco, 2004-2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadeq, Mina; Abouqal, Redouane; ElMarnissi, Abdelilah

    2015-09-17

    Little is known about asthma trend in Morocco, particularly in early childhood. Furthermore, when dealing with asthma related environmental risk factors in Morocco, decision-making focus is in one region R9, while 16 regions make up the country. This work aims at studying 9-year trends in consultations for asthma in under-5 children in the 16 individual regions with respect to area and age group. Direct method use, based on the only available national data from the open access files of the ministry of health, standardizing data for three age groups (0-11 ; 12-23 and 24-59 months). We compared age-adjusted rates, stratified by area (urban and rural areas) within each region (Wilcoxon's signed ranks test), and between all regions emphasizing on R9. Secular trends are examined (Kendall's rank correlation test). We also compared directly standardized rates as a rate ratio for two study populations (that of R9 and any region with highest rates). We finally compared rates by age group in selected regions. Secular increase in prevalence rates was shown in both urban and rural Morocco, particularly in urban areas of R10, R14, R16 and R5, and in rural areas of R14 and R16. In urban area of R10 (the highest age-adjusted prevalence rates area) the rates showed secular increase from 6.82 at 95 % CI = [6.44 to 7.19] per 1000 childhood population in 2004 to 20.91 at 95 % CI = [20.26 to 21.56] per 1000 childhood population in 2012 (P = 0.001). Rates were higher in urban than rural Morocco, particularly in R8, R9, R10, R14, R15 ; R6 was an exception. Rates in R10 were 1.63 higher than that in R9 in 2004 and rose to be 2.55 higher in 2012 ; rates in urban area of R14, about 3 times lower than that in R9 in 2004, increased to be similar in 2012. The highest-prevalence age group varied according to region and area. The regions that worth decision making attention are the urban areas of R10 (the highest prevalence rates Moroccan area, showing continuous increase), of R9, of R14

  20. Extreme orbital evolution from hierarchical secular coupling of two giant planets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teyssandier, Jean; Naoz, Smadar; Lizarraga, Ian; Rasio, Frederic A.

    2013-01-01

    Observations of exoplanets over the last two decades have revealed a new class of Jupiter-size planets with orbital periods of a few days, the so-called 'hot Jupiters'. Recent measurements using the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect have shown that many (∼50%) of these planets are misaligned; furthermore, some (∼15%) are even retrograde with respect to the stellar spin axis. Motivated by these observations, we explore the possibility of forming retrograde orbits in hierarchical triple configurations consisting of a star-planet inner pair with another giant planet, or brown dwarf, in a much wider orbit. Recently, it was shown that in such a system, the inner planet's orbit can flip back and forth from prograde to retrograde and can also reach extremely high eccentricities. Here we map a significant part of the parameter space of dynamical outcomes for these systems. We derive strong constraints on the orbital configurations for the outer perturber (the tertiary) that could lead to the formation of hot Jupiters with misaligned or retrograde orbits. We focus only on the secular evolution, neglecting other dynamical effects such as mean-motion resonances, as well as all dissipative forces. For example, with an inner Jupiter-like planet initially on a nearly circular orbit at 5 AU, we show that a misaligned hot Jupiter is likely to be formed in the presence of a more massive planetary companion (>2 M J ) within ∼140 AU of the inner system, with mutual inclination >50° and eccentricity above ∼0.25. This is in striking contrast to the test particle approximation, where an almost perpendicular configuration can still cause large-eccentricity excitations, but flips of an inner Jupiter-like planet are much less likely to occur. The constraints we derive can be used to guide future observations and, in particular, searches for more distant companions in systems containing a hot Jupiter.

  1. A secular carbon debt from atmospheric high temperature combustion of stem wood?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Czeskleba-Dupont, Rolf

    2012-01-01

    ' approach for smokestack emissions that was propagated within the Kyoto process, the first phase of which is terminating in 2012. Otherwise, it is tolerated that the substitution of wood pellets for coal or other fossil fuels creates long lasting extra emissions of carbon dioxide – a mistake of climate......Basically, combustion of woody biomass in high temperature processes that react with atmospheric air results in a long lasting addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. When harvesting large extra amounts of stem tree for energetic use, a global as well as secular time frame is needed to assess...... overall consequences with due attention given to biosphere processes, including the complex productivity of whole ecosystems. Analytically, a time dependent variable of carbon neutralization can be traced by a simple carbon neutrality or CN factor. Using the forgotten Marland approach, project managers...

  2. Sacred Torrents in Modernity: German Jewish Philosophers and the Legacy of Secularization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roemer Nils

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article investigates the ongoing interaction between the Jewish sacred past and its modern interpreters. Jewish thinkers from the eighteenth century reclaimed these ideals instead of dismissing them. Sacred traditions and modern secular thought existed in their mutual constitutive interdependence and not in opposition. When the optimism in historical progress and faith in reason unraveled in the fin de siècle, it engendered a new critical response by Jewish historians and philosophers of the twentieth century. These critical voices emerged within the fault lines of nineteenth and early twentieth century Jewish anti-historicist responses. What separated twentieth-century Jewish thinkers such as Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Gershom Scholem from their nineteenth-century forerunners was not their embrace of religion but their critical stance toward reason and their crumbling faith in historical progress.

  3. Émile Durkheim: from secular ideologist to forerunner of postsecular theories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raquel Weiss

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents and articulates three points that, taken together, suggest a reinterpretations of Durkheim’s concept of religion, allowing us to take the arguments of his late writings as a key ground to postsecular theories. The first point inserts the author in his historical environments, highlighting his commitment to the principle of laicité, part of the moral ideals of the Third Republic. The second point builds a narrative where the idea religion and its relationship with morality undergoes a transformation along his career. The thesis is that in The Elemental Forms of Religious Life (DURKHEIM, 1912 he presents a concept of religion fully compatible with the idea of post-secularization both as a diagnostic of the present times and as a normative horizon for late modernity. In the third and last point I take a stand in defending the idea of postsecular as the best way to encourage religious and axiological pluralism.

  4. SECULAR STELLAR DYNAMICS NEAR A MASSIVE BLACK HOLE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Madigan, Ann-Marie; Hopman, Clovis; Levin, Yuri

    2011-01-01

    The angular momentum evolution of stars close to massive black holes (MBHs) is driven by secular torques. In contrast to two-body relaxation, where interactions between stars are incoherent, the resulting resonant relaxation (RR) process is characterized by coherence times of hundreds of orbital periods. In this paper, we show that all the statistical properties of RR can be reproduced in an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model. We use the ARMA model, calibrated with extensive N-body simulations, to analyze the long-term evolution of stellar systems around MBHs with Monte Carlo simulations. We show that for a single-mass system in steady state, a depression is carved out near an MBH as a result of tidal disruptions. Using Galactic center parameters, the extent of the depression is about 0.1 pc, of similar order to but less than the size of the observed 'hole' in the distribution of bright late-type stars. We also find that the velocity vectors of stars around an MBH are locally not isotropic. In a second application, we evolve the highly eccentric orbits that result from the tidal disruption of binary stars, which are considered to be plausible precursors of the 'S-stars' in the Galactic center. We find that RR predicts more highly eccentric (e > 0.9) S-star orbits than have been observed to date.

  5. Secular Stellar Dynamics near a Massive Black Hole

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madigan, Ann-Marie; Hopman, Clovis; Levin, Yuri

    2011-09-01

    The angular momentum evolution of stars close to massive black holes (MBHs) is driven by secular torques. In contrast to two-body relaxation, where interactions between stars are incoherent, the resulting resonant relaxation (RR) process is characterized by coherence times of hundreds of orbital periods. In this paper, we show that all the statistical properties of RR can be reproduced in an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model. We use the ARMA model, calibrated with extensive N-body simulations, to analyze the long-term evolution of stellar systems around MBHs with Monte Carlo simulations. We show that for a single-mass system in steady state, a depression is carved out near an MBH as a result of tidal disruptions. Using Galactic center parameters, the extent of the depression is about 0.1 pc, of similar order to but less than the size of the observed "hole" in the distribution of bright late-type stars. We also find that the velocity vectors of stars around an MBH are locally not isotropic. In a second application, we evolve the highly eccentric orbits that result from the tidal disruption of binary stars, which are considered to be plausible precursors of the "S-stars" in the Galactic center. We find that RR predicts more highly eccentric (e > 0.9) S-star orbits than have been observed to date.

  6. A comprehensive custom panel design for routine hereditary cancer testing: preserving control, improving diagnostics and revealing a complex variation landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castellanos, Elisabeth; Gel, Bernat; Rosas, Inma; Tornero, Eva; Santín, Sheila; Pluvinet, Raquel; Velasco, Juan; Sumoy, Lauro; Del Valle, Jesús; Perucho, Manuel; Blanco, Ignacio; Navarro, Matilde; Brunet, Joan; Pineda, Marta; Feliubadaló, Lidia; Capellá, Gabi; Lázaro, Conxi; Serra, Eduard

    2017-01-04

    We wanted to implement an NGS strategy to globally analyze hereditary cancer with diagnostic quality while retaining the same degree of understanding and control we had in pre-NGS strategies. To do this, we developed the I2HCP panel, a custom bait library covering 122 hereditary cancer genes. We improved bait design, tested different NGS platforms and created a clinically driven custom data analysis pipeline. The I2HCP panel was developed using a training set of hereditary colorectal cancer, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and neurofibromatosis patients and reached an accuracy, analytical sensitivity and specificity greater than 99%, which was maintained in a validation set. I2HCP changed our diagnostic approach, involving clinicians and a genetic diagnostics team from panel design to reporting. The new strategy improved diagnostic sensitivity, solved uncertain clinical diagnoses and identified mutations in new genes. We assessed the genetic variation in the complete set of hereditary cancer genes, revealing a complex variation landscape that coexists with the disease-causing mutation. We developed, validated and implemented a custom NGS-based strategy for hereditary cancer diagnostics that improved our previous workflows. Additionally, the existence of a rich genetic variation in hereditary cancer genes favors the use of this panel to investigate their role in cancer risk.

  7. Galaxy Zoo: Observing secular evolution through bars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheung, Edmond; Faber, S. M.; Koo, David C.; Athanassoula, E.; Bosma, A.; Masters, Karen L.; Nichol, Robert C.; Melvin, Thomas; Bell, Eric F.; Lintott, Chris; Schawinski, Kevin; Skibba, Ramin A.; Willett, Kyle W.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we use the Galaxy Zoo 2 data set to study the behavior of bars in disk galaxies as a function of specific star formation rate (SSFR) and bulge prominence. Our sample consists of 13,295 disk galaxies, with an overall (strong) bar fraction of 23.6% ± 0.4%, of which 1154 barred galaxies also have bar length (BL) measurements. These samples are the largest ever used to study the role of bars in galaxy evolution. We find that the likelihood of a galaxy hosting a bar is anticorrelated with SSFR, regardless of stellar mass or bulge prominence. We find that the trends of bar likelihood and BL with bulge prominence are bimodal with SSFR. We interpret these observations using state-of-the-art simulations of bar evolution that include live halos and the effects of gas and star formation. We suggest our observed trends of bar likelihood with SSFR are driven by the gas fraction of the disks, a factor demonstrated to significantly retard both bar formation and evolution in models. We interpret the bimodal relationship between bulge prominence and bar properties as being due to the complicated effects of classical bulges and central mass concentrations on bar evolution and also to the growth of disky pseudobulges by bar evolution. These results represent empirical evidence for secular evolution driven by bars in disk galaxies. This work suggests that bars are not stagnant structures within disk galaxies but are a critical evolutionary driver of their host galaxies in the local universe (z < 1).

  8. Harry and Sally Revisited: The Influence of Spirituality and Education on Sexual Tension in Cross-Sex Friendships in Secular and Christian Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    George, Darren; Adalikwu-Obisike, Justina; Boyko, Jesse; Johnson, Jay; Boscanin, Alex

    2014-01-01

    A sample of 406 subjects completed a questionnaire testing the influence of personal spirituality, education and several other factors on sexual tension in cross-sex friendships (CSF Tension). The subjects included 143 students from a Christian university (CU), 137 from a secular junior college (JC), and 127 non-students (NS). The primary…

  9. Fighting Rage with Fear: The “Faces of Muhammad” and the Limits of Secular Rationality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirin S. Deylami

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, a number of incidents have pitted Islam against secularism and liberal democracy. This essay examines the Danish publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons in order to examine the deployment of rationality as a litmus test for political membership. It argues that Western media and political analysis of the protests surrounding the cartoons constructed Muslims as anti-rational and thus unfit for democratic citizenship. Such a deployment of rationality inhibits the possibility of and demands for political pluralism. The essay then looks to two disparate theorists of affective reason, Abdulkarim Soroush and William Connolly, to offer an alternative model of reason that encourages pluralist political engagement.

  10. High-density SNP genotyping of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. reveals patterns of genetic variation due to breeding.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sung-Chur Sim

    Full Text Available The effects of selection on genome variation were investigated and visualized in tomato using a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP array. 7,720 SNPs were genotyped on a collection of 426 tomato accessions (410 inbreds and 16 hybrids and over 97% of the markers were polymorphic in the entire collection. Principal component analysis (PCA and pairwise estimates of F(st supported that the inbred accessions represented seven sub-populations including processing, large-fruited fresh market, large-fruited vintage, cultivated cherry, landrace, wild cherry, and S. pimpinellifolium. Further divisions were found within both the contemporary processing and fresh market sub-populations. These sub-populations showed higher levels of genetic diversity relative to the vintage sub-population. The array provided a large number of polymorphic SNP markers across each sub-population, ranging from 3,159 in the vintage accessions to 6,234 in the cultivated cherry accessions. Visualization of minor allele frequency revealed regions of the genome that distinguished three representative sub-populations of cultivated tomato (processing, fresh market, and vintage, particularly on chromosomes 2, 4, 5, 6, and 11. The PCA loadings and F(st outlier analysis between these three sub-populations identified a large number of candidate loci under positive selection on chromosomes 4, 5, and 11. The extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD was examined within each chromosome for these sub-populations. LD decay varied between chromosomes and sub-populations, with large differences reflective of breeding history. For example, on chromosome 11, decay occurred over 0.8 cM for processing accessions and over 19.7 cM for fresh market accessions. The observed SNP variation and LD decay suggest that different patterns of genetic variation in cultivated tomato are due to introgression from wild species and selection for market specialization.

  11. Fundamental movement skills in adolescents: Secular trends from 2003 to 2010 and associations with physical activity and BMI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huotari, P; Heikinaro-Johansson, P; Watt, A; Jaakkola, T

    2018-03-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the secular trends in fundamental movement skills (FMS) among 15- to 16-year-old adolescents at 2 assessment points scheduled in 2003 and 2010 and to investigate the associations between FMS, physical activity (PA), and body mass index (BMI). In 2003, self-reported PA, weight and height, and objective FMS scores were collected from 2390 students, and in 2010, similar data were generated from a second sample of 1346 students. FMS were assessed during both assessment phases using 3 identical objective FMS tests that were figure 8 dribbling, jumping laterally, and coordination track tests. This study indicated that the sum index of FMS did not change among the boys and the girls between 2 data collection points. However, findings demonstrated a secular decline in coordination test scores in both gender groups between 2 measurement points but an improvement in girls' object control skills between 2003 and 2010. The results also showed that FMS had a significant main effect on BMI in both gender groups, whereas the main effect of PA on BMI was not significant for either gender group. Results also demonstrated that there was no significant interaction effect between FMS and PA on BMI in either of the girls' or the boys' groups. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. From Religious Education to Secular Education in the Official Curriculum of Primary Education in Mexico (1821-1917

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adelina Arredondo

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The history of the curriculum is a window to observe the changes and permanences of the school and of the educational system as a whole and for understanding social transformations. The aim of this article is to explain how the curriculum of the primary school (Mexico of the nineteenth century was changed from one centred on Catholic formation towards a secular curriculum. The school curriculum was one of the spearheads to build the state and society projects imagined by the different groups fighting for the control of power. I described how religious education was officially promoted, notwithstanding the political ups and downs that led to differentiate educational policies in federal systems and centralist regimes. Later, I explain how religious education was omitted from the official curriculum, replacing the space with courses of laic morals, with the consequent difficulty of introducing a new subject. Then I analyse how political circumstances led to a radicalization of liberal positions and to the prohibition not only of religious content, but also of symbols, rites and persons linked with religious vows. Finally, secular education, understood in a complex way, began to be demanded not only in public schools but also in private schools. Due to the nature of this article and the spatial limitations I have privileged the follow-up of the legislative history of education, based on primary sources and secondary sources for the understanding of the different contexts that determine this long journey.

  13. On the interpretation of pulsar braking indices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blandford, R.D.; Romani, R.W.

    1988-01-01

    Timing observations of the Crab pulsar rotation frequency of sufficient accuracy and duration to allow a 10 per cent estimate of the third frequency derivative have been reported (Lyne et al. 1988. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc., 233, 667). This measurement is consistent with both non-dipolar electromagnetic models and a secular change in the dipole moment. A more accurate determination may discriminate between these two possibilities. Measurements of braking indices in other young pulsars may reveal similar variations. (author)

  14. Why the 18.6 year tide cannot explain the change of sign observed in j2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Deleflie

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies show a change, starting in 1998, in the behavior of the variation of the dynamical flattening of the Earth (J2, supposed to be constant (secular, and mainly due to the post glacial rebound effect. In this paper, we study to what extent this behavior can be correlated or not with the 18.6 year tide: with more than twenty years of tracking data on LAGEOS-1, that is to say more than a period of 18.6 years, this effect can now be separated from the secular variation. We use our theory of mean orbital motion, dedicated to studies of the long period effects on the orbital motion. We build one single arc of LAGEOS-1 from 1980 to 2002, which provides a continuous description of the orbital parameters. This is the great originality of our approach. We focus our attention on the ascending node of LAGEOS-1, and we show that the change observed in j2 cannot be attributed to a statistical error due to a correlation, in short arcs results, between the secular variation of J2 and the 18.6 year tide. The proof is based on the adjustment of amplitudes and phases of the long period tides, and on the shape of the residuals.Key words. secular variation of J2, 18.6 year tide, mean orbital motione

  15. Secular Variation in the Storage and Dissipation of Elastic Strain Energy Along the Central Altyn Tagh Fault (86-88.5°E), NW China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowgill, E.; Gold, R. D.; Arrowsmith, R.; Friedrich, A. M.

    2015-12-01

    In elastic rebound theory, hazard increases as interseismic strain rebuilds after rupture. This model is challenged by the temporal variation in the pacing of major earthquakes that is both predicted by mechanical models and suggested by some long paleoseismic records (e.g., 1-3). However, the extent of such behavior remains unclear due to a lack of long (5-25 ky) records of fault slip. Using Monte Carlo analysis of 11 offset landforms, we determined a 16-ky record of fault slip for the active, left-lateral Altyn Tagh fault, which bounds the NW margin of the Tibetan Plateau. This history reveals a pulse of accelerated slip between 6.4 and 6.0 ka, during which the fault slipped 9 +14/-2 m at a rate of 23 +35/-5 mm/y, or ~3x the 16 ky average of 8.1 +1.2/-0.9mm/y. These two modes of earthquake behavior suggest temporal variation in the rates of stress storage and release. The simplest explanation for the pulse is a cluster of 2-8 Mw > 7.5 earthquakes. Such supercyclicity has been reported for the Sunda (4) and Cascadia (3) megathrusts, but contrasts with steady slip along the strike-slip Alpine fault (5), for example. A second possibility is that the pulse reflects a single, unusually large rupture. However, this Black Swan event is unlikely: empirical scaling relationships require a Mw 8.2 rupture of the entire 1200-km-long ATF to produce 7 m of average slip. Likewise, Coulomb stress change from rupture on the adjacent North Altyn fault is of modest magnitude and overlap with the ATF. Poor temporal correlation between precipitation and the slip pulse argues against climatically modulated changes in surface loading (lakes/ice) or pore-fluid pressure. "Paleoslip" studies such as this sacrifice the single-event resolution of paleoseismology in exchange for long records that quantify both the timing and magnitude of fault slip averaged over multiple ruptures, and are essential for documenting temporal variations in fault slip as we begin to use calibrated physical

  16. Modeling a secular trend by Monte Carlo simulation of height biased migration in a spatial network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groth, Detlef

    2017-04-01

    Background: In a recent Monte Carlo simulation, the clustering of body height of Swiss military conscripts within a spatial network with characteristic features of the natural Swiss geography was investigated. In this study I examined the effect of migration of tall individuals into network hubs on the dynamics of body height within the whole spatial network. The aim of this study was to simulate height trends. Material and methods: Three networks were used for modeling, a regular rectangular fishing net like network, a real world example based on the geographic map of Switzerland, and a random network. All networks contained between 144 and 148 districts and between 265-307 road connections. Around 100,000 agents were initially released with average height of 170 cm, and height standard deviation of 6.5 cm. The simulation was started with the a priori assumption that height variation within a district is limited and also depends on height of neighboring districts (community effect on height). In addition to a neighborhood influence factor, which simulates a community effect, body height dependent migration of conscripts between adjacent districts in each Monte Carlo simulation was used to re-calculate next generation body heights. In order to determine the direction of migration for taller individuals, various centrality measures for the evaluation of district importance within the spatial network were applied. Taller individuals were favored to migrate more into network hubs, backward migration using the same number of individuals was random, not biased towards body height. Network hubs were defined by the importance of a district within the spatial network. The importance of a district was evaluated by various centrality measures. In the null model there were no road connections, height information could not be delivered between the districts. Results: Due to the favored migration of tall individuals into network hubs, average body height of the hubs, and later

  17. Molecular variation of Trypanosoma brucei subspecies as revealed by AFLP fingerprinting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Agbo, E.E.C.; Majiwa, P.A.O.; Claassen, H.J.H.M.; Pas, te M.F.W.

    2002-01-01

    Genetic analysis of Trypanosoma spp. depends on the detection of variation between strains. We have used the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique to develop a convenient and reliable method for genetic characterization of Trypanosome (sub)species. AFLP accesses multiple

  18. Seasonal variations in hospital admissions for mania

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Medici, Clara Reece; Vestergaard, Claus Høstrup; Hadzi-Pavlovic, Dusan

    2016-01-01

    in summer. Higher admission rates were associated with more sunshine, more ultraviolet radiation, higher temperature and less snow but were unassociated with rainfall. We did not find a secular trend in the seasonal pattern. Finally, neither gender nor admission status impacted on the overall seasonal...

  19. Secular trends in new childhood epidemics: insights from evolutionary medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brüne, Martin; Hochberg, Ze'ev

    2013-10-21

    In the last few decades, pediatric medicine has observed a dramatic increase in the prevalence of hitherto rare illnesses, among which obesity, diabetes, allergies and other autoimmune diseases stand out. In addition, secular trends towards earlier onset of puberty and sexual activity contribute to the psychological problems of youth and adolescents. All this has occurred in spite of the improved health care provision for children, yet traditional concepts of medicine have failed to explain these new "epidemics". A recent conference and science school of the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) in Acre, Israel, has taken up this challenge. Experts across disciplines including medicine, anthropology and developmental psychology discussed potential causes of childhood ill-health from an evolutionary point-of-view. Seen from an evolutionary vantage point, the "epidemics" of childhood obesity, diabetes and psychological dysfunction appear, in part, to be related to a mismatch between ancestral adaptations and novel environmental contingencies. These include changing exposures to pathogens, which impact on the function of the immune system, as well as changing patterns of parenting, which influence the timing of puberty and the risk for developing psychopathology.

  20. The Vertigo of Secularization: the innovative Notion of Political Authority

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Pía Lara Zavala

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available El artículo aborda la relación entre religión y política, centrándose en el problema de la autoridad política. La expresión “vértigo de la secularización” se emplea aquí para describir los temores que experimentamos al afrontar el problema de pensar nuestras propias normas políticas. La autora examina tres modelos distintos de autoridad política: el que representa la tradición religiosa cívica (Maquiavelo, Hobbes y Rousseau; el modelo puramente secular (Weber y un modelo muy original e innovador (Hannah Arendt. A continuación, muestra cómo al traducir los contenidos de la religión al ámbito político, empleándolos también para configurar nuevos espacios políticos, nos encontramos con una idea innovadora de autoridad. En su opinión, la ejemplar noción de autoridad política de Hannah Arendt es la que se adapta mejor a la que la autora denomina idea innovadora de autoridad.

  1. SECULAR TRENDS AND LATITUDE GRADIENTS IN SEX RATIOS AT BIRTH IN THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Grech

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: The male-female ratio at birth (M/F: male births divided by total births, which is anticipated to approximate 0.515, has been shown to exhibit latitude gradients and secular trends. Methods: Annual national data for male and female live births for the 15 countries that comprise the former Soviet Union were obtained from the World Health Organisation for the period 1980–2009 (115,167,569 total live births and analysed with contingency tables. Spearman correlation was also carried out to compare percentage annual gross domestic product growth (GDP% – downloaded from the World Bank and M/F. In this context, GDP% is used as a measure for economic hardship or wellbeing within the populace. Results: There have been overall highly significant secular increases in M/F (p < 0.0001 in the countries and regions investigated. M/F is significantly lower in the three more northern regions (Russian Federation, Baltic States and Central Asia. M/F 0.51324, 0.51335-0.51314 than the two more southern regions (Southern Caucasus and Eastern Europe. M/F 0.51654, 0.51635-0.51672. There was a male excess of 113,818 live births.There was a significant positive correlation between GDP% and M/F for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. There was a significant negative correlation in Estonia. Conclusion: Previous studies have shown that improving socioeconomic conditions increase M/F, and the converse has also been demonstrated. This is a potential influence in this geographical area since this region has relatively recently emerged from communist rule and experienced an overall economic upturn, but is only partially supported using GDP%. Another factor may be the selective termination of female pregnancies. The latitude gradient parallels that of neighbouring Europe but no theory has been put forward to convincingly explain this finding to date.

  2. Prevalence of osteoporosis and incidence of hip fracture in women - secular trends over 30 years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sernbo Ingemar

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The number of hip fractures during recent decades has been reported to be increasing, partly because of an increasing proportion of elderly women in the society. However, whether changes in hip fracture annual incidence in women are attributable to secular changes in the prevalence of osteoporosis is unclear. Methods Bone mineral density was evaluated by single-photon absorptiometry at the distal radius in 456 women aged 50 years or above and living in the same city. The measurements were obtained by the same densitometer during three separate time periods: 1970-74 (n = 106, 1987-93 (n = 175 and 1998-1999 (n = 178, and the age-adjusted prevalence of osteoporosis in these three cohorts was calculated. Additionally, all hip fractures sustained in the target population of women aged 50 years or above between 1967 and 2001 were registered, whereupon the crude and the age-adjusted annual incidence of hip fractures were calculated. Results There was no significant difference in the age-adjusted prevalence of osteoporosis when the three cohorts were compared (P = 1.00. The crude annual incidence (per 10,000 women of hip fracture in the target population increased by 110% from 40 in 1967 to 84 in 2001. The overall trend in the crude incidence between 1967 and 2001 was increasing (1.58 per 10,000 women per year; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.17 to 1.99, whereas the age-adjusted incidence was stable over the same period (0.22 per 10,000 women per year; 95 percent confidence interval, -0.16 to 0.60. Conclusions The increased number of hip fracture in elderly women is more likely to be attributable to demographic changes in the population than to secular increase in the prevalence of osteoporosis.

  3. In vitro adaptation of Plasmodium falciparum reveal variations in cultivability

    OpenAIRE

    White, John; Mascarenhas, Anjali; Pereira, Ligia; Dash, Rashmi; Walke, Jayashri T.; Gawas, Pooja; Sharma, Ambika; Manoharan, Suresh Kumar; Guler, Jennifer L.; Maki, Jennifer N.; Kumar, Ashwani; Mahanta, Jagadish; Valecha, Neena; Dubhashi, Nagesh; Vaz, Marina

    2016-01-01

    Background Culture-adapted Plasmodium falciparum parasites can offer deeper understanding of geographic variations in drug resistance, pathogenesis and immune evasion. To help ground population-based calculations and inferences from culture-adapted parasites, the complete range of parasites from a study area must be well represented in any collection. To this end, standardized adaptation methods and determinants of successful in vitro adaption were sought. Methods Venous blood was collected f...

  4. Striking variations in consultation rates with general practice reveal family influence.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cardol, M.; Dijk, L. van; Bosch, W.J.H.M. van den; Spreeuwenberg, P.; Bakker, D.H. de; Groenewegen, P.P.

    2007-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The reasons why patients decide to consult a general practitioner vary enormously. While there may be individual reasons for this variation, the family context has a significant and unique influence upon the frequency of individuals' visits. The objective of this study was to explore

  5. Striking variations in consultation rates with general practice reveal family influence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cardol, Mieke; Dijk, Liset van; Bosch, Wil J.H.M. van den; Spreeuwenberg, Peter; Bakker, Dinny H. de; Groenewegen, Peter P.

    2007-01-01

    Background: The reasons why patients decide to consult a general practitioner vary enormously. While there may be individual reasons for this variation, the family context has a significant and unique influence upon the frequency of individuals' visits. The objective of this study was to explore

  6. Social structure, infectious diseases, disasters, secularism, and cultural change in America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grossmann, Igor; Varnum, Michael E W

    2015-03-01

    Why do cultures change? The present work examined cultural change in eight cultural-level markers, or correlates, of individualism in the United States, all of which increased over the course of the 20th century: frequency of individualist themes in books, preference for uniqueness in baby naming, frequency of single-child relative to multichild families, frequency of single-generation relative to multigeneration households, percentage of adults and percentage of older adults living alone, small family size, and divorce rates (relative to marriage rates). We tested five key hypotheses regarding cultural change in individualism-collectivism. As predicted by previous theories, changes in socioeconomic structure, pathogen prevalence, and secularism accompanied changes in individualism averaged across all measures. The relationship with changes in individualism was less robust for urbanization. Contrary to previous theories, changes in individualism were positively (as opposed to negatively) related to the frequency of disasters. Time-lagged analyses suggested that only socioeconomic structure had a robust effect on individualism; changes in socioeconomic structure preceded changes in individualism. Implications for anthropology, psychology, and sociology are discussed. © The Author(s) 2015.

  7. The secular tidal disruption of stars by low-mass Super Massive Black Holes secondaries in galactic nuclei

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fragione, Giacomo; Leigh, Nathan

    2018-06-01

    Stars passing too close to a super massive black hole (SMBH) can produce tidal disruption events (TDEs). Since the resulting stellar debris can produce an electromagnetic flare, TDEs are believed to probe the presence of single SMBHs in galactic nuclei, which otherwise remain dark. In this paper, we show how stars orbiting an IMBH secondary are perturbed by an SMBH primary. We find that the evolution of the stellar orbits are severely affected by the primary SMBH due to secular effects and stars orbiting with high inclinations with respect to the SMBH-IMBH orbital plane end their lives as TDEs due to Kozai-Lidov oscillations, hence illuminating the secondary SMBH/IMBH. Above a critical SMBH mass of ≈1.15 × 108 M⊙, no TDE can occur for typical stars in an old stellar population since the Schwarzschild radius exceeds the tidal disruption radius. Consequently, any TDEs due to such massive SMBHs will remain dark. It follows that no TDEs should be observed in galaxies more massive than ≈4.15 × 1010 M⊙, unless a lower-mass secondary SMBH or IMBH is also present. The secular mechanism for producing TDEs considered here therefore offers a useful probe of SMBH-SMBH/IMBH binarity in the most massive galaxies. We further show that the TDE rate can be ≈10-4 - 10-3 yr-1, and that most TDEs occur on ≈0.5 Myr. Finally, we show that stars may be ejected with velocities up to thousands of km s-1, which could contribute to the observed population of Galactic hypervelocity stars.

  8. A Secular Indicator Of the Degree Of Economic Development and Synthetic Evaluation Of Population Well-Being Trends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gheorghe Săvoiu

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available he specifically multidisciplinary approach employed in the present paper is motivated by the validity of Engel’s sociological laws, the usefulness of the elasticity of the population’s food products demand according to income, the statistical association between the contraction of the share of expenditures for these goods and the expansion of economy development, and the consistent assessment of the trends in population well-being, in keeping with the research of family budgets, focusing on the case of Romania in the last century. The introduction is devoted to the statistical, economic and sociological tools for assessing economic development and the trends in well-being. The first section describes the weighting coefficients in the universe of interpret indexes, and the second presents the methodology relating to a secular instrument of assessing the degree of economic development and the synthetic evaluation of the trends of well-being in Romania, in parallel to a number of maximum and minimum (European and international trends. The results presented, and the discussion caused by the statistical confrontation of that statistical, economic and sociological information, embrace, with the conclusions, the attempt made by the whole of the paper, to round up, by means of this tool, a necessary set of secular or Schumpeterian indicators, harmonized and comparable, of the GDP/capita type, or such as cost of life index, consumer price index, public and external debt, etc.; such already constructed indicators contribute to delineating the historical and macro-behavioural specificity of such an economy in Eastern Europe as that of Romania.

  9. Modelling the KIC8462852 light curves: compatibility of the dips and secular dimming with an exocomet interpretation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyatt, M. C.; van Lieshout, R.; Kennedy, G. M.; Boyajian, T. S.

    2018-02-01

    This paper shows how the dips and secular dimming in the KIC8462852 light curve can originate in circumstellar material distributed around a single elliptical orbit (e.g. exocomets). The expected thermal emission and wavelength dependent dimming is derived for different orbital parameters and geometries, including dust that is optically thick to stellar radiation, and for a size distribution of dust with realistic optical properties. We first consider dust distributed evenly around the orbit, then show how to derive its uneven distribution from the optical light curve and to predict light curves at different wavelengths. The fractional luminosity of an even distribution is approximately the level of dimming times stellar radius divided by distance from the star at transit. Non-detection of dust thermal emission for KIC8462852 thus provides a lower limit on the transit distance to complement the 0.6 au upper limit imposed by 0.4 d dips. Unless the dust distribution is optically thick, the putative 16 per cent century-long secular dimming must have disappeared before the WISE 12 μm measurement in 2010, and subsequent 4.5 μm observations require transits at >0.05 au. However, self-absorption of thermal emission removes these constraints for opaque dust distributions. The passage of dust clumps through pericentre is predicted to cause infrared brightening lasting tens of days and dimming during transit, such that total flux received decreases at wavelengths dimming levels than seen for KIC8462852 are more common in the Galactic population and may be detected in future transit surveys.

  10. Secular distribution of highly metalliferous black shales corresponds with peaks in past atmosphere oxygenation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Sean C.; Large, Ross R.; Coveney, Raymond M.; Kelley, Karen D.; Slack, John F.; Steadman, Jeffrey A.; Gregory, Daniel D.; Sack, Patrick J.; Meffre, Sebastien

    2017-08-01

    Highly metalliferous black shales (HMBS) are enriched in organic carbon and a suite of metals, including Ni, Se, Mo, Ag, Au, Zn, Cu, Pb, V, As, Sb, Se, P, Cr, and U ± PGE, compared to common black shales, and are distributed at particular times through Earth history. They constitute an important future source of metals. HMBS are relatively thin units within thicker packages of regionally extensive, continental margin or intra-continental marine shales that are rich in organic matter and bio-essential trace elements. Accumulation and preservation of black shales, and the metals contained within them, usually require low-oxygen or euxinic bottom waters. However, whole-rock redox proxies, particularly Mo, suggest that HMBS may have formed during periods of elevated atmosphere pO2. This interpretation is supported by high levels of nutrient trace elements within these rocks and secular patterns of Se and Se/Co ratios in sedimentary pyrite through Earth history, with peaks occurring in the middle Paleoproterozoic, Early Cambrian to Early Ordovician, Middle Devonian, Middle to late Carboniferous, Middle Permian, and Middle to Late Cretaceous, all corresponding with time periods of HMBS deposition. This counter-intuitive relationship of strongly anoxic to euxinic, localized seafloor conditions forming under an atmosphere of peak oxygen concentrations is proposed as key to the genesis of HMBS. The secular peaks and shoulders of enriched Se in sedimentary pyrite through time correlate with periods of tectonic plate collision, which resulted in high nutrient supply to the oceans and consequently maximum productivity accompanying severe drawdown into seafloor muds of C, S, P, and nutrient trace metals. The focused burial of C and S over extensive areas of the seafloor, during these anoxic to euxinic periods, likely resulted in an O2 increase in the atmosphere, causing short-lived peaks in pO2 that coincide with the deposition of HMBS. As metals become scarce, particularly Mo

  11. Komparativ sekularisme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wæver, Ole

    2011-01-01

    from what, where and how in the allegedly secular states USA, France and Germany. The depth of their variation hopefully inhibits mechanisms of conflict escalation, and provides - more constructively - inspiration for possible reforms in a given situation, for instance the Danish one.......Conflicts over religion rarely play out today as 'wars of religion' between different religions. More often the battle is between one side wanting more religion in politics and a counterpart insisting on a strict seperation of religion and politics, the secularists. Here, secularism often appears...... as a given, un-ambiguous thing - and hardliners on both sides in these conflicts have an interest in confirming this image. In a conflict management perspective, however, it is crucial to demonstrate the variation between different secularisms. This article performs a systematic analysis of what is seperated...

  12. Explanation of the anomalous secular increase of the moon orbit eccentricity by the new theory of gravitation (NTG)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziefle, Reiner Georg

    2013-03-01

    Present day gravitational physics experiences a huge success in obtaining better and better experimental results. In some cases, the observations do not fit with the present knowledge of established physics. Phenomena, like the increase of the Astronomical Unit by 7 m per century or the so-called anomalous secular increase of the eccentricity of the lunar orbit by about 9 × 10^-12 per year, which can neither be explained by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, nor by the Newtonian Theory of Gravitation, can be explained by the New Theory of Gravitation

  13. Secular trends: a ten-year comparison of the amount and type of physical activity and inactivity of random samples of adolescents in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frömel Karel

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background An optimal level of physical activity (PA in adolescence influences the level of PA in adulthood. Although PA declines with age have been demonstrated repeatedly, few studies have been carried out on secular trends. The present study assessed levels, types and secular trends of PA and sedentary behaviour of a sample of adolescents in the Czech Republic. Methods The study comprised two cross-sectional cohorts of adolescents ten years apart. The analysis compared data collected through a week-long monitoring of adolescents' PA in 1998-2000 and 2008-2010. Adolescents wore either Yamax SW-701 or Omron HJ-105 pedometer continuously for 7 days (at least 10 hours per day excluding sleeping, hygiene and bathing. They also recorded their number of steps per day, the type and duration of PA and sedentary behaviour (in minutes on record sheets. In total, 902 adolescents (410 boys; 492 girls aged 14-18 were eligible for analysis. Results Overweight and obesity in Czech adolescents participating in this study increased from 5.5% (older cohort, 1998-2000 to 10.4% (younger cohort, 2008-2010. There were no inter-cohort significant changes in the total amount of sedentary behaviour in boys. However in girls, on weekdays, there was a significant increase in the total duration of sedentary behaviour of the younger cohort (2008-2010 compared with the older one (1998-2000. Studying and screen time (television and computer were among the main sedentary behaviours in Czech adolescents. The types of sedentary behaviour also changed: watching TV (1998-2000 was replaced by time spent on computers (2008-2010. The Czech health-related criterion (achieving 11,000 steps per day decreased only in boys from 68% (1998-2000 to 55% (2008-2010. Across both genders, 55%-75% of Czech adolescents met the health-related criterion of recommended steps per day, however less participants in the younger cohort (2008-2010 met this criterion than in the older cohort

  14. Christian identity of secular Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malešević Miroslava

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005. The newspaper explained that this publication was a contribution to debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship. In response, Danish Muslim organizations held public protests and spread knowledge of Jyllands-Postens publication. As the controversy grew, some or all of the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers in more than fifty other countries, which led to violent protests, particularly in the Muslim world. Critics of the cartoons describe them as islamophobic and argue that they are blasphemous, intended to humiliate a marginalized Danish minority, and a manifestation of ignorance about the history of western imperialism, from colonialism to the current conflicts in the Middle East. Supporters of the cartoons claim they illustrate an important issue in an age of Islamic extremist terrorism and that their publication is a legitimate exercise of the right of free speech. They also note that similar cartoons about other religions are frequently printed, arguing that the followers of Islam were not targeted in a discriminatory way. The dispute has again pointed out to the relevance of religion and religious differences in the contemporary world. Again, several questions presented themselves as significant: citizen freedom, values and the rights to exercise them, secularism, tolerance, multiculturalism majority-minority relationships and so on. The resolution to these issues appears as of the outmost importance, considering the existing tendencies of united Europe to even more firmly establish cultural, economic, and political associations, in order to launch a one, joined European identity with vanishing national, ethnic and religious differences. Therefore, the question becomes: what could serve as a foundation for

  15. Present day sea level changes: observation and causes; Les variations actuelles du niveau de la mer: observations et causes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lombard, A

    2005-11-15

    Whereas sea level has changed little over the last 2000 years, it has risen at a rate of about 2 mm/year during the 20. century. This unexpected sea level rise has been attributed to the anthropogenic global warming, recorded over several decades. Sea level variations have been measured globally and precisely for about 12 years due to satellite altimeter missions Topex/Poseidon and Jason-1. These observations indicate a global mean sea level rise of about 3 mm/year since 1993, a value significantly larger than observed during previous decades. Recent observations have allowed us to quantify the various climatic factors contributing to observed sea level change: thermal expansion of sea water due to ocean warming, melting of mountain glaciers and ice sheets, and changes in the land water reservoirs. A water budget based on these new observations allows us to partly explain the observed sea level rise. In particular, we show that the thermal expansion explains only 25% of the secular sea level rise as recorded by tide-gauges over the last 50 years, while it contributes about 50% of sea level rise observed over the last decade. Meanwhile, recent studies show that glacier and ice sheet melting could contribute the equivalent of 1 mm/year in sea level rise over the last decade. In addition, the high regional variability of sea level trends revealed by satellite altimetry is mainly due to thermal expansion. There is also an important decadal spatio-temporal variability in the ocean thermal expansion over the last 50 years, which seems to be controlled by natural climate fluctuations. We question for the first time the link between the decadal fluctuations in the ocean thermal expansion and in the land reservoirs, and indeed their climatic contribution to sea level change. Finally a preliminary analysis of GRACE spatial gravimetric observations over the oceans allows us to estimate the seasonal variations in mean sea level due to ocean water mass balance variations

  16. Examining secular trends and seasonality in count data using dynamic generalized linear modelling: a new methodological approach illustrated with hospital discharge data on myocardial infarction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundbye-Christensen, S; Dethlefsen, C; Gorst-Rasmussen, A; Fischer, T; Schønheyder, H C; Rothman, K J; Sørensen, H T

    2009-01-01

    Time series of incidence counts often show secular trends and seasonal patterns. We present a model for incidence counts capable of handling a possible gradual change in growth rates and seasonal patterns, serial correlation, and overdispersion. The model resembles an ordinary time series regression model for Poisson counts. It differs in allowing the regression coefficients to vary gradually over time in a random fashion. During the 1983-1999 period, 17,989 incidents of acute myocardial infarction were recorded in the Hospital Discharge Registry for the county of North Jutland, Denmark. Records were updated daily. A dynamic model with a seasonal pattern and an approximately linear trend was fitted to the data, and diagnostic plots indicated a good model fit. The analysis conducted with the dynamic model revealed peaks coinciding with above-average influenza A activity. On average the dynamic model estimated a higher peak-to-trough ratio than traditional models, and showed gradual changes in seasonal patterns. Analyses conducted with this model provide insights not available from more traditional approaches.

  17. Historical and Doctrinal Background for the Study of Secularism | Antecedentes históricos y doctrinales para el estudio del laicismo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salvador Ordóñez Delgado

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available In the history of Spanish constitutionalism, progressive texts have included several provisions of a secular character, as in the case of the draft federal Constitution of 1873 and, especially, the Republican Constitution of 1931 and the various regulations adopted during the Second Republic, as well as the period of the Sexenio Democrático, in contrast to the setback of the Restoration period and, particularly, the Franco period, during which Catholicism became the official State religion, as part of the special treatment which the Catholic Church obtained in its relations with the State. The current Constitution of 1978 restored the secular spirit of the Republican period within a framework of respectful relations with the Catholic Church. In this context, the successive democratic governments have devised their educational policies, in which secular principles have depended on the political colour of the various cabinets and the distribution of parliamentary seats, against the background of the agreements between the Spanish State and the Holy See of 1979. | En la historia del constitucionalismo español, los textos progresistas contemplan diversas disposiciones de carácter laicista, como es el caso del proyecto de Constitución federal de 1873 y, especialmente, la Constitución republicana de 1931 y las distintas disposiciones legislativas aprobadas durante la II República, además de la etapa del Sexenio democrático, en contraposición con el retroceso que representa la época de la Restauración y particularmente el franquismo, en el que el catolicismo se convierte en la religión oficial del Estado, de acuerdo con el especial tratamiento que consigue la Iglesia en sus relaciones con el Estado. La actual Constitución de 1978 retoma el espíritu laico de la etapa republicana en el marco de unas relaciones de respeto con la Iglesia católica. En este contexto, los gobiernos democráticos han elaborado sus políticas educativas, en las

  18. Latitudinal variation rate of geomagnetic cutoff rigidity in the active Chilean convergent margin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordaro, Enrique G.; Venegas, Patricio; Laroze, David

    2018-03-01

    We present a different view of secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field, through the variations in the threshold rigidity known as the variation rate of geomagnetic cutoff rigidity (VRc). As the geomagnetic cutoff rigidity (Rc) lets us differentiate between charged particle trajectories arriving at the Earth and the Earth's magnetic field, we used the VRc to look for internal variations in the latter, close to the 70° south meridian. Due to the fact that the empirical data of total magnetic field BF and vertical magnetic field Bz obtained at Putre (OP) and Los Cerrillos (OLC) stations are consistent with the displacement of the South Atlantic magnetic anomaly (SAMA), we detected that the VRc does not fully correlate to SAMA in central Chile. Besides, the lower section of VRc seems to correlate perfectly with important geological features, like the flat slab in the active Chilean convergent margin. Based on this, we next focused our attention on the empirical variations of the vertical component of the magnetic field Bz, recorded in OP prior to the Maule earthquake in 2010, which occurred in the middle of the Chilean flat slab. We found a jump in Bz values and main frequencies from 3.510 to 5.860 µHz, in the second derivative of Bz, which corresponds to similar magnetic behavior found by other research groups, but at lower frequency ranges. Then, we extended this analysis to other relevant subduction seismic events, like Sumatra in 2004 and Tohoku in 2011, using data from the Guam station. Similar records and the main frequencies before each event were found. Thus, these results seem to show that magnetic anomalies recorded on different timescales, as VRc (decades) and Bz (days), may correlate with some geological events, as the lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling (LAIC).

  19. Occupational Variation in End-of-Life Care Intensity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyder, Joseph A; Haring, R Sterling; Sturgeon, Daniel; Gazarian, Priscilla K; Jiang, Wei; Cooper, Zara; Lipsitz, Stuart R; Prigerson, Holly G; Weissman, Joel S

    2018-03-01

    End-of-life (EOL) care intensity is known to vary by secular and geographic patterns. US physicians receive less aggressive EOL care than the general population, presumably the result of preferences shaped by work-place experience with EOL care. We investigated occupation as a source of variation in EOL care intensity. Across 4 states, we identified 660 599, nonhealth maintenance organization Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥66 years who died between 2004 and 2011. Linking death certificates, we identified beneficiaries with prespecified occupations: nurses, farmers, clergy, mortuary workers, homemakers, first-responders, veterinary workers, teachers, accountants, and the general population. End-of-life care intensity over the last 6 months of life was assessed using 5 validated measures: (1) Medicare expenditures, rates of (2) hospice, (3) surgery, (4) intensive care, and (5) in-hospital death. Occupation was a source of large variation in EOL care intensity across all measures, before and after adjustment for sex, education, age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index, race/ethnicity, and hospital referral region. For example, absolute and relative adjusted differences in expenditures were US$9991 and 42% of population mean expenditure ( P EOL care intensity measures, teachers (5 of 5), homemakers (4 of 5), farmers (4 of 5), and clergy (3 of 5) demonstrated significantly less aggressive care. Mortuary workers had lower EOL care intensity (4 of 5) but small numbers limited statistical significance. Occupations with likely exposure to child development, death/bereavement, and naturalistic influences demonstrated lower EOL care intensity. These findings may inform patients and clinicians navigating choices around individual EOL care preferences.

  20. THE "BEES" VERSUS THE "SPIDERS": A SECULAR DEBATE ON THE FUTURE OF THE OLD BOOK.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Bas Martin

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The advent of Internet in the Information Society noticeably has revolutionized the uses of writing, of print culture. Thus, access and dissemination to the ancient book, secularly reduced to a privileged few, has been democratized noticeably thanks to the Net. Old and new have returned to live with. A debate that takes us to the Modern age, when the Republic of Letters, the current Internet, reflected on the authority of ancient and modern. It has been many centuries since, and the life of the ancient book, despite the technological changes, remains the same. Only the media has changed, the messages remain similar to those found during the Old Typography Regime. Evidence of how cohabitation is imposed on the idea of substitution by other means.

  1. Abortion in Islamic Ethics, and How it is Perceived in Turkey: A Secular, Muslim Country.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekmekci, Perihan Elif

    2017-06-01

    Abortion is among the most widely discussed concepts of medical ethics. Since the well-known ethical theories have emerged from Western world, the position of Islamic ethics regarding main issues of medical ethics has been overlooked. Muslims constitute a considerable amount of world population. Turkish Republic is the only Muslim country ruled with secular democracy and one of the three Muslim countries where abortion is legalized. The first aim of this paper is to present discussions on abortion in Islamic ethics in the context of major ethical concepts; the legal status of the fetus, respect for life and the right not to be born. The second aim is to put forth Turkey's present legislation about abortion in the context of Islamic ethical and religious aspects.

  2. Molecular modelling studies of kdr mutations in voltage gated sodium channel revealed significant conformational variations contributing to insecticide resistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yellapu, Nanda Kumar; Gopal, Jeyakodi; Kasinathan, Gunasekaran; Purushothaman, Jambulingam

    2018-06-01

    Voltage gated sodium channels (VGSC) of mosquito vectors are the primary targets of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other synthetic pyrethroids used in public health programmes. The knockdown resistant (kdr) mutations in VGSC are associated with the insecticide resistance especially in Anophelines. The present study is aimed to emphasize and demarcate the impact of three kdr-mutations such as L1014S, L1014F and L1014H on insecticide resistance. The membrane model of sodium transport domain of VGSC (STD-VGSC) was constructed using de novo approach based on domain and trans-membrane predictions. The comparative molecular modelling studies of wild type and mutant models of STD-VGSC revealed that L1014F mutant was observed to be near native to the wild type model in all the respects, but, L1014S and L1014H mutations showed drastic variations in the energy levels, root mean square fluctuations (RMSF) that resulted in conformational variations. The predicted binding sites also showed variable cavity volumes and RMSF in L1014S and L1014H mutants. Further, DDT also found be bound in near native manner to wild type in L1014F mutant and with variable orientation and affinities in L1014S and L1014H mutants. The variations and fluctuations observed in mutant structures explained that each mutation has its specific impact on the conformation of VGSC and its binding with DDT. The study provides new insights into the structure-function-correlations of mutant STD-VGSC structures and demonstrates the role and effects of kdr mutations on insecticide resistance in mosquito vectors.

  3. Temporal variations of atmospheric CO2 concentration in a temperate deciduous forest in central Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murayama, Shohei; Saigusa, Nobuko; Yamamoto, Susumu; Kondo, Hiroaki; Eguchi, Yozo; Chan, Douglas

    2003-01-01

    In order to examine the temporal variation of the atmospheric CO 2 concentration in a temperate deciduous forest, and its relationship with meteorological conditions, continuous measurements of CO 2 and meteorological parameters have been made since 1993 on a tower at Takayama in the central part of Japan. In addition to an average secular increase in atmospheric CO 2 of 1.8 ppm/yr, diurnal variation with a maximum during the night-time to early morning and a minimum in the afternoon is observed from late spring to early fall; the diurnal cycle is not so clearly observed in the remaining seasons of the year. A concentration difference between above and below the canopy, and its diurnal variation, can also be seen clearly in summer. Daily mean concentration data show a prominent seasonal cycle. The maximum and the minimum of the seasonal cycle occur in April and from mid August to mid September, respectively. Day-to-day changes in the diurnal cycle of CO 2 are highly dependent on the day-to-day variations in meteorological conditions. However, CO 2 variations on longer time scales (>10 d) appear to be linearly related to changes in respiration. At Takayama, variations in the 10-d standard deviation of daily mean CO 2 data and 10-d averaged respiration show distinct relationships with soil temperature during spring and fall seasons. In spring, respiration has a stronger exponential dependence on soil temperature than in fall. Interestingly, in summer when soil temperature becomes greater than about 15 deg C, biological respiration becomes more variable and independent of the soil temperature. Thus, at the Takayama site, the Q10 relationship is seasonally dependent, and does not represent well the biological respiration process when the soil temperature rises above 15 deg C

  4. Figurative lights: Images of Techno-Scientific slides and Secularization in Spain during the 18th Century

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Germán LABRADOR MÉNDEZ

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper asembles and studies a set of iconological representations linked to technical and scientific transformations during the eighteenth Century in Spain, reading them in a dialectic between modern science, Enlightenment policies and popular culture. After analyzing the emergence of representations both of science and scientists according to the process of institutionalizing science as a socio-professional language, two specific eighteenth century technologies are studied: magic lanterns and aerostats. By interpreting their first images and their infiltration into popular and official speeches and the imagination of the moment, it is argued that in those images a tale of demo-Enlightenment is expressed, a tale about secularization and progress as a collective aesthetic experience.

  5. Does the prescriptive lifestyle of Seventh-day Adventists provide 'immunity' from the secular effects of changes in BMI?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kent, Lillian M; Worsley, Anthony

    2009-04-01

    To examine the effect of Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) membership on 'immunity' to the secular effects of changes in BMI. Three independent, cross-sectional, screening surveys conducted by Sydney Adventist Hospital in 1976, 1986 and 1988 and a survey conducted among residents of Melbourne in 2006. Two hundred and fifty-two SDA and 464 non-SDA in 1976; 166 SDA and 291 non-SDA in 1986; 120 SDA and 300-non SDA in 1988; and 251 SDA and 294 non-SDA in 2006. Height and weight measured by hospital staff in 1976, 1986 and 1988; self-reported by respondents in 2006. The mean BMI of non-SDA men increased between 1986 and 2006 (P < 0.001) but did not change for SDA men or non-SDA women. Despite small increases in SDA women's mean BMI (P = 0.030) between 1988 and 2006, this was no different to that of SDA men and non-SDA women in 2006. The diet and eating patterns of SDA men and women were more 'prudent' than those of non-SDA men and women, including more fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes, and less alcohol, meat, sweetened drinks and coffee. Many of these factors were found to be predictors of lower BMI. The 'prudent' dietary and lifestyle prescriptions of SDA men appear to have 'immunised' them to the secular effects of changes that occurred among non-SDA men's BMI. The dietary and lifestyle trends of SDA women did not reflect the increase in their BMI observed in 2006.

  6. Secular trends in the rate of low birth weight in Brazilian State Capitals in the period 1996 to 2010 Tendencia secular de la tasa de bajo peso al nacer en las capitales brasileñas de 1996 a 2010 Tendência secular da taxa de baixo peso ao nascer nas capitais brasileiras de 1996 a 2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helma Jane Ferreira Veloso

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Secular trends in rates of low birth weight in Brazilian state capital cities were evaluated for the period 1996 to 2010 using joinpoint regression models. The rates were calculated using data from the Live Births Information System. Newborns weighing less than 500g were excluded. Only data for capital cities was included since under-registration of births in these cities is lower and new trends can be detected earlier. There was a significant increase in the rate of low birth weight in the Brazilian capitals of the North Region, Northeast Region, South Region and Southeast Region up to 2003/2004, stabilizing thereafter. In the capitals of the Center-west Region the rate increased throughout the whole study period. The rate of low birth weight was higher in the capitals of the more developed regions. The rate of multiple births increased significantly in all Brazilian capitals, while the stillbirth rate decreased and showed a negative correlation with the rate of low birth weight. The increase in the rate of low birth weight may be partially explained by the increase in multiple births, an increase in the birth of infants weighing 500 to 999g and by the reduction in the stillbirth rate.La tendencia secular de la tasa de bajo peso al nacer de 1996 a 2010 en las capitales brasileñas se evaluó utilizando modelos de regresión joinpoint. Las tasas se calcularon a partir del Sistema de Información sobre Nacidos Vivos, excluyéndose recién nacidos con un peso A tendência secular da taxa de baixo peso ao nascer de 1996 a 2010 nas capitais brasileiras foi avaliada utilizando-se modelos de regressão joinpoint. As taxas foram calculadas a partir do Sistema de Informações sobre Nascidos Vivos, excluindo-se recém-nascido com peso < 500g. Foram incluídos apenas dados das capitais, onde o sub-registro é menor e novas tendências podem ser detectadas mais precocemente. A taxa de baixo peso ao nascer aumentou significantemente nas capitais

  7. Isozyme variation in wild and cultivated pineapple

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isozyme variation was studied in 161 accessions of pineapple including four species of Ananas and one of Pseudananas. Six enzyme systems (ADH, GPI, PGM, SKDH, TPI, UGPP) involving seven putative loci revealed 35 electromorphs . Considerable variation exists within and between species of Ananas. Sixt...

  8. Transcriptome analysis reveals novel patterning and pigmentation genes underlying Heliconius butterfly wing pattern variation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hines Heather M

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Heliconius butterfly wing pattern diversity offers a unique opportunity to investigate how natural genetic variation can drive the evolution of complex adaptive phenotypes. Positional cloning and candidate gene studies have identified a handful of regulatory and pigmentation genes implicated in Heliconius wing pattern variation, but little is known about the greater developmental networks within which these genes interact to pattern a wing. Here we took a large-scale transcriptomic approach to identify the network of genes involved in Heliconius wing pattern development and variation. This included applying over 140 transcriptome microarrays to assay gene expression in dissected wing pattern elements across a range of developmental stages and wing pattern morphs of Heliconius erato. Results We identified a number of putative early prepattern genes with color-pattern related expression domains. We also identified 51 genes differentially expressed in association with natural color pattern variation. Of these, the previously identified color pattern “switch gene” optix was recovered as the first transcript to show color-specific differential expression. Most differentially expressed genes were transcribed late in pupal development and have roles in cuticle formation or pigment synthesis. These include previously undescribed transporter genes associated with ommochrome pigmentation. Furthermore, we observed upregulation of melanin-repressing genes such as ebony and Dat1 in non-melanic patterns. Conclusions This study identifies many new genes implicated in butterfly wing pattern development and provides a glimpse into the number and types of genes affected by variation in genes that drive color pattern evolution.

  9. Metabolomics of dates (Phoenix dactylifera) reveals a highly dynamic ripening process accounting for major variation in fruit composition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diboun, Ilhame; Mathew, Sweety; Al-Rayyashi, Maryam; Elrayess, Mohamed; Torres, Maria; Halama, Anna; Méret, Michaël; Mohney, Robert P; Karoly, Edward D; Malek, Joel; Suhre, Karsten

    2015-12-16

    Dates are tropical fruits with appreciable nutritional value. Previous attempts at global metabolic characterization of the date metabolome were constrained by small sample size and limited geographical sampling. In this study, two independent large cohorts of mature dates exhibiting substantial diversity in origin, varieties and fruit processing conditions were measured by metabolomics techniques in order to identify major determinants of the fruit metabolome. Multivariate analysis revealed a first principal component (PC1) significantly associated with the dates' countries of production. The availability of a smaller dataset featuring immature dates from different development stages served to build a model of the ripening process in dates, which helped reveal a strong ripening signature in PC1. Analysis revealed enrichment in the dry type of dates amongst fruits with early ripening profiles at one end of PC1 as oppose to an overrepresentation of the soft type of dates with late ripening profiles at the other end of PC1. Dry dates are typical to the North African region whilst soft dates are more popular in the Gulf region, which partly explains the observed association between PC1 and geography. Analysis of the loading values, expressing metabolite correlation levels with PC1, revealed enrichment patterns of a comprehensive range of metabolite classes along PC1. Three distinct metabolic phases corresponding to known stages of date ripening were observed: An early phase enriched in regulatory hormones, amines and polyamines, energy production, tannins, sucrose and anti-oxidant activity, a second phase with on-going phenylpropanoid secondary metabolism, gene expression and phospholipid metabolism and a late phase with marked sugar dehydration activity and degradation reactions leading to increased volatile synthesis. These data indicate the importance of date ripening as a main driver of variation in the date metabolome responsible for their diverse nutritional and

  10. Molar macrowear reveals Neanderthal eco-geographic dietary variation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Fiorenza

    Full Text Available Neanderthal diets are reported to be based mainly on the consumption of large and medium sized herbivores, while the exploitation of other food types including plants has also been demonstrated. Though some studies conclude that early Homo sapiens were active hunters, the analyses of faunal assemblages, stone tool technologies and stable isotopic studies indicate that they exploited broader dietary resources than Neanderthals. Whereas previous studies assume taxon-specific dietary specializations, we suggest here that the diet of both Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens is determined by ecological conditions. We analyzed molar wear patterns using occlusal fingerprint analysis derived from optical 3D topometry. Molar macrowear accumulates during the lifespan of an individual and thus reflects diet over long periods. Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens maxillary molar macrowear indicates strong eco-geographic dietary variation independent of taxonomic affinities. Based on comparisons with modern hunter-gatherer populations with known diets, Neanderthals as well as early Homo sapiens show high dietary variability in Mediterranean evergreen habitats but a more restricted diet in upper latitude steppe/coniferous forest environments, suggesting a significant consumption of high protein meat resources.

  11. Talla final de mujeres de Córdoba, Argentina, y exploración de la tendencia secular (1978­1988)

    OpenAIRE

    Agrelo Fernando; Pascual Laura Rosa; Lobo Beatriz; Sabulsky Jacobo

    1999-01-01

    Este trabajo tuvo por objeto aportar datos locales sobre la talla final de mujeres de Córdoba, Argentina, y explorar la posibilidad de una tendencia secular en su crecimiento. Se examinaron 513 mujeres de 18 a 40 años de edad, madres de niños incluidos en el estudio CLACYD (Córdoba: lactancia, alimentación, crecimiento y desarrollo). Las mediciones se realizaron según técnicas estandarizadas, durante mayo y junio de 1994. Usando como normas de referencia datos del Centro Nacional de Estadísti...

  12. Core surface flow modelling from high-resolution secular variation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holme, R.; Olsen, Nils

    2006-01-01

    -flux hypothesis, but the spectrum of the SV implies that a conclusive test of frozen-flux is not possible. We parametrize the effects of diffusion as an expected misfit in the flow prediction due to departure from the frozen-flux hypothesis; at low spherical harmonic degrees, this contribution dominates...... the expected departure of the SV predictions from flow to the observed SV, while at high degrees the SV model uncertainty is dominant. We construct fine-scale core surface flows to model the SV. Flow non-uniqueness is a serious problem because the flows are sufficiently small scale to allow flow around non......-series of magnetic data and better parametrization of the external magnetic field....

  13. Secular variations in sperm quality: fact or science fiction?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luc Multigner

    Full Text Available The debate concerning the possible degradation in human sperm quality began in the 1970s, was revived at the beginning of the 1990s and has continued to mobilize the scientific community ever since. After the meta-analysis by Carlsen et al. (1992 showing a decline in human semen quality over the last 50 years, several groups investigated the sperm characteristics of more or less homogeneous groups of men who had provided semen at the same center for 10 to 20 years. A significant decrease in sperm concentration was reported in some studies, but not in others. Meanwhile, there is an increasing number of reports suggesting that physical and chemical factors introduced and spread by human activity in the environment may have contributed to sperm decline. At the end of the 20th century the debate on declining semen quality is not closed. The lack of certainty and the serious consequences that such a decline would have on the fertility of human populations make this an important public health issue at the start of the 21st century. For this reason, intensive research should be developed in both fundamental and epidemiological domains, particularly in South America, where industrial and agricultural pollution pose a serious threat to the population.

  14. Temporal correlation in the Goldberg variations

    OpenAIRE

    Chestopal, Victor

    2010-01-01

    An interpreter of the Goldberg Variations is almost completely deprived of such utterly important guidance as the composer's tempo markings, which are as rare in the Goldberg Variations as they are in the other works of Bach. The final goal of my study is to suggest a logical foundation, upon which an interpreter of the Goldberg Variations can make his/her choice of tempi. Upon the analysis of opus's structure, which reveals an impressive panorama of symmetries, I suggest a multilevel system ...

  15. Study about geomagnetic variations from data recorded at Surlari Geomagnetic Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asimopolos, Laurentiu; Asimopolos, Natalia-Silvia; Sandulescu, Agata Monica; Niculici, Eugen

    2013-04-01

    This paper presents statistical and spectral analysis of data from Surlari Geomagnetic Observatory that contributing to study of geomagnetic variations. Thus were highlighted, for long series of records over several solar cycles, periodicities of 22 years and 11 years. Following the same procedures for medium recording series (multi-annual) have highlighted annual, seasonal and monthly periodicities. For shorter data series, we highlighted diurnal, semidiurnal, 8 hours and even lower periodicities. For very short series with a high sample rate and for few magnetotellurics records, we highlight different types of pulsations (Pc2 - Pc5 and Pi 2). Geomagnetic signals are the convolution product of the atomic stationary signals mono-frequential of different amplitudes associated to phenomena with a very broad band of periodicities and nondeterministic signals associated with geomagnetic disturbances and non-periodic phenomena. Among analysis processes used for discrete series of geomagnetic data with different lengths and sampling rates, can conclude the following: Moving average works as a low pass filter in frequency or high pass in time. By eliminating high frequency components (depending on mobile window size used) can be studied preferential periodicities greater than a given value. Signal linearization (using least squares) provides information on linear trend of the entire series analyzed. Thus, for the very long data series (several decades) we extracted the secular variation slope for each geomagnetic component, separately. The numeric derivative of signal versus time proved to be a very reliable indicator for geomagnetic disturbed periods. Thus, the derivative value may be increased by several orders of magnitude during periods of agitation in comparisons to calm periods. The correlation factor shows significant increases when between two time series a causal relationship exists. Variation of the correlation factor, calculated for a mobile window containing k

  16. Capacity of Physiotherapy Workforce Production in Thailand: Public-Private Mix, Secular Trend and Geographic Distribution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaewsawang, Sarinee; Chongsuvivatwong, Virasakdi; Vongsirinavarat, Mantana

    2016-06-01

    In Thailand, the shortage of physiotherapists has been an increasing concern because of increased health burden from demographic and epidemiologic changes. This study aims to analyse the current situation of the physiotherapy workforce production system, secular trend, geographical distribution and comparison of public and private physiotherapy training institutes. Longitudinal data related to production capacity of the physiotherapy institutes were applied. Data from 2008 to 2012 were obtained from all 16 physiotherapy institutes in Thailand. Data during 2000-2007 were also retrieved from annual reports from the Ministry of Education. Descriptive statistics were initially used. Comparison was made between public and private physiotherapy institutes in terms of the number of students admitted and graduated, number of teachers, annual tuition fee, student-teacher ratio and dropout rate within 1 year. Predictive factors for graduation within 4 years were determined using logistic regression. In Thailand, there was an average of 800 physiotherapy graduates per year. New private institutes have been recently established and have steadily increased student admission rates. However, this has resulted in a high student-teacher ratio (median 7.1, inter-quartile range (IQR) 5.9-10.0). The first-year dropout rate in 2012 was 29.1%. Geographically, the majority of the institutes are clustered in the central region. Multivariate analysis revealed significantly lower probability of graduation within 4 years among students admitted to the private institutes and those in non-north-east region. The production capacity of the physiotherapy workforce is below an estimated need. Private physiotherapy institutes need more support to improve the situation of staff shortages and student graduation rates. The non-central regions should be encouraged to produce more physiotherapists. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. Fluid flow near the surface of earth's outer core

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloxham, Jeremy; Jackson, Andrew

    1991-01-01

    This review examines the recent attempts at extracting information on the pattern of fluid flow near the surface of the outer core from the geomagnetic secular variation. Maps of the fluid flow at the core surface are important as they may provide some insight into the process of the geodynamo and may place useful constraints on geodynamo models. In contrast to the case of mantle convection, only very small lateral variations in core density are necessary to drive the flow; these density variations are, by several orders of magnitude, too small to be imaged seismically; therefore, the geomagnetic secular variation is utilized to infer the flow. As substantial differences exist between maps developed by different researchers, the possible underlying reasons for these differences are examined with particular attention given to the inherent problems of nonuniqueness.

  18. Chaotic Transport in Circumterrestrial Orbits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosengren, Aaron Jay

    2018-04-01

    The slow deformation of circumterrestrial orbits in the medium region, subject to lunisolar secular resonances, is well approximated by a Hamiltonian system with 2.5 degrees of freedom. This dynamical model is referred to in the astrophysical and celestial dynamics communities as the quadrupolar, secular, hierarchical three-body problem, and, in the non-autonomous case, gives rise to the classical Kozai-Lidov mechanism. In the time-dependent model, brought about in our case by the Moon's perturbed motion, the action variables of the system may experience chaotic variations and large drifts due to the possible overlap of nearby resonances. Using variational chaos indicators, we compute high-resolution portraits of the action space, revealing the existence of tori and structures filling chaotic regions. Our refined and elaborate calculations allow us to isolate precise initial conditions near specific areas of interest and to study their asymptotic behavior in time. We highlight in particular how the drift in phase space is mediated by the complement of the numerically detected KAM tori. Despite their reputed normality, Earth satellite orbits can possess an extraordinarily rich spectrum of dynamical behaviors, and, like the small body remnants of Solar system formation, they have all the complications that make them very interesting candidates for testing the modern tools of chaos theory.

  19. Northern hemisphere mid-latitude geomagnetic anomaly revealed from Levantine Archaeomagnetic Compilation (LAC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaar, R.; Tauxe, L.; Agnon, A.; Ben-Yosef, E.; Hassul, E.

    2015-12-01

    The rich archaeological heritage of Israel and nearby Levantine countries provides a unique opportunity for archaeomagnetic investigation in high resolution. Here we present a summary of our ongoing effort to reconstruct geomagnetic variations of the past several millennia in the Levant at decadal to millennial resolution. This effort at the Southern Levant, namely the "Levantine Archaeomagnetic Compilation" (LAC), presently consists of data from over 650 well-dated archaeological objects including pottery, slag, ovens, and furnaces. In this talk we review the methodological challenges in achieving a robust master secular variation curve with realistic error estimations from a large number of different datasets. We present the current status of the compilation, including the southern and western Levant LAC data (Israel, Cyprus, and Jordan) and other published north-eastern Levant data (Syria and southern Turkey), and outline the main findings emerging from these data. The main feature apparent from the new compilation is an extraordinary intensity high that developed over the Levant region during the first two millennia BCE. The climax of this event is a double peak intensity maximum starting at ca. 1000 BCE and ending at ca. 735 BCE, accompanied with at least two events of geomagnetic spikes. Paleomagnetic directions from this period demonstrate anomalies of up to 20 degrees far from the averaged GAD field. This leads us to postulate that the maximum in the intensity is a manifestation of an intense mid-latitude local positive geomagnetic anomaly that persisted for over two centuries.

  20. Geographic variation and effect of area-level poverty rate on colorectal cancer screening

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schootman Mario

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background With a secular trend of increasing colorectal cancer (CRC screening, concerns about disparities in CRC screening also have been rising. It is unclear if CRC screening varies geographically, if area-level poverty rate affects CRC screening, and if individual-level characteristics mediate the area-level effects on CRC screening. Methods Using 2006 Missouri Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS data, a multilevel study was conducted to examine geographic variation and the effect of area-level poverty rate on CRC screening use among persons age 50 or older. Individuals were nested within ZIP codes (ZIP5 areas, which in turn, were nested within aggregations of ZIP codes (ZIP3 areas. Six groups of individual-level covariates were considered as potential mediators. Results An estimated 51.8% of Missourians aged 50 or older adhered to CRC screening recommendations. Nearly 15% of the total variation in CRC screening lay between ZIP5 areas. Persons residing in ZIP5 areas with ≥ 10% of poverty rate had lower odds of CRC screening use than those residing in ZIP5 areas with Conclusion Large geographic variation of CRC screening exists in Missouri. Area-level poverty rate, independent of individual-level characteristics, is a significant predictor of CRC screening, but it only explains a small portion of the geographic heterogeneity of CRC screening. Individual-level factors we examined do not mediate the effect of the area-level poverty rate on CRC screening. Future studies should identify other area- and individual-level characteristics associated with CRC screening in Missouri.

  1. Comparative transcriptomics reveal host-specific nucleotide variation in entomophthoralean fungi

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    de Fine Licht, Henrik Hjarvard; Jensen, Annette Bruun; Eilenberg, Jørgen

    2017-01-01

    of toxins that interfere with the host immune response. Phylogenetic comparison with the nonobligate generalist insect-pathogenic fungus Conidiobolus coronatus revealed a gene-family expansion of trehalase enzymes in E. muscae. The main sugar in insect haemolymph is trehalose, and efficient sugar...

  2. Spatial power spectrum of the geomagnetic field since 1945

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Senanayake, W.E.

    1987-04-01

    The Geomagnetic field for the period 1945-1990 has been analyzed in terms of Spatial Power Spectra of the Main Field and its Secular Variation. It is observed that for the above interval, the magnetic energy density at the core-mantle boundary is almost conserved. This supports the idea that an exchange of energy between different spherical harmonic constituents could occur. The distinctive behaviour of the first two terms (Dipole and Quadrupole), as seen from the spectra of the main field and secular variation, probably indicates somewhat different feature associated with the field origin. (author). 28 refs, 3 figs, 1 tab

  3. Islamism, Secularism and the Woman Question in the Aftermath of the Arab Spring: Evidence from the Arab Barometer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashley M. Fox

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The uprisings that led to regime change during the early period of the Arab Spring were initially inclusive and pluralistic in nature, with men and women from every political and religious orientation engaging actively in political activities on the street and in virtual spaces. While there was an opening of political space for women and the inclusion of demands of marginalized groups in the activists’ agenda, the struggle to reimagine national identities that balance Islamic roots and secular yearnings is still ongoing in many countries in the region. This paper seeks to deepen understanding of the extent to which the pluralistic sentiments and openness to accepting the rights women have persisted following the uprising. We aim to examine changes in attitudes towards women’s equality in countries that underwent regime change through popular uprisings during revolutionary upheavals of the Arab Spring and in countries where regimes have remained unchanged. Using available data from consecutive rounds of the Arab Barometer survey, we examine changes in attitudes in nine countries with two rounds of Arab Barometer during and post Arab Spring (Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Sudan, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine. We find that support for “Muslim feminism” (an interpretation of gender equality grounded in Islam has increased over the period and particularly in Arab Spring countries, while support for “secular feminism” has declined. In most countries examined, relatively high degrees of support for gender equality co-exist with a preference for Islamic interpretations of personal status codes pertaining to women. We discuss the implications of these findings for academics and activists concerned with women’s rights in the Middle East North Africa (MENA.

  4. Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Natural Variations Contributing to Drought Resistance in Crops

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongwei Wang

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Crops are often cultivated in regions where they will face environmental adversities; resulting in substantial yield loss which can ultimately lead to food and societal problems. Thus, significant efforts have been made to breed stress tolerant cultivars in an attempt to minimize these problems and to produce more stability with respect to crop yields across broad geographies. Since stress tolerance is a complex and multi-genic trait, advancements with classical breeding approaches have been challenging. On the other hand, molecular breeding, which is based on transgenics, marker-assisted selection and genome editing technologies; holds great promise to enable farmers to better cope with these challenges. However, identification of the key genetic components underlying the trait is critical and will serve as the foundation for future crop genetic improvement. Recently, genome-wide association studies have made significant contributions to facilitate the discovery of natural variation contributing to stress tolerance in crops. From these studies, the identified loci can serve as targets for genomic selection or editing to enable the molecular design of new cultivars. Here, we summarize research progress on this issue and focus on the genetic basis of drought tolerance as revealed by genome-wide association studies and quantitative trait loci mapping. Although many favorable loci have been identified, elucidation of their molecular mechanisms contributing to increased stress tolerance still remains a challenge. Thus, continuous efforts are still required to functionally dissect this complex trait through comprehensive approaches, such as system biological studies. It is expected that proper application of the acquired knowledge will enable the development of stress tolerant cultivars; allowing agricultural production to become more sustainable under dynamic environmental conditions.

  5. Monthly gravity field solutions based on GRACE observations generated with the Celestial Mechanics Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Ulrich; Jäggi, Adrian; Beutler, Gerhard

    2012-09-01

    The main objective of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission consists of determining the temporal variations of the Earth's gravity field. These variations are captured by time series of gravity field models of limited resolution at, e.g., monthly intervals. We present a new time series of monthly models, which was computed with the so-called Celestial Mechanics Approach (CMA), developed at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB). The secular and seasonal variations in the monthly models are tested for statistical significance. Calibrated errors are derived from inter-annual variations. The time-variable signal can be extracted at least up to degree 60, but the gravity field coefficients of orders above 45 are heavily contaminated by noise. This is why a series of monthly models is computed up to a maximum degree of 60, but only a maximum order of 45. Spectral analysis of the residual time-variable signal shows a distinctive peak at a period of 160 days, which shows up in particular in the C20 spherical harmonic coefficient. Basic filter- and scaling-techniques are introduced to evaluate the monthly models. For this purpose, the variability over the oceans is investigated, which serves as a measure for the noisiness of the models. The models in selected regions show the expected seasonal and secular variations, which are in good agreement with the monthly models of the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The results also reveal a few small outliers, illustrating the necessity for improved data screening. Our monthly models are available at the web page of the International Centre for Global Earth Models (ICGEM).

  6. Solar cycle variations in IMF intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    King, J.H.

    1979-01-01

    Annual averages of logarithms of hourly interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) intensities, obtained from geocentric spacecraft between November 1963 and December 1977, reveal the following solar cycle variation. For 2--3 years at each solar minimum period, the IMF intensity is depressed by 10--15% relative to its mean value realized during a broad 9-year period contered at solar maximum. No systematic variations occur during this 9-year period. The solar minimum decrease, although small in relation to variations in some other solar wind parameters, is both statistically and physically significant

  7. Genetic variation and comparison of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) cultivars and wild accessions as revealed by SSR markers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, W G; Lu, X F; Zhang, X Q; Huang, L K; Cheng, L

    2012-02-24

    Orchardgrass is a highly variable, perennial forage grass that is cultivated throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world. Despite its economic importance, the genetic relationship and distance among and within cultivars are largely unknown but would be of great interest for breeding programs. We investigated the molecular variation and structure of cultivar populations, compared the level of genetic diversity among cultivars (Baoxing, Anba, Bote, and Kaimo), subspecies (Dactylis glomerata ssp Woronowii) and advanced breeding line (YA02-116) to determine whether there is still sufficient genetic diversity within presently used cultivars for future breeding progress in China. Twenty individuals were analyzed from each of six accessions using SSR markers; 114 easily scored bands were generated from 15 SSR primer pairs, with an average of 7.6 alleles per locus. The polymorphic rate was 100% among the 120 individuals, reflecting a high degree of genetic diversity. Among the six accessions, the highest genetic diversity was observed in Kaimo (H = 0.2518; I = 0.3916; P = 87.3%) and 02-116 had a lower level of genetic diversity (H = 0.1806; I = 0.2788; P = 58.73%) compared with other cultivars tested. An of molecular variance revealed a much larger genetic variation within accessions (65%) than between them (35%). This observation suggests that these cultivars have potential for providing rich genetic resource for further breeding program. Furthermore, the study also indicated that Chinese orchardgrass breeding has involved strong selection for adaptation to forage production, which may result in restricted genetic base of orchardgrass cultivar.

  8. Systematic Prioritization and Integrative Analysis of Copy Number Variations in Schizophrenia Reveal Key Schizophrenia Susceptibility Genes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Xiongjian; Huang, Liang; Han, Leng; Luo, Zhenwu; Hu, Fang; Tieu, Roger; Gan, Lin

    2014-01-01

    Schizophrenia is a common mental disorder with high heritability and strong genetic heterogeneity. Common disease-common variants hypothesis predicts that schizophrenia is attributable in part to common genetic variants. However, recent studies have clearly demonstrated that copy number variations (CNVs) also play pivotal roles in schizophrenia susceptibility and explain a proportion of missing heritability. Though numerous CNVs have been identified, many of the regions affected by CNVs show poor overlapping among different studies, and it is not known whether the genes disrupted by CNVs contribute to the risk of schizophrenia. By using cumulative scoring, we systematically prioritized the genes affected by CNVs in schizophrenia. We identified 8 top genes that are frequently disrupted by CNVs, including NRXN1, CHRNA7, BCL9, CYFIP1, GJA8, NDE1, SNAP29, and GJA5. Integration of genes affected by CNVs with known schizophrenia susceptibility genes (from previous genetic linkage and association studies) reveals that many genes disrupted by CNVs are also associated with schizophrenia. Further protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis indicates that protein products of genes affected by CNVs frequently interact with known schizophrenia-associated proteins. Finally, systematic integration of CNVs prioritization data with genetic association and PPI data identifies key schizophrenia candidate genes. Our results provide a global overview of genes impacted by CNVs in schizophrenia and reveal a densely interconnected molecular network of de novo CNVs in schizophrenia. Though the prioritized top genes represent promising schizophrenia risk genes, further work with different prioritization methods and independent samples is needed to confirm these findings. Nevertheless, the identified key candidate genes may have important roles in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and further functional characterization of these genes may provide pivotal targets for future therapeutics and

  9. Allozyme variation in spineless Pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes Kunth)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isozyme variation was studied in 161 accessions of pineapple including four species of Ananas and one of Pseudananas. Six enzyme systems (ADH, GPI, PGM, SKDH, TPI, UGPP) involving seven putative loci revealed 35 electromorphs . Considerable variation exists within and between species of Ananas. Sixt...

  10. Secular Variations of Soil CO2 Efflux at Santa Ana-Izalco-Coatepeque Volcanic Complex, El Salvador, Central America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olmos, R.; Barahona, F.; Cartagena, R.; Soriano, T.; Salazar, J.; Hernandez, P.; Perez, N.; Lopez, D.

    2002-12-01

    The Santa Ana-Izalco-Coatepeque volcanic complex (2,365 m elevation), located 40 Km west of San Salvador, consists of the Coatepeque collapse caldera (a 6.5 x 10.5 Km elliptical depression), the Santa Ana and Izalco stratovolcanoes, as well as numerous cinder cones and explosion craters. The summit of the Santa Ana volcano contains an acid lake where hot springs, gas bubbling and intense fumarolic emissions occur. A volcanic plume, usually driven by the NE trades, may be seen rising up to 500 m from the summit crater of the Santa Ana volcano. The goal of this study is to provide a multidisciplinary approach for the volcanic surveillance by means of performing geochemical continuous monitoring of diffuse CO2 emission rate in addition to seismic monitoring. Temporal variations of soil CO2 efflux measured at Cerro Pacho dome, Coatepeque caldera, by means of the accumulation chamber method and using a CO2 efflux continuous monitoring station developed by WEST Systems (Italy). From May 2001 till May 2002, CO2 efflux ranged from 4.3 to 327 gm-2d-1, with a median value of 98 and a quartile range of 26 gm-2d-1. Two distinct diffuse CO2 degassing periods have been observed: (1) an increasing trend from May to July 2001, and (2) a stationary period from November 2001 to May 2002. The increasing-trend period may be due to the anomalous plume degassing at the Santa Ana volcano during 2001 and soon after the January and February 2001 earthquakes. Temporal variations of CO2 efllux during the second period seem to be coupled with those of barometric pressure and wind speed at different time scales, though most of the variance is contained at diurnal and semi-diurnal frequencies. These observations can help to explain the existence of a persistent behavior (Hurst exponent, H=0.934 +/- 0.0039) within the diffuse CO2 degassing phenomena. However, further observations are in progress to understand the long-term memory of diffuse CO2 degassing at the Santa Ana volcanic complex.

  11. Spiritual Needs among Patients with Chronic Pain Diseases and Cancer Living in a Secular Society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Büssing, Arndt; Janko, Annina; Baumann, Klaus

    2013-01-01

    . Methods In an anonymous cross-sectional study, standardized questionnaires were provided to German patients with chronic pain diseases (and cancer), i.e., Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ), Spirituality/Religiosity and Coping (SpREUK-15), Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-Sp), Brief Multidimensional Life......Objective Research has shown that several patients report unmet psychosocial and spiritual needs. While most studies focus on patients with advanced stages of disease, we intended to identify unmet spiritual needs in patients with chronic pain diseases and cancer living in a secular society...... Satisfaction Scale, Interpretation of Illness Questionnaire, and Escape from Illness (Escape). Results We enrolled 392 patients (67% women, mean age 56.3 ± 13.6 years; 61% Christian denomination) with chronic pain diseases (86%) and cancer (14%). Religious Needs (mean score 0.5 ± 0.8 on the scale...

  12. Dynamical similarity of geomagnetic field reversals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valet, Jean-Pierre; Fournier, Alexandre; Courtillot, Vincent; Herrero-Bervera, Emilio

    2012-10-04

    No consensus has been reached so far on the properties of the geomagnetic field during reversals or on the main features that might reveal its dynamics. A main characteristic of the reversing field is a large decrease in the axial dipole and the dominant role of non-dipole components. Other features strongly depend on whether they are derived from sedimentary or volcanic records. Only thermal remanent magnetization of lava flows can capture faithful records of a rapidly varying non-dipole field, but, because of episodic volcanic activity, sequences of overlying flows yield incomplete records. Here we show that the ten most detailed volcanic records of reversals can be matched in a very satisfactory way, under the assumption of a common duration, revealing common dynamical characteristics. We infer that the reversal process has remained unchanged, with the same time constants and durations, at least since 180 million years ago. We propose that the reversing field is characterized by three successive phases: a precursory event, a 180° polarity switch and a rebound. The first and third phases reflect the emergence of the non-dipole field with large-amplitude secular variation. They are rarely both recorded at the same site owing to the rapidly changing field geometry and last for less than 2,500 years. The actual transit between the two polarities does not last longer than 1,000 years and might therefore result from mechanisms other than those governing normal secular variation. Such changes are too brief to be accurately recorded by most sediments.

  13. Secular trends in growth and nutritional status of Mozambican school-aged children and adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    dos Santos, Fernanda Karina; Maia, José A R; Gomes, Thayse Natacha Q F; Daca, Timóteo; Madeira, Aspacia; Katzmarzyk, Peter T; Prista, António

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine secular changes in growth and nutritional status of Mozambican children and adolescents between 1992, 1999 and 2012. 3374 subjects (1600 boys, 1774 girls), distributed across the three time points (523 subjects in 1992; 1565 in 1999; and 1286 in 2012), were studied. Height and weight were measured, BMI was computed, and WHO cut-points were used to define nutritional status. ANCOVA models were used to compare height, weight and BMI across study years; chi-square was used to determine differences in the nutritional status prevalence across the years. Significant differences for boys were found for height and weight (p2012), and those from 2012 had the highest BMI (1999growth and nutritional status were observed among Mozambican youth from 1992 to 2012, which are associated with economic, social and cultural transitional processes, expressing a dual burden in this population, with reduction in malnourished youth in association with an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

  14. On the side of Barrabas or on the side of Christ. The harassment again the secular private schools in Spain, 1880-1910 Con Barrabás o con Cristo. El acoso a la escuela laica en España, 1880-1910

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Miguel LÁZARO LORENTE

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The introduction of secular education in Spain from the eighties in the nineteenth century will come from the hand of associations linked to freethinking and masonry, of Republican groups, and of anarchist groups. Since its inception, its development was extremely difficult. Funding was not readily available for premises, nor was for teachers or appropriate textbooks. But, above all, proponents of the secular school will soon have to face systematic harassment by the Spanish Church, social groups and the Conservatives who, at all levels, will oppose a fierce resistance to the timid and limited attempts of secularization in the Spanish social life. In that effort, the secular school should have played an important role, which will, in fact, be severely limited by the small number of secular schools put in place in Spain.La introducción de la escuela laica en España a partir de los años ochenta del siglo XIX vendrá de la mano de asociaciones vinculadas al librepensamiento y la masonería, de agrupaciones republicanas y de grupos anarquistas. Desde sus comienzos, su desarrollo resultó extraordinariamente difícil. No resultaba fácil disponer de financiación para los locales, ni tampoco contar con el profesorado y los libros de texto adecuados. Pero, sobre todo, los impulsores de la escuela laica pronto van a tener que afrontar el acoso sistemático de la Iglesia española y de los grupos sociales y políticos más conservadores que, a todos los niveles, opondrán una feroz resistencia a los tímidos y limitados intentos de secularización de la vida social española. En ese esfuerzo, la escuela laica debía haber jugado un importante papel, que quedará seriamente limitado por el reducido número de escuelas laicas realmente instaladas en España.

  15. The Light-time Effect in the Eclipsing Binaries with Early-type Components U CrB and RW Tau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khaliullina, A. I.

    2018-04-01

    A detailed study of the orbital-period variations of the Algol-type eclipsing binaries with earlyspectral- type primary components U CrB and RW Tau has been performed. The period variations in both systems can be described as a superposition of secular and cyclic variations of the period. A secular period increase at a rate of 2.58d × 10-7/year is observed for U CrB, which can be explained if there is a uniform flow of matter from the lower-mass to the higher-mass component, with the total angular momentum conserved. RW Tau features a secular period decrease at a rate of -8.6d × 10-7/year; this could be due to a loss of angular momentum by the binary due to magnetic braking. The cyclic orbital-period variations of U CrB and RWTau can be explained by the motion of the eclipsing binary systems along their long-period orbits. In U CrB, this implies that the eclipsing binary moves with a period of 91.3 years around a third body with mass M 3 > 1.13 M ⊙; in RW Tau, the period of the motion around the third body is 66.6 years, and the mass of the third body is M 3 > 1.24 M ⊙. It also cannot be ruled out that the variations are due to the magnetic cycles of the late-type secondaries. The residual period variations could be a superposition of variations due to non-stationary ejection of matter and effects due to magnetic cycles.

  16. Y-chromosome variation in Altaian Kazakhs reveals a common paternal gene pool for Kazakhs and the influence of Mongolian expansions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dulik, Matthew C; Osipova, Ludmila P; Schurr, Theodore G

    2011-03-11

    Kazakh populations have traditionally lived as nomadic pastoralists that seasonally migrate across the steppe and surrounding mountain ranges in Kazakhstan and southern Siberia. To clarify their population history from a paternal perspective, we analyzed the non-recombining portion of the Y-chromosome from Kazakh populations living in southern Altai Republic, Russia, using a high-resolution analysis of 60 biallelic markers and 17 STRs. We noted distinct differences in the patterns of genetic variation between maternal and paternal genetic systems in the Altaian Kazakhs. While they possess a variety of East and West Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups, only three East Eurasian paternal haplogroups appear at significant frequencies (C3*, C3c and O3a3c*). In addition, the Y-STR data revealed low genetic diversity within these lineages. Analysis of the combined biallelic and STR data also demonstrated genetic differences among Kazakh populations from across Central Asia. The observed differences between Altaian Kazakhs and indigenous Kazakhs were not the result of admixture between Altaian Kazakhs and indigenous Altaians. Overall, the shared paternal ancestry of Kazakhs differentiates them from other Central Asian populations. In addition, all of them showed evidence of genetic influence by the 13(th) century CE Mongol Empire. Ultimately, the social and cultural traditions of the Kazakhs shaped their current pattern of genetic variation.

  17. Y-chromosome variation in Altaian Kazakhs reveals a common paternal gene pool for Kazakhs and the influence of Mongolian expansions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew C Dulik

    Full Text Available Kazakh populations have traditionally lived as nomadic pastoralists that seasonally migrate across the steppe and surrounding mountain ranges in Kazakhstan and southern Siberia. To clarify their population history from a paternal perspective, we analyzed the non-recombining portion of the Y-chromosome from Kazakh populations living in southern Altai Republic, Russia, using a high-resolution analysis of 60 biallelic markers and 17 STRs. We noted distinct differences in the patterns of genetic variation between maternal and paternal genetic systems in the Altaian Kazakhs. While they possess a variety of East and West Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups, only three East Eurasian paternal haplogroups appear at significant frequencies (C3*, C3c and O3a3c*. In addition, the Y-STR data revealed low genetic diversity within these lineages. Analysis of the combined biallelic and STR data also demonstrated genetic differences among Kazakh populations from across Central Asia. The observed differences between Altaian Kazakhs and indigenous Kazakhs were not the result of admixture between Altaian Kazakhs and indigenous Altaians. Overall, the shared paternal ancestry of Kazakhs differentiates them from other Central Asian populations. In addition, all of them showed evidence of genetic influence by the 13(th century CE Mongol Empire. Ultimately, the social and cultural traditions of the Kazakhs shaped their current pattern of genetic variation.

  18. Why are earthquakes nudging the pole towards 140°E?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spada, Giorgio

    Earthquakes have collectively the tendency to displace the pole of rotation of the earth towards a preferred direction (∼140°E). This trend, which is still unexplained on quantitative grounds, has been revealed by computations of earthquake-induced inertia variations on both a secular and a decade time-scale. Purpose of this letter is to show that the above trend results from the combined effects of the geographical distribution of hypocenters and of the prevailing dip-slip nature of large earthquakes in this century. Our findings are based on the static dislocation theory and on simple geometrical arguments.

  19. Religious and secular Cape Malay Afrikaans: Literary varieties used by Shaykh Hanif Edwards (1906-1958

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xavier Luffin

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In the context of the White and Christian-dominated Afrikaans language movements, followed by apartheid, little attention has been paid to an Afrikaans literary variety used among Muslim Cape Coloureds, a group often referred to as ‘Cape Malays’. Descending mainly from Asian slaves brought by the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC, Dutch East India Company, and bearing the marks of cohabitation with non-Asian populations at the Cape, the Cape Malays at an early stage developed a distinct religious culture through their adherence to Islam, as well as a distinct Cape Dutch linguistic identity through their connections with the Dutch East Indies and the Islamic world. These cultural idiosyncrasies found expression in a local literature, religious and (more rarely secular, using as a medium a variety of Cape Dutch/Afrikaans written either in the Arabic alphabet or in the Roman alphabet.

  20. Fiscal 1974 Sunshine Project result report. R and D on solar energy system (weather survey). Part 3. Observation data on global solar radiation and sunshine duration; 1974 nendo zenten nissharyo, nissho jikan no kansoku shiryo. 3. Taiyo energy system no kenkyu kaihatsu (kisho chosa)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1975-03-01

    This report includes observation data on global solar radiation and sunshine duration for R and D on solar energy system. The global solar radiation data include the following measured by bimetal pyranometer in 1954-1970: Monthly and yearly mean value, average value, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and maximum and minimum value. The sunshine duration data include the following measured by Jordan's heliograph in 1941-1970: Monthly and yearly total value, 10-year mean value, average value, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and maximum and minimum value. Annual variations of the global solar radiation at 16 typical sites all over the country are illustrated using the average values, and secular variations of the monthly and yearly mean values at 16 sites are also illustrated. Annual variations of the sunshine duration at 17 typical sites are illustrated using the average values, and secular variations of the monthly and yearly total values at 17 sites are also illustrated. Profiles of the global solar radiation and sunshine duration, and their coefficients of variation are illustrated for every country. (NEDO)

  1. Complex pattern of variation in neurocranial ontogeny revealed by CT-scanning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anzelmo, Marisol; Ventrice, Fernando; Kelmansky, Diana; Sardi, Marina

    2018-05-01

    The neurocranium of hominid species has been largely studied with reference to the midsagittal plane, with variations being attributed to brain evolution. By contrast, there is limited information on variation in non-midsagittal regions, which are the points of insertion of muscles and bony structures related to mastication. This work aims to analyze ontogenetic changes and sexual dimorphism (SD) in midsagittal and non-midsagittal neurocranial structures from a contemporary human sample comprising 138 computed tomography (CT) cranial images of individuals ranging from infants to adults. Morphology of the vault and the base was assessed by registering landmarks and semilandmarks, which were analyzed by geometric morphometrics, and the endocranial volume (EV). The results of regressions and Kruskal-Wallis test indicate that the major size and shape changes in both midsagittal and non-midsagittal regions occur during infancy and juvenility; shape changes are also associated with an increase in EV. The size of the midsagittal vault, the shape of the non-midsagittal vault and the size of the base show an extension of ontogenetic trajectories. Sexes show similar changes in shape but different changes in size. We conclude that brain growth appears to be an important factor influencing the morphology of the neurocranium, at least during infancy and childhood. Subsequent changes may be attributed to osteogenic activity and the differential growth of the brain lobes. Masticatory-related bony structures and muscles may not be strong enough factors to induce independent modifications in non-midsagittal structures. The small influence of the cranial muscles would explain why the human neurocranium is a quite integrated structure.

  2. Anglo-Saxon animal husbandry techniques revealed though isotope and chemical variations in cattle teeth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evans, J.A.; Tatham, S.; Chenery, S.R.; Chenery, C.A.

    2007-01-01

    The Sr concentration and isotope composition of tooth enamel from domesticated animals from two neighbouring Anglo-Saxon settlements, at Empingham (6-7th century) and Ketton (10-12th century) in Rutland, central England, are compared both with each other, and with associated human populations. Data from the Empingham II site form discrete fields in Sr concentration and isotope composition space for cattle, pig and sheep with a partial overlap of the human and pig fields. By contrast there is significant overlap in all the animal and human data fields from the Ketton site. The differences in data distribution between the two sites are attributed to animal husbandry techniques, as the surface geology of the two areas is very similar, implying geological factors are an unlikely cause of the difference. It is suggested that the grazing and feeding patterns of animals at the Empingham II site were controlled and restricted, whereas at the Ketton site the animals grazed and foraged freely over a common area. Strontium isotope variation within cattle molars from the two settlements show marked differences that reflect the nature of their feeding and rearing. The enamel from a cattle molar from the Empingham II site has a well-defined, systematic variation of Sr isotope composition with Sr concentration, whereas no such patterns exist in a comparable cattle molar from Ketton. Chemical and O isotope variations in the cattle tooth from Empingham II show sympathetic variation of Sr and Ba concentrations with Sr isotope composition from cusp to cervix. The cusp has higher Sr and Ba concentrations log (Sr/Ca) ratio of -3.1 and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio of 0.71151 where as the cervical region of the enamel has log (Sr/Ca) = -3.3 and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr = 0.71061

  3. Anglo-Saxon animal husbandry techniques revealed though isotope and chemical variations in cattle teeth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, J.A. [NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, BGS, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG (United Kingdom)], E-mail: je@nigl.nerc.ac.uk; Tatham, S. [School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom); Chenery, S.R. [British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG (United Kingdom); Chenery, C.A. [NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, BGS, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG (United Kingdom)

    2007-09-15

    The Sr concentration and isotope composition of tooth enamel from domesticated animals from two neighbouring Anglo-Saxon settlements, at Empingham (6-7th century) and Ketton (10-12th century) in Rutland, central England, are compared both with each other, and with associated human populations. Data from the Empingham II site form discrete fields in Sr concentration and isotope composition space for cattle, pig and sheep with a partial overlap of the human and pig fields. By contrast there is significant overlap in all the animal and human data fields from the Ketton site. The differences in data distribution between the two sites are attributed to animal husbandry techniques, as the surface geology of the two areas is very similar, implying geological factors are an unlikely cause of the difference. It is suggested that the grazing and feeding patterns of animals at the Empingham II site were controlled and restricted, whereas at the Ketton site the animals grazed and foraged freely over a common area. Strontium isotope variation within cattle molars from the two settlements show marked differences that reflect the nature of their feeding and rearing. The enamel from a cattle molar from the Empingham II site has a well-defined, systematic variation of Sr isotope composition with Sr concentration, whereas no such patterns exist in a comparable cattle molar from Ketton. Chemical and O isotope variations in the cattle tooth from Empingham II show sympathetic variation of Sr and Ba concentrations with Sr isotope composition from cusp to cervix. The cusp has higher Sr and Ba concentrations log (Sr/Ca) ratio of -3.1 and {sup 87}Sr/{sup 86}Sr ratio of 0.71151 where as the cervical region of the enamel has log (Sr/Ca) = -3.3 and {sup 87}Sr/{sup 86}Sr = 0.71061.

  4. Radiocarbon evidence for low frequency solar oscillations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Damon, P.E.; Jirikowic, I.

    1992-01-01

    From the spectrum of Δ 14 C variations attributed to solar activity modulation of cosmogenic isotope production, a long-period variation (the Hallstattzeit) of 2120±20 years was deduced with 93% statistical confidence. Although most Hallstattzeit harmonic overtones may be shape-related, two also behave as fundamentals: that of 212 years (Suess) and of 88 years (Gleissberg). These exceptional harmonic overtones modulate the 11-year Schwabe solar cycle determined from indices of sunspots. The Hallstattzeit period may be associated with dramatic secular changes in solar behavior. Sun-like stars exhibit quiet and active states consistent with such long-period secular variations. The climate impact of solar output changes may partially explain periods of rapid climate change such as the Little Ice Age associated with 14 C anomalies. (author) 9 tabs., 8 figs., 23 refs

  5. Population-based resequencing of experimentally evolved populations reveals the genetic basis of body size variation in Drosophila melanogaster.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas L Turner

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Body size is a classic quantitative trait with evolutionarily significant variation within many species. Locating the alleles responsible for this variation would help understand the maintenance of variation in body size in particular, as well as quantitative traits in general. However, successful genome-wide association of genotype and phenotype may require very large sample sizes if alleles have low population frequencies or modest effects. As a complementary approach, we propose that population-based resequencing of experimentally evolved populations allows for considerable power to map functional variation. Here, we use this technique to investigate the genetic basis of natural variation in body size in Drosophila melanogaster. Significant differentiation of hundreds of loci in replicate selection populations supports the hypothesis that the genetic basis of body size variation is very polygenic in D. melanogaster. Significantly differentiated variants are limited to single genes at some loci, allowing precise hypotheses to be formed regarding causal polymorphisms, while other significant regions are large and contain many genes. By using significantly associated polymorphisms as a priori candidates in follow-up studies, these data are expected to provide considerable power to determine the genetic basis of natural variation in body size.

  6. Analysis of natural variation in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) reveals physiological responses underlying drought tolerance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Haitao; Wang, Yanping; Cheng, Zhangmin; Ye, Tiantian; Chan, Zhulong

    2012-01-01

    Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is a widely used warm-season turfgrass and one of the most drought tolerant species. Dissecting the natural variation in drought tolerance and physiological responses will bring us powerful basis and novel insight for plant breeding. In the present study, we evaluated the natural variation of drought tolerance among nine bermudagrass varieties by measuring physiological responses after drought stress treatment through withholding water. Three groups differing in drought tolerance were identified, including two tolerant, five moderately tolerant and two susceptible varieties. Under drought stress condition, drought sensitive variety (Yukon) showed relative higher water loss, more severe cell membrane damage (EL), and more accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and malondialdehyde (MDA), while drought tolerant variety (Tifgreen) exhibited significantly higher antioxidant enzymes activities. Further results indicated that drought induced cell injury in different varieties (Yukon, SR9554 and Tifgreen) exhibited liner correlation with leaf water content (LWC), H₂O₂ content, MDA content and antioxidant enzyme activities. Additionally, Tifgreen plants had significantly higher levels of osmolytes (proline level and soluble sugars) when compared with Yukon and SR9554 under drought stress condition. Taken together, our results indicated that natural variation of drought stress tolerance in bermudagrass varieties might be largely related to the induced changes of water status, osmolyte accumulation and antioxidant defense system.

  7. Mechanisms of the multi-secular atmospheric corrosion of ferrous alloys: The case of the Metz cathedral reinforcements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouchar, Marie

    2015-01-01

    The study of the mechanisms of the multi-secular atmospheric corrosion of ferrous alloys has various applications, from the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage metals, to the evaluation of their long term behaviour, specifically when they are used for the storage containers surrounding nuclear wastes. The study of the corrosion product layers (CPL) developed during 5 centuries on the Metz cathedral reinforcements brings new results for a better understanding of the complex processes involved in the formation of the atmospheric CPL. The phases and chemical elements constituting the CPL of these reinforcements were characterized at the micrometric scale (μDRX, Raman μ-spectroscopy (μRS), SEM-EDS). Results specifically showed that these CPL differ from other multi-secular systems previously studied by their very high content in ferri-hydrite (5Fe 2 O 3 , 9H 2 O). This very reactive phase is distributed in the whole CPL and mixed at the microscopic scale with goethite (a-FeOOH) and lepidocrocite (g-FeOOH). Diffusion experiments of bromide ions followed by in situ X-ray μ-fluorescence allowed a better understanding of the transport of dissolved species in the porous network of the CPL. Furthermore, a test of the corrosion system behavior in conditions simulating the wetting stage of the RH cycle of atmospheric corrosion, also followed in situ by μRS, highlighted the reduction of ferri-hydrite at the metal/CPL interface. These results allowed to verify for the first time a fundamental hypothesis about the mechanisms of very long term atmospheric corrosion. Finally, re-corrosion experiments of the corrosion system were monitored in a climatic chamber simulating accelerated atmospheric cycles in an 18 O-labelled environment. Then the detection of the 18 O isotope linked to the precipitated phases, by nuclear reaction analysis using a nuclear microprobe, allowed to localise the formation sites of the new corrosion products. All these results improve the

  8. [Secular trends of height among Chinese students aged 17 in 18 ethnic minorities from 1985 to 2010].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Yi; Hu, Pei-jin; Zhang, Bing; Ma, Jun

    2015-06-18

    To analyze the secular trends of height among Chinese students aged 17 in different ethnic minorities from 1985 to 2010. A total of 18 Chinese ethnic minorities' students, including Mongolian, Hui, Uygur, Zhuang, Korean, Tibetan, Miao, Buyi, Dong, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Dai, Lisu, Wa, Nakhi, Tu and Qiang as subjects were sampled from the 1985, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010 Chinese National Surveys on Students' Constitution and Health. The heights of 17 years old people by gender in various ethnic minorities were analyzed and compared. From 1985 to 2010, the increments of adult heights increased significantly in many ethnic minorities' boys. In 2010, the average height of boys aged 17 years in each minority group was higher than 162 cm and was higher than 170 cm among boys from Hui, Mongolian and Korean groups. The ethnics with height growth rates of more than 2 cm per decade in boys were Hui (2.64 cm/decade) and Dong (2.05 cm/decade) and the ethnics with height growth rates of more than 1 cm per decade were Korean (1.99 cm/decade), Tibetan (1.90 cm/decade), Hani (1.80 cm/decade) and the other 9 minority groups. The average height of girls aged 17 years in each minority group was higher than 150 cm in 2010. The heights showed an upward trend in 15 minority groups, but with different degrees. The ethnics with height growth rates of more than 1 cm per decade were Hui (1.56 cm/decade) and Korean (1.29 cm/decade). The increments that were significant between 1985 and 2010 were Hui (3.89 cm), Korean (3.23 cm), Dong (2.35 cm) and the other 6 minority groups (Pminority groups during the past 25 years, but there was an obvious disequilibrium among various ethnic minorities. We should pay more attention to the minority groups with poor growth and give them more help. Meanwhile, we should also pay attention to the negative effects of the secular growth trend on those minority groups with fast increasing adult height.

  9. The Influence of Secular Trends in Body Height and Weight on the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Chinese Children and Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Lian Guo; Sun, Li Li; Wu, Shao Wei; Yang, Yi De; Li, Xiao Hui; Wang, Zheng He; Wu, Lu; Wang, Fu Zhi; Ma, Jun

    2016-12-01

    To explore the influence of secular trends in body height and weight on the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Chinese children and adolescents. The data were obtained from five cross-sectional Chinese National Surveys on Students' Constitution and Health. Overweight/obesity was defined as BMI-for-age Z-score of per the Wold Health Organization (WHO) reference values. Body height and weight for each sex and age were standardized to those reported in 1985 (standardized height: SHY; standardized weight: SWY) and for each sex and year at age 7 (standardized height: SHA; standardized weight: SWA) using the Z-score method. The prevalence of overweight/obesity in Chinese children was 20.2% among boys and 10.7% among girls in 2010 and increased continuously from 1985 to 2010. Among boys and girls of normal weight, SHY and SHA were significantly greater than SWY and SWA, respectively (P overweight/obesity, SHY was significantly lower than SWY (P overweight boys aged 7-8 years and girls aged 7-9 years. SHY/SHW and SHA/SWA among normal-weight groups were greater than among overweight and obese groups (P overweight/obesity among Chinese children may be related to a rapid increase in body weight before age 9 and lack of secular increase in body height after age 12. Copyright © 2016 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.

  10. Causal Genetic Variation Underlying Metabolome Differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swain-Lenz, Devjanee; Nikolskiy, Igor; Cheng, Jiye; Sudarsanam, Priya; Nayler, Darcy; Staller, Max V; Cohen, Barak A

    2017-08-01

    An ongoing challenge in biology is to predict the phenotypes of individuals from their genotypes. Genetic variants that cause disease often change an individual's total metabolite profile, or metabolome. In light of our extensive knowledge of metabolic pathways, genetic variants that alter the metabolome may help predict novel phenotypes. To link genetic variants to changes in the metabolome, we studied natural variation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae We used an untargeted mass spectrometry method to identify dozens of metabolite Quantitative Trait Loci (mQTL), genomic regions containing genetic variation that control differences in metabolite levels between individuals. We mapped differences in urea cycle metabolites to genetic variation in specific genes known to regulate amino acid biosynthesis. Our functional assays reveal that genetic variation in two genes, AUA1 and ARG81 , cause the differences in the abundance of several urea cycle metabolites. Based on knowledge of the urea cycle, we predicted and then validated a new phenotype: sensitivity to a particular class of amino acid isomers. Our results are a proof-of-concept that untargeted mass spectrometry can reveal links between natural genetic variants and metabolome diversity. The interpretability of our results demonstrates the promise of using genetic variants underlying natural differences in the metabolome to predict novel phenotypes from genotype. Copyright © 2017 by the Genetics Society of America.

  11. Genetic variability of environmental sensitivity revealed by phenotypic variation in body weight and (its correlations to physiological and behavioral traits.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Delphine Lallias

    Full Text Available Adaptive phenotypic plasticity is a key component of the ability of organisms to cope with changing environmental conditions. Fish have been shown to exhibit a substantial level of phenotypic plasticity in response to abiotic and biotic factors. In the present study, we investigate the link between environmental sensitivity assessed globally (revealed by phenotypic variation in body weight and more targeted physiological and behavioral indicators that are generally used to assess the sensitivity of a fish to environmental stressors. We took advantage of original biological material, the rainbow trout isogenic lines, which allowed the disentangling of the genetic and environmental parts of the phenotypic variance. Ten lines were characterized for the changes of body weight variability (weight measurements taken every month during 18 months, the plasma cortisol response to confinement stress (3 challenges and a set of selected behavioral indicators. This study unambiguously demonstrated the existence of genetic determinism of environmental sensitivity, with some lines being particularly sensitive to environmental fluctuations and others rather insensitive. Correlations between coefficient of variation (CV for body weight and behavioral and physiological traits were observed. This confirmed that CV for body weight could be used as an indicator of environmental sensitivity. As the relationship between indicators (CV weight, risk-taking, exploration and cortisol was shown to be likely depending on the nature and intensity of the stressor, the joint use of several indicators should help to investigate the biological complexity of environmental sensitivity.

  12. In vitro adaptation of Plasmodium falciparum reveal variations in cultivability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, John; Mascarenhas, Anjali; Pereira, Ligia; Dash, Rashmi; Walke, Jayashri T; Gawas, Pooja; Sharma, Ambika; Manoharan, Suresh Kumar; Guler, Jennifer L; Maki, Jennifer N; Kumar, Ashwani; Mahanta, Jagadish; Valecha, Neena; Dubhashi, Nagesh; Vaz, Marina; Gomes, Edwin; Chery, Laura; Rathod, Pradipsinh K

    2016-01-22

    Culture-adapted Plasmodium falciparum parasites can offer deeper understanding of geographic variations in drug resistance, pathogenesis and immune evasion. To help ground population-based calculations and inferences from culture-adapted parasites, the complete range of parasites from a study area must be well represented in any collection. To this end, standardized adaptation methods and determinants of successful in vitro adaption were sought. Venous blood was collected from 33 P. falciparum-infected individuals at Goa Medical College and Hospital (Bambolim, Goa, India). Culture variables such as whole blood versus washed blood, heat-inactivated plasma versus Albumax, and different starting haematocrit levels were tested on fresh blood samples from patients. In vitro adaptation was considered successful when two four-fold or greater increases in parasitaemia were observed within, at most, 33 days of attempted culture. Subsequently, parasites from the same patients, which were originally cryopreserved following blood draw, were retested for adaptability for 45 days using identical host red blood cells (RBCs) and culture media. At a new endemic area research site, ~65% of tested patient samples, with varied patient history and clinical presentation, were successfully culture-adapted immediately after blood collection. Cultures set up at 1% haematocrit and 0.5% Albumax adapted most rapidly, but no single test condition was uniformly fatal to culture adaptation. Success was not limited by low patient parasitaemia nor by patient age. Some parasites emerged even after significant delays in sample processing and even after initiation of treatment with anti-malarials. When 'day 0' cryopreserved samples were retested in parallel many months later using identical host RBCs and media, speed to adaptation appeared to be an intrinsic property of the parasites collected from individual patients. Culture adaptation of P. falciparum in a field setting is formally shown to be

  13. On religious and secular exemptions: A case study of childhood vaccination waivers

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    This paper analyses exemptions to general law through the prism of vaccine waivers in the United States. All US states legally require the vaccination of children prior to school or daycare entry; however, this obligation is accompanied with a system of medical, religious, and/or philosophical exemptions. Nonmedical exemptions became subject of discussion after the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak in California, which unequivocally brought to light what had been brewing below the surface for a while: a slow but steady decline in vaccination rates in Western societies, resulting in the reoccurrence of measles outbreaks. This can be traced back to an increasing public questioning of vaccines by a growing anti-vaccination movement. In reaction to the outbreak and the public outrage it generated, several states proposed—and some already passed—bills to eliminate nonmedical exemptions. I analyze two questions. First, can legal exemptions from mandatory childhood vaccination schemes for parents who are opposed to vaccination (still) be justified? Second, should legal exemptions be limited to religious objections to vaccination, or should they also be granted to secular objections? Although the argument in the paper starts from the example of the US, it seeks to provide a more general philosophical reflection on the question of exemptions from mandatory childhood vaccination. PMID:28546785

  14. On religious and secular exemptions: A case study of childhood vaccination waivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierik, Roland

    2017-04-01

    This paper analyses exemptions to general law through the prism of vaccine waivers in the United States. All US states legally require the vaccination of children prior to school or daycare entry; however, this obligation is accompanied with a system of medical, religious, and/or philosophical exemptions. Nonmedical exemptions became subject of discussion after the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak in California, which unequivocally brought to light what had been brewing below the surface for a while: a slow but steady decline in vaccination rates in Western societies, resulting in the reoccurrence of measles outbreaks. This can be traced back to an increasing public questioning of vaccines by a growing anti-vaccination movement. In reaction to the outbreak and the public outrage it generated, several states proposed-and some already passed-bills to eliminate nonmedical exemptions. I analyze two questions. First, can legal exemptions from mandatory childhood vaccination schemes for parents who are opposed to vaccination (still) be justified? Second, should legal exemptions be limited to religious objections to vaccination, or should they also be granted to secular objections? Although the argument in the paper starts from the example of the US, it seeks to provide a more general philosophical reflection on the question of exemptions from mandatory childhood vaccination.

  15. Variation of uranium isotopes in some carbonate aquifers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cowart, J.B.

    1980-01-01

    The 234 U/ 238 U alpha activity ratio (AR) and uranium concentrations are reported for 83 springs that issue from carbonate aquifers in Florida, Texas, Nevada-California, and Israel. Data for each aquifer fall within more or less mutually exclusive fields. In general, the spring in a humid climate have AR's approaching secular equilibrium, whereas those in more arid climates have AR's differing greatly from equilibrium

  16. Quantification of the 214 Pb and 214 Bi decay products before and after to reach the secular equilibria with the 226 Ra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quintero P, E.; Rojas M, V.P.; Cervantes N, M.L.; Gaso P, M.I.

    2002-01-01

    In this work a comparison between the 226 Ra concentration and its decay products ( 214 Pb and 214 Bi) in soil samples is presented before and after that the decay mentioned products reach the equilibria with the radium. Moreover, the obtained daughter/father ratio is presented; and the correction factor for the calculus of the 214 Pb and 214 Bi quantification without being necessary to wait until that the secular equilibria has been established. For the quantification of the concentration of the three radionuclides the gamma spectrometry technique was used. (Author)

  17. Geomagnetic secular variation at Addis Ababa over the last four ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Addis Ababa Observatory (aae) geomagnetic data analysed over the time-span 1958—1998 show that the annual mean values of the intensity have decreased since 1965 from 36186 nT to 35950 nT at a non-linear regression rate of 8—9 nT per year. Directional changes in the Earth's magnetic field that could be ...

  18. A New View of Long-Term Geomagnetic Field Secular Variation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steve P. Lund

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This study carries out a statistical analysis of high-resolution PSV records for the last ~70 ka from three different regions of the Earth. We consider directional and intensity variability in each region on time scales of 103-105 years in order to evaluate long-term PSV. We then compare those results with more traditional long-term PSV statistical studies averaged over ~106 years. Three replicate PSV records from one region (subtropical North Atlantic Ocean were averaged at overlapping 3 and 9 ka intervals. Variability in both scalar inclination and declination variability and vector angular dispersion are significant and coherent among the three records. The vector dispersion is relatively low for most of the time but contains two relatively narrow intervals (~30–42 and 60–65 ka of high dispersion. (Vector dispersion in all records was calculated after removing directions with true excursional VGPs, VGPs < 45° N. We have carried out a comparable statistical analysis on two other PSV records from other parts of the Earth (Chile margin; Philippines/Indonesia. The results for these three regions are comparable in their overall style of variability. The scalar directional variability from the Philippines/Indonesia is quite different in detail from the other two regions, as might be expected, but the scalar directional variability between the Western Hemisphere regions is remarkably consistent considering their distance from one another. This may be associated with them being on the same longitude swath and having some coherent dynamo activity occurring along that path. Three magnetic field excursions occur in the study interval. All three excursions are associated with the two highest vector dispersion intervals. Paleointensity records from the three regions were subjected to the same statistical analysis as the directions. These records are all coherent in their pattern of variability. The similarity in paleointensity variability on a global scale is expected even though the detailed scalar directional variability is not coherent on a global scale. The pattern of intensity variability is strongly correlated with the pattern of vector dispersion and excursions on a global scale—high (low intensity is associated with low (high plus excursions vector dispersion. The fact that regional directional variability is always larger than “normal” during low intensity/excursional intervals, even though the effect of true excursional directions was removed, suggests that we need to reevaluate what field variability was like during low intensity/excursional intervals on a global scale and how/why it was different from today's field (last 104 years.

  19. Secular, Spiritual, and Religious Existential Concerns of Women with Ovarian Cancer during Final Diagnostics and Start of Treatment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seibæk, Lene; Hounsgaard, Lise; Hvidt, Niels Christian

    2013-01-01

    resources of comfort and meaning. Conclusion. Hope and courage to face life represent significant personal resources that are created not only in the interplay between body and mind but also between patients and their healthcare professionals. The women dealt with this in a dialectical manner, so that hope...... a woman with ovarian cancer during her first treatment period. Although the women experienced their health to be seriously threatened, they also felt hope, will, and courage. The diagnostic procedures and treatment had comprehensive impact on their lives. However, hope and spirituality were important...... and despair could be present simultaneously. In this process secular, spiritual, and religious existential meaning orientations assisted the women in creating new narratives and obtain new orientations in life....

  20. Sacred content, secular context: a generative theory of religion and spirituality for social work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liechty, Daniel

    2013-01-01

    Although a secular profession, social work practitioners and educators do explore human spirituality, and this is embraced now by the profession as integral to a holistic view of the human being. Social workers in hospice and end-of-life care are on the front line of this shift. Still needed is for the profession to coalesce around a generative theory of religion to inform the discipline. The author proposes that a synthesis of ideas, particularly from anthropologists Ernest Becker and Fredrick Streng, provides a generative theory of religion that advances meaningful interface between diverse religious and spiritual ideations of clients and clinicians alike. This theory of generative death anxiety locates the basic religious urge as response to the human awareness of the ontological condition of mortality, which then becomes expressed existentially in all of its diverse particularities. This approach avoids being overly reductionist, yet does provide categories for clear analysis. It cultivates critical respect for human religiosity and fosters productive and creative incorporation of human spirituality into the practical and pragmatic clinical perspective.

  1. Analysis of Natural Variation in Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) Reveals Physiological Responses Underlying Drought Tolerance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Zhangmin; Ye, Tiantian; Chan, Zhulong

    2012-01-01

    Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is a widely used warm-season turfgrass and one of the most drought tolerant species. Dissecting the natural variation in drought tolerance and physiological responses will bring us powerful basis and novel insight for plant breeding. In the present study, we evaluated the natural variation of drought tolerance among nine bermudagrass varieties by measuring physiological responses after drought stress treatment through withholding water. Three groups differing in drought tolerance were identified, including two tolerant, five moderately tolerant and two susceptible varieties. Under drought stress condition, drought sensitive variety (Yukon) showed relative higher water loss, more severe cell membrane damage (EL), and more accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA), while drought tolerant variety (Tifgreen) exhibited significantly higher antioxidant enzymes activities. Further results indicated that drought induced cell injury in different varieties (Yukon, SR9554 and Tifgreen) exhibited liner correlation with leaf water content (LWC), H2O2 content, MDA content and antioxidant enzyme activities. Additionally, Tifgreen plants had significantly higher levels of osmolytes (proline level and soluble sugars) when compared with Yukon and SR9554 under drought stress condition. Taken together, our results indicated that natural variation of drought stress tolerance in bermudagrass varieties might be largely related to the induced changes of water status, osmolyte accumulation and antioxidant defense system. PMID:23285294

  2. La religión en el mundo secular : trascendencia e individualidad. Un estudio del problema desde el pensamiento de Charles Taylor

    OpenAIRE

    Sepúlveda del Río, Ignacio

    2013-01-01

    Las teorías clásicas del secularismo vaticinaron, durante decenios, el lento declinar de las religiones, su marginación al espacio privado y, finalmente, su disolución y muerte. Con todo, las profecías seculares no se han cumplido. Las religiones siguen gozando de relativa buena salud y siguen estado muy presentes en el espacio público. De esta manera, la religión está siendo ¿y vaticinamos que lo seguirá siendo en el futuro- un fenómeno importante, que continuará marcando, de una u otra mane...

  3. Secular trends in gestational age and birthweight in twins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gielen, M; van Beijsterveldt, C E M; Derom, C; Vlietinck, R; Nijhuis, J G; Zeegers, M P A; Boomsma, D I

    2010-09-01

    In recent decades, the overall rate of preterm births has increased. The aim of the present study was to examine whether this trend is also seen for multiple gestations. More specifically, we examined if there has been a decrease in gestational age for live born monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins and if there has been a simultaneous change in birthweight. The contributions of fertility treatments and Caesarean sections were taken into consideration. All analyses were carried out in two large European twin cohorts. Cross-sectional study of 6310 live born twin pairs, born between 1964-2007, from the Belgian East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey and 14,712 twin pairs, born between 1990-2006, from the Netherlands Twin Register. Multiple regression analyses were performed with gestational age as outcome variable, and multilevel analysis with birthweight as outcome variable. All analyses were performed with and without adjustment for zygosity, parity, maternal age, mode of conception and delivery and, for the analyses of birthweight, gestational age. Gestational age decreased in a linear fashion from 1964 to 2007 with a decrease of 0.25 days per year in a similar way for MZ and DZ twins. Changes in birthweight depended on gestational age: up to 32 weeks, birthweight decreased and after 32 weeks birthweight increased. The frequency of infertility treatment and Caesarean sections, primiparity and advanced maternal age increased over the years, but none of these factors influenced the secular trends in gestational age and birthweight. The decrease in gestational age and change in birthweight in twins are sources of concern, especially for very preterm twins, for whom birthweight decreased. For twins born after 32 weeks, an increase in birthweight was observed and this is very likely the explanation for the decrease in gestational age.

  4. THE CRISIS OF THE MODERN MAN IN THE CONTEXT OF SECULARIZATION AND A POSSIBLE ANSWER FROM A TRANSDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MUSTEA ANCA

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The human being is permanently in search for meaning: the meaning of his life, the meaning ofdaily events, and most of all, the meaning of its sufferance. The process of secularization affects themeaning making process by eliminating the spiritual dimension of man, and the consequences, asemphasized by Mircea Eliade, Carl Gustav Jung or Viktor Frankl are disastrous, all leading to thealienation of man and the possibility of self destruction. The transdisciplinary approach isdiscussed here in relation to the possibility of recuperating this meaning. The consideration of aspiritual dimension of human, as well as of democracy might be a viable solution against the“existential vacuum” due to the loss of meaning.

  5. Linear and non-linear sea-level variations in the Adriatic Sea from tide gauge records (1872-2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaia Galassi

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available We have analyzed tide gauge data from the Adriatic Sea in order to assess the secular sea-level trend, its acceleration and the existence of possible cyclic variation. Analyzing the sea-level stack of all Adriatic tide gauges, we have obtained a trend of (1.25±0.04 mm yr-1, in agreement with that observed for the last century in the Mediterranean Sea, and an acceleration that is negligibile compared to the average global values. By means of the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition technique, we have evidenced an energetic oscillation with a period of ∼20 years that we relate with the recurrence of opposite phases in the Atlantic Multi–decadal Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation indices. We suggest that anomalously high sea-level values observed at all the Adriatic tide gauges during 2010 and 2011 can be explained by the rising phase of this 20 years cycle.

  6. Intraspecific variation in social organization by genetic variation, developmental plasticity, social flexibility or entirely extrinsic factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schradin, Carsten

    2013-05-19

    Previously, it was widely believed that each species has a specific social organization, but we know now that many species show intraspecific variation in their social organization. Four different processes can lead to intraspecific variation in social organization: (i) genetic variation between individuals owing to local adaptation (between populations) or evolutionarily stable strategies within populations; (ii) developmental plasticity evolved in long-term (more than one generation) unpredictable and short-term (one generation) predictable environments, which is mediated by organizational physiological effects during early ontogeny; (iii) social flexibility evolved in highly unpredictable environments, which is mediated by activational physiological effects in adults; (iv) entirely extrinsic factors such as the death of a dominant breeder. Variation in social behaviour occurs between individuals in the case of genetic variation and developmental plasticity, but within individuals in the case of social flexibility. It is important to study intraspecific variation in social organization to understand the social systems of species because it reveals the mechanisms by which species can adapt to changing environments, offers a useful tool to study the ultimate and proximate causes of sociality, and is an interesting phenomenon by itself that needs scientific explanation.

  7. Secular trends of pregnancies in women with inflammatory connective tissue disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallenius, Marianne; Salvesen, Kjell Å; Daltveit, Anne K; Skomsvoll, Johan F

    2015-11-01

    This study examined secular trends in reproductive outcome in women with inflammatory connective tissue disease compared with reference deliveries from the general population. Historical cohort study based on data registered in the Medical Birth Register of Norway from 1967 to 2009. The study included singleton births in women recorded with connective tissue disease (n = 851) and reference deliveries from the general population (n = 2 437 110). Births were stratified in four periods, 1967-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999 and 2000-2009. Associations between connective tissue disease and maternal and perinatal outcomes by decade were assessed in logistic regression analyses and adjusted for maternal age at delivery and parity. In the 1970s, around 2.7 deliveries/year were registered for women with connective tissue disease (0.004% of all deliveries). This increased to 42 deliveries/year (0.07% of all deliveries) after 2000. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for cesarean section were 5.0 (95% CI 2.1-11.9) in the first and 1.8 (95% CI 1.4-2.3) in the last period. For preterm delivery the aOR decreased from 4.9 (95% CI 2.1-11.4) to 3.1 (95% CI 2.3-4.2) and the aOR for birthweight connective tissue disease. Adverse pregnancy outcomes were more common among women with connective tissue disease but risks have decreased over time. © 2015 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

  8. Secular change in cardiorespiratory fitness of men: Cooper Center Longitudinal Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Benjamin L; Morrow, James R; Jackson, Allen W; Defina, Laura F; Cooper, Kenneth H

    2011-11-01

    Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been shown to be an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as well as health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome. During the last four decades, national guidelines for physical activity and fitness have emerged in an ongoing effort to improve health outcomes through enhanced CRF risk profiles. The purpose of the study was to describe the secular trend in CRF as a function of decade and age in a large cohort of men during the past 40 yr. A cross-sectional analysis of baseline fitness data collected during comprehensive medical examinations of 52,785 men age 20-74 yr evaluated at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, TX, from 1970 to 2009 who completed a maximum treadmill exercise test for estimation of aerobic capacity was conducted. Comparisons were made between mean fitness levels in each decade stratified by five age groups. Mean CRF in MET from estimated V·O 2max has increased overall approximately 1 MET during a 40-yr period for each of the five age groups (P < 0.0001). The greatest change occurred during the 1970s to 1980s with minimal subsequent increase and a small decline commencing in the last decade especially in younger men. In a large cohort of men, average CRF has improved during the last 40 yr with a slight decline in the favorable trend notable in the most recent decade.

  9. Could a secular increase in organic burial explain the rise of oxygen? Insights from a geological carbon cycle model constrained by the carbon isotope record

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krissansen-Totton, J.; Kipp, M.; Catling, D. C.

    2017-12-01

    The stable isotopes of carbon in marine sedimentary rock provide a window into the evolution of the Earth system. Conventionally, a relatively constant carbon isotope ratio in marine sedimentary rocks has been interpreted as implying constant organic carbon burial relative to total carbon burial. Because organic carbon burial corresponds to net oxygen production from photosynthesis, it follows that secular changes in the oxygen source flux cannot explain the dramatic rise of oxygen over Earth history. Instead, secular declines in oxygen sink fluxes are often invoked as causes for the rise of oxygen. However, constant fractional organic burial is difficult to reconcile with tentative evidence for low phosphate concentrations in the Archean ocean, which would imply lower marine productivity and—all else being equal—less organic carbon burial than today. The conventional interpretation of the carbon isotope record rests on the untested assumption that the isotopic ratio of carbon inputs into the ocean reflect mantle isotopic values throughout Earth history. In practice, differing rates of carbonate and organic weathering will allow for changes in isotopic inputs, as suggested by [1] and [2]. However, these inputs can not vary freely because large changes in isotopic inputs would induce secular trends in carbon reservoirs, which are not observed in the isotope record. We apply a geological carbon cycle model to all Earth history, tracking carbon isotopes in crustal, mantle, and ocean reservoirs. Our model is constrained by the carbon isotope record such that we can determine the extent to which large changes in organic burial are permitted. We find both constant organic burial and 3-5 fold increases in organic burial since 4.0 Ga can be reconciled with the carbon isotope record. Changes in the oxygen source flux thus need to be reconsidered as a possible contributor to Earth's oxygenation. [1] L. A. Derry, Organic carbon cycling and the lithosphere, in Treatise on

  10. Secular Trends and Latitude Gradients in Sex Ratios at Birth in Czechoslovakia and the Post-Czechoslovakian States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Grech

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Latitude gradients and secular trends in Europe and North America have been found in the male-female ratio at birth (M/F: male births divided by total births which is expected to be 0.515. Annual national data for Czechoslovakia and the post-Czechoslovakian (Czech Republic and Slovakia countries for male and female live births were obtained from the World Health Organisation and analysed with contingency tables. This study analysed 13,123,538 live births. An overall decreasing trend in M/F was found (p < 00001. No latitude gradient was noted. There was an overall deficit of 15,232 male births based on an M/F of 0.515. M/F is declining in this region, despite well developing economies that have resisted the worldwide slowdown. An interplay of several poorly understood factors is likely.

  11. Variations in the geomagnetic dipole moment during the Holocene and the past 50 kyr

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knudsen, Mads Faurschou; Riisager, Peter; Donadini, Fabio; Snowball, Ian; Muscheler, Raimund; Korhonen, Kimmo; Pesonen, Lauri J.

    2008-07-01

    All absolute paleointensity data published in peer-reviewed journals were recently compiled in the GEOMAGIA50 database. Based on the information in GEOMAGIA50, we reconstruct variations in the geomagnetic dipole moment over the past 50 kyr, with a focus on the Holocene period. A running-window approach is used to determine the axial dipole moment that provides the optimal least-squares fit to the paleointensity data, whereas associated error estimates are constrained using a bootstrap procedure. We subsequently compare the reconstruction from this study with previous reconstructions of the geomagnetic dipole moment, including those based on cosmogenic radionuclides ( 10Be and 14C). This comparison generally lends support to the axial dipole moments obtained in this study. Our reconstruction shows that the evolution of the dipole moment was highly dynamic, and the recently observed rates of change (5% per century) do not appear unique. We observe no apparent link between the occurrence of archeomagnetic jerks and changes in the geomagnetic dipole moment, suggesting that archeomagnetic jerks most likely represent drastic changes in the orientation of the geomagnetic dipole axis or periods characterized by large secular variation of the non-dipole field. This study also shows that the Holocene geomagnetic dipole moment was high compared to that of the preceding ˜ 40 kyr, and that ˜ 4 · 10 22 Am 2 appears to represent a critical threshold below which geomagnetic excursions and reversals occur.

  12. BMI-for-age in South Asian children of 0-20 years in the Netherlands: secular changes and misclassification by WHO growth references.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Wilde, J A; Dekker, M; Middelkoop, B J C

    2018-03-01

    South Asians are prone to cardiometabolic disease at lower BMI levels than most other ethnic groups, starting in childhood. The magnitude of BMI misclassifications is unknown. To compare the BMI distribution of contemporary South Asian 0-20 year olds in the Netherlands with: (1) The South Asian norm reference (secular trends); and (2) The WHO child growth standard and reference. The BMI-for-age distribution of 6677 routine measurements of 3322 South Asian children, aged 0-20 years, was described with the LMS method and BMI z-scores. The BMI distribution in South Asian 0-4 year olds was almost similar to the norm reference (mean BMI z-score = 0.11, skewness = 0.31, SD = 1.0), whereas in 5-19 year olds the distribution had shifted upwards (mean = 0.53) and widened (skewness = -0.12, SD = 1.08). Overweight (incl. obesity) and obesity peaked at 8-10 years, at 45-48% and 35-37%, respectively. Relative to the WHO references, the BMI distribution was left-shifted at ages 0-4 years (mean BMI z-score = -0.46, skewness = 0.23, SD = 0.98) and widened at ages 5-20 years (mean = 0.05; skewness = -0.02, SD = 1.40). At most ages, thinness rates were significantly higher and obesity rates lower than based on South Asian norms. A secular change of BMI-for-age in South Asian children mostly affected children >4 years. WHO references likely under-estimate overweight and obesity rates in South Asian children.

  13. Discovery of a secular trend in Cayo Santiago macaque reproduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernández-Pacheco, Raisa; Rawlins, Richard G; Kessler, Matthew J; Delgado, Diana L; Ruiz-Lambides, Angelina V; Sabat, Alberto M

    2016-02-01

    Reproductive synchrony and the consequent clustering of births are hypothesized to be regulated by seasonal changes in rainfall and food availability. Such climate-related seasonality is, however, questionable in tropical populations occupying temporally invariant habitats year round. Using the long-term data of the Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques from 1973 to 2013, this study distinguishes synchrony (a greater than chance clustering of births) from seasonality (a cluster of births during a period of the year when abiotic conditions are favorable) and shows that females are highly synchronized (>72% of births in a 3-month period) but the effects of environmental zeitgebers on reproduction are overridden by biological factors. Specifically, biotic and abiotic factors including (i) loss of immature offspring; (ii) population density; (iii) age at delivery; (iv) rainfall; and (v) changes in colony management were modeled in relation to the annual onset of births and the median birth date. Females experiencing loss of immature offspring had an interbirth interval of trend in both the onset of births and the median date of birth is documented and the model predicts that the median birth date will advance across all calendar-based seasons by 2050. The secular trend in reproduction appears to be triggered by changes in the age at delivery of females, the absence of physiological constraints from maternal investment due to offspring loss, shorter interbirth interval, and a higher degree of coordination due to increasing population density. This study challenges the reproductive phenology previously described for rhesus macaques highlighting the importance of long-term studies in addressing the ultimate causes of reproductive synchrony. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Seasonal and Daily Variations of Subsurface Velocity Revealed by the Air-gun Source in Binchuan, Yunnan, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luan, Y.; Yang, H.; Wang, B.

    2017-12-01

    We derive temporal variations of subsurface structure using a large-volume air-gun source excited in Binchuan, Yunnan, southwest China, the first transmitting seismic station that can generate high-quality repeating waveforms. The data were collected between January 2013 and December 2015 that were recorded by 40 stations within 150 km, including permanent and newly deployed air-gun array stations. Firstly, we conduct cluster analysis using the waveforms at the nearest station and find the clustering result is not only governed by the water level of the reservoir, but also has seasonal variations. Furthermore, we use the records of the nearest station to approximate the source time functions and then retrieve empirical Green's functions (EGF) by deconvolution. Then we obtain travel time difference by comparing the EGF. The travel time difference exhibits clear seasonal variation, and the pattern correlates the best with surface air temperature. The increasing temperature coincides with increasing delay time i.e. decreasing seismic velocity. We interpret the observed seasonal variation of subsurface velocity is partly caused by thermo-elastic strain. However, our calculated thermo-elastic strain is only half in amplitude of the observed strain, indicating other factors such as precipitation and ground water level may play a role in the subsurface changes. Moreover, we derive the daily variation of subsurface velocity in December 2015 when air-gun shots were made in every hour. The delay time clearly correlates with the barometric pressure change and the tidal strain. Here we demonstrate that both long-term (seasonal) and short-term (daily) structural variations can be derived using the newly constructed active source, which is a powerful tool to advance our understanding of rheological properties of the crust as well as well processes associated with earthquakes and other natural hazards.

  15. Developmental constraints revealed by co-variation within and among molar rows in two murine rodents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renaud, Sabrina; Pantalacci, Sophie; Quéré, Jean-Pierre; Laudet, Vincent; Auffray, Jean-Christophe

    2009-01-01

    Morphological integration corresponds to interdependency between characters that can arise from several causes. Proximal causes of integration include that different phenotypic features may share common genetic sets and/or interact during their development. Ultimate causes may be the prolonged effect of selection favoring integration of functionally interacting characters, achieved by the molding of these proximal causes. Strong and direct interactions among successive teeth of a molar row are predicted by genetic and developmental evidences. Functional constraints related to occlusion, however, should have selected more strongly for a morphological integration of occluding teeth and a corresponding evolution of the underlying developmental and genetic pathways. To investigate how these predictions match the patterns of phenotypic integration, we studied the co-variation among the six molars of the murine molar row, focusing on two populations of house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) and wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). The size and shape of the three upper and lower molars were quantified and compared. Our results evidenced similar patterns in both species, size being more integrated than shape among all the teeth, and both size and shape co-varying strongly between adjacent teeth, but also between occluding teeth. Strong co-variation within each molar row is in agreement with developmental models showing a cascade influence of the first molar on the subsequent molars. In contrast, the strong co-variation between molars of the occluding tooth rows confirms that functional constraints molded patterns of integration and probably the underlying developmental pathways despite the low level of direct developmental interactions occurring among molar rows. These patterns of co-variation are furthermore conserved between the house mouse and the wood mouse that diverged >10 Ma, suggesting that they may constitute long-running constraints to the diversification of the murine

  16. Transcriptomic analysis of short-fruit 1 (sf1) reveals new insights into the variation of fruit-related traits in Cucumis sativus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lina; Cao, Chenxing; Zheng, Shuangshuang; Zhang, Haiyang; Liu, Panjing; Ge, Qian; Li, Jinrui; Ren, Zhonghai

    2017-06-07

    Fruit size is an important quality trait in different market classes of Cucumis sativus L., an economically important vegetable cultivated worldwide, but the genetic and molecular mechanisms that control fruit size are largely unknown. In this study, we isolated a natural cucumber mutant, short fruit 1 (sf1), caused by a single recessive Mendelian factor, from the North China-type inbred line CNS2. In addition to significantly decreased fruit length, other fruit-related phenotypic variations were also observed in sf1 compared to the wild-type (WT) phenotype, indicating that sf1 might have pleiotropic effects. Microscopic imaging showed that fruit cell size in sf1 was much larger than that in WT, suggesting that the short fruit phenotype in sf1 is caused by decreased cell number. Fine mapping revealed that sf1 was localized to a 174.3 kb region on chromosome 6. Similarly, SNP association analysis of bulked segregant RNA-Seq data showed increased SNP frequency in the same region of chromosome 6. In addition, transcriptomic analysis revealed that sf1 might control fruit length through the fine-tuning of cytokinin and auxin signalling, gibberellin biosynthesis and signal transduction in cucumber fruits. Overall, our results provide important information for further study of fruit length and other fruit-related features in cucumber.

  17. Indifference to dissonance in native Amazonians reveals cultural variation in music perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDermott, Josh H; Schultz, Alan F; Undurraga, Eduardo A; Godoy, Ricardo A

    2016-07-28

    by biology remains debated. One widely discussed phenomenon is that some combinations of notes are perceived by Westerners as pleasant, or consonant, whereas others are perceived as unpleasant,or dissonant. The contrast between consonance and dissonance is central to Western music and its origins have fascinated scholars since the ancient Greeks. Aesthetic responses to consonance are commonly assumed by scientists to have biological roots, and thus to be universally present in humans. Ethnomusicologists and composers, in contrast, have argued that consonance is a creation of Western musical culture. The issue has remained unresolved, partly because little is known about the extent of cross-cultural variation in consonance preferences. Here we report experiments with the Tsimane'--a native Amazonian society with minimal exposure to Western culture--and comparison populations in Bolivia and the United States that varied in exposure to Western music. Participants rated the pleasantness of sounds. Despite exhibiting Western-like discrimination abilities and Western-like aesthetic responses to familiar sounds and acoustic roughness, the Tsimane' rated consonant and dissonant chords and vocal harmonies as equally pleasant. By contrast, Bolivian city- and town-dwellers exhibited significant preferences for consonance,albeit to a lesser degree than US residents. The results indicate that consonance preferences can be absent in cultures sufficiently isolated from Western music, and are thus unlikely to reflect innate biases or exposure to harmonic natural sounds. The observed variation in preferences is presumably determined by exposure to musical harmony, suggesting that culture has a dominant role in shaping aesthetic responses to music.

  18. Response of trapped particles to a collapsing dipole moment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heckman, H. H.; Lindstrom, P. J.

    1972-01-01

    Particle motion in the secularly varying geomagnetic field is investigated in terms of a dipolar magnetic field with decreasing magnetic moment M. For dM/dt equal to the rate of decay of the earth's dipole component, we find there is drift in B-L space, resulting in an inward drift of particles accompanied with increased energy and unidirectional intensity. Secular variation of the geomagnetic field appears to be a dominant mechanism for radial drift in the inner radiation belt.

  19. Mitochondrial DNA T4216C and A4917G variations in multiple sclerosis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andalib, Sasan; Talebi, Mahnaz; Sakhinia, Ebrahim

    2015-01-01

    DNA gene and A4917G variation in the mtDNA NADH Dehydrogenase 2 (ND2) gene are associated with MS in an Iranian population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Blood samples were collected from 100 patients with MS and 100 unrelated healthy controls, and DNA extraction was performed by salting-out. By means.......637). Logistic regression analysis revealed an odds ratio (OR) of 1.2 with 95% CI of 0.4-3.5. CONCLUSION: The present study revealed no association between MS and T4216C variation in the ND1 mtDNA gene and A4917G variation in the mtDNA ND2 gene in the Iranian population....... focuses on the neurogenetics of the complex pathogenesis of MS in relation to factors such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variations. T4216C and A4917G are common mitochondrial gene variations associated with MS. The present study tested whether mtDNA T4216C variation in the NADH Dehydrogenase 1 (ND1) mt...

  20. A Secular Trend in Birth Weight and Delivery Practices in Periurban Vietnam During 2005-2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duong, Duc Minh; Nguyen, Anh Duy; Nguyen, Chuong Canh; Le, Vui Thi; Hoang, Son Ngoc; Bui, Ha Thi Thu

    2017-07-01

    The remarkable increase in Vietnamese economic conditions can increase the birth weight in neonates and better delivery practices among women. The Chi Linh Health and Demographic Surveillance System started in 2004. An open cohort of data consisting of about 57 561 people from 17 993 households has been followed primarily with respect to demography, economy, and education. The aim of this research is to study secular trends in delivery practice and birth weight in the past decade (2005-2012) in Chi Linh. We found a significant change in delivery rates at hospitals and cesarean section rates, but the birth weights over a decade of drastic economic development were stable. Furthermore, the findings show significant associations of birth weight and delivery practices with the child's sex, mother's age, and household income. Our results might be considered as representative for other similar periurban settings in Vietnam. We suggest that appropriate policies should be developed given the reduction in the use of delivery services in commune health centers in urban areas.