Canadian Naval Intelligence

Review of Michael Hadley and Roger Sarty, Tin-Pots and Pirate Ships: Canadian naval forces and German sea-raiders, 1880-1918. Montreal: McGill-Queen\u27s University Press, 1991

Actually existing Chinese matriarchy

The essays in this volume present contemporary anthropological perspectives on Chinese kinship, its historical complexity and its modern metamorphoses. The collection draws particular attention to the reverberations of larger socio-cultural and politico-economic processes in the formation of sociality, intimate relations, family histories, reproductive strategies and gender relations – and vice-versa. Drawing on a wealth of ethnographic material from the late imperial period and from contemporary Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, from northern and southern regions as well as from rural and urban settings, the volume provides unique insights into the historical and spatial diversities of the Chinese kinship experience. This emphasis on diversity challenges the classic ‘lineage paradigm’ of Chinese kinship and establishes a dialogue with contemporary anthropological debates about human kinship reflecting on the emergence of radically new family formations in the Euro-American context..

Exaptation and emergence as mechanisms to cross fitness valleys during evolution: an example using simulated homing behaviour

Evolution is often considered a gradual hill climbing process, slowly increasing the fitness of organisms. I investigate the evolution of homing behaviour in simulated intertidal limpets. In order to evolve path integration as a homing mechanism, a temporary reduction in an organism’s fitness is required – since high developmental costs occur before a successful homing strategy evolves. Simple hill-climbing algorithms, therefore, only rarely result in the evolution of a functional homing behaviour. The inclusion of a second behaviour (trail-following) greatly increases the frequency of success of evolution of a path integration strategy. Initially an emergent homing behaviour is formed combining path integration with trail following. This also demonstrates evolution through exaptation, since the original role of trail following is likely to be unrelated to homing. Analysis of the fitness landscapes of homing in the presence of trail-following behaviour shows a high variability of fitness, which results in the formation of ‘stepping-stones’ of high fitness across fitness valleys. By using these stepping-stones, simple hill-climbing algorithms can reach the global maximum fitness value

Dynamic 3D Network Data Visualization

Monitoring network traffic has always been an arduous and tedious task because of the complexity and sheer volume of network data that is being consistently generated. In addition, network growth and new technologies are rapidly increasing these levels of complexity and volume. An effective technique in understanding and managing a large dataset, such as network traffic, is data visualization. There are several tools that attempt to turn network traffic into visual stimuli. Many of these do so in 2D space and those that are 3D lack the ability to display network patterns effectively. Existing 3D network visualization tools lack user interaction, dynamic generation, and intuitiveness. This project proposes a user-friendly 3D network visualization application that creates both dynamic and interactive visuals. This application was built using the Bablyon.js graphics framework and uses anonymized data collected from a campus network

Non-pareille? Issues in Modern French Photo-Essayism

[FIRST PARAGRAPH][L]’esthéthique sait depuis longtemps que l’image, contrairement à ce que croit et fait croire la machine d’information, montre toujours moins bien que les mots toute grandeur qui passe la mesure: horreur, gloire, sublimité, extase. (Comolli and Rancière 1997, 66) It may seem odd, in a general analysis of the modern French essay accompanying photography, that there is no reproduction of photographs. This is however a deliberate choice, and not one without precedent, as the collection of Michel Butor’s photo-essays into one photo-less volume shows. For it would seem in this age of the image – dubbed by essayists as diverse as Debray (1992), Flusser (2000 [1983]), Gervereau (2000), Glissant (1994) as the televisual era – the written word has tended to be downplayed. This is no more the case than in the photo-essay, a sub-genre largely overlooked and under-theorised, generally subsumed within photo-journalism, and in which photographic sequences are preferred to written text (see Mélon, in Baetens and Gonzalez 1996, 138–55)

Atmospheric correction of New Zealand Landsat imagery : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Earth Science at Massey University

In this study, MODIS data for New Zealand was downloaded and evaluated as input to the 6S atmospheric correction model. Data for one year were downloaded for aerosols, water vapour and ozone and trends of this data were studied. The sensitivity of retrieved reflectance of several targets to changes in the atmospheric components as seen in the MODIS data were also analysed. Several methods were developed for using this data for atmospheric correction and the output compared to a commercial atmospheric correction package (ATCOR 2). In addition, ground measurements were used to confirm the accuracy of the MODIS data. This involved both data obtained from NIWA and readings taken with a hand held MICROTOPS instrument. These readings showed that the MODIS data has some inaccuracies. This can result in a significant error in the retrieved reflectance, especially for darker targets, such as forest. Therefore caution should be exercised when using aerosol values from MODIS in an atmospheric correction. However, the results for water vapour and ozone were reasonably close, giving confidence for using MODIS ozone and water vapour in atmospheric correction. Ground measurements were also taken of targets with a GER 2600 Spectroradiometer and these readings compared to the atmospheric corrections of the same targets. This confirmed the accuracy of the atmospheric correction methods

Dental Student Indebtedness: Where did It Come From and Where Will It Lead?

Today’s dental school graduates are burdened by an ever-increasing amount of student loan debt from both their undergraduate and predoctoral educations. Although considered to be multifactorial in origin, this article explores the microeconomic theory of supply and demand as a source for rising tuition costs and subsequent educational debt. The historical context for the cost of a dental education is provided, and serious questions are posed about how this indebtedness might impact the future of the profession

Review Found Little Difference between Sandblasted and Acid-etched (SLA) Dental Implants and Modified Surface (SLActive) Implants

Data sources Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Oral Health Group\u27s Trials Register and OpenGREY databases were searched together with the reference lists of identified articles. Study selection Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective cohort studies of at least six month duration were included. Studies/case series in which there was only one implant surface (SLA or SLActive) and one loading protocol (immediate or early) were also considered. Data extraction and synthesis Two reviewers screened, selected and abstracted data, independently. RCTs were assessed for quality using the Cochrane risk of bias approach and observational studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS). The primary outcomes were changes from baseline to follow-up of clinical attachment level (CAL), probing depth (PD) and radiographic changes in the peri-implant bone level and number of implants lost. Cumulative survival rates (%) of each included study were calculated. Results Twenty-three articles reporting 19 studies (seven RCTs; 12 prospective observational studies) were included. The seven RCTs included 407 patients with 853 implants (8% titanium plasma-sprayed, 41.5% SLA and 50.5% SLActive). Only one RCT was considered to be at low risk of bias, the others were considered to be at unclear risk. The 12 observational studies included 1394 SLA and 145 SLActive implants and were considered to be of medium methodological quality based on the NOS. A narrative summary of the studies was undertaken owing to marked heterogeneity of the loading periods, types of implants described and lack of occurrence of the outcome of interest. There were no significant differences reported in the studies in relation to implant loss or clinical parameters between the immediate/early loading and delayed loading protocols. Overall, 95% of SLA and 97% of SLActive implants still survive at the end of follow-up. Conclusions Despite the positive findings achieved by the included studies, few RCTs were available for analysis for SLActive implants. Study heterogeneity, scarcity of data and the lack of pooled estimates represent a limitation between studies\u27 comparisons and should be considered when interpreting the present findings