We report the discovery of the minor planet 2013 SY99 on an exceptionally distant, highly eccentric orbit. With a perihelion of 50.0. au, 2013 SY99' s orbit has a semimajor axis of 730 +/- 40. au, the largest known for a high-perihelion trans-Neptunian object (TNO), and well beyond those of (90377) Sedna and 2012 VP113. Yet, with an aphelion of 1420 +/- 90. au, 2013 SY99' s orbit is interior to the region influenced by Galactic tides. Such TNOs are not thought to be produced in the current known planetary architecture of the solar system, and they have informed the recent debate on the existence of a distant giant planet. Photometry from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Gemini North, and Subaru indicate 2013 SY99 is similar to 250. km in diameter and moderately red in color, similar to other dynamically excited TNOs. Our dynamical simulations show that Neptune's weak influence during 2013 SY99' s perihelia encounters drives diffusion in its semimajor axis of hundreds of astronomical units over 4. Gyr. The overall symmetry of random walks in the semimajor axis allows diffusion to populate 2013 SY99' s orbital parameter space from the 1000 to 2000. au inner fringe of the Oort cloud. Diffusion affects other known TNOs on orbits with perihelia of 45 to 49. au and semimajor axes beyond 250. au. This provides a formation mechanism that implies an extended population, gently cycling into and returning from the inner fringe of the Oort cloud.

A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, October 2016. / Rainfall is a complex phenomenon, which has previously been explored by assessing rainfall patterns in time and space, typically using ground-based weather stations. Rainfall patterns in southern Africa tend to have a direct impact on vegetation growth and surface water availability, and an indirect impact on animal movement. This study investigated rainfall in Botswana by analysing changes in spatial and temporal patterns from 1998 to 2013, using satellite imagery. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B43 dataset (1998-2013) was used to document monthly rainfall magnitude and variability over the 15-year period. Additionally, a GIS spatial analysis approach, the Anselin Local Moran’s I tool, was used to determine changes (i.e. persistence) of rainfall conditions on a year by year basis during the study period. WorldClim precipitation data (1950-2000) were utilised as a longer term average reference dataset against which TRMM data could be compared. This study found that the rainy season consisted of relatively high rainfall magnitudes and variability, while the post rainy season consisted of relatively lower rainfall magnitudes and variability across Botswana. Higher magnitudes persisted into April, indicating the occurrence of late summer rainfall during this observation period. From a regional perspective, the Okavango Delta remained a region of relatively higher rainfall magnitude and variability compared to surrounding regions, regardless of the season. The rainy season was associated with a high frequency of rainfall events above the long term WorldClim average, and the post rainy season with a high frequency of rainfall below the long term WorldClim average. The spatial analysis indicated an annual persistence of high rainfall clusters in northern Botswana, and a persistence of low rainfall clusters in southern Botswana throughout the 15-year analysis. In addition, a progressive drying trend towards the end of the time series was observed. These findings suggest that Botswana has experienced both wetter conditions and drier conditions within the 15-year analysis period, than have been historically documented. The progressive drying trend towards the end of the time series may be indicative of a changing climate in Botswana. However, due to the length of this analysis period it cannot be proven conclusively that the detected wetter and drier conditions, than historically documented, are a signal of climate change. This rainfall analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of recent spatial and temporal rainfall patterns and changes in Botswana. More specifically, this rainfall study fits into a bigger research project focused on herbivore conservation in Botswana. Together, these studies will collectively enable protected areas authorities to better manage herbivore migration, improving conservation in Botswana over time. Ultimately, this study stands to make a positive contribution towards the development of existing conservation practices in Botswana. / LG2017

Lau, King = 普朗克衛星測量對純量-張量比例的規範 / 劉荊. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-89). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 15, September, 2016). / Lau, King = Pulangke wei xing ce liang dui chun liang-zhang liang bi li de gui fan / Liu Jing.

Li Chit-Ning. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-104). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iv / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Self in Childhood and Nature --- p.14 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Identification and Self-identity --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter Four --- A Voice and the Nature --- p.60 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Frameworks Dissolving into Uncertainty --- p.79 / Conclusion --- p.99 / Works Cited --- p.101 / Bibliography --- p.103

Arthur Peacocke (1924-2006), a physical biochemist turned theologian, is a leading figure deeply engaged in science-religion dialogue. In the course of his career, Peacocke struggles with the question of divine action. He advocates an “Emergentist- Naturalistic-Panenthesitic” (ENP) framework for his divine action project which offers a new paradigm for the divine action discussion. A comprehensive review and critical evaluation of Peacocke’s project will be provided in this thesis. Furthermore, as the impressive work of Peacocke has been reviewed by many scholars, an analytical and critical survey of these responses will be included in this research. / 亞瑟克．皮卡克Arthur Peacocke(1924–2006)是一名物理生物化學家及神學家，是當代宗教與科學對話的主導人物之一。在他的科學生涯中，皮氏已經開始反覆思考有關神聖行動(Divine Action)的問題。其後，皮氏融合有神論自然主義(Theistic Naturalism)、冒現一元論(Emergentist Monism)和萬有在神論(Panentheism)等三個不同的進路來建構他神聖行動理論的神學框架。皮氏這創新的框架為討論整個神聖行動提供了一個新的範式。皮氏的理論得到了其他活躍於宗教與科學對話的學者的注意，更有不少學者曾撰文回應皮氏的理論。本研究的重點有二，分別為：對皮氏的神聖行動理論提供一個全面的闡析和評論，以及回應不同學者對皮氏的批評。 / Kung, Wai Han. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 330-349). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 18, October, 2016). / Kung, Wai Han. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

The objective of this thesis is to study the fluid oscillation modes in compact stars, understand their properties and infer stellar structures from their frequencies. The first part of the thesis focuses on the Newtonian theory of stellar pulsation and the Cowling approximation (CA), which neglects the change in gravitational potential. We modify the conventional CA, devise a more accurate version of the CA and calculate the first-order correction to the conventional CA. In the second part, we apply the variational approximation method proposed by Chandrasekhar [Astrophys. J. 139,664 (1963)] and δ-perturbation expansion proposed by Bender et. al. [J. Maths. Phys. 30, 1447 (1989)] to explain the universality in the relationships between the fundamental mode frequency and the moment of inertia of neutron stars, which was discovered by Lau et. al. [Astrophys. J. 714, 1234 (2010)]. We reveal that stiff equations of state are the conditions for the observed universality. In the third part, we consider the relativistic pulsation formulation and relativistic CAs for compact stars. We unify several known CAs with a single second-order differential equation. We also extend the modified CA derived from the formalism established by Allen et. al. [Phys. Rev. D 58, 124012 (1998)] to include the effect of buoyancy. Finally, we find the first-order and the second-order post-Newtonian expansions for the nonradial pulsations in quark stars. We derive an analytic formula expressing the fundamental mode frequency in terms of the compactness of quark stars. As a result, we are able to verify the universality mentioned above for quark stars. / 這論文是對在牛頓力學以及相對論框架下緻密星流體振盪的研究結果。論文第一部分集中討論牛頓力學下流體振盪以及近似方法。這近似方法忽略重力勢的擾動，令系統由四階微分方程減少為二階微分方程。我們修正了已往的近似方法和提出一個更精準的近似方法。第二部分包括變分近似方法。我們利用該方法和δ微擾理論解釋基本模式頻率的普通性。第三部分包括相對論框架下緻密星流體振盪和近似方法。我們以一條二階微分方程總結之前出現的近似方法並且在近似方法中加入浮力。最後，我們執行一階和二階的後牛頓展開，以分析夸克星的基本模式。我們驗證了展開的準確度和發現了基本模式頻率的方程。 / Chan, Tsang Keung = 有關在緻密星中流體振盪的研究 / 陳增強. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2013. / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 07, October, 2016). / Chan, Tsang Keung = You guan zai zhi mi xing zhong liu ti zhen dang de yan jiu / Chen Zengqiang. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Open-source cloud platforms provide a feasible alternative of deploying cloud computing in low-cost commodity hardware and operating systems. To enhance the reliability of an open-source cloud, we design and implement CloudVS, a practical add-on system that enables version control for virtual machines (VMs). CloudVS targets a commodity cloud platform that has limited available resources. It exploits content similarities across different VM versions using redundancy elimination (RE), such that only non-redundant data chunks of a VM version are transmitted over the network and kept in persistent storage. Using RE as a building block, we propose a suite of performance adaptation mechanisms that make CloudVS amenable to different commodity settings. Specifically, we propose a tunable mechanism to balance the storage and disk seek overheads, as well as various I/O optimization techniques to minimize the interferences to other co-resident processes. We further exploit a higher degree of content similarity by applying RE to multiple VM images simultaneously, and support the copy-on-write image format. Using real-world VM snapshots, we experiment CloudVS in an open-source cloud testbed built on Eucalyptus. We demonstrate how CloudVS can be parameterized to balance the performance trade-offs between version control and normal VM operations. / 開源雲端平台為供低成本硬件及作業系統提供一個可行的替代方案。為了提高開源雲的可靠性，我們設計及實踐了CloudVS，一個針對虛擬機的實用版本控制系統。CloudVS針對有限資源的低成本硬件雲平台，利用內容相似性，在不同的虛擬機版本使用冗餘消除。這樣，在虛擬機版本數據中只有非冗餘的部分在網絡上傳輸，並保存在持久存儲。使用冗餘消除作為構建塊，我們提出了一套性能適應機制，使CloudVS適合於不同的低成本硬件配置。具體而言，我們提出了一種可調諧的機制來平衡存儲和磁盤尋道開銷，以及應用各種I/O優化技術去最大限度地減少對其他同時運行進程的干擾。我們應用冗餘消除多個虛擬機影像去進一步利用其內容相似度，同時，我們更進一步支持寫時複製格式。使用來自真實世界的虛擬機快照，我們嘗試在開放源碼的雲測試平台Eucalyptus中測試CloudVS。我們演示CloudVS如何可以參數化，以平衡版本控制和正常的虛擬機操作之間的性能取捨。 / Tang, Chung Pan. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-65). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 07, October, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades / Tesis para optar al grado de Doctor en Estudios Internacionales / Esta investigación se centra en indagar la mirada y propuesta del chavismo en dos conceptos -inclusión e integración- que parecieron claves para ciertos populismos. Como veremos, gran parte de los investigadores y enfoques coinciden que dicha experiencia remitió a formas de incorporación de contingentes humanos a una comunidad mayor. Mientras algunos piensan que se trató de una operación básicamente simbólica pata lograr la paz social y controlar votos (ciertos funcionalistas por ejemplo), otros, en cambio, reconocen cierta capacidad de incluir a los nuevos sujetos políticos en la comunidad de beneficios (asociados a posturas historicistas) en un proceso que se produce también desde abajo.

This thesis examines the contribution made by the U.S. print media to the development of Nelson Mandela's public persona. The period studied is from 1985 to June, 1990. This thesis explores the following questions: 1) How did the public persona of Nelson Mandela evolve in the dominant U.S. print media; 2) How do these stories, in content and form, serve to establish Nelson Mandela as a public hero; 3) What cultural myths structure the news stories of Nelson Mandela that serve as the interpretative framework for public belief and action? Data for analysis were drawn from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Each newspaper has a daily circulation of over 1 million. It was found that during the period studied, the development of Mandela's public persona occurred in two distinct phases: 1985 to mid-1989 and late 1989 to June, 1990. Analysis reveals that the media relied on narrative form to create an image of Mandela which invites the reader to accept, believe in, and support Mandela and his cause. During these phases the media established Nelson Mandela as a hero and celebrity for their reader audience via a number of rhetorical practices. These include: the introduction of Mandela as a legend and hero among black South Africans; the practice of surrounding Mandela with mythical reference; establishing Mandela as an individual who subscribes to many traditional American values and; the serial reporting of pseudo-events. Implications of the study and suggestions for further research in the areas of textual analysis, policy analysis, and audience analysis are discussed.

Thesis ( MPH ) -- University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus), 2013. / Background and introduction Disclosure of HIV sero-status is critical in the control of the spread of HIV and research. To better understand the factors influencing disclosure will enhance the development of prevention interventions and ultimately lead to better control of the spread of the disease. However literature shows that the rates of disclosure are generally low and vary substantially in different populations. Study purpose To determine the prevalence, reasons for disclosure, partner reaction to disclosure, and intentions of disclosure to sexual partners among HIV positive adults receiving antiretroviral treatment. Study design Cross sectional survey was conducted with 400 adult patients aged 18 years and above, who receive ART, and have known their HIV status for six more than six months. Structured close ended self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The study participants were recruited from a wellness clinic of an academic hospital in the City of Johannesburg, Gauteng province between October and November 2012. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using STATA 10 for analysis. Pearson X2 tests were used to determine variables associated with disclosure. Results A total of 400 HIV positive adults participated in the survey. There were slightly more female (n=229, 57%) than male (n=171, 43%), the mean age of participants was 39.9 years, (range 18-80 years). Almost half (n=176, 46%) had known of their HIV diagnosis for more than 5 years. High proportion (n=293, 73%) were sexually active three months prior to the survey, (n=250, 63%) knew their partner’s HIV status, more than a third (n=145, 36.3%) had more than one sexual partner, (n=263, 73.5%) reported condom use, (n=261, 75%) disclosed to their partners. Gender, discussing HIV testing with sexual partner, knowing partner’s HIV status, and living with partner were significantly associated with disclosure. iv The most common cited reasons for disclosure were that they needed to protect their partner from being infected with HIV, and needed support from their partner. Partner reactions to disclosure included support, shock, and denial of the test results, blame, abandonment, violence, anger, and divorce. The most cited reasons for nondisclosure were concerns that the partner might leave, partner might be afraid of catching HIV, partner might think they were unfaithful, partner might get angry, partner might hurt them physically and that partner might stop financial support. Conclusion The study concludes that the prevalence of disclosure to sexual partners among sexually active adults was high and that most respondents disclosed immediately after they were diagnosed with HIV. However, disclosure to multiple sexual partners was lower as compared to disclosure to the steady partner. Respondents disclosed to protect the partner from HIV infection and to receive support. Nondisclosure was mainly used to protect self from negative reactions from the partner. Recommendations Researchers and health care providers needs to take cognisant of the risk sexual behaviour an low condom use among HIV positive adults receiving ART. Secondary prevention efforts targeting risky sexual behaviour among HIV-positive persons need to receive greater attention.