In the present study, we examined loneliness and negative life events as predictors of suicide risk (viz., hopelessness and suicidal behaviors) in a sample of 160 Hispanic adults. Consistent with expectations, we found loneliness and negative life events to be positively associated with both hopelessness and suicidal behaviors. In addition, results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses indicated that loneliness accounted for significant amounts of variance in both measures of suicide risk, ranging from 24% to 29% of the variance. The inclusion of negative life events as a predictor was found to account for additional unique variance in hopelessness (3%), but not in suicidal behaviors, beyond what was predicted by loneliness. Finally, consistent with a diathesis-stress model, the Loneliness × Negative Life Events interaction was found to account for an additional 3% of the variance in both suicide risk measures. Implications of the present findings for future research on suicide risk in Hispanics are discussed.

Sports organisations must continuously assess how better to meet or exceed consumer expectations and perceptions of their experience in order to maintain and increase the number of spectators and loyal fans attending their sporting events. This study aims to enhance our understanding of which characteristics of a service attribute will best define its quality and impact on spectator behaviour by understanding the causal relationship between perceived service quality (PSQ) and satisfaction.

The study investigates the surface controls of major dust emissions and determines the patial distribution of major dust source in South Africa. This study follows a multi-disciplinary approach where primary and secondary data were used. The main objective of the study is to determine the spatial distribution of South Africa's Major Dust Sources. Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite imagery, land use and land cover maps were used to achieve the first and the second objectives of the study. Primary data involved sampling 30 soil samples in the field in order to achieve the third objective of the study. The crust, soil moisture, soil texture and grain size are all controls of dust emission. This investigation is however focused predominantly on grain size characteristics. GIS methods were also used to determine soil type from the African soil map. Soil samples in both provinces were then collected to assess the Particle Size Distribution (PSD) of the soils. The particle size was determined based on a sieve analysis for grain sizes that were greater than 2mm and laser diffractometry, MasterSizer (Malvern) was used to achieve this. The results from the Malvern were later put to R Statistics where they were clustered into eight clusters to determine similarities and difference of the grain size. Because there is no uniqueness in the soil types found in the study area, there were no solid conclusions made based in them. The results show that the soil types are found across South Africa but not the same amount of dust activity was detected in the other parts of the country. Previous studies show that global significant dust sources are natural sources such as lakes, pans and depressions. However, results demonstrate that South African dust sources are anthropogenic sources resulting from commercial agriculture in semi-arid regions. This study has demonstrated that surface sediments suitable for dust production are a mixture of fine material, silt (50µm) and coarse material, sand (2000µm) and it appears that all clusters in this study all contained both mixtures and all have potential to emit dust.

<p> This dissertation consists of a scholarly edition of Bertrand Russell's letters to Helen Thomas Flexner and Lucy Martin Donnelly. Although Russell's reputation as a writer of voluminous letters is well-known, to date there are no collected editions of his personal correspondence. As an editorial project this thesis is very much concerned with the problematic and often controversial methods of editorial procedure. Another major concern is the assessment of a set of letters that span nearly half a century of riveting social upheaval.</p> <p>Russell's letters to Helen Flexner and Lucy Donnelly convey the personal and public sides of his life. The correspondence with them provides biographical information for the reader who is unfamiliar with Russell's life and thought as well as for the specialist. The letters, however, represent more than just an account of one man's life. As historical documents they recount major world events such as the Great War and discuss significant issues such as political elections and women's suffrage. Thus, in its scope, this thesis embraces various disciplines that reflect the multifarious aspects of Russell's activities and writings.</p> <p> Undoubtedly, the editor's role in the preparation and transformation of private documents to public ones is a crucial part of any editorial undertaking. The strategies employed in this edition involve techniques of selecting and presenting annotative material in the most comprehensive manner. The purpose of such notes is to provide the reader with a sense of the historical, sociological and literary themes in Russell's correspondence.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Atmospheric deposition (AD) is a significant but poorly understood source of nutrients to many aquatic systems around the world. Accurate characterization of the nutrient budgets of aquatic systems is critical to good management decisions, so a better understanding of AD-related nutrient loads is essential, especially for water bodies where nutrient loads from atmospheric deposition are significant. Due to its large surface area, proximity to Great Basin dust sources, high values of atmospheric particulates due to inversions, and the high phosphorus content of local soils, Utah Lake, in the semi-arid Utah Valley, USA, experiences significant phosphorus loading from AD. The lake is eutrophic and has a history of impaired water quality and HABs, which has motivated significant study and debate over nutrient loads to the lake. Previous studies that measured phosphorus AD to Utah Lake showed a large portion of the AD was associated with a few high-volume deposition events, with the data exhibiting unexpectedly high peaks at some locations on a few dates. These issues cast doubt on the data. We used statistical analyses and machine learning models to characterize AD to Utah Lake. In addition to determining the distribution of AD events, we analyzed the relationship between phosphorus AD and local weather events. We used this analysis to determine whether the high phosphorus measurements were outliers due to sampling errors or represented actual conditions. Our analysis shows that AD events followed an XXX distribution, similar to the distribution of precipitation events on the lake. We found the high phosphorus deposition events were correlated with instances of high wind occurring when the ground was dry. We also observed regular cycles of higher and lower measurements throughout the year that are like measures of atmospheric particulate matter. We conclude that atmospheric phosphorus deposition on Utah Lake is episodic and driven by weather conditions around the lake, with the most important factors being the number of hours with high winds during a collection period and the percentage of those hours where the ground was dry during a collection period followed by dry deposition from particulate matter. This is an important finding for the management of Utah Lake and also has implications for the management of other eutrophic lakes in which atmospheric deposition of nutrients impacts water quality.

This study investigates the impact of traffic patterns and the availability of emergency medical services on the lethality of violent interpersonal encounters. Key situational and contextual factors are controlled using the criminal events perspective. Data were taken from the 2002 National Incident-Based Reporting System of the FBI, as well as from fire/rescue and EMS services of Memphis, TN, Cincinnati, OH, and Richmond, VA. Additive models of logistic regression analysis revealed that fire/rescue availability, firearm use, incidents arising out of arguments, outdoor locations, and victim gender are the most consistent predictors of whether or not a violent incident will result in a homicide.

Event detection is a critical challenge in many fields like video surveillance, social graph analysis, and multimedia processing. Furthermore, events are “structured” objects involv ing multiple components like the event type, the participants with their roles, and the atomic events in which it decomposes. Therefore, the recognition of an event is not only limited to recognize the type of the event and when it happened, but it involves solving a set of simple tasks. Exploiting background knowledge about events and their relations could then be beneficial for event detection. In the last years, neuro-symbolic integration has been proposed to merge the strengths and overcome the drawbacks of both symbolic and neural worlds. As a consequence, different neuro-symbolic frameworks, which com bine low-level perception of neural networks with a symbolic layer, encoding prior domain knowledge (usually defined in terms of logical rules), have been applied to solve different atemporal tasks. In this thesis, we want to investigate the application of the neuro-symbolic paradigm for event detection. This would also provide a better insight into the strengths and limitations of neuro-symbolic towards tasks involving time.

The purpose of this research was to examine special event management as a temporary business model and how it is impacted by problem solving capabilities in its utilization of temporary systems. The phenomenon of special events management and how event leaders must continuously make decisions based upon knowledge, skill, and intuition are the constructs of why events operations are as unique as the events themselves. A paradigm of temporary operational organizations that depend on communication, information, and implementation of operational strategies within unusual and unique environments and on a continuous basis must rely on appropriate instructional systems. The instructional methods that are selected should support event leadership’s problem solving methods in accomplishing the goals and mission of the special event.

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