Source Of Worry Research Articles

Trace Elements and Health: An Environmental Risk in Nigeria

The concentration levels of trace elements in drinking water and food pose potential health risks to man and therefore require great attention. Studies on iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) indicate goiter prevalence in areas underlain by metamorphic Basement and Younger Granite rocks and its near absence in the sedimentary terrains. There are cases of dental fluorosis resulting from the excessive ingestion of fluoride in both children and adults living in both the crystalline and sedimentary terrains in Nigeria with none reported from the coastal areas. Mining/mineral processing predisposes these trace elements to weathering whereby they are released into the environment in the soil and water bodies. The incidence of abnormally high natural radiation (radon gas) associated with most rocks and the exceptionally higher natural radiation associated with cassiterite mill tailings of the Jos Plateau, north central Nigeria, is a source of worry. Epidemiological records have indicated the increasing rate of lung cancer prevalence on the Jos Plateau and studies carried out elsewhere in Europe have linked about 13% of deaths associated with lung cancer to exposure to natural radiation. Preliminary hydro-geochemical study indicates high concentrations of potentially harmful elements (PHE) (Pb, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg, V, Co, Cr, Ni, etc.) in the soils and water bodies in the crystalline and inland sedimentary terrains especially close to sulfide mineralization. In addition, high levels of these elements from anthropogenic sources have also been reported in soils and water in most mining/mineral processing sites and urban centres. The knowledge of the relationships between trace elements and human health issues is at its infancy in Nigeria. To adequately understand these relationships, there is need for geoscientists to intensify research on trace elements in the environment and together with professionals in community health so as to identify health issues arising from trace elements in the environment.

Awareness of disease state without explicit knowledge of memory failure in transient global amnesia

IntroductionTransient global amnesia (TGA) is a syndrome characterised by the rapid onset of antero- and retrograde amnesia, accompanied by temporal disorientation and iterative questioning. It is now established that the acute phase is associated with a raised level of anxiety and a depressed mood. We conducted a thorough investigation of patients’ perceptions of their disease state, focusing on the links between their lack of explicit knowledge of amnesia during the acute phase and their emotional experience. MethodExplicit knowledge of memory deficits was assessed during TGA by means of an original scale inspired by Bisiach et al. (1986) and self-reported scales measuring patients’ perceptions of their current memory and their cognitive and behavioural functioning. At the same time, we probed the patients’ emotional experience (sources of worry, and levels of worry, anxiety and depression) via questionnaires. Data were collected from 20 patients in the acute phase, 16 in the peri-acute phase, 16 who were assessed the day after the episode and 14 healthy controls. Each patient underwent a follow-up examination 2months later. ResultsPatients in the acute phase displayed a lack of explicit knowledge of their amnesia and overestimated their memory performances. They also expressed higher levels of worry and anxiety than controls, and a more depressed mood. ConclusionsAlthough they were aware of their disease state, the TGA patients were unable to identify the nature of their memory deficits and overestimated their memory performances. These memory misperceptions and the inability to acknowledge memory failure occurred concomitantly with changes in the patients’ emotional state. This particular pattern of awareness could be regarded as a reaction to the suddenness and massiveness of the amnesia.

Informal support to first-parents after childbirth: a qualitative study in low-income suburbs of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

BackgroundIn Tanzania, and many sub-Saharan African countries, postpartum health programs have received less attention compared to other maternity care programs and therefore new parents rely on informal support. Knowledge on how informal support is understood by its stakeholders to be able to improve the health in families after childbirth is required. This study aimed to explore discourses on health related informal support to first-time parents after childbirth in low-income suburbs of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.MethodsThirteen focus group discussions with first-time parents and female and male informal supporters were analysed by discourse analysis.ResultsThe dominant discourse was that after childbirth a first time mother needed and should be provided with support for care of the infant, herself and the household work by the maternal or paternal mother or other close and extended family members. In their absence, neighbours and friends were described as reconstructing informal support. Informal support was provided conditionally, where poor socio-economic status and non-adherence to social norms risked poor support. Support to new fathers was constructed as less prominent, provided mainly by older men and focused on economy and sexual matters. The discourse conveyed stereotypic gender roles with women described as family caretakers and men as final decision-makers and financial providers. The informal supporters regulated the first-time parents' contacts with other sources of support.ConclusionsStrong and authoritative informal support networks appear to persist. However, poverty and non-adherence to social norms was understood as resulting in less support. Family health in this context would be improved by capitalising on existing informal support networks while discouraging norms promoting harmful practices and attending to the poorest. Upholding stereotypic notions of femininity and masculinity implies great burden of care for the women and delimited male involvement. Men's involvement in reproductive and child health programmes has the potential for improving family health after childbirth. The discourses conveyed contradicting messages that may be a source of worry and confusion for the new parents. Recognition, respect and raising awareness for different social actors' competencies and limitations can potentially create a health-promoting environment among families after childbirth.

Spermatozoa DNA damage measured by sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and birth characteristics in children conceived by IVF and ICSI

High levels of spermatozoa DNA damage hinder fertility in vivo but not in vitro. It is a source of worry that following in vitro fertilization (IVF) spermatozoa DNA damage, if not repaired by the oocyte, might have a negative impact on the offspring. The aim of this study was to assess if a high spermatozoa DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI) is associated with alterations in birthweight (BW) and/or gestational length in IVF children. One hundred and thirty-one singleton pregnancies established by standard IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were included in the study. DFI was measured by sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) in semen samples used for fertilization. DFI was categorized as low and high, using 20, 30, 40 and 50% as cut-off levels. Birthweight, gestational age, as well as gestational age adjusted BW score were used in a linear regression model as end points For none of the tested birth characteristics, statistically significant differences between the groups with low and high DFI were seen regardless of whether 20, 30, 40 or 50% were used as cut-off levels, both when the IVF and ICSI data were merged or analysed separately. Spermatozoa DNA damage as assessed by SCSA is not associated with BW or gestational length in IVF and ICSI children.

Sperm dna damage measured by the sperm chromatin structure assay and birth characteristics in children conceived by assisted reproduction

High levels of sperm DNA damage hinder fertility in vivo but not in vitro. It is a source of worry that following in vitro fertilisation (IVF) sperm DNA damage, if not repaired by the oocyte might have a negative impact on the offspring. The aim of this study was to assess if a high sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) is associated with alterations in birth weight and/or gestational length in IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) children.

‘How Do You Feel About Studying Social Work?’—Social Work Students in Greece: Demands, Support, Feelings About Their Studies and Attitudes Towards Themselves

This paper presents the results of a study exploring the nature and extent of the demands placed upon social work students during their studies, the support available to them inside and outside the course, their feelings about their work and their attitudes towards themselves. Demands from the course were rated higher than demands from financial, family and part-time work responsibilities. Important support was obtained from friends, relatives and fellow students while, except for practice teachers, the lack of support from the course was emphasized. A large number of students often felt exhausted, not due to the actual work with users but mostly due to obligations to the course such as essays. On the whole, however, students felt good about what they had accomplished so far and held positive attitudes towards themselves. The need for structured support resources offered within the educational institution was evident and recognized by more than half of the students, who stated they would be willing to use them had they been available. Students expressed no intention to quit their studies despite the demands placed upon them; the prospect of unemployment was an additional source of worry for more than half of them.

Shifting Focus of Primary Health Care in the Context of Health Systems Reform in Resource Poor Settings

Purpose:To review the concepts of Primary Health Care (PHC) and provide evidence for a shift in its focus and implementation in the resource poor setting. Sources of data:Desk and internet based review of relevant articles and official documents. Data extraction:Search themes were ‘concepts and models of PHC’, contextual issues in PHC and health care reforms aimed at achieving the universally accepted core social values of health care delivery. Results:Four main concepts and approaches to PHC include selective PHC, primary care; Alma-Ata comprehensive PHC and health and human rights approach. The concept of PHC in resource poor settings is oversimplified and restrictive. This is in contrast with the situation in well-resourced contexts where primary care concept is practiced.The World Health Organisation recommends a shift in focus of PHC through four sets of reforms in the health system, universal coverage reforms, service delivery reforms, public policy reforms and leadership reforms. This shift should bridge the gap between citizens’ expectations and performance of the health care system. Conclusion:Inability of health services to deliver levels of national coverage that meet stated demands and changing needs has been a source of worry. The health systems need to respond better and faster to the challenges of a changing world.

Parents' Perceptions of Their Children's Cancer-Related Symptoms During Treatment: A Prospective, Longitudinal Study

This article describes a comprehensive assessment of treatment-related symptoms in children aged 0-18 years undergoing cancer treatment from the perspective of their parents. The aim was to describe which symptoms that, according to parents, cause most problems for children receiving cancer treatment and to explore whether there is a relationship between parents' ratings of their children's symptoms and their own post-traumatic stress at one week (T1), two months (T2), and four months (T3) after a child's cancer diagnosis. In total, 214 parents (107 mothers and 107 fathers) of 115 children answered a modified version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale 10-18 and the PTSD Checklist Civilian Version over the telephone at T1-T3. According to parents, the following symptom areas cause the most problems for children undergoing cancer treatment: emotional distress, fatigue, nutrition, and pain. Pain is the most problematic area. The prevalence of most symptoms and the symptom burden decreases over time. Parents' ratings of their children's symptom burden and their own emotional distress, and mothers' and fathers' ratings of their child's symptom burden, are associated. Parents of adolescents report a greater symptom burden for their child than the parents of the youngest children. The opinions of both the patient and the parent are important in pediatrics. The results of this study can be used to guide health care professionals within pediatric oncology in their discussions of cancer treatment's adverse effects with patients and families. Not only the expectations and potential interventions but also the sources of worry should be discussed.

Association of Spatial Arrangements with Parents’ Behavior and Perceptions of Child Safety in Jordan

Children playing on streets in front of a home are typically a source of worry for parents. Spatial hierarchies between the house and streetscape create zones of influence and provide natural surveillance as well as opportunities for interaction among residents that affect child safety. The hypotheses in this study were that perceptions of child safety and parents’ behavior (represented by the number of hours parents allow their children to play outdoors) are associated with perceived social interactions, privacy, and territoriality in a single-family home neighborhood in Jordan. To test the hypotheses, data were elicited from structured interviews with 102 single-family householders living in the Jordan Armed Forces Officers’ Housing in the city of Amman, Jordan. Findings demonstrate that parents’ perceptions of child safety are contradictory to their actual behavior towards their children’s play on the street. Whereas most of these parents do let their children spend one to four hours playing near the street each day, about 80% of them do not perceive their children to be safe doing that. Parental behavior is associated with perceived social interactions with neighbors but not with their perceived privacy and territoriality. Finally, perceived child safety is associated with housing and neighborhood characteristics rather than with perceived social interactions, privacy, and territoriality.

Changes in liver function markers in albino rats exposed to crude petroleum (Bonny light)

The use of petroleum samples as medicaments either due to poverty or ignorance is becoming a source of worry. Unfortunately, the elderly and children are most vulnerable. Crude petroleum is usually given to some children when they convulse as anticonvulsant. Incidentally, the liver is the site where most drugs and other ingested substances are metabolized and detoxified. It was based on this, that some liver function enzymes such as the transaminases and alkaline phosphatase activities were employed to assess the state of the liver in albino rats after exposure to crude petroleum (Bonny light). The rats were placed in four groups and were intraperitoneally administered 6.0, 12.0 and 30.0gkg -1 of crude petroleum (Bonny light) respectively, for 2 phase periods of 1and 2 months. .At the end of each period, rats were withdrawn from each group for analysis. The control rats were similarly treated with normal saline. Blood samples were taken for serum enzymes aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). The results revealed significant increases in the activities of AST and ALP in rats exposed to crude petroleum in a dose-dependent manner, compared with control (P<0.05). Similarly, significant increase in bilirubin level was observed in the groups treated with crude petroleum (Bonny light). The second month values were proportionately higher than the first.

Lower Genital Tract Trauma during Spontaneous

Birth trauma remains a source of worry to patients and birth attendants but information remains scarce about its range and extent as well as evidence based preventive techniques. To determine the prevalence/pattern of lower genital tract lacerations during spontaneous vaginal deliveries and determine the influence of age, parity and fetal size. 1,320 consecutive parturients who had spontaneous vaginal deliveries at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria, Nigeria were examined. Findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Minitab statistical software The prevalence of trauma in this population was 22%. First degree perineal lacerations were the commonest type (47.3%) and third degree perineal lacerations were the rarest (0.3%). Lower genital tract trauma was not found to be significantly related to age (p >0.000) and parity (p > 0.000). However, high fetal birth weight was found to be a significant risk factor in this population (p Keywords : Perineal trauma, Spontaneous vaginal delivery, Fetal birth weight, Episiotomy The Nigerian Medical Practitioner Vol. 51 (1&2) 2007: pp. 16-19

Prices high, tensions ease and a new OPEC is formed

This section summarizes downstream developments of the previous month. Exploration &amp; Production are covered in 'Upstream Review'. Crude oil prices rose on news that BP was to shut‐in its 400,000 bpd Prudhoe Bay field, following the discovery of corrosion in a pipeline serving the field. Dated BFO went to a record high of $78.72/bbl on 8th August. Speculation that refiners on the US West Coast would seek to replace the lost Alaska North Slope crude with supplies from the Asia/Pacific region caused prices to rise there as well. US crude prices were rather less affected than elsewhere by events in Alaska as it rapidly became clear that stock levels were sufficient to deal with any loss of production. It also emerged that BP was able to keep about half of Prudhoe Bay in production. By that time, however, oil markets had latched on to an entirely different source of worry. The announcement in London that police had uncovered a plot to blow‐up aeroplanes crossing the Atlantic led to concerns of a sharp fall in passenger travel. Traders were not simply worried about the effect of this on the demand for jet fuel, but expressed concerns of a more general loss of business confidence across the world. Fears over a fall in jet fuel consumption did not appear to have spread to Singapore, where jet kerosine traded at an all‐time high of $91.75/bbl early in August.

A Treatise on Efficacy: Between Western and Chinese Thinking (review)

Reviewed by: A Treatise on Efficacy: Between Western and Chinese Thinking Jeremy E. Henkel A Treatise on Efficacy: Between Western and Chinese Thinking. By François Jullien, translated by Janet Lloyd. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004. Pp. x + 202. $22.00. In A Treatise on Efficacy: Between Western and Chinese Thinking François Jullien argues that the different ways Chinese and Western thinkers have dealt with warfare and diplomacy reflect important differences in how the two cultures understand human action in the world. When Chinese texts such as the Sunzi and the Guiguzi are set up as counterpoints to the Europeans Clausewitz and Machiavelli, Jullien argues that the Aristotelian inheritance of the latter pair is shown to be the cause of their inability to provide clean theories with the consistent predictive power they desired. Chinese strategists, by contrast, meet with no such limitations in the realm of human interaction. The basic difference between Western and Chinese thought that Jullien seeks to demonstrate is that "one constructs a model that is then projected onto the situation, which implies that the situation is momentarily 'frozen.' The other relies on the situation as on a disposition that is known to be constantly evolving" (p. 189; italics in original). Jullien's regular use of the generic terms "Western" and "Chinese" in constructing his comparison will likely give many comparative philosophers pause. But this [End Page 347] need not be a source of worry, as he is careful not to essentialize the two world-views. While he is pointing out patterns and tendencies in the thinking of Europe and China, he is not positing an essential incommensurable difference between them. Rather, he is pointing out that "what remains underdeveloped in the one context is more developed in the other" (p. 145). He goes on to say, "The purpose of our foray into China is not to imagine-let alone fabricate-other 'mentalities'. . . . It is simply to make use of other possible sources of intelligibility" (ibid.). Jullien begins by showing that Western thought regards human action as something that imposes itself on the world in order to bring about a predetermined goal. This is a natural consequence of the belief that the world is created: belief in creation implies something existing outside that creation, thus an intention behind that creation, and thus a transcendent norm toward which things within that creation aim. This two-leveled ontology of creator and creation yields a distinction between theory and practice, wherein practice always aims-and ultimately fails-at implementing an ideal that is established by theory. This worldview has led to demonstrable success in the sciences but meets with frequent frustration in the arena of human interaction. This limitation has been recognized by strategists in the West but has never been successfully resolved. Aristotle was the first to identify and try to resolve this problem. He posited phronesis as the skill that enables an individual to apply a model to the world successfully. For Aristotle such successful action consists of first identifying one's desired end and then reasoning back to one's present situation in order to establish the best means to achieve that end. Jullien's analysis shows that Clausewitz was working with the same model more than two thousand years later. Clausewitz believed that earlier attempts at creating a general theory of warfare had failed to achieve their goal-namely, to provide a model of warfare that a general could use to ensure victory-because the opponent's actions are unpredictable. The system that the military strategist is dealing with, then, is not mechanistic, and consequently plans are easily frustrated by ever-changing circumstances. But Clausewitz was unable to conceive of strategy as based on anything other than plans. For Clausewitz, warfare is composed of distinct engagements, separate moments in time where an army seeks to impose a plan on the world. Seeing warfare as composed of distinct moments means that time is an opponent, for time brings with it change and uncertainty and thus a greater chance that one's plans will be frustrated. Opportunity, then, is something unexpected-a chance happening at a specific moment that can be taken advantage of only...

Improving Soil Productivity Through Agro-Industrial Waste Recycling

Disposal of enormous waste has been a source of worry since the introduction of intensive agriculture. Poor organic waste management is often associated with carcinogenic nitrosamines and in other cases methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome). It is therefore suggested waste high in nitrogen and phosphorus be managed to improve soil productivity rather than allowed to become environmental hazard. As a way of checking the development of environmental nuisance, rice husk was used as organic manure in fertilizing a sandy loam soil in Obubra, where mountain of the husk is found. Five levels of rice husk were used in the cultivation of upland rice as follows: O t/ha; 16.7 t/ha; 33.3 t/ha; 50 t/ha and 66.7 t/ha. In 1999, 50 and 66.7 t/ha of rice husk promoted growth significantly at 6, 8 and 10 weeks after planting (WAP). Tillering was not too distinct with all rates of application. Plots treated with 50 and 66.7 t/ha yielded significantly different from the others. In 2003, results of plant height and tillering were insignificant. Application rates from 16.7 to 66.7 t/ha were significantly different from 0 t/ha but not from each other. Considering the two years, the use of rice husk at the rates between 33.3 – 50 t/ha would promote soil productivity significantly. Instead of allowing these mountains of organic waste to poison surface and underground water, it should be packed in bags for use by farmers to increase agricultural productivity. Key words: carcinogenic nitrosamines, environmental hazard, fertilizer, productivity, and rice husk Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences Vol.2(1) 2004: 74-79

The path from oral nutrition to home parenteral nutrition: a qualitative interview study of the experiences of advanced cancer patients and their families

Background & aim: Little is known about the perspectives that patients with advanced cancer and their family members have concerning nutritional problems and nutritional support. The aim of this study was to investigate their experiences of the nutritional situation prior to introduction of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) in order to understand factors contributing to the decision to accept HPN.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 patients with advanced cancer who had received HPN and 11 family members. The constant comparative method was used for data analysis.Results: Patients and family members described the nutritional situation prior to HPN as a source of worry and often desperation. Patients reported wanting and trying to eat, but being unable to do so. Family members experienced powerlessness and frustration, as they could not enable the patient to eat. A lack of attention to nutritional problems by the hospital staff was described. The offer of HPN came when patients and family no longer felt able to solve the nutritional problems within the family.Conclusion: The desperate and chaotic nutritional situation in the family led to willingness to accept HPN. Because of the severity of the problems, HPN was viewed as a positive alternative.

The path from oral nutrition to home parenteral nutrition: a qualitative interview study of the experiences of advanced cancer patients and their families

Background & aim: Little is known about the perspectives that patients with advanced cancer and their family members have concerning nutritional problems and nutritional support. The aim of this study was to investigate their experiences of the nutritional situation prior to introduction of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) in order to understand factors contributing to the decision to accept HPN. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 patients with advanced cancer who had received HPN and 11 family members. The constant comparative method was used for data analysis. Results: Patients and family members described the nutritional situation prior to HPN as a source of worry and often desperation. Patients reported wanting and trying to eat, but being unable to do so. Family members experienced powerlessness and frustration, as they could not enable the patient to eat. A lack of attention to nutritional problems by the hospital staff was described. The offer of HPN came when patients and family no longer felt able to solve the nutritional problems within the family. Conclusion: The desperate and chaotic nutritional situation in the family led to willingness to accept HPN. Because of the severity of the problems, HPN was viewed as a positive alternative.

Conversations at the Frontier of Dreaming

THOMAS H. OGDEN: Conversations at Frontier of Dreaming. Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ, 2001, 255 pp., $40.00, ISBN: 0-7657-0312-2. The title of Thomas J. Ogden's latest book refers to with oneself take place at unconscious-preconscious of psychoanalysis (p. 11). A proponent of intersubjectivity, Ogden-a Supervising and Training Analyst at Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California and a member of Faculty of San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute-is author of five earlier books, including Reverie and Interpretation: Sensing Something Happen (1997), upon which his present book builds. His aim here is to make audible to analyst, analysand, and general reader conversations arise from therapy-conversations affirming psychoanalysis as a form of human relatedness. As he notes at beginning of his book, the dreams and reveries being generated by analyst and patient at frontier of dreaming draw not only on unconscious experience of analyst and as individuals, but also involve a set of unconscious experiences jointly, but asymmetrically, constructed by pair (p. 11). Ogden calls this unconscious construction analytic third, which he defines as subject of psychoanalysis-a view he develops in rest of book. Conversations at Frontier of Dreaming will perhaps most interest psychotherapists for its lively discussions of intersubjective third. Ogden describes what it feels like to be with a patient, including his own anxiety in transference-countertransference relationship. He is refreshingly self-critical, as when he admits There have been times when I have found my voice disappointingly wooden-or cloyingly sweet, or hollowly authoritative, or embarrassingly thin. Voice (my own and patient's) is always an object of scrutiny, and so even (or perhaps in particular) these disturbing surprises are not unwelcome events, nor are they a source of worry. I am far more concerned by long periods of absence of surprise in my experience of my own voice or patient's, (p. 76) Ogden focuses on psychoanalyst's reveries during his waking dreams, and he is interested in describing analyst as both an unself-conscious subject and object of self-scrutiny. Citing D.W. Winnicott, whom he believes to be greatest English-speaking psychoanalyst, Ogden asserts we must live with paradox (without attempting to resolve it) there is no such thing as an apart from relationship with analyst, and no such thing as an analyst apart from relationship with analysand (p. 20). Ogden's fondness for paradoxes-I will conclude this discussion (which does not aspire to be inclusive or conclusive) (p. 44)-may strike reader as liberating or maddening (or perhaps both); rarely does he resolve any of thorny questions he raises. Indeed, he remains more interested in questions than in answers, and his tolerance for paradox and ambiguity recalls poet John Keats's idea of Negative Capability, which he expressed in a letter written in 1817: that is, when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason (p. 525). Unlike many psychoanalytic thinkers, Ogden offers no overarching theory (apart from analytic third), and loose structure of his argument, which gives book a conversational quality befitting its thesis, may be viewed as both a strength and a weakness. Many of chapters were first published in psychoanalytic journals, and connections among chapters are often tenuous. What is not tenuous about Conversations at Frontier of Dreaming is its recognition of centrality of language. Ogden knows language not only expresses thought but creates it: naming and describing 'me' metaphorically creates both 'I' and 'me' as interdependent aspects of human self-awareness (human subjectivity) (p. …

Oil Spill Modeling and Processes

Review: Oil Spill Modeling and Processes By C. A. Brebbia (Ed.) Reviewed by Ryder W. Miller San Francisco, California, USA C. A. Brebbia (Ed.). Oil Spill Modeling And Processes. Southampton, UK: Wit Press, 2001. 161 pp. ISBN 1-85312-672-1 (cloth). US$115.00, F 74.00. With President George W. Bush in the White House trying to affect decisions in California by clearly supporting a change from the Democratic Party in the governor's office, Californians are now especially concerned over the future of the wonderful California coastline. With no end to our dependency on oil in sight, pristine Alaska has also long been a source of worry. Oil spills will probably continue to occur (as the recent disaster off the coast of Spain shows), but significant advances have been made in the designing of mathematical methods to predict their dispersion. Editor C. A. Brebbia (of the Wessex Institute of Technology) in Oil Spill Modeling and Processes has collected half a dozen technical papers that quantify the monitoring of oil spills. The work is surprisingly readable, but one needs an understanding of calculus and statistics to understand the mathematics. With abstracts and summaries one can follow the subject and glean valuable insights into how to monitor oil spills. For example, factors affecting the movement of oil in ocean water include drift, surface spreading, evaporation, dissolution, entrainment, emulsification, stranding, adsorption and desorption, photo oxidation, and biodegradation. The contents include: Mathematical Modeling of Oil Spilled into Marine Waters; Modeling Oil Spill Impacts; Review of Modeling Procedures for Oil Spill Weathering Behavior; Weathering of Oils at Sea: Comparisons between Field Data and Model Predictions; The Evaporation of Oil Spills: Development and Implementation of New Prediction Methodology; and Water-in-Oil Emulsification and Implementation of Modeling of the Process. Not found herein are discussions of alternative energy resources or attempts to reduce the number of oil spills. The book describes the progress that has been made in oil spill modeling and processes, and the further efforts that are necessary. The large number of references shows that scientists have been busy trying to find solutions to the unending problem of oil spills. But as H. Murat Cekirge of Florida State University, and Steven L. Palmer of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection conclude in the opening chapter: In general the existing models have been successfully applied to actual spill events. Further research is needed, especially with regard to the

Is hard determinism a form of compatibilism?

Libertarianism is ailing. Once the preferred account of free will, it has now fallen into considerable disfavor. Most philosophers are suspicious of libertarian accounts of agent causation and unmoved movers, and are convinced that the opposite of determinism is not freedom, but indeterminism. I think that libertarianism’s current low state is entirely justified. I will not argue for this conclusion, as it has been adequately argued elsewhere. This conclusion leaves only hard determinism and compatibilism on the field. Although hard determinism is scarcely more popular than libertarianism, many philosophers seem to reject it, not because of its philosophical implausibility, but because they fear the consequences of its being true. Metaphysicians’ inability to come up with a satisfactory compatibilist account is thus a source of worry, and might lead one to fear that hard determinism is true. On their face, compatibilism and hard determinism are very different. Of course, compatibilists and hard determinists agree that the thesis of determinism is true: Determinist thesis (D): Every event (including human actions) has a cause, and the chain of causes leading to any given action by an agent extends back in time to some point before the agent was born. 1

`My Chief Source of Worry': An Assistant Provost Marshal's View of Relations between 2nd Canadian Division and Local Inhabitants on the Western Front, 1915-1917

The British Expeditionary Force's landing in France in August 1914 brought it into contact with allied civilians. Relations between soldiers and inhabitants during the war's opening months were amicable, as a depiction in the French weekly L'Illustration accurately portrays. Using the detailed war diary of the assistant provost marshal (APM), 2nd Canadian Division, this article shows that relations during the years of trench warfare were fundamentally different from those characterizing the war's opening months. Focusing on the period September 1915-August 1916 (but also including material up until May 1917), when 2nd Division occupied the Kemmel sector in Flanders, the article examines liaison organizations, claims settlement, the consumption and sale of alcohol, perceptions of the Flemish and the administration of military justice. It concludes that the local Flemish, who from the APM's perspective were greedy, sullen and a threat to security, resented the intrusion of a military presence which controlled their mobility, regulated their businesses, damaged their fields and farms and stole from their estami-nets. This mutual incomprehensibility and incompatibility would have mattered much less, however, if officers commanding had fulfilled their role in the administration of British military justice.