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In defence of Rebel Angel Theodicy
No full textRebel Angel Theodicy – often called Satan Theodicy – is the thesis that horrendous evils are directly or indirectly caused by angels who disobeyed God. In this article, I defend it, developing Gary Emberger's suggestion that they influenced the course of evolution. After defending speculative theodicy, I expound Rebel Angel Theodicy and reply to seven objections that explicate the widespread judgement of implausibility: 1. That the existence of angels is metaphysically problematic. 2. That God has no good reason to create angels. 3. That angels have no power to harm human beings. 4. That God, foreknowing the possibility of rebellion, would not delegate to angels the power to guide evolution. 5. That even if there was a good reason for God to delegate this power to angels it is metaphysically impossible for an omnipotent God to do so. 6. That God, knowing of the angels' rebellion, would subsequently intervene to put evolution back onto the preferred divine plan. 7. That there is no plausible motive for angels to rebel
Multi-objective optimization and process intensification of multistage nanofiltration with structural synergy for brine separation
No full textPotable water production through reverse osmosis is a key application of membrane technology, with increasing focus on the efficient processing of reverse osmosis brine due to the health benefits and market potential of magnesium. In this study, we performed the first in-depth analysis and multi-objective optimization of a multistage nanofiltration system for brine separation in collaboration with the Saudi Water Authority, the largest desalination company in the world. Pareto fronts between purity, recovery, and power demand were evaluated via constraint-handled multistart optimization, revealing synergistic enhancement of separation performance through interstage dilution and permeate recycling. Structural intensification enables up to 233% increase in separation factor, or 9% energy demand reduction, projecting significant sustainability and cost benefits. Alternatively, optimal intensification can yield a 7% increase in divalent cation production, equivalent to a global increase of up to 124,200 tons per year. The proposed modeling framework offers a robust approach for future endeavors in ion separation optimization
Recursive Design of Precoded Polar Codes for SCL Decoding
No full textA novel method to recursively construct a set of precoded polar codes of various rates and short-to-moderate lengths is presented. The proposed code design method minimizes the successive cancellation (SC) decoding error probability estimate under three constraints. The first constraint is the minimum distance requirement to improve the maximum-likelihood (ML) performance of the resulting code and therefore the performance under the SC list (SCL) decoding. The other two constraints introduce preselected supercode and subcode, where the supercode ensures fast computation of the minimum distance and the subcode ensures reduction of the search space size. The supercode is given by the Plotkin sum of shorter codes, which are nested to simplify computation of low-weight codewords. These low-weight codewords are needed to satisfy the minimum distance constraint. The simulation results indicate that the proposed precoded polar codes of lengths 128 and 256 provide a better frame error rate (FER) than polar codes with CRC and e-BCH polar subcodes under the SCL decoding algorithm with the list size 8−128
A critical semiotic investigation of Asian stereotypes in the short film Bao: Implications for classroom practice
No full textResearch in a broad range of disciplines has explored how specific modes of communication can contribute to meaning-making in diverse texts such as picture books, films, short animated features, and to a lesser extent video games. Fields such as literacy, semiotics, and critical communication studies have aimed to reveal different interpretative possibilities expressed through language and image, but to a lesser extent gesture and sound featured in produced narratives. This paper analyses the speechless Oscar winning short film Bao, directed and written by Domee Shi and produced by Pixar animation studios. We do so from two perspectives. First, we share intended interpersonal meaning of characters through the multimodal ensembles of gesture, image and sound. Second, we apply a critical multimodal lens to discuss the inclusion of cultural stereotypes by arguing a popularisation of what it means to be Asian. We discuss how these findings are relevant for critical literacy curriculum development and enactment in the classroom
Food safety practices of individuals before and after the emergence of COVID-19: a pre and post comparative analysis
No full textBackground: COVID-19 had a detrimental impact on food security worldwide. However, little is known about how COVID-19 influenced food safety practices. Current literature indicates positive and negative impacts, yet the real impact has not been corroborated, particularly in under-resourced countries. The overarching objective of this study was to examine the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 on the food safety practices of individuals in Ethiopia.

Method: A retrospective survey was used to collect information related to the food safety practices of individuals, both before and after COVID-19. The survey was conducted in one metropolitan (Addis Ababa) and three regional (Dessie, Kombolcha, and Debre Birhan) cities of Ethiopia. The food buyers in the selected cities were randomly selected based on their place in queue in selected food shops. An equal number of participants were surveyed from metropolitan and regional cities. 

Result: Of the 396 sampled individuals, 51.5% were female and the remaining 48.5% were male. The ordinal logistic regression analysis indicated that educational level had a statistically significant effect on the pooled food safety practices of individuals, before and after the emergence of COVID-19. Similarly, the type of work for income generation influenced individuals’ food safety practices both pre- and post COVID-19. Participants’ location and living arrangement/family size of participants were significantly associated with their food safety practices before the emergence of COVID-19 only. During both pre- and post-COVID-19, all cleaning-related predictive variables had a significant association with the food safety practice of individuals with the odds of less than one. Among cooking-related practices, cooking raw food before consumption had a statistically significant association with the food safety practices of individuals.

Conclusion: The food safety practices of individuals were improved during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic practices. This might be due to COVID-19 prevention enforcement measures and restrictions which increased food safety awareness. Improved food safety practices arising from COVID-19 are recommended to continue to maintain and promote future health and well-being
Profile of PRNP gene in 3 dairy goat breeds and association with milk production and udder health
No full textThe objectives were to determine the genetic profile of scrapie codons 146, 211 and 222 in three dairy goat breeds in Greece and assess its impact on milk production and udder health. A total of 766 dairy goats from seven farms were used. Animals belonged to two native (Eghoria; n=264 and Skopelos; n=287) and one foreign breed Damascus; n=215. Genomic DNA was extracted from individual blood samples. Polymorphisms were detected using RealTime PCR analysis and four different Taqman assay mixes. Milk production and udder health traits of individual animals were recorded monthly for two consecutive milking periods. The former included daily and lactation milk yield and composition; fat, protein, lactose and solids-not-fat (SNF) content. Udder health traits included udder fibrosis, abscess and asymmetry, milk somatic cell count, and number of colony-forming units. Genotypic, allelic and haplotypic frequencies were calculated and genetic distances between breeds were estimated using fixation index FST with Arlequin v3.1 software. The effects of genotype and allele on the studied traits were assessed with mixed linear models with R package ‘lme4’. All resistance-associated alleles (146S, 146D, 211Q and 222K) were detected in the studied goats. Significant differences (P0.01) except for a mild adverse effect of codon 146 on milk SNF in native goats. Results suggest that separate breeding programs should apply to native and Damascus goats aiming at enhancing scrapie resistance. Selection for the latter is not expected to compromise animal productivity and udder health. This work was funded by the SOLID project (FP7-266367) and Onassis Foundation
Modular experience-based smart innovation engineering system
No full textThe current paper presents the systematic approach for supporting the product innovation process of manufactured products. The proposed system uses a collective, team-like knowledge developed by innovation related experiences of the formal decisional events. The proposed system for smart innovation engineering carries the promise to support the innovation processes in a quick and efficient way. It stores the past decisional events or sets of experiences related to innovation issues, which significantly enhances innovation progression. Implementing this system in the process of product innovation enables entrepreneurs and organizations to take enhanced innovative decisions at appropriate time
Effects of Feeding Methionine Hydroxyl Analogue Chelated Zinc, Copper, and Manganese on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Mineral Excretion and Welfare Conditions of Broiler Chickens: Part 1: Performance Aspects
No full textThis floor pen study explored the effects of feeding mineral methionine hydroxyl analogue chelates (MMHACs) zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) on growth performance, carcass processing weight and quality, nutrient digestibility, gizzard erosion score, and bone parameters of broilers. One-day-old Ross 308 male chicks (n = 384) were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments with eight replicate pens per treatment and 12 birds per pen. The treatments were as follows: (1) inorganic trace mineral ZnSO4 110 ppm, CuSO4 16 ppm, MnO 120 ppm (ITM); (2) MMHAC Zn 40 ppm, Cu 10 ppm, Mn 40 ppm (M10); (3) Inorganic trace mineral ZnSO4 110 ppm, tribasic copper chloride 125 ppm, MnO 120 ppm (T125); (4) MMHAC Zn 40 ppm, Cu 30 ppm, Mn 40 ppm (M30). The birds were fed nutritionally complete wheat sorghum soybean meal-based diets from days 0 to 42 with three feeding phases including starter (days 0–10), grower (days 10–21), and finisher (days 21–42). The findings revealed that birds on the T125, M10, and M30 groups possibly had higher feed intake (p = 0.052) and higher weight gain (p p = 0.05). Additionally, birds offered the M30 diet had increased ileal Cu digestibility compared to birds offered the M10 and ITM diets at day 21 (p = 0.006). Gizzard erosion scores and bone parameters were similar between the dietary treatments. Hence, the supplementation of MMHACs to broiler diets at 30 ppm may be a more suitable strategy to increase weight gain and the thigh and drumstick processing weight while maintaining the bone health of broiler chickens
A scoping review of key domains for youth outcome measurement in alcohol and other drug treatment
No full textIntroduction: The alcohol and other drug treatment needs of young people differ from adults. It is important that outcomes measured in this client population are meaningful and use tools that are validated among young people. However, there has been no research to date that has looked at which outcomes and tools are most relevant for this population. This scoping review identifies outcome domains for young people that are supported by the research literature and clinical practice frameworks and identifies important evidence gaps. We also assessed which validated tools exists to measure these domains.Method: A scoping review of peer reviewed and grey literature was undertaken. Five electronic databases for published papers and eight grey literature databases were searched. Details of studies were extracted in a table and a quality assessment was undertaken on a group level. Key Findings: 3688 publications were identified, with 38 meeting inclusion criteria being included in the final review. Overall, the quality of the evidence was satisfactory to good, except for the level of evidence component. Twelve outcome domains and 47 outcome tools were identified. Discussion and Conclusions: Alcohol and other drug use, peers and social networks, mental health and wellbeing and family were identified as most relevant for young people in treatment. Although many outcome tools were identified, none of the identified tools completely meet the needs of clinicians and young people in alcohol and other drug treatment (for example, too long or do not capture all domains)
The Lived Experience of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in New South Wales that used Auslan to Access the Mainstream Curriculum, in the Context of the Support Models Provided for their Inclusion.
No full textVerbatim transcripts of semi-structured interviews from five participants. Interviews were translated live by a qualified Auslan interpreter, videoed and then transcribed by the researcher. Transcriptions were checked, edited and approved by the participants