Unofficial Development Assistance: A Dynamic Model of Charities' Donation Income

The empirical literature on the determinants of charities donation income, distinguishing the charitable cause, is small. We extend the literature in several ways. First, we focus on overseas development charities allowing us to give more consideration to the particular characteristics of this cause. Second, we look at the impact of macroeconomic change over a quarter century including changes in household income and in government spending on ODA, as well as 'charity level' variables that earlier authors have considered. Third, we use a general dynamic model and rigorous testing procedures to arrive at our specification. Using a newly assembled long panel of data, we find evidence of a strong, but diminishing fundraising effect. We find no evidence of crowding out by either grants made directly to charities or by changes in the public provision of development funding.overseas development, charitable giving

Charitable Giving for Overseas Development: UK trends over a quarter century

Charitable giving is an important source of funding for overseas development and emergency relief. Donations in the UK are about a quarter of the size of government development aid. There has been strong growth over time, reflecting the activities of development charities and the public response to humanitarian emergencies. The paper examines how this charitable giving has changed since 1978, using a newly constructed panel data set on donations to individual UK charities. When did the increase take place? Did the public respond to events such as Live Aid or has there been a steady upward trend? What has been the relationship with changes in household income? Which charities have grown fastest? Have new charities displaced old? How do changes in giving for overseas compare with changes in giving for other causes?charitable giving, overseas development

Andrew Melville, sacred chronology and world history: the Carmina Danielis 9 and the Antichristus

The accepted view of the ecclesiastical reformer Andrew Melville (1545–1622) as the dynamic leader of the Presbyterian movement in Jacobean Scotland has been severely eroded in recent years, with particular criticism of the actual importance of his contribution to the Kirk and to Scottish higher education. While this reductionism has been necessary, it has resulted in an inversion of the overwhelmingly positive traditional image of Melville, and does not give us a rounded assessment of his life and works. This article attempts to partially redress this balance by looking at a neglected aspect of Melville's Latin writings, which showcase his talents as a humanist intellectual and biblical commentator. It focuses on two long poems that are both commentaries and paraphrases of Daniel and Revelation: the Carmina Danielis and the Antichristus. Through these poems, we see how Melville engaged with two problems exercising reformed theologians across Europe: the dating of key biblical events and the historicised meaning of prophecies within these texts. We also find evidence that Melville read widely among both contemporary and ancient commentators on both these issues

Expressing disambiguation filters as combinators

Contrarily to most conventional programming languages where certain symbols are used so as to create non-ambiguous grammars, most recent programming languages allow ambiguity. These ambiguities are solved using disambiguation rules, which dictate how the software that parses these languages should behave when faced with ambiguities. Such rules are highly efficient but come with some limitations - they cannot be further modified, their behaviour is hidden, and changing them implies re-building a parser. We propose a different approach for disambiguation. A set of disambiguation filters (expressed as combinators) are provided, and disambiguation can be achieved by composing combinators. New combinators can be created and, by having the disambiguation step separated from the parsing step, disambiguation rules can be changed without modifying the parser.- (undefined

Ceratoscopelus maderensis : pecular sound-scattering layer identified with this myctophid fish

Reprint. Science, vol. 160, no. 3831, 1968, pp. 991-993. Originally issued as Reference No. 68-58, series later renamed WHOI-.A sound- scattering layer, composed of discrete hyperbolic echo-sequences and apparently restricted to the Slope Water region of the western North Atlantic, has been identified from the Deep Submergence Research Vehicle ALVIN with schools of the myctophid fish Ceratoscopelus maderensis. By diving into the layer and using ALVIN's echo-ranging sonar, we approached and visually identified the sound scatterers. The number of echo sequences observed with the surface echo-sounder (1 /23. 76 x 105 cubic meters of water) checked roughly with the number of sonar targets observed from the submarine (1/7. 45 x 105 cubic meters) . The fish schools appeared to be 5 to 10 meters thick, 10 to 100 meters in diameter, and on centers 100 to 200 meters apart. Density within schools was estimated at 10 to 15 fish per cubic meter.Supported in part by contracts Nonr-3484(00) and Nonr-4029(00) and by NSF grant GB-4431

The Allen Telescope Array: The First Widefield, Panchromatic, Snapshot Radio Camera for Radio Astronomy and SETI

The first 42 elements of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA-42) are beginning to deliver data at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California. Scientists and engineers are actively exploiting all of the flexibility designed into this innovative instrument for simultaneously conducting surveys of the astrophysical sky and conducting searches for distant technological civilizations. This paper summarizes the design elements of the ATA, the cost savings made possible by the use of COTS components, and the cost/performance trades that eventually enabled this first snapshot radio camera. The fundamental scientific program of this new telescope is varied and exciting; some of the first astronomical results will be discussed.Comment: Special Issue of Proceedings of the IEEE: "Advances in Radio Telescopes", Baars,J. Thompson,R., D'Addario, L., eds, 2009, in pres

Human neural stem cell transplantation into the corpus callosum of Alzheimer’s mice

The hippocampus has been the target of stem cell transplantations in preclinical studies focused on Alzheimer’s disease, with results showing improvements in histological and behavioral outcomes. The corpus callosum is another structure that is affected early in Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, we hypothesize that this structure is a novel target for human neural stem cell transplantation in transgenic Alzheimer’s disease mouse models. This study demonstrates the feasibility of targeting the corpus callosum and identifies an effective immunosuppression regimen for transplanted neural stem cell survival. These results support further preclinical development of the corpus callosum as a therapeutic target in Alzheimer’s disease.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138852/1/acn3443_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138852/2/acn3443.pd

Dual CCR2/CCR5 antagonist treatment attenuates adipose inflammation, but not microvascular complications in ob/ob mice

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138252/1/dom12950.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138252/2/dom12950_am.pd