Complexity-reduction by first-order approximation of non-linear kinetics

Ecological, toxicological, and pharmacological research is often concerned with the answer to the question of how a substance is processed within a biological system. The exact knowledge of the corresponding kinetic pattern forms the basis for a useful answer. In order to identify non-linear kinetics, a first-order approximation method is proposed for complexity-reduction. A simulation study is presented to investigate the error of the approximation in case of a simple Michaelis-Menten kinetic process. The proposed method shows to give useful results which allow to characterize the underlying kinetic pattern. Furthermore it could be shown that in simulating kinetic processes the applied numerical methods may perform with considerable numerical instabilities

Climate influence on the health of an Appalachian City

In 2008 the Center for Disease Control (CDC) found Huntington, West Virginia, to be the unhealthiest city in America. A Gallup Poll conducted in 2010 found the Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area number one of 188 metro areas where depression diagnoses are most common. Manifestations of poor health in Huntington may be related to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression that occurs mainly in winter months. Symptoms of SAD are reported as a lack of energy, sleeping more, and consuming high amounts of carbohydrates and starchy foods. I theorize that these maladaptive behaviors may be a reaction to climate conditions present in the Huntington region which are present all year around. To test the likelihood of this theory, an online survey was distributed to a convenience sample of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in social science courses at Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia. The data was collected in four waves of the study corresponding to the seasons. Quantitative data on types of foods eaten, activity level, and feelings of lethargy were analyzed using the statistics which were collected from each season. The purpose of the research presented here is to examine if a relationship exists among lifestyle factors, seasonal variations in weather, and self-reported health that could be responsible for Huntington’s health issues. The results of the survey suggest that there is validity to the thesis that one of the factors leading to the unhealthy behaviors exhibited by the population of Huntington, West Virginia, could be due to previously unrecognized effects of year-around seasonal affective disorder caused by climate conditions

How Religion Intersects With Americans Views on the Environment

Pew Research Center conducted this survey to explore the relationship between Americans' religious beliefs and their views about the environment. For this report, we surveyed 10,156 U.S. adults from April 11-17, 2022. All respondents to the survey are part of Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education, religious affiliation and other categories

Método de determinación en laboratorio de retención de creosota en muestras de eucaliptus impregnados

Se realizaron ensayos para determinar la retención de creosota en albura de eucaliptus viminalis y saligna, utilizando la Norma ASTM-D-1 860 y algunas variantes de la misma. Se concluye que: la desviación normal estimada de las determinaciones (precisión) es de aproximadamente 1 % la diferencia entre los resultados obtenidos en tres laboratorios (reproducibilidad) es de aproximadamente 1 % la diferencia entre los valores obtenidos sobre pastillas cortadas de tarugos de 15 mm de diámetro y 2 cm de largo, y valores obtenidos sobre muestras de astillas tomadas de los 2 cm de corona exterior de tortas cortadas de los mismos postes es de 16 %, con desviación normal de 2 % la diferencia entre los valores de retención obtenidos luego de 7-8 meses de impregnación y los valores originales es de aproximadamente 1 %.A series of creosote retention tests on sapwood of eu- caliptus viminalis and e. saligna were performed by using the standard ASTM-D-1 860 and some varying of it. Conclusions are obtained as follows: the estimated standard deviation of the determinations (precision) is about 1 %; the difference detected between results obtained in three laboratories (reproducibility) is about 1 % the difference detected in values obtained on samples made up by tablets obtained from cores of 15 cm of diameter and of 2 cm lenght, and those* obtained from samples made up by chips taken off the outer 2 cm zone from 30 cm specimens cutted from the aforesaid poles is of 16 % with a standard deviation of 22 %; the difference between the retention values obtained after 6 or 8 months of impregnation and the original values, is about 1 %

Contributors

Biographical information on contributors to volume 38, and a list of benefactors and donor

Table of Contents and Prologue

Editorial board, table of contents, and a prologue from the editor

Carceral Data: The Limits of Transparency-as-Accountability in Prison Risk Data

Prison data collection is a labyrinthine infrastructure. This article engages with debates around the political potentials and limitations of transparency as a form of “accountability,” specifically as it relates to carceral management and data gathering. We examine the use of OASys, a widely used risk assessment tool in the British prison system, in order to demonstrate how transparency operates as a means of legitimating prison data collection and ensuing penal management. Prisoner options to resist their file, or “data double,” in this context are considered and the decisive role of OASys as an immediately operationalized technical structure is outlined. We demonstrate that the political and managerial logics that underpin OASys heavily shape and structurally limit the terrain on which any individual might challenge their carceral administration. Ultimately, we argue that, in this context, transparency itself forecloses broader notions of radical and systemic change by inviting individuals into the creation of their own data double, and thus the legitimation of their own penal management and the forms of procedural justice offered by the prison estate. Finally, implications from this case for broader debates about transparency-as-accountability are explored

Growing Community Gardens through Education

This paper explores the process of our leadership experience project on the topic of community gardens. Initially, our proposed research question was where in Akron area is the best location to build a community garden? Based on the primary and secondary research conducted, building a community garden would not be feasible or needed. Our conclusion showed that the real need and importance within the community was an education program on the topic of community gardens rather than planting a real garden. Therefore, the research question was revised to develop an education program focusing on healthy eating, victory gardens, and pollination for students within the Akron Public School District. There were implications and leadership lessons learned throughout the course of this project. Our findings and education program will leave a lasting impact in the community, especially, for organizations such as Let’s Grow Akron and the Summit Food Policy Coalition who will continue to use our materials

Welcher (V)Erkenntnisgewinn? Postkolonialismus und Christliche Sozialethik

Der Beitrag geht davon aus, dass durch die Erkenntnisse postkolonialer Studien ethische Reflexion inhaltlich und methodisch in Bewegung gerät – oder geraten könnte, wenn man die Anfragen zuließe. Der Beitrag versucht daher, diese Erkenntnisse wahr und ernst zu nehmen und eigene Positionen, Begriffe und Konzepte von ihnen her zu überdenken. Das ist nötig, um verschiedene Weisen der Verkennung in der ethischen Reflexion zu überwinden. Die Kolonialität des Wissens führt dazu, andere Wissensformen zu verkennen und die eigene zur Norm zu erheben. Damit geht auch eine Verkennung von Subjekten einher: Viele, die von ethischen Entscheidungen betroffen sind, sind an ihnen nicht beteiligt und es fehlt an Formaten, wie sie sich beteiligen könnten. Diese und andere blinde Flecken deckt der Beitrag auf, kritisiert sie und gibt Anstöße zu einer (selbst-)kritischen kontextsensiblen Sozialethik, die ihrer aus historischer und geographischer Verstrickung resultierenden Verantwortung gerecht wird.The contribution assumes that the findings of postcolonial studies will set ethical reflection in motion in terms of content and methodology – or could do so if the inquiries were allowed to take place. The contribution therefore attempts to take these findings seriously and to rethink its own positions and concepts from the other point of view. This is necessary in order to overcome various ways of misjudgment in ethical reflection. The coloniality of knowledge leads to misjudging other forms of knowledge and to elevating one's own to the norm. This is also accompanied by a misjudgment of subjects: many who are affected by the consequences of ethical decisions are not involved in this decisions and there are no formats in which they could participate. The article uncovers these and other blind spots, criticizes them and gives impulses for a (self-)critical context-sensitive social ethics that does justice to its responsibility resulting from historical and geographical entanglement

Ethik und Empirie. Bericht zum Kongress der Internationalen Vereinigung für Moraltheologie und Sozialethik 2013 in Graz

[Abstract fehlt