Methods and apparatus employing vibratory energy for wrenching Patent

Ultrasonic wrench for applying vibratory energy to mechanical fastener

Agricultural Growth, Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Outcomes of AAAE Conference

This report is a summary of emerging issues affecting African agriculture, recent experiences and policy proposals that can guide interventions in improving the sector’s productivity. Agriculture is at the centre of rural poverty reduction in Africa and urgent measures are needed to increase farm yields and incomes in order to stem collapse of economies and societies.AAAE, African Association of Agricultural Economists, millennium development goals in Africa, agricultural policies, agricultural research systems, poverty reduction, agricultural productivity, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q010, Q130, Q170, Q180, Q560,

Case studies of job access and reverse commute program: 2009-2010

This report presents perceptual, mobility and employment outcomes self-reported by 573 users of 26 transportation services funded by the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program. The respondents were predominantly low income with 42 percent reporting 2008 personal incomes less than $10,000 and two-thirds of the respondents earning$20,000 or less for the same year. Nearly half the respondents have no household vehicles. Nearly three in five respondents reported that their travel has become reliable and convenient after using the services. Workers using the services have benefitted from overall reductions in the cost of commuting to work. Close to 94 percent rated the service as being important or very important in keeping their jobs. Respondents also self-reported that the services allowed them to access a job with better pay or better working conditions, and to improve their skills. Both median hourly wages and median weekly earnings are reported to have increased since using the service for those workers who use the service to commute to work and were employed in the one-month period prior to starting use of the service. Alternative reasons may exist for these wage changes, including overall changes in the economic conditions of the locations where the services operate, as well as changes in the personal conditions of the workers that are unrelated to the JARC program in the period between starting use of the service and the time of the survey, such as graduation from job-training or school, residential relocation and so on. Because of the lack of a probability sample of services, the results cannot be generalized to the entire JARC program. Detailed case studies of the 26 services yield insights into the types of benefits that are being provided overall in these cases and the planning and programmatic environment within which they operate

The Airline Maintenance Mechanic Educational Infrastructure: Supply, Demand, and Evolving Industry Structure

There is an encroaching crisis in the supply and demand of aviation maintenance labor. This paper reports results of a survey of FAA-licensed A&P schools and a survey of airlines and major maintenance outsourcing firms. Results largely confirm general expectations. Further analysis found indications of an impending shakeout in the extant training infrastructure. Strategies centered on tapered vertical integration are offered as an admittedly imperfect industry-wide solution

Case studies of job access and reverse commute program: 2009-2010

This report presents perceptual, mobility and employment outcomes self-reported by 573 users of 26 transportation services funded by the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program. The respondents were predominantly low income with 42 percent reporting 2008 personal incomes less than $10,000 and two-thirds of the respondents earning$20,000 or less for the same year. Nearly half the respondents have no household vehicles. Nearly three in five respondents reported that their travel has become reliable and convenient after using the services. Workers using the services have benefitted from overall reductions in the cost of commuting to work. Close to 94 percent rated the service as being important or very important in keeping their jobs. Respondents also self-reported that the services allowed them to access a job with better pay or better working conditions, and to improve their skills. Both median hourly wages and median weekly earnings are reported to have increased since using the service for those workers who use the service to commute to work and were employed in the one-month period prior to starting use of the service. Alternative reasons may exist for these wage changes, including overall changes in the economic conditions of the locations where the services operate, as well as changes in the personal conditions of the workers that are unrelated to the JARC program in the period between starting use of the service and the time of the survey, such as graduation from job-training or school, residential relocation and so on. Because of the lack of a probability sample of services, the results cannot be generalized to the entire JARC program. Detailed case studies of the 26 services yield insights into the types of benefits that are being provided overall in these cases and the planning and programmatic environment within which they operate

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, Nasarawa State

Context: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a cause of chronic liver disease, causing cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and pregnant women are not spared. Perinatal transmission is a significant way that the disease is spread from mother to children who will eventually become adults and chronic carriers. This study sought to determine the burden of the disease among pregnant women.Aims: To estimate the prevalence and investigate possible factors associated with HBV infection among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in DASH, Lafia.Settings and Design: A hospital‑based descriptive cross‑sectional survey conducted at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of DASH, Lafia, NasarawaMethods and Material: Around 200 pregnant women who attended the ANC clinic were consecutively enrolled, their venous blood samples collected, and hepatitis B profile was carried out using commercially available rapid chromatographic kits Statistical Analysis Used: Data were collected by trained data collectors using a proforma, then entered into a predesigned program in the Epi‑info version 3.5.4 (CDC, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) and analyzed.Results: The seroprevalence of HBV infection was high (8%) and there were no statistically significant associations between the infection and the investigated sociodemographic and other risk factors.Conclusions: The study showed that HBV is hyperendemic in this region, and antenatal screening for this virus is desirable to avert its sequelae in both mothers and their newborn babies. Key words: Antenatal; hepatitis B virus; Lafia

Collective dipole effects in ionic transport under electric fields

In the context of ionic transport in solids, the variation of a migration barrier height under electric fields is traditionally assumed to be equal to the classical electric work of a point charge that carries the transport charge. However, how reliable is this phenomenological model and how does it fare with respect to Modern Theory of Polarization? In this work, we show that such a classical picture does not hold in general as collective dipole effects may be critical. Such effects are unraveled by an appropriate polarization decomposition and by an expression that we derive, which defines the equivalent polarization-work charge. The equivalent polarization-work charge is not equal neither to the transported charge, nor to the Born effective charge of the migrating atom alone, but it is defined by the total polarization change at the transition state. Our findings are illustrated by oxygen charged defects in MgO and in SiO2

Identifying Behavioral Health Needs of Individuals Screened at the Booking Counter of Montgomery County Jail

Background: Many of the individuals who are released from incarceration are re-arrested and re-incarcerated within three years of release. Challenges that predispose individuals to re-arrest and re-incarceration include lack of education, employment opportunities, decent affordable housing, and treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) and/or mental illness. This report summarizes the behavioral health needs of newly arrested individuals in Montgomery County, Ohio.Methods: For this project, 4,809 adult individuals arrested for non-violent crimes received behavioral health screening and case management at booking in the Montgomery County Jail. Criminogenic assessment using the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) tool was conducted with 484 arrestees. Descriptive statistics and chi square statistics were calculated for gender, race, referrals made, education level, employment status, housing status, alcohol and other drug use, and mental health status.Results: As a group, the arrestees were undereducated, underemployed, and homeless. Based on RNR assessment, 67% had an SUD,and 60% required mental health treatment. Significant gender and racial differences were found among the arrestees, with womensignificantly more likely to have SUD and mental health issues.Conclusions: Individuals arrested and booked into the Montgomery County Jail experience a complex interaction among mental health, poly-substance use, medical, employment, and housing needs that must be addressed in a comprehensive and coordinated funding manner. This interactive complexity of issues demand a response from an integrated service delivery system that would best benefit the person served and the community

Charge-Induced Fragmentation of Sodium Clusters

The fission of highly charged sodium clusters with fissilities X>1 is studied by {\em ab initio} molecular dynamics. Na_{24}^{4+} is found to undergo predominantly sequential Na_{3}^{+} emission on a time scale of 1 ps, while Na_{24}^{Q+} (5 \leq Q \leq 8) undergoes multifragmentation on a time scale \geq 0.1 ps, with Na^{+} increasingly the dominant fragment as Q increases. All singly-charged fragments Na_{n}^{+} up to size n=6 are observed. The observed fragment spectrum is, within statistical error, independent of the temperature T of the parent cluster for T \leq 1500 K. These findings are consistent with and explain recent trends observed experimentally.Comment: To appear in Physical Review Letter