Simple traffic measures significantly reduce the exposure of primary school children to NO₂

According to Public Health England (PHE, 2019) air quality is the largest environmental health risk in the UK; long-term exposure to air pollution claims some 28-36,000 premature deaths each year. It shortens lives and contributes to chronic illness. Health can be affected both by short-term, high-pollution episodes and by long-term exposure to lower levels of pollution. Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) are directly involved in managing and monitoring local air quality, but often direct action is only taken when there are exceedances of statutory limits and standards. A previous publication, REHIS Journal Autumn 2018, makes the case that long term exposure to lower than limit levels of air pollution can have significant health impacts in later life and that the developing lungs of children are at risk. PHE goes on to state that ‘effective communication of health messages about air pollution and appropriate action can save lives and improve quality of life for many’ (PHE, 2019)

Causality

Making correct causal claims is important for research and practice. This article explains what causality is, and how it can be established via experimental design. Because experiments are infeasible in many applied settings, researchers often use "observational" methods to estimate causal models. In these situations, it is likely that model estimates are compromised by endogeneity. The article discusses the conditions that engender endogeneity and methods that can eliminate it

The purpose of mess in action research: building rigour though a messy turn

Mess and rigour might appear to be strange bedfellows. This paper argues that the purpose of mess is to facilitate a turn towards new constructions of knowing that lead to transformation in practice (an action turn). Engaging in action research - research that can disturb both individual and communally held notions of knowledge for practice - will be messy. Investigations into the 'messy area', the interface between the known and the nearly known, between knowledge in use and tacit knowledge as yet to be useful, reveal the 'messy area' as a vital element for seeing, disrupting, analysing, learning, knowing and changing. It is the place where long-held views shaped by professional knowledge, practical judgement, experience and intuition are seen through other lenses. It is here that reframing takes place and new knowing, which has both theoretical and practical significance, arises: a 'messy turn' takes place

The relative importance of conidia and ascospores as primary inoculum of Venturia inaequalis in a Southeast England orchard

Apple scab, caused by Venturia inaequalis, can lead to large losses of marketable fruit if left uncontrolled. The disease appears in orchards during spring as lesions on leaves. These primary lesions are caused by spores released at bud burst from over-wintering sources; these spores can be sexually produced ascospores from the leaf litter or asexual conidia from mycelium in wood scab or within buds. We investigated the relative importance of conidia and ascospores as primary inoculum in an orchard in the United Kingdom. Potted trees not previously exposed to apple scab were placed next to (c. 1 m) orchard trees to trap air-dispersed ascospores. Number and position of scab lesions were assessed on shoots from both the potted trees (infection by airborne ascospores) and neighbouring orchard trees (infection by both ascospores and splash-dispersed conidia overwintered in buds). The distribution and population similarity of scab lesions were compared in the two tree types by molecular analysis and through modelling of scab incidence and count data. Molecular analysis was inconclusive. Statistical modelling of results suggested that conidia may have contributed approximately 20-50% of the total primary inoculum in this orchard: incidence was estimated to be reduced by 20% on potted trees, and lesion number by 50%. These results indicate that, although conidia are still a minority contributor to primary inoculum, their contribution in this orchard is sufficient to review current management. This might also be true of orchards with a similar climate

And I Heard \u27Em Say: Listening to the Black Prophetic

This thesis aims to explore how conceptions of the black prophetic tradition, as discussed by thinkers Cornel West and George Shulman, might be expanded into the realm of African American musical traditions and genres. I argue that musical genres like the blues and hip-hop function as an affective discourse that aesthetically, politically and religiously function as sites of resistance to white supremacy and provide alternate pathways to liberation as compared to more canonical instantiations of the black prophetic. In particular I provide close readings of performances and art by Nina Simone and Kanye West

Building Bridges with Boats: Preserving Community History through Intra- and Inter-Institutional Collaboration

This chapter discusses Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City, a project which documents the historical and contemporary role of dory fishers in the life of the coastal village of Pacific City, Oregon, U.S. Linfield College’s Department of Theatre and Communication Arts, its Jereld R. Nicholson Library, the Pacific City Arts Association, the Pacific City Dorymen\u27s Association, and the Linfield Center for the Northwest joined forces to engage in a collaborative college and community venture to preserve this important facet of Oregon’s history. Using ethnography as a theoretical grounding and oral history as a method, the project utilized artifacts from the dory fleet to augment interview data, and faculty/student teams created a searchable digital archive available via open access. The chapter draws on the authors’ experiences to identify a philosophy of strategic collaboration. Topics include project development and management, assessment, and the role of serendipity. In an era of value-added services where libraries need to continue to prove their worth, partnering with internal and external entities to create content is one way for academic libraries to remain relevant to agencies that do not have direct connections to higher education. This project not only developed a positive “town and gown” relationship with a regional community, it also benefited partner organizations as they sought to fulfill their missions. The project also serves as a potential model for intra- and inter-agency collaboration for all types of libraries

Suicide Attacks or "Martyrdom Operations" in Contemporary Jihad Literature

Martyrdom operations are a factor in contemporary radical Islam. These operations have their roots in classical jihad literature, but fundamentally are a by-product of widespread frustration and perceived humiliations on the part of Muslims. The attacks of 11 September 2001 are rooted within this tradition

Consistent alpha-cluster description of the 12C (0^+_2) resonance

The near-threshold 12C (0^+_2) resonance provides unique possibility for fast helium burning in stars, as predicted by Hoyle to explain the observed abundance of elements in the Universe. Properties of this resonance are calculated within the framework of the alpha-cluster model whose two-body and three-body effective potentials are tuned to describe the alpha - alpha scattering data, the energies of the 0^+_1 and 0^+_2 states, and the 0^+_1-state root-mean-square radius. The extremely small width of the 0^+_2 state, the 0_2^+ to 0_1^+ monopole transition matrix element, and transition radius are found in remarkable agreement with the experimental data. The 0^+_2-state structure is described as a system of three alpha-particles oscillating between the ground-state-like configuration and the elongated chain configuration whose probability exceeds 0.9

Marketing and Outreach Strategies for Research Data Services

This talk will highlight the marketing and outreach overhaul undertaken by Research Data Services (RDS), a campus-wide group that provides research data management and curation support for the University of Wisconsin-Madison community. Topics covered will include our process of applying user experience and information architecture concepts to our website redesign, strategies for making the most of social media, how we strengthened the RDS brand by asserting new design ideas and utilizing the free software Canva, and an overview of the workflows we developed to streamline our marketing and outreach processes