The role of metaphor in shaping the identity and agenda of the United Nations: the imagining of an international community and international threat

This article examines the representation of the United Nations in speeches delivered by its Secretary General. It focuses on the role of metaphor in constructing a common ‘imagining’ of international diplomacy and legitimising an international organisational identity. The SG legitimises the organisation, in part, through the delegitimisation of agents/actions/events constructed as threatening to the international community and to the well-being of mankind. It is a desire to combat the forces of menace or evil which are argued to motivate and determine the organisational agenda. This is predicated upon an international ideology of humanity in which difference is silenced and ‘working towards the common good’ is emphasised. This is exploited to rouse emotions and legitimise institutional power. Polarisation and antithesis are achieved through the employment of metaphors designed to enhance positive and negative evaluations. The article further points to the constitutive, persuasive and edifying power of topic and situationally-motivated metaphors in speech-making

MULTITEXCO - high performance smart multifunctional technical textiles for tensile structures

In recent years, the textile industry developed a new generation of advanced textile materials for the construction sector designed to address the needs of one of the largest markets for textile products. Examples of the advanced textiles developed include fabrics for the rehabilitation of buildings, geotextiles for the consolidation of a wide range of soil structures and the high performance technical textiles for tensile structures. When combine with innovative sensors the fabrics provide an useful tool for the constant monitoring of the structures and can be used to record the mechanical performance or detect anomalies in the expected use of the structures by measuring applied loads, deformations, operating temperatures or other important parameters. This work highlights recent advances in sensor embedded textiles for structural health monitoring of tensile structures. Attention is paid on ease of application, integration in the textile and the use of established and relatively low cost sensing methodologies. The real innovation lies therefore in transferring these methods to unexplored technological fields for smart textiles such as tensile structures

Inclusion of fermented foods in food guides around the world

Fermented foods have been a well-established part of the human diet for thousands of years, without much of an appreciation for, or an understanding of, their underlying microbial functionality, until recently. The use of many organisms derived from these foods, and their applications in probiotics, have further illustrated their impact on gastrointestinal wellbeing and diseases affecting other sites in the body. However, despite the many benefits of fermented foods, their recommended consumption has not been widely translated to global inclusion in food guides. Here, we present the case for such inclusion, and challenge health authorities around the world to consider advocating for the many benefits of these foods

The Earned Income Tax Credit, Low-Income Workers, and the Legal Aid Community

The Earned Income Tax Credit ("EITC") is the largest U.S. welfare program, with twenty-four million low-income Americans receiving $60 billion of disbursals in 2009. Through the EITC, working Americans with little or no tax liability can receive up to nearly$6,000 in refundable tax credits each year. Over the past two decades, policymakers have increasingly favored the EITC over direct-transfer welfare programs, citing its lower administrative expense (as recipients “self-certify” by filing taxes) and incentives for recipients to work. Despite its political appeal, the EITC suffers deep structural flaws. Largely because EITC claimants have little guidance in navigating the difficult filing process, they are subject to high rates of IRS audits and rescission of benefits with penalties and interest. This proliferation of EITC-related controversies has created an immense need for legal assistance, yet low-income tax law largely remains a peripheral concern within the legal aid community. In this article, we suggest a comprehensive and achievable set of reforms that the IRS and legal services organizations can enact to improve the EITC’s efficacy and fairness.We first describe how the complexity of EITC eligibility criteria creates a tremendous burden for low-income Americans, as they frequently lack advice in tax filing and cannot afford legal representation in the event of a controversy with the IRS. We then outline measures that the IRS should implement to make the EITC more accessible and understandable to those qualifying for the credit, reducing the chance of an audit and loss of benefits. In particular, we focus on improving the tax filing process, making EITC audits more manageable for recipients, instituting less adversarial procedures for EITC-related Tax Court proceedings, and changing certain organizational structures within the IRS. Finally, we propose several practical ways that the legal aid community can enhance its support of EITC recipients confronting an IRS audit or Tax Court action. Most importantly, we argue that EITC assistance warrants greater Congressional funding and higher strategic and budgetary priority within legal aid organizations, given that the EITC is now far larger than the direct-transfer welfare programs on which legal aid lawyers have traditionally focused

Efficient computation of matched solutions of the Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij envelope equations for periodic focusing lattices

A new iterative method is developed to numerically calculate the periodic, matched beam envelope solution of the coupled Kapchinskij-Vladimirskij (KV) equations describing the transverse evolution of a beam in a periodic, linear focusing lattice of arbitrary complexity. Implementation of the method is straightforward. It is highly convergent and can be applied to all usual parameterizations of the matched envelope solutions. The method is applicable to all classes of linear focusing lattices without skew couplings, and also applies to all physically achievable system parameters -- including where the matched beam envelope is strongly unstable. Example applications are presented for periodic solenoidal and quadrupole focusing lattices. Convergence properties are summarized over a wide range of system parameters.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, Mathematica source code provide

The Effects of Diet and the Microbiome on Reproduction and Longevity: A Comparative Review Across 5 Continents

Human longevity and quality of life remain key societal drivers, but the healthcare burden of diet-related chronic diseases is economically unmanageable. In recent years, it has been proposed that the composition and abundance profiles of certain bacterial phyla in the gut are indicators of malnutrition, and ill health. But, how much does the gut microbiome and diet really contribute to outcomes? The description of three microbial enterotypes remains to be verified, as does its significance for health tested across continents and within people who migrate from one lifestyle to another. It is not simply that the diet of one region causes a dominance of microbes not found in another, or that it leads to adverse outcomes. Venezuelans have a diet different from Americans, yet life expectancy and causes of death are somewhat similar. Pregnant east African women have very different diets to Europeans, yet excluding infectious disease exposure, successful reproduction occurs in both. The microbiome has added another layer of complexity to nutrition management, but with modern sequencing platforms and bioinformatics tools, integration of this information will soon be feasible. In providing dietary recommendations, especially during pregnancy, more consideration is needed on reducing exposure to environmental toxins, encouraging intake of fermented foods and those designed to improve fetal and infant development. By focusing on the first 1000 days of life, it may be possible to improve how we produce and allocate food, and provide a newborn with the best chance of leading a productive life

Treatment with exenatide once weekly or twice daily for 30 weeks is associated with changes in several cardiovascular risk markers

Background Dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes are two of the most significant risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease. Measurement of lipoprotein subclasses provides important information about derangements in lipid metabolism and helps refine cardiovascular risk assessment. Exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist, improved glycemic control, obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes in clinical trials. Methods In the DURATION-1 trial, patients with type 2 diabetes were treated with exenatide once weekly or twice daily for 30 weeks. This post hoc analysis evaluated the impact of exenatide on lipoprotein subclasses in 211 DURATION-1 patients using vertical auto profile methodology and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences general linear model adjusted for glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and weight. Results Baseline lipids and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were normal overall based on the standard lipid panel. Once-weekly exenatide reduced apolipoprotein B and the apolipoprotein B to apolipoprotein A1 ratio (P \u3c 0.05), independent of glycemic improvement and weight loss. A significant shift in lipoprotein pattern away from small, dense low-density lipoprotein-4 cholesterol was also observed (P \u3c 0.05). Exenatide once weekly increased high-density lipoprotein-2 cholesterol, even after adjustment for changes in HbA1c and weight (P \u3c 0.05). Triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were reduced with both the once-weekly and twice-daily exenatide regimens (P \u3c 0.05). Conclusion In this post hoc analysis, exenatide significantly improved a number of cardiovascular risk markers. Continuous exenatide exposure with exenatide once weekly elicited a greater response than did immediate-release exenatide twice daily, generally independent of glycemic improvement and weight loss. Thus, in addition to improving glycemic control, exenatide induced favorable changes in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and decreased systemic inflammation

Narrating One Nation:The Ideology and Rhetoric of the Miliband Labour Party

Speaking at the 2012 Labour Party Conference, Ed Miliband set out his vision of ‘One Nation’. This article maps the core concepts of Labour's ideology and identifies the narratives used to argue for One Nation social security reform. It locates these narratives within Labour's traditions and demonstrates that they coalesce in the leadership persona of Miliband himself. Though an attempt to respond to a populist ‘rhetorical culture’, the article contends that this strategy has created a self‐enclosed ideology that cannot conceive of an audience beyond itself. Labour therefore needs to overcome this solipsism if it is to secure victory in 2015