Beyond the Battlefield: Jews and the Civil War

The Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at Fairfield University presents… The 2011 Adolp and Ruth Schnurmacher Lecture in Judaic Studies [Speaker] Adam Mendelsohn, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/bennettcenter-posters/1286/thumbnail.jp

What do the Self-Concepts, Aspirations, Plans of Small Town and Rural Youths have to Do with Delinquency Proneness

Generally, people suspect most crime to be a characteristic of large, older central cities. In fact, both incidence and arrest statistics have supported such historical generalizations. Recent trends, however, suggest changes in the traditional wisdom. Crime no longer may be viewed as the special province of the country’s largest cities. Current empirical research indicates overall crime rates are increasing at faster rates in suburban and rural areas than in the older core cities. One feature of crime has remained constant: disproportionate involvement of the nation’s youth in nearly all facets of property based criminal activities, rural and urban. Although there is extensive adult involvement in vandalism, theft, burglary, and assault, these crimes are also conducive to juvenile participation

Pedagogical Tool for Usability Science Final Project Report

A Sophomore Research Seminar (SRS) at Union College teaches about usability science, the study of designing interfaces that allow the user to accomplish a given task with less time and frustration. In this context, an interface can be anything that allows interaction with a physical or virtual device such as a web browser or the knobs on a stove. In this SRS, students design interface mockups, called prototypes, out of inexpensive material such as cardboard. Students use these prototypes to test their interfaces on real people, who are asked to perform a task that would be performed on a real appliance. The researcher physically interacts with the prototype to simulate the function of the appliance. The purpose is to gather data, like the amount of time or attempts it takes the user to accomplish their task. The problem with this method of usability testing is that the researcher’s interaction can affect the validity of the data. The goal of my project is to develop a system that allows the students to create prototypes that do not require interaction during testing. This involves building devices called widgets: physical devices such as LEDs or switches that represent components of household appliances. I’m also developing a programming language that defines the interaction between widgets. Using both parts students will be able to design working mockups of household appliances

Financing U.S. Renewable Energy Projects Through Public Capital Vehicles: Qualitative and Quantitative Benefits

This paper explores the possibility of financing renewable energy projects through raising capital in the public markets. It gives an overview of the size, structure, and benefits of public capital markets, as well as showing how renewable energy projects might take advantage of this source of new funds to lower the cost of electricity

Familial Type 11 Hyperlipoproteinaemia

Thirty-four patients with familial type 11 hyperlipoproteinaemia were seen over an 8-month period at a lipid disorders clinic for children and young adults. Of the 34 patients, 5 were classified as homozygous, 27 as heterozygous type lIa, and 2 as heterozygous type lib. Clinical manifestations of the disease were present in all 5 homozygous patients and in 12 of the 29 heterozygotes. The most common physical finding was Achilles tendon xanthoma. The high incidence of physical signs in our patients stresses the importance of such features in the young. For the purpose of treatment the heterozygotes were divided into 2 groups: (a) children under the age of 15 years; (b) young adults from 16 to 25 years of age. Patients in both groups received a minimum of 6 weeks' dietary treatment followed by combined dietary and cholestyramine therapy (Questran; Mead Johnson). The decrease in serum cholesterol on diet alone was similar in both groups. On combined therapy, the children showed a decrease in serum cholesterol of 27% compared with 15% in the young adults. A general fall in the serum cholesterol of 36% was achieved in the children, compared with 19% in the young adults. In 3 homozygotes diet alone produced a fall in serum cholesterol similar to that found in the heterozygotes. In 2 patients who had cholestyramine added to the diet,  further decrease of 20% in serum cholesterol was achieved

Measuring the Impact of Global Warming in Agriculture

This paper develops a “Ricardian” approach for measuring the economic impact of environmental factors such as climate by examining the direct impact of the environmental factor on land prices. Estimating the model using cross-sectional data on climate, farm-land prices, and other economic and geophysical data for almost 3,000 countries in the United States, we find that higher temperatures in all seasons except autumn reduce average farm values in the United States and more precipitation in all seasons except autumn increases farm values. Applying the model to a global-warming scenario finds a range of impacts depending upon whether the model emphasize the grains through crop-land weights or a broader set of crops through crop-revenue weights. The results of the Ricardian approach show a significantly lower estimated impact of global warming than the traditional production-function approach

The Impact Climate on Agriculture: A Ricardian Approach

Because of the potential for global warming, there are widespread concerns about the impact of changing climate upon the productivity of land in farming and other sectors. This paper develops a new approach for measuring the economic impact of environmental factors such as climate on production by examining the direct impact of the environmental factor on land productivity as measured by land prices. This new method is applied to examine the effect of climate on agriculture using cross-sectional farm data for almost 3000 counties in the United States. It finds substantial impacts of climatic variation on both land values and farm revenues. Among the central findings are that higher temperatures in all seasons except autumn reduce all seasons except autumn increases farm values. The relationships are, however, nonlinear and complex

The steady flow between reservoirs with different density and level through a contraction

This paper presents a complete analytical solution of steady gravity flow between two reservoirs connected by a channel of slowly varying breadth and containing fluids of different densities and levels. The hydrostatic approximation is used and dissipation is neglected. It is shown that seven different regimes are possible depending on the value of the parameter δ = γ/ε, which is the ratio of relative lighter and denser reservoir level difference, γ, to positive relative density difference, ε. The exact solution of the problem is obtained for all these regimes. If the level of the heavier fluid reservoir is higher than the level of lighter fluid reservoir, δ ≤ 0, then the denser fluid plunges under the lighter motionless fluid. If δ ≥ 1, the lighter fluid runs up on a wedge of the motionless denser fluid. If 0 \u3c δ \u3c 1, two-directional exchange flow occurs. The exact analytical expressions for layer discharges for the entire range of the parameters ε and δ are found and discussed. Wood\u27s (1970) experimental data with nonsmall ε are in good agreement with the theory. When ε → 0 an exchange regime exists as long as γ → 0 to keep their ratio between 0 and 1, 1 \u3e γ/ε \u3e 0. At this limit the existence of an exchange flow and the solution depend only on the ratio γ/ε, not the values of γ and ε individually, and the Boussinesq approximation can be used. Some examples of application of the theory to prediction of mass and volume transport through a contraction for steady and quasi-steady flows are given