Ireland: fishworkers, confronting a scandal

In fighting for the rights of migrant workers in the Irish fishing industry, the International Transport Workers’ Federation has put the government on notice

Constructing a Model of the Deep Appalachian Structure

The first deep imaging of the southern Appalachians has revealed a double Moho from the Blue Ridge Escarpment towards the North Carolina Piedmont, raising questions of what material is convoluting the crust-mantle boundary (Wagner et al. 2012). We’re presenting work that seeks to test if an eclogite root situated between 40 and 60km depth is permitted with the Bouguer gravity anomaly in this region. Results from this gravity modeling show that two profiles from Tennessee to North Carolina and from West Virginia to Virginia can include such a root, although small adjustments can be made to support a model without eclogite. We favor the eclogite models over the latter due to their ability to explain the seismic discontinuity found in Wagner et al. (2012) and the density anomaly found in Mooney and Kaban (2010).Bachelor of Scienc

Fabrication and Analysis of Soy Flour Filled Polyethylene Fibers

Fibers composed of soy flour (soy) and linear low density polyethylene (PE) were produced by melt spinning method. The mixing time of soy flour and PE was adjusted to get better dispersion of soy flour inside the matrix. The inclusion of soy decreased tensile modulus by 35% and tensile strength by 30% of the fibers compared with 950 MPa and 43 MPa, respectively, for PE fibers. Strain to failure for soy-PE fibers was 292% where PE fibers have strain to failure at 513%. Tensile properties of soy-PE fibers are comparable to those of pure PE. Even washing did not deteriorated the tensile properties, significantly. Microstructural analysis showed that fibers have a well morphology without phase distinction. Soy was dispersed well inside PE matrix with little agglomeration

Influence of the Mugese Shear Zone Structures on Strain Accommodation in the Northern Malawi Rift

The Livingstone border fault, with its 7 km of maximum displacement, accommodates most of the extension in the northern portion of the N-striking Malawi Rift (the southern segment of the Western Branch of the East African Rift System (EARS)) through the development of an E-dipping half-graben. However, the 2009 earthquake sequence in the greater Karonga area, west of the Livingstone border fault, suggests that extension is also being accommodated in the hanging-wall of the half-graben. This hanging wall block is underlain in part by the NW- and N-striking Precambrian Mugese Shear Zone (MSZ) and N-striking Karoo-age (Paleozoic – Mesozoic) rift structures. We used aeromagnetic data to map the Precambrian macro-scale structural fabric of the greater Karonga region. Moreover, we mapped mesoscopic-scale structures within the Precambrian and younger rocks in the region. Additionally, we used Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Models (DEM) to map rift-related brittle structures. We found that in the northern portion of the Karonga Fault Zone, a fault zone that accommodates the majority of extension in this region, one major fault is oriented 32°/ 59° SE which cuts across the Precambrian foliation that has an orientation of 301°/ 79° NE. South of the city of Karonga, the Precambrian foliation is sub-vertical and has a strike of 321°. Here, the Karonga fault splays from a main fault with a 2 km damage zone to several distinct E-and W-dipping faults over a 10 km zone that strike in the general direction of the foliation planes of the MSZ. The N-striking Karoo rift horsts and grabens and their associated rock formations might have also been reactivated in this area. These relationships suggest that within the northern Malawi Rift, extension was accommodated differently based on the nature and orientation of the pre-existing structures. The Precambrian and Paleozoic-Mesozoic structural fabric underlying the southern portion of the Karonga Fault Zone favors accommodation of slip along pre-existing planes, whereas strain is localized in a narrow zone in the northern portion of the fault zone and is not accommodated through reactivation of pre-existing structures.Geolog

Small-boat surveys for coastal dolphins: line-transect surveys of Hector’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori)

Management of coastal species of small cetaceans is often impeded by a lack of robust estimates of their abundance. In the Austral summers of 1997−98, 1998−99, and 1999−2000 we conducted line-transect surveys of Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) abundance off the north, east, and south coasts of the South Island of New Zealand. Survey methods were modified for the use of a 15-m sailing catamaran, which was equipped with a collapsible sighting platform giving observers an eye-height of 6 m. Eighty-six percent of 2061 km of survey effort was allocated to inshore waters (4 nautical miles [nmi] or 7.4 km from shore), and the remainder to offshore waters (4−10 nmi or 7.4–18.5 km from shore). Transects were placed at 45° to the shore and spaced apart by 1, 2, 4, or 8 nmi according to pre-existing data on dolphin density. Survey effort within strata was uniform. Detection functions for sheltered waters and open coasts were fitted separately for each survey. The effect of attraction of dolphins to the survey vessel and the fraction of dolphins missed on the trackline were assessed with simultaneous boat and helicopter surveys in January 1999. Hector’s dolphin abundance in the coastal zone to 4 nmi offshore was calculated at 1880 individuals (CV=15.7%, log-normal 95% CI=1384−2554). These surveys are the first line-transect surveys for cetaceans in New Zealand’s coastal waters

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MODEL OF COWPEA BASED PRODUCTS IN GHANA

An exploratory market study of cowpea products in Ghana using data from case studies of consumers, personal interviews of processors and market surveillance of retail outlets indicated that the cowpea processing industry has low milling capacity, low production level, and few small operators most of whom have been in the business for less than six years. Cowpea flour, the main value added product, is typically sold in bulk or unbranded small packages through retail and wholesale outlets and directly to consumers including individuals, institutions and the catering industry. Although a high proportion of processors are aware of the new cowpea utilization technologies, only a low percentage have capacity expansion plans within the next two years. A large majority is uncertain and a small percentage has no expansion plans in the next two years. Cowpea products are widely consumed but are facing increasing competition from soybean especially in weaning mixes. However, there are several dishes using cowpea flour produced in the household and these provide a varied nutritious diet and have added desirable attributes which include easy cooking, availability, and favorable taste. The cowpea products industry is a nascent industry, apparently in stage two of the product life cycle, the introduction stage, which is characterized by a limited number of competing firms, low profitability, and high prices. The full impact of new utilization technologies will be realized over several years following substantial private capital investments in processing, marketing and strategic promotional activities.Industrial Organization,

Fault-tolerant complexes

Fault-tolerant complexes describe surface-code fault-tolerant protocols from a single geometric object. We first introduce fusion complexes that define a general family of fusion-based quantum computing (FBQC) fault-tolerant quantum protocols based on surface codes. We show that any 3-dimensional cell complex where each edge has four incident faces gives a valid fusion complex. This construction enables an automated search for fault tolerance schemes, allowing us to identify 627 examples within a moderate search time. We implement this using the open-source software tool Gavrog and present threshold results for a variety of schemes, finding fusion networks with higher erasure and Pauli thresholds than those existing in the literature. We then define more general structures we call fault-tolerant complexes that provide a homological description of fault tolerance from a large family of low-level error models, which include circuit-based computation, floquet-based computation, and FBQC with multi-qubit measurements. This extends the applicability of homological descriptions of fault tolerance, and enables the generation of many new schemes which have not been previously identified. We also define families of fault-tolerant complexes for color codes and 3d single-shot subsystem codes, which enables similar constructive methods, and we present several new examples of each

The Rwandan agrarian and land sector modernisation:confronting macro performance with lived experiences on the ground

Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious policy package to modernise and professionalise the agrarian and land sector. Its reform fits into a broader call – supported by major international donors – to implement a Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. After 10 years of implementation, there is increased production output and value-addition in commercialised commodity chains. These are promising results. However, poverty reduction, particularly in more recent years, seems limited. Moreover, micro-level evidence from the field calls into question the long-term sustainability of the agricultural and land sector reform. In this article, a group of researchers, having engaged in in-depth qualitative research in a variety of settings and over an extended period, bring together their main research results and combine their key findings to challenge the dominant discourse on Rwanda as a model for development

Education in a warming world: Trends, opportunities and pitfalls for institutes of higher education

Higher education institutes (HEI) face considerable challenges in navigating how to respond to the escalating and intertwined socio-ecological sustainability crises. Many dedicated individuals working in the sector are already driving meaningful action through rigorous research, teaching, knowledge sharing, and public engagement, while there is a growing consensus that sector-wide change is needed to ensure that aspirational declarations and positive individual actions translate into sustainable and transformative change. This article seeks to contribute to such efforts by illustrating a number of trends, examples, and reflections on how third-level educational institutes can act sustainably. We highlight the potential of five strategies HEI could employ to support the creation of a more sustainable future namely, (i) innovative approaches to climate change education; (ii) research agendas for societal transformations; (iii) providing climate change education for professional development; (iv) supporting public intellectuals; and (iv) investing in whole-systems approaches to greening the campus. The insights are the product of an interdisciplinary working group with members from across Europe, Australia, and the UK. These international examples provide insight and a sense of possibility for future application

Prediction of Mold Spoilage for Soy/Polyethylene Composite Fibers

Mold spoilage was determined over 109 days on soy/PE fibers held under controlled temperatures (T) ranging from 10°C to 40°C and water activities (aw) from 0.11 to 0.98. Water activities were created in sealed containers using saturated salt solutions and placed in temperature-controlled incubators. Soy/PE fibers that were held at 0.823 aw or higher exhibited mold growth at all temperatures. As postulated, increased water activity (greater than 0.89) and temperature (higher than 25°C) accelerated mold growth on soy/PE fibers. A slower mold growth was observed on soy/PE fibers that were held at 0.87 aw and 10°C. A Weibull model was employed to fit the observed logarithmic values of T, aw, and an interaction term log⁡T×log⁡aw and was chosen as the final model as it gave the best fit to the raw mold growth data. These growth models predict the expected mold-free storage period of soy/PE fibers when exposed to various environmental temperatures and humidities