'A Foras, Out': youth antimilitarism engagement in Sardinia

This paper presents a short review of the A Foras, Out movement in Sardinia and examines its youth branch, the student collective (Collettivo studentesco) for university and high school students. Since the late 1960s, grassroots movements, associations, committees, political groups, antimilitarists and ecologists have struggled against land occupation by NATO and other military forces and called for the drastic reduction or elimination of military activities on the island that was later related to the emergence of environmental risk and diseases. By participating in networked collective actions, these young activists reclaim the land occupied by the military and elaborate a legitimisation-based political rhetoric that undermines the legality of the presence of military bases in Sardinia. The young activists emerge as social actors in engaging debates within the movement about of civil disobedience practices that sometimes cross the boundary of illegal practices (e.g. cutting fences around military areas to stop training). Their engagement pushes the actions of the senior non-violent antimilitarist activists into a new, not yet defined practice of antimilitarism incorporating diverse political platforms: from independence movements to traditional workerism, anarchists to radical left-wing movements. We analyse the youth group's agency in transforming antimilitarism from general pacifism into a mixed antimilitarist-eco, neo-independence movement calling for new regional sovereignty

Glancing and Then Looking: On the Role of Body, Affect, and Meaning in Cognitive Control

In humans, there is a trade-off between the need to respond optimally to the salient environmental stimuli and the need to meet our long-term goals. This implies that a system of salience sensitive control exists, which trades task-directed processing off against monitoring and responding to potentially high salience stimuli that are irrelevant to the current task. Much cognitive control research has attempted to understand these mechanisms using non-affective stimuli. However, recent research has emphasized the importance of emotions, which are a major factor in the prioritization of competing stimuli and in directing attention. While relatively mature theories of cognitive control exist for non-affective settings, exactly how emotions modulate cognitive processes is less well understood. The attentional blink (AB) task is a useful experimental paradigm to reveal the dynamics of both cognitive and affective control in humans. Hence, we have developed the glance–look model, which has replicated a broad profile of data on the semantic AB task and characterized how attentional deployment is modulated by emotion. Taking inspiration from Barnard’s Interacting Cognitive Subsystems, the model relies on a distinction between two levels of meaning: implicational and propositional, which are supported by two corresponding mental subsystems: the glance and the look respectively. In our model, these two subsystems reflect the central engine of cognitive control and executive function. In particular, the interaction within the central engine dynamically establishes a task filter for salient stimuli using a neurobiologically inspired learning mechanism. In addition, the somatic contribution of emotional effects is modeled by a body-state subsystem. We argue that stimulus-driven interaction among these three subsystems governs the movement of control between them. The model also predicts attenuation effects and fringe awareness during the AB

Sexually transmitted diseases and condom interventions among prostitutes and their clients in Cross River State

The Cross River State commercial sex worker project started in 1989 as a pilot program to test HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease interventions among full-time and part-time sex workers, their partners and their clients. Three main locations were targeted: Calabar and Ikom in the Cross River State in the first phase of the program and Port Harcourt where outreach started in 1992 to test the replicability of the project outside the Cross River State. The project activities were co-ordinated from Calabar which is 200 kilometres from Ikom and 180 kilometres from Port Harcourt. Approximately 800 prostitutes and 2,000 clients in Cross River State have been reached through 17 sites (12 in Calabar and 5 in Ikom) for full-time sex workers and ten sites (6 in Calabar and 4 in Ikom) for part-time sex workers. In Ikom, a large population of paramilitary men, such as customs officials deployed at border posts between Cross River State and the Republic of Cameroon have been targeted. In contrast, of the 25 sites estimated for full-time and 15 sites for part-time prostitutes in Port Harcourt, only twelve were reached because they were more widely dispersed and prostitute groups were more diverse when gauged by social and economic indicators. The Port Harcourt project aimed to reach approximately 1500 sex workers and 3000 clients within an eight-month period, January to August, 1992. Preliminary contact with prostitutes and their clients was made in 1987 in Calabar by members of the Cross River State AIDS committee. At the time, AIDS was hardly a topical issue for the generality of Nigerians. Primarily it was regarded as a subject of concern for prostitutes, foreigners, and Africans in East and Central African countries. It was not possible to initiate a formal project before 1989 because of financial constraints, resulting in a prolonged period of unstructured interaction with the target group. Nonetheless, this provided the opportunity to build understanding and trust and to sustain dialogue on issues of common interest with the target group. Also during this period, key members of the population such as 'chairladies' (leading prostitutes); their assistants; 'policing agents' responsible for maintenance of law and order and welfare of prostitutes; hotel proprietors and managers and others such as security agents with substantial influence or authority over the target population were identified, and their support secured. It became apparent through this interaction that the effectiveness of any HIV/AIDS and STD prevention and control program aimed at sex workers and their partners would depend on the active participation in project design and implementation of members of the target population. The main objectives were to develop and implement an intervention program to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS and STDs among prostitutes, as well as their partners and clients, through providing STD services, condom promotion and health education

Blockchain and intellectual property rights: A symbiotic relationship

Blockchain technology provides a way to record transactions that is designed to be highly secure, transparent, trustable, traceable, auditable and tamper-proof. Blockchain is an immutable (unchangeable, which means that a transaction or file recorded cannot be changed) digital ledger or digital record of transactions or data stored in multiple locations on a computer network. This paper aims to examine the relationship between blockchain technology and intellectual property rights. It evaluates the protection of blockchain by intellectual property rights and vice versa. It employs a doctrinal method of legal research and concludes that there is a growing symbiotic relationship between the two. It finds that the immutable nature of blockchain provides a history of ownership and creation that cannot be tampered with and eradicates fraud in every system in which blockchain is used. However, this same feature of blockchain has its downsides which includes the inability to correct errors in the record. It recommends an improvement in blockchain technology in this regard as well as increased awareness and usage of blockchain in the protection of intellectual property rights

Vibration-based condition monitoring of wind turbine blades

Significant advances in wind turbine technology have increased the need for maintenance through condition monitoring. Indeed condition monitoring techniques exist and are deployed on wind turbines across Europe and America but are limited in scope. The sensors and monitoring devices used can be very expensive to deploy, further increasing costs within the wind industry. The work outlined in this thesis primarily investigates potential low-cost alternatives in the laboratory environment using vibration-based and modal testing techniques that could be used to monitor the condition of wind turbine blades. The main contributions of this thesis are: (1) the review of vibration-based condition monitoring for changing natural frequency identification; (2) the application of low-cost piezoelectric sounders with proof mass for sensing and measuring vibrations which provide information on structural health; (3) the application of low-cost miniature Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers for detecting and measuring defects in micro wind turbine blades in laboratory experiments; (4) development of an in-service calibration technique for arbitrarily positioned MEMS accelerometers on a medium-sized wind turbine blade. This allowed for easier aligning of coordinate systems and setting the accelerometer calibration values using samples taken over a period of time; (5) laboratory validation of low-cost modal analysis techniques on a medium-sized wind turbine blade; (6) mimicked ice-loading and laboratory measurement of vibration characteristics using MEMS accelerometers on a real wind turbine blade and (7) conceptualisation and systems design of a novel embedded monitoring system that can be installed at manufacture, is self-powered, has signal processing capability and can operate remotely. By applying the conclusions of this work, which demonstrates that low-cost consumer electronics specifically MEMS accelerometers can measure the vibration characteristics of wind turbine blades, the implementation and deployment of these devices can contribute towards reducing the rising costs of condition monitoring within the wind industry

PALAEOECOLOGIC AND PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHIC CHARACTER OF MIDDLE PLIOCENE NON-MARINE MOLLUSC FAUNAS FROM NORTH-WESTERN ITALY

Significant new records of rich Middle Pliocene nonmarine mollusc assemblages from the Piedmont basin (North-western Italy) have led to an update of the systematic position of some taxa known since the end of the 19th century. The recorded molluscs come from deposits belonging to the San Martino unit in the "Villafranchian type-area" (Villafranca d’Asti) and to Cuneo and Alessandria districts. Vertebrate remains referred to the Middle Pliocene Triversa Faunal Unit (Mammal Neogene zone MN16a) are often associated with molluscs. A detailed palaeoecologic and palaeobiogeographic picture of the Middle Pliocene aquatic and terrestrial mollusc faunas is outlined. The assemblages are characterised by a high degree of species diversity and by the dominance of land prosobranchs and pulmonates. The palaeoecologic character is related to the different sedimentary facies recognised in the lithostratigraphic units: hygrophilous land faunas in paleosols and dominant aquatic taxa in lacustrine-palustrine sediments. Thermophilous swampy and forest taxa point to warm-temperate and humid climate conditions. A high number of extinct taxa and a high rate of endemism are underlined. A Mio-Pliocene Central-western European origin is noticed for many species. In the Middle Pliocene a spreading of some terrestrial species took place from North-western Italy towards Central Italy. Some new extinct taxa, belonging to the families Aciculidae (Renea sp. 1) and Clausiliidae [Monoptychia (subgen. n.) sp. 1; Neostyriacasp. 1; Fusulus (Fusulus) sp. 1], are identified

Mapping tonotopic organization in human temporal cortex: representational similarity analysis in EMEG source space.

A wide variety of evidence, from neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and imaging studies in humans and animals, suggests that human auditory cortex is in part tonotopically organized. Here we present a new means of resolving this spatial organization using a combination of non-invasive observables (EEG, MEG, and MRI), model-based estimates of spectrotemporal patterns of neural activation, and multivariate pattern analysis. The method exploits both the fine-grained temporal patterning of auditory cortical responses and the millisecond scale temporal resolution of EEG and MEG. Participants listened to 400 English words while MEG and scalp EEG were measured simultaneously. We estimated the location of cortical sources using the MRI anatomically constrained minimum norm estimate (MNE) procedure. We then combined a form of multivariate pattern analysis (representational similarity analysis) with a spatiotemporal searchlight approach to successfully decode information about patterns of neuronal frequency preference and selectivity in bilateral superior temporal cortex. Observed frequency preferences in and around Heschl's gyrus matched current proposals for the organization of tonotopic gradients in primary acoustic cortex, while the distribution of narrow frequency selectivity similarly matched results from the fMRI literature. The spatial maps generated by this novel combination of techniques seem comparable to those that have emerged from fMRI or ECOG studies, and a considerable advance over earlier MEG results.This work was supported by a European Research Council Advanced Grant (230570 Neurolex) and Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit funding to William Marslen-Wilson (U.1055.04.002.00001.01). The involvement of Li Su was also partly supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and Biomedical Research Unit in Dementia based at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.This is the final published article. It originally appeared at http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2014.00368/full

Economic Diversification and Economic Growth: Evidence from Nigeria

In this work, the researchers examine and attempt an answer to the big question; to what extent can Nigeria gain from diversifying the economy? In doing this, the researcher employed time series data spanning about thirty-one years’ period (1980 – 2011). Using the error correction mechanism (ECM), the result points to the fact that, Nigeria could tap from her largely untapped trade potentials for sustained gains, both in the short run and long run. Our findings indicate the fact that this can greatly be achieved through conscious efforts at diversifying the economy, encouraging large-scale industrialization of the non-oil (real) sector of the economy, emphasizing deepening technology in every trade and investment discourse, sustaining the recent improvements in the agricultural sub-sector, amongst other factors. JEL Classification: B10, C33 F43, F10, L81, L98 Keywords: Nigeria, Non-oil trade, Oil trade, Economic Diversification, Economic Growth, FDI

Estimating the determinants of poverty among farming households in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria

The research was conducted in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria to estimate the determinants of poverty among rural farming households in the area. Multistage sampling technique was used and data were obtained from primary source using a structured questionnaire. Tobit regression model was used to analyse the determinants of poverty in the area. From the result of the Tobit regression, sigma is 0.9886 which is significant at one percent level with intercept of 0.7012 which represents the poverty depth among rural farm households in the area. This indicates that the model has a good fit to the data. Sex of household heads, household size, educational level, farm income, farm size, access to modern farm inputs and distance to clinic were the determinants of poverty in the area. It is recommended that both sexes be involved actively in income generating activities. Training opportunities should be provided for the poor because education is considered the easiest means of breaking the vicious circle of poverty and farmers should be encouraged by government in the area through provision of improved farm inputs.KEYWORDS: Poverty, farming households, determinants.

Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from port vessel operations at the Lagos and Tin Can ports of Nigeria

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, the number one contributor to global warming is not just a product of in-land transportation, industries and other anthropogenic effect but also the maritime and shipping industries. This article estimates the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from port vessel operations in the Lagos and Tin Can ports of Nigeria. The emission estimate was carried out based on the type of the vessel and its movement from the moment of its arrival (400 km from the coast). The emission estimate was done using the bottom-up approach based on the characteristics of individual vessels and using data on vessels processed by both ports in the first and second quarter of the year 2017. Among various types of vessels, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) carriers are the heaviest emitters, followed by the container vessels and general cargo vessels. Result for the first and second quarter of 2017 indicates that approximately 16,335 t and 773 t of CO2 were produced and emitted during anchorage and while passing through lock gates movement, respectively. Also, 644 t of CO2 was emitted through maneuvering to the dock movement. Consequently, these three movements account for 85% of the total CO