Scientists can advise, but only the government is responsible for policy

Scientists can provide expert advice, but only the government can decide what policies to implement. George A Wharton, Lucy Thompson and Rebecca Forman (LSE) warn that holding ‘the science’ responsible for these difficult decisions, without seeking a variety of opinions and sharing the evidence of how they were made, will make scientists reluctant to share their expertise for fear of being scapegoated

'Pay any price, bear any burden': The U.S. Army's Counter-Insurgency Doctrine from Kennedy to the Vietnam War

This thesis is an analysis of the U.S. Army’s counter-insurgency doctrine from its roots to its application in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Contrary to the arguments of a specific section of scholars, the Army did not fail to defeat the National Liberation Front (NLF) because it did not use counter-insurgency methods. This thesis explains that the Army developed a comprehensive, albeit flawed, counter-insurgency doctrine and applied it in South Vietnam. While the Army’s counter-insurgency doctrine had serious deficiencies, it was the deeply unsound South Vietnamese government and the NLF’s formidable political revolution that were the primary reasons for its failure to achieve its objectives. This thesis utilises the body of literature produced by U.S. Army officers, officers of allied nations and academics during the creation of the Army’s counter-insurgency doctrine, as well as the field manuals that resulted from this research. These sources reveal the self-interest of Army commanders in their pursuit of a counter-insurgency mission, the purpose of which was to reverse the reductions enforced upon the Army during the 1950s. Crucially, these sources also display the Army’s perception of insurgencies in the developing world as the result of Communist-bloc attempts to expand communism. This perception, as well as the overconfidence of much of the Army’s leadership, was influential in shaping counter-insurgency doctrine. The Army’s self-interest put it on a path of its own making that led to the Vietnam War. The Army’s field manuals on counter-insurgency warfare show it expected to face an insurgency that was born out of the Cold War struggle and its methods reflected this belief. Therefore, it did not grasp that the NLF’s revolution had deep-seated historical roots. The Army’s counter-insurgency programmes, which emphasised civic action and destruction of guerrillas, were wholly ineffective in eradicating the NLF’s largely political revolution

On Robert Flaherty and the documentary form

Sir Denis Forman, Nick Broomfield, Stella Bruzzi, Michael Reynard, Paul Henley and George Stoney discuss Robert Flaherty and the Documentary Form Originally interviewed as part of the film 'A Boatload of Wild Irishman' Distributed by Icarus Films (AKA 'The Wandering Irishman') A BOATLOAD OF WILD IRISHMEN includes testimony from Flaherty himself as well as contributions from amongst others, Richard Leacock - cameraman on 'Louisiana Story' (1948) and father of the contemporary hand-held documentary style, Martha Flaherty - Flaherty's Inuit granddaughter, George Stoney - documentary filmmaker and professor at New York University, Sean Crosson - film scholar at the Huston School of Film, Jay Ruby - anthropologist and film scholar at Temple University, and Deirdre Ni Chonghaile - musician and folklorist from Arainn, as well as telling interviews with the people whose parents and grandparents Flaherty put onto the cinema screens of the world: Inuit, Samoans and, of obvious personal interest to the Irish filmmakers, the 'wild men' of Aran. Originally interviewed as part of the film 'The Wandering Irishman' Distributed by Icarus Film

Screening High School Students for Eating Disorders: Results of a National Initiative

Introduction: Early identification and treatment of disordered eating and weight control behaviors may prevent progression and reduce the risk of chronic health consequences. Methods: The National Eating Disorders Screening Program coordinated the first-ever nationwide eating disorders screening initiative for high schools in the United States in 2000. Students completed a self-report screening questionnaire that included the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and items on vomiting or exercising to control weight, binge eating, and history of treatment for eating disorders. Multivariate regression analyses examined sex and racial/ethnic differences. Results: Almost 15% of girls and 4% of boys scored at or above the threshold of 20 on the EAT-26, which indicated a possible eating disorder. Among girls, we observed few significant differences between ethnic groups in eating disorder symptoms, whereas among boys, more African American, American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Latino boys reported symptoms than did white boys. Overall, 25% of girls and 11% of boys reported disordered eating and weight control symptoms severe enough to warrant clinical evaluation. Of these symptomatic students, few reported that they had ever received treatment. Conclusion: Population screening for eating disorders in high schools may identify at-risk students who would benefit from early intervention, which could prevent acute and long-term complications of disordered eating and weight control behaviors

Loop corrections for Kaluza-Klein AdS amplitudes

Recently we conjectured the four-point amplitude of graviton multiplets in ${\rm AdS}_5 \times {\rm S}^5$ at one loop by exploiting the operator product expansion of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. Here we give the first extension of those results to include Kaluza-Klein modes, obtaining the amplitude for two graviton multiplets and two states of the first KK mode. Our method again relies on resolving the large N degeneracy among a family of long double-trace operators, for which we obtain explicit formulas for the leading anomalous dimensions. Having constructed the one-loop amplitude we are able to obtain a formula for the one-loop corrections to the anomalous dimensions of all twist five double-trace operators.Comment: 37 pages. One ancillary file containing data on the correlator

AN ANALYSIS of the 20-year use of a deep Broward County lime-rock pit as a natural advanced wastewater treatment and groundwater recycling facility, with a recommendation that: with the large number of similar lime-rock pits in Southeast Florida, the opportunity for expanding the benefits of such inland wastewater retention should be given serious consideration instead of wastefully discharging the water into the ocean.

The benefits of the inland retention of freshwaters in South Florida are indisputable. During periods of prolonged drought, the maintenance of a higher groundwater table, which benefits terrestrial vegetation and retards saltwater intrusion, is clearly preferable to the alternative of discharging up to 400,000 gallons of freshwater per day into the ocean. Therefore, the only objections to the retention of treated sewage effluent in an inland lime-rock pit, with the physical, chemical and biologic characteristics of our pits, would have to do with possible detrimental effects to public health or the environment. The major public health concern involves the possible discharge of human pathogens. This can be prevented by high-level chlorination of well-treated effluent such as that of the Ferncrest Utilities. With the cooperation and help of the Nova University Oceanographic Center, the Florida Agricultural Research and Education Station, the Broward County Environmental Quality Control Board and the landowners, the Tindall Hammock Irrigation and Soil Conservation District and the Ferncrest Utilities respectfully submit that retention of the excellent tertiary-treated Ferncrest Utilities effluent in such a lime-rock pit accomplishes the following: • Provides an inexpensive, safe, practical, alternative, non-structural, natural, and environmentally sound drainage and wastewater pollutant treatment and inactivation facility that uses no energy except sunlight. • Conserves, stores and recycles stormwater and wastewater instead of wasteful discharge into canals or the ocean. • Helps to maintain a higher groundwater elevation, thereby reducing the volume of irrigation water needed for area lawns and shrubbery, and the energy and expense thereof. • Retards the rate of saltwater intrusion into the aquifer. • Enhances the U.S. EPA\u27s goal of fishable, swimmable public waters by complexing and precipitating runoff and wastewater pollutants, thereby keeping them out of the North New River Canal, the New River and the ocean. With the large number of similar lime-rock pits in Southeast Florida, the opportunity for expanding the benefits of such inland wastewater retention should be given serious consideration

Second Primary Malignancies after Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Multiple Myeloma

AbstractRecent studies demonstrate an increased risk of second primary malignancies (SPMs) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) receiving maintenance lenalidomide after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). We explored the possibility of other risk factors driving post-ASCT SPMs in patients with MM through analysis of our large transplantation database in conjunction with our Long-Term Follow-Up Program. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 841 consecutive patients with MM who underwent ASCT at City of Hope between 1989 and 2009, as well as a nested case-control analysis evaluating the role of all therapeutic exposures before, during, and after ASCT. Median duration of follow-up for the entire cohort was 3.4 years (range, 0.3-19.9 years). Sixty cases with a total of 70 SPMs were identified. The overall cumulative incidence of SPMs was 7.4% at 5 years and 15.9% at 10 years when nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) were included and 5.3% at 5 years and 11.2% at 10 years when NMSCs were excluded. Multivariate analysis of the entire cohort revealed associations of both older age (≥55 years; relative risk, 2.3; P < .004) and race (non-Hispanic white; relative risk, 2.4; P = .01) with an increased risk of SPM. Furthermore, thalidomide exposure demonstrated a trend toward increased risk (odds ratio, 3.5; P = .15); however, an insufficient number of patients were treated with lenalidomide to allow us to accurately assess the risk of this agent. Exclusion of NMSCs retained the association with these variables but was accompanied by loss of statistical significance. This large single-institution analysis identified associations between race and older age and increased risk of developing SPM. The trend toward increased risk with thalidomide exposure suggests a class effect from immunomodulatory drugs that might not be restricted to lenalidomide

An XMM-Newton view of the `bare' nucleus of Fairall 9

We present the spectral results from a 130 ks observation, obtained from the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission-Newton (XMM-Newton) observatory, of the type I Seyfert galaxy Fairall 9. An X-ray hardness-ratio analysis of the light-curves, reveals a `softer-when-brighter' behaviour which is typical for radio-quiet type I Seyfert galaxies. Moreover, we analyse the high spectral-resolution data of the reflection grating spectrometer and we did not find any significant evidence supporting the presence of warm-absorber in the low X-ray energy part of the source's spectrum. This means that the central nucleus of Fairall 9 is `clean' and thus its X-ray spectral properties probe directly the physical conditions of the central engine. The overall X-ray spectrum in the 0.5-10 keV energy-range, derived from the EPIC data, can be modelled by a relativistically blurred disc-reflection model. This spectral model yields for Fairall 9 an intermediate black-hole best-fit spin parameter of $\alpha=0.39^{+0.48}_{-0.30}$.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. The paper contains 11 figures and 1 tabl

Technical and economic feasibility of centralized facilities for solar hydrogen production via photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry

Photoelectrochemical water splitting is a promising route for the renewable production of hydrogen fuel. This work presents the results of a technical and economic feasibility analysis conducted for four hypothetical, centralized, large-scale hydrogen production plants based on this technology. The four reactor types considered were a single bed particle suspension system, a dual bed particle suspension system, a fixed panel array, and a tracking concentrator array. The current performance of semiconductor absorbers and electrocatalysts were considered to compute reasonable solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiencies for each of the four systems. The U.S. Department of Energy H2A model was employed to calculate the levelized cost of hydrogen output at the plant gate at 300 psi for a 10 tonne per day production scale. All capital expenditures and operating costs for the reactors and auxiliaries (compressors, control systems, etc.) were considered. The final cost varied from $1.60–$10.40 per kg H2 with the particle bed systems having lower costs than the panel-based systems. However, safety concerns due to the cogeneration of O_2 and H_2 in a single bed system and long molecular transport lengths in the dual bed system lead to greater uncertainty in their operation. A sensitivity analysis revealed that improvement in the solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of the panel-based systems could substantially drive down their costs. A key finding is that the production costs are consistent with the Department of Energy's targeted threshold cost of $2.00–$4.00 per kg H_2 for dispensed hydrogen, demonstrating that photoelectrochemical water splitting could be a viable route for hydrogen production in the future if material performance targets can be met

4U 0115+63 from RXTE and INTEGRAL Data: Pulse Profile and Cyclotron Line Energy

We analyze the observations of the transient X-ray pulsar 4U 0115+63 with the RXTE and INTEGRAL observatories in a wide X-ray (3-100 keV) energy band during its intense outbursts in 1999 and 2004. The energy of the fundamental harmonic of the cyclotron resonance absorption line near the maximum of the X-ray flux from the source (luminosity range 5x10^{37} - 2x10^{38} erg/s) is ~11 keV. When the pulsar luminosity falls below ~5x10^{37} erg/s, the energy of the fundamental harmonic is displaced sharply toward the high energies, up to ~16 keV. Under the assumption of a dipole magnetic field configuration, this change in cyclotron harmonic energy corresponds to a decrease in the height of the emitting region by ~2 km, while other spectral parameters, in particular, the cutoff energy, remain essentially constant. At a luminosity ~7x10^{37} erg/s, four almost equidistant cyclotron line harmonics are clearly seen in the spectrum. This suggests that either the region where the emission originates is compact or the emergent spectrum from different (in height) segments of the accretion column is uniform. We have found significant pulse profile variations with energy, luminosity, and time. In particular, we show that the profile variations from pulse to pulse are not reduced to a simple modulation of the accretion rate specified by external conditions.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figures, Astronomy Letters, 33, 368 (2007