Positive Hermitian Curvature Flow on nilpotent and almost-abelian complex Lie groups

We study the positive Hermitian curvature flow on the space of left-invariant metrics on complex Lie groups. We show that in the nilpotent case, the flow exists for all positive times and subconverges in the Cheeger-Gromov sense to a soliton. We also show convergence to a soliton when the complex Lie group is almost abelian. That is, when its Lie algebra admits a (complex) co-dimension one abelian ideal. Finally, we study solitons in the almost-abelian setting. We prove uniqueness and completely classify all left-invariant, almost-abelian solitons, giving a method to construct examples in arbitrary dimensions, many of which admit co-compact lattices.Comment: 26 page

Private schools for the poor and the right to education :a study in political economy

PhD ThesisThe primary research question of this thesis is: Are fee paying private schools serving low income communities in developing countries consistent or in conflict with the United Nations concept of the right to education? A classical liberal framework is then used to explore the following four additional supplementary questions: a. What is meant by the United Nations concept of the right to education? How did it come to be and what were the implications for the role of government, the private sector and parents? b. How and why did the colonial authorities intervene in education in Kenya? What role did the private sector play in these developments? And what were the hidden costs and unintended consequences associated with these interventions? c. Is there any evidence of private schools serving low income communities in Kenya either prior to or during colonial rule? d. Did the introduction of free primary education in Kenya in 2003 have a negative impact on local private schools and did the crowding out process take place and was it similar to the UK experience previously documented by E.G. West? The thesis uses a classical liberal approach as its theoretical framework which is discussed in Chapter Two. The research methods used in this thesis are set out in Chapter Three. The case study approach is discussed and the issues concerning best practice in research are explored. Chapter Four introduces historical and contemporary evidence of the growth of private schools serving low income communities in developing countries and in Chapter Five the United Nations concept of the right to education is examined and defined. The findings from the Kenya case study will be reported and discussed in Chapters Six, Severn and Eight. Chapter Six is an historical study of the initial missionary and colonial interventions in education in Kenya and Chapter Seven will examine the rise and fall of Kenya’s independent school movement during the 1930’s and 40’s. Chapter Eight will then fast forward to 2003 and the introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE) in Kenya. Based on these findings and conclusions the final chapter (Chapter Nine) will introduce an alternative to the current rights based approach to education for all

The use of radiosotopes in the study of modification of platinum catalysts

Issued as Monthly progress letter no. 1-17, Quarterly technical status report no. 1-7, Annual technical status report no. 1, and Final report, Project no. A-446-

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationHeart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Mechanical circulatory support by ventricular assist devices (VADs) is a means by which deteriorating heart function can be supplemented, and is a leading therapy for latestage heart failure patients. The devices are commonly connected to the apex of the left ventricle (LV) to move oxygenated blood to the body via the aorta. Recent developments have made continuous-flow pumps commonplace in the clinical environment when compared to their pulsatile-flow predecessors. Typically, continuous-flow VADs are designed with axial- or centrifugal- (radial) configurations. The pressures and flow rates vary dramatically in the native heart as blood is moved from the LV to the aorta. This dissertation presents pressure-flow characteristics for both axial- and centrifugal-flow VADs within a wide range of pressure differential values under uniform conditions, by means of a novel, open-loop flow system. Current techniques employ a closed-loop system to determine pump performance. A closed-loop system does not allow pressure differentials less than or equal to zero to be achieved. The native heart experiences pressure gradients near zero across the aortic valve during systole, which is essentially where the VAD is placed. Thus, an open-loop flow system with independently adjustable preload and afterload pressures is required to reach physiologically-relevant pressure differential regions that approximate the pressure gradient across the aortic valve during systole. Additional modifications made to the open-loop flow system generate pulsatile flow type conditions, which mimic those of the native LV. With this type of in vitro test system, not only can general hydrodynamic performance and hydraulic efficiency of VADs be measured, but also off-design operational performance under dynamic flow conditions can be characterized. This research explores hydrodynamic performance characteristics of axial- and centrifugal-flow VADs to determine design advantages that each have. Device characteristics include pressure-flow performance curves, pressure sensitivity, pulsatility index, and pulsatility ratio. Performance curves and other relevant attributes are investigated at previously unreported pressure-flow regions. Performance is evaluated theoretically, computationally, and experimentally under both steady-state, continuous-flow and pulsatile-flow circumstances

On the Gauduchon Curvature of Hermitian Manifolds

It is shown that many results, previously believed to be properties of the Lichnerowicz Ricci curvature, hold for the Ricci curvature of all Gauduchon connections. We prove the existence of $t$--Gauduchon Ricci-flat metrics on the suspension of a compact Sasaki--Einstein manifold, for all $t \in (-\infty,1)$; in particular, for the Bismut, Minimal, and Hermitian conformal connection. A monotonicity theorem is obtained for the Gauduchon holomorphic sectional curvature, illustrating a maximality property for the Chern connection and furnishing insight into known phenomena concerning hyperbolicity and the existence of rational curves. Moreover, we show a rigidity result for Hermitian metrics which have a pair of Gauduchon holomorphic sectional curvatures that are equal, elucidating a duality implicit in the recent work of Chen--Nie.Comment: 34 pages; Final version to appear in Int. J. Mat

Compact Gauduchon-flat Hermitian manifolds

We complete the classification of compact Hermitian manifolds with a flat Gauduchon connection. In particular, we confirm a conjecture of Yang and Zheng, by proving that except for the cases of a flat Chern or Bismut connection, such manifolds are K\"ahler. We also treat the non-compact case.Comment: 13 page

Care and the Neoliberal Individual

© 2017, Journal of Economic Issues / Association for Evolutionary Economics. Abstract: This article explores two conflicting ethical systems: neoliberalism and institutionalism. Neoliberalism’s foundations support an overarching ethic of individual autonomy and individual responsibility. Institutionalism contrasts this conception with a view of human beings as relational. The ethical foundation of such a view requires a meta-ethic of interpersonal responsibility that supports an ethic of care

Delinquent Daughters:Hollywood's war effort and the 'juvenile delinquency picture' cycle

This paper examines a short-lived cycle of ‘juvenile delinquency pictures’ that have been almost entirely ignored in scholarship on the teen film, perhaps in part because they focus on female rather than male youth. Whilst individually unremarkable, collectively these films were central to political debates about the role of Hollywood in wartime. This paper maps the widespread discursive struggles between Hollywood, the middlebrow press, industry regulators, and various government agencies over the production of this cycle. It moves on to analyse the New York reception of these films, highlighting how this ‘cycle of sensation’ was debated in relation to the very local contexts of New York's ‘bobby soxers’ and ‘victory girls’ and the strategies to police them in and around Times Square. It demonstrates that focusing on the localized and contested terrain of discourses surrounding historically situated media cycles reveals the complexity and local specificity required of micro-historical enquiry

Structures of the CCR5 N Terminus and of a Tyrosine-Sulfated Antibody with HIV-1 gp120 and CD4

The CCR5 co-receptor binds to the HIV-l gp120 envelope glycoprotein and facilitates HIV-l entry into cells. Its N terminus is tyrosine-sulfated, as are many antibodies that react with the co-receptor binding site on gp120. We applied nuclear magnetic resonance and crystallographic techniques to analyze the structure of the CCR5 N terminus and that of the tyrosine-sulfated antibody 412d in complex with gp120 and CD4. The conformations of tyrosine-sulfated regions of CCR5 (α-helix) and 412d (extendedloop) are surprisingly different. Nonetheless, a critical sulfotyrosine on CCR5 and on 412d induces similar structural rearrangements in gp120. These results now provide a framework for understanding HIV-l interactions with the CCR5 N terminus during viral entry and define a conserved site on gp120, whose recognition of sulfotyrosine engenders posttranslational mimicry by the immune system