Bootstrap Dreams: U.S Microenterprise Development in an Era of Welfare Reform

Declines in real wages, increases in the number of poor families, and cutbacks to welfare and other safety-net programs have stimulated the popularity of microenterprise development programs (MDPs). These programs typically offer training and loans to individuals seeking to operate very small businesses. MDPs are often presented as a path to the self-sufficiency that comes with entrepreneurship and as an example of the success of market-based alternatives to government programs. In Bootstrap Dreams, Nancy C. Jurik analyzes the origins and maturation of these programs in the United States

Post-Genre: Understanding The Classical-Jazz Hybrid Of Third Stream Music Through The Guitar Works Of Frederic Hand, Ralph Towner, And Ken Hatfield

Gunther Schuller coined the term “third stream” in 1957 as a reference for a style of music that blends the practices of both the classical and the jazz traditions. Despite a fair critical reception and the efforts of like-minded musicians and composers, third stream as a musical concept failed to achieve much commercial success, and by the 1970s it was considered a passing modernist fad. Nonetheless, the fusion of classical and popular musical genres that embodies spirit of third stream thrives today, although most practitioners tend to neglect the term itself. The purpose of this document is to examine the history and current climate surrounding third stream music as it relates to the classical guitar. After an analysis of the history and critical and commercial reception of third stream music, this document will analyze the works of three guitarists whose work represents a fusion of the classical and jazz genres: Frederic Hand, Ralph Towner, and Ken Hatfield. Additionally, the author will explore what the implications of third stream music mean for the contemporary generation of classical guitarists who may have been exposed to or trained in musical genres and styles outside of the Western art tradition

Enhancement of agricultural weed control by manipulation of the light environment

Studies suggest that emergence of weed seedlings can be diminished by decreasing the exposure of seeds to light during tillage. Field studies conducted near Ames, Iowa, tested the effect of excluding light during tillage on emergence of common weed species of central Iowa. Plots were tilled Botany either during the day, during the day with implements covered, at night, or at night with implements covered, and subsequent seed emergence was monitored. The effect of brief exposure to light on germination of weed seeds under controlled laboratory conditions was also studied

Weed population dynamics in ridge-tilled soybeans with and without herbicides

Iowans are growing increasingly concerned about potential water pollution in Iowa due to heavy fertilization and extensive use of herbicides. The long-term productivity of soils has also come under scrutiny as the cumulative effects of erosion become more apparent. As a result, researchers are emphasizing the importance of developing new farming practices. One such practice already in use is ridge tillage

Observation of J/psi p resonances consistent with pentaquark states in Lambda_b^0 to J/psi K^- p decays

The observation of structures consistent with charmonium-pentaquark states decaying to $J/\psi p$ in $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow J/\psi K^- p$ decays is presented. The data sample analyzed corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3 $fb^{-1}$ acquired with the LHCb detector from 7 and 8 TeV $pp$ collisions. An amplitude analysis was performed which utilized all six kinematic degrees of freedom in the decay. It was shown that adequate descriptions of the data are unattainable with only $K^- p$ resonances in the amplitude model. For satisfactory fits of the data, it was found to be necessary to include two $J/\psi p$ resonances, with each having significances of over 9 standard deviations. One has a mass of $4449.8\pm1.7\pm2.2$ MeV and a width of $39\pm5\pm16$ MeV, while the second is broader, with a mass of $4380\pm8\pm29$ MeV and a width of $205\pm18\pm87$ MeV. The $J^P$ assignments could not be uniquely determined, though there is a preference for one to have spin $3/2$ and the other spin $5/2$ with an opposite parity to the first. The data sample was also inspected in a model-independent way for the presence of $J/\psi p$ or $J/\psi K^-$ contributions. It was demonstrated at more than 9 standard deviations that the data cannot be described with $K^- p$ contributions alone, and that $J/\psi p$ contributions play a dominant role in this incompatibility. These model-independent results support the model-dependent evidence for $P_c^+\rightarrow J/\psi p$ charmonium-pentaquark states provided by the amplitude analysis

Social Responsibility and Altruism in Smalland Medium-Sized Innovative Businesses

This study examines the interview narratives of owners of 73 small and medium-sized businesses from a large metropolitan area located in the southwestern U.S. Our analysis focuses on owner discussions of their motivations and goals for starting and running their own businesses. Our findings reveal three central motivational narrative themes: (1) traditional business-centered success outcomes—a category we refer to as “Business is Business”; (2) owners’ personal and family well-being and fulfillment, labeled as “Business is Personal”; and (3) social responsibility concerns directed toward the betterment of other people and society more generally that we labeled as “Business is Doing Good.” Owner narratives typically referenced motives in more than one of these three realms. However, relatively, they expended considerably more time and energy discussing altruistic or social responsibility goals compared to strictly business or personal motives. Our study reveals the importance of norms of social responsibility in the discursive constructions of small and medium-sized businesses

Historical basins sediments

Modifications of small water reservoirs in the past focused primarily on addressing issues of capacity and stability of the reservoir capture. By the impact of changes in the use of reservoir surroundings, by acceleration of the erosion processes on the adjecent land and non-periodical maintenance of the capture leads to morphological changes in the reservoir, which causes changes in the in the reduced flowage of the basin and thus in changes of the flood protection degree of adjacent land. This reduces the accumulation part of the basin and subsequently its economic use in fish rearing Bottom sediments of dams are products of erosion of agricultural and forest soils, the main flow of the river basin and tributaries connected to the dam or a system of dams. They have the basic properties of surface layers of soil erosion