The disintermediation of the furniture supply chain: Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs at the global-local nexus

In the contemporary world-economy Chinese firms have significantly improved their positions within global supply chains. One way this has been achieved is through the disintermediation of supply chains, i.e. their evolution from contract manufacturing to original equipment manufacturing. The more successful firms are even retailing indigenously developed products to western end consumers. The global value chains (GVCs) paradigm of the economic sociology understands this phenomenon as improving firm- and meso- level competencies motivated by economics. Consequently, how individual agency and broader social contexts influence transnational production is not well understood. Based on interviews with 18 Chinese entrepreneurs of factory direct furniture retailers in Sydney, this study finds that individual agency within particular sociohistorical contexts are influential to the disintermediation of global supply chains. The results show that the GVCs paradigm needs refinement in order to fully understand global supply chains and disintermediation as sociological – rather than economic – phenomena

CONTROL OF GRAIN STRUCTURE IN SELECTIVE-ELECTRON BEAM MELTING OF NICKEL-BASED SUPERALLOYS

The powder bed additive manufacturing process of selective-electron beam melting can produce near net shape parts with nickel based superalloys. Control of grain structure is the next step in research as site specific columnar or equiaxed grain structure can give the process further advantage over traditional processing. Previous work has used alloys that were designed for casting processes and have not tried to control the columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) by changing the composition. To determine if alloying for the CET is possible, two custom high gamma prime nickel alloys were designed using CALPHAD software and a CET model. After processing the custom alloys alongside traditional alloys using the Selective Electron Beam Melting (S-EBM) process multi-scale characterization was performed to determine the resulting grain and precipitate structure. From our findings, the process parameters and class of alloy have more control over the CET than expected. Alloying for the CET, without the context of final geometry and processing, is not recommended due to composition having a greater effect on precipitant structure than grain structure

“He was a true son of Lowell”: discourse on the opioid epidemic and mortality in a small city

This thesis explores the circulating discourse on opioid-related mortality in Lowell, a small, post-industrial city, through analysis of 173 articles from the Lowell Sun from 2007-2017. While opioid-related mortality has been on the rise nationally, the overdose epidemic is concentrated in particular areas, like the Middlesex Valley, a region in northeastern Massachusetts. Unlike the response to previous drug panics, the opioid epidemic has been constructed as a medical problem, that requires rehabilitative treatment rather than punitive intervention. Still, this “gentler” approach has been applied unevenly. This thesis has two main findings. First, the circulating discourse acknowledges the verified diversity of opioid users while simultaneously distancing white middle class men from the stigmatized legacy of the war on drugs in the inner city. This distance from the “urban problem” of drug addiction and possession is reinforced by narratives of the stable, nuclear family, loving mothers, and accidental experimentation with legally prescribed prescription pills. As social panics often mask other problems, in the city of Lowell, anxiety over the mass mortality exists alongside distress about the lack of opportunities for young people despite the city’s revitalization efforts. Second, I demonstrate the plethora of institutional resources available to assist young men struggling from opioid addiction despite the city’s economic problems. In lieu of resources from the state, the city’s residents and organizations adopt neoliberal self-help frames to protect their residents from addiction by providing prevention and treatment resources

Social Skills Assessment for Mainstreamed Handicapped Students: the Discriminative Efficiency of the Teacher Ratings of Social Skills (Tross).

Until recently no time-efficient teacher rating scale of social skills has been available. With the development of the Teacher Ratings of Social Skills (TROSS; Gresham & Elliott, 1984) this gap has possibly been filled. Preliminary research on the scale has shown it to possess adequate reliability and validity (Clark, Gresham, & Elliott, 1985). Little is known yet, however, regarding the possible utility of the scale in discriminating among school-aged children of differing handicapping conditions. The present study examined the discriminative efficiency of the TROSS with a sample of 250 school-age children from four different groups: (a) Behavior Disordered, (b) Learning Disabled, (c) Mildly Mentally Retarded/Educationally Handicapped, and, (d) Nonhandicapped ( normals ). Rater, ratee and sex biases in the ratings by teachers, concurrent validity, and reliability were also examined. Additionally, the scale was factor analyzed and compared to previous findings (Clark, Gresham, & Elliott, 1985). Results indicate that the TROSS, particularly in view of its short length, does discriminate between handicapped and nonhandicapped students at a reasonably high level. The scale does not, however, adequately discriminate among exceptionality groups (BD, LD, MR/EH). No rater, ratee or sex biases were found. Correlations of the TROSS, the WISC-R, and Woodcock-Johnson (concurrent validity) were low, indicating little relationship among the measures. Cronbach\u27s Alpha indicates that the TROSS is a highly reliable instrument, particularly on the Frequency Dimension. The factor structures of the present and previous research are essentially equivalent. The present research indicates that the Tross is a highly reliable instrument which is relatively free of bias and is capable of discriminating between handicapped and nonhandicapped students. Based on these results, the TROSS appears to be an instrument which can confidently be used as a screening instrument in a social skills assessment package. The scale could also be included as part of the general referral/screening package used to refer students for possible special education placement. The Importance Dimension should prove useful in target behavior selection for students receiving social skills training or special education services

Hormonal medications and partner odor preferences

The ability to recognize kin through the olfactory sense has important survival and evolutionary implications when choosing mates. Failing to recognize kin when making a choice of whom to mate with can lead to an increase in detrimental genetic outcomes in offspring. Previous studies have indicated that normally ovulating heterosexual women and men prefer the body odor of those with dissimilar immune systems than those with similar immune systems. The use of hormonal contraceptives has shown a preference for similar immune system odors. The current study examines whether the use of hormonal medications predicts preference for body odor. Importantly, this research consists to a diverse population, that goes beyond the heteronormative parameters of previous work and addition of hormonal medications other than just the combined oral contraceptive pill. Originally, this study was designed to take biological samples, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced a change to an online survey. In a sample of 282 participants, male, female and non-binary, there were no differential effects of hormonal medication use between sexes. These results suggest that any effect of hormonal medications would not depend on the sex of the person

THE USE OF COST-TRANSFER ANALYSIS TO ESTIMATE THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF A POTENTIAL ZEBRA MUSSEL INFESTATION IN FLORIDA

Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) colonization of the eastern United States has resulted in expenditures of tens of millions of dollars spent by consumptive surface water users, in order to mitigate infrastructure impairment caused by this invasive species. Analogous to benefit-transfer analysis, a "cost-transfer" approach will be used to obtain general estimates of potential mitigation costs of zebra mussels in an area (Florida) that this invasive species has yet to establish itself. The goal of this research is to provide initial information about this issue to parties interested in, and/or charged with, invasive species management in the state of Florida.Bio-fouling, cost-transfer, economic impacts, Florida surface water users, monitoring and control, zebra mussels, Risk and Uncertainty,

Optimal investment in prevention and control of a potential invader: the case of zebra mussels in Florida waterways

The probability of a severe infestation ranges from 2% to 98% depending on investment in monitoring, prevention, and response technology. Given the estimated potential for economic damages, preliminary results indicate that prudent investment in prevention and early response net a present value net return of $10 million over 20 years.Invasive species, bio-pollutant, control cost, cost transfer, surface water, risk, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Analytical Gradients for Projection-Based Wavefunction-in-DFT Embedding

Projection-based embedding provides a simple, robust, and accurate approach for describing a small part of a chemical system at the level of a correlated wavefunction method while the remainder of the system is described at the level of density functional theory. Here, we present the derivation, implementation, and numerical demonstration of analytical nuclear gradients for projection-based wavefunction-in-density functional theory (WF-in-DFT) embedding. The gradients are formulated in the Lagrangian framework to enforce orthogonality, localization, and Brillouin constraints on the molecular orbitals. An important aspect of the gradient theory is that WF contributions to the total WF-in-DFT gradient can be simply evaluated using existing WF gradient implementations without modification. Another simplifying aspect is that Kohn-Sham (KS) DFT contributions to the projection-based embedding gradient do not require knowledge of the WF calculation beyond the relaxed WF density. Projection-based WF-in-DFT embedding gradients are thus easily generalized to any combination of WF and KS-DFT methods. We provide numerical demonstration of the method for several applications, including calculation of a minimum energy pathway for a hydride transfer in a cobalt-based molecular catalyst using the nudged-elastic-band method at the CCSD-in-DFT level of theory, which reveals large differences from the transition state geometry predicted using DFT.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Polymorphic Aβ42 fibrils adopt similar secondary structure but differ in cross-strand side chain stacking interactions within the same β-sheet.

Formation of polymorphic amyloid fibrils is a common feature in neurodegenerative diseases involving protein aggregation. In Alzheimer's disease, different fibril structures may be associated with different clinical sub-types. Structural basis of fibril polymorphism is thus important for understanding the role of amyloid fibrils in the pathogenesis and progression of these diseases. Here we studied two types of Aβ42 fibrils prepared under quiescent and agitated conditions. Quiescent Aβ42 fibrils adopt a long and twisted morphology, while agitated fibrils are short and straight, forming large bundles via lateral association. EPR studies of these two types of Aβ42 fibrils show that the secondary structure is similar in both fibril polymorphs. At the same time, agitated Aβ42 fibrils show stronger interactions between spin labels across the full range of the Aβ42 sequence, suggesting a more tightly packed structure. Our data suggest that cross-strand side chain packing interactions within the same β-sheet may play a critical role in the formation of polymorphic fibrils