From Riches to Rags: The Political Economy of the Natural Resource Curse

The natural resource curse paradox has given rise to a wide range of explanations, which look at the economic, social and political characteristics of resource-rich countries. This paper focuses on the political economy of natural resources and finds that controlling for sociopolitical factors eliminates the natural resource curse. The analysis then turns to these sociopolitical factors and examines the significant, complex and varied effects of democratization on economic growth in general, as well as in resource-rich countries in particular. I conclude that the type of institutions needed for economic development in resource-rich countries are not specific to either democratic or autocratic systems, but are equally likely to be adopted by either regime, so that no one ideology is more suitable than the other. A corollary to this, however, is the case of weak democracies or low democratization levels. Such states are unable to adopt the necessary strategies and institutions and, thus, pose the greatest threat to economic growth in resource-rich countries. On the other hand, highly autocratic systems in resource-rich countries, such as those in Bahrain and UAE, or perfectly democratic systems, such as those in Norway and Iceland, utilize resources more efficiently for economic development

The FSIA and Cyberspace: Could HACT be the Answer?

Under the non-commercial tort exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), a tort committed by a foreign state must occur wholly within the United States in order to trigger jurisdiction and liability in an American court. As such, cybercrimes which are committed abroad, even if targeted at and cause harm to U.S. citizens, fall outside this exception, leaving injured parties with no domestic avenue of redress. Potential solutions to closing this gap in the legal framework include the proposed Homeland and Cyber Threat Act (HACT), expansion of the FSIA\u27s terrorism exception, or overruling the entire tort doctrine

Molecular Mechanisms Linking Amino Acid (Leucine) Deprivation to IGFBP-1 Hyperphosphorylation in Fetal Growth Restriction

In this study, we explore the molecular mechanisms linking amino acid (leucine) deprivation to IGFBP-1 hyperphosphorylation in vitro. During pregnancy, a maladaptive fetal response to in utero amino acid deprivation leads to Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR). FGR infants display elevated phosphorylated IGFBP-1, which is associated with decreased IGF-I bioavailability. Leucine deprivation inhibits mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling and stimulates the amino acid response (AAR). Using HepG2 cells, a model for fetal hepatocytes, we demonstrate that in leucine deprivation, the AAR modulates total and phosphorylated IGFBP-1 while mTOR mediates total IGFBP-1 secretion only. We also reveal that protein kinases CK2 and PKC mediate IGFBP-1 phosphorylation and subsequent IGF-I bioactivity in leucine deprivation. Together, our findings implicate fetal hepatic AAR and CK2 activation as key mechanistic links between amino acid deprivation and decreased IGF-I bioavailability in FGR and suggest a novel role for PKC in modulating IGFBP-1 phosphorylation in vitro

A proof-of-proximity framework for device pairing in ubiquitous computing environments

Ad hoc interactions between devices over wireless networks in ubiquitous computing environments present a security problem: the generation of shared secrets to initialize secure communication over a medium that is inherently vulnerable to various attacks. However, these ad hoc scenarios also offer the potential for physical security of spaces and the use of protocols in which users must visibly demonstrate their presence and/or involvement to generate an association. As a consequence, recently secure device pairing has had significant attention from a wide community of academic as well as industrial researchers and a plethora of schemes and protocols have been proposed, which use various forms of out-of-band exchange to form an association between two unassociated devices. These protocols and schemes have different strengths and weaknesses – often in hardware requirements, strength against various attacks or usability in particular scenarios. From ordinary user‟s point of view, the problem then becomes which to choose or which is the best possible scheme in a particular scenario. We advocate that in a world of modern heterogeneous devices and requirements, there is a need for mechanisms that allow automated selection of the best protocols without requiring the user to have an in-depth knowledge of the minutiae of the underlying technologies. Towards this, the main argument forming the basis of this dissertation is that the integration of a discovery mechanism and several pairing schemes into a single system is more efficient from a usability point of view as well as security point of view in terms of dynamic choice of pairing schemes. In pursuit of this, we have proposed a generic system for secure device pairing by demonstration of physical proximity. Our main contribution is the design and prototype implementation of Proof-of-Proximity framework along with a novel Co- Location protocol. Other contributions include a detailed analysis of existing device pairing schemes, a simple device discovery mechanism, a protocol selection mechanism that is used to find out the best possible scheme to demonstrate the physical proximity of the devices according to the scenario, and a usability study of eight pairing schemes and the proposed system

Improvements on the Inhaler

Background: Inhalers are a commonplace in American health care and deliver crucial drugs to patients with COPD and asthma. Inhaler use has been shown to be unsatisfactory among patients resulting in ineffective medication delivery. The goal of this project was to improve the inhaler design for increased effectiveness and ease of use. Methods: Our team first interviewed a Pulmonologist regarding patient inhaler use. Dr. Harry Kane demonstrated the proper use of an inhaler as well and described errors in inhaler use are due to patient technique. A variety of inhalers currently available were examined and were compared for ease of use. Results: Interview with attending physician revealed numerous patient errors that impede effectiveness of inhaled medication. Two common mistakes were identified: patients inhaling too rapidly and patients dispensing the medication too late. Inhaling too rapidly decreases the fraction of drug that reaches the lungs, decreasing effectiveness. Dispensing the medication after a patient reaches total lung capacity (TLC) prevents the drug from reaching their lungs, decreasing effectiveness. Conclusions: We conclude that inhalers could be used more effectively by addressing patient education and feedback mechanisms. Possible solutions discuss audible feedback to help coordinate patient breath with optimal dispersal timing. Future work includes prototyping a design and eliciting patient feedback

Learning from the voices of first generation learners in a remote community of Maharashtra, India

This paper reports the opportunities and challenges faced by first generation learners, all of whom were designated as being from scheduled tribes and scheduled castes, accessing education in a rural community in the state of Maharashtra, India. The design of the research and the methods used for this child-centred study aimed to generate data to enable reflection on the reallife complexities experienced by children in this situation. Ten case studies based around individual children who shared common experiences were developed. These children had attended the local Zilla Parishad School (Government funded school) in the past and were enrolled at a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) funded school at the time of the investigation. The ten case studies focused on those antecedents, contextual factors, perceptions and attitudes towards education that had shaped the experiences of the children. Their personal circumstances, opportunities and challenges emanating from their social, economic, cultural and political environments are discussed

The Death Penalty\u27s Darkside: A Response to Phyllis Goldfarb\u27s \u3cem\u3eMatters of Strata: Race, Gender, and Class Structures in Capital Cases\u3c/em\u3e

In Matters of Strata: Race, Gender, and Class Structures in Capital Cases, Professor Phyllis Goldfarb examines the ways in which race, class, and gender affect the American criminal justice system generally, and its death penalty system in particular. This Response focuses on one of Goldfarb’s observations: The relationship between slavery and the death penalty. This relationship helps to explain why, over the past four decades, the thirteen states that comprised the former Confederacy have been responsible for nearly all of this nation’s executions. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly failed to address the death penalty’s roots in slavery, several state court judges have risen to the occasion, calling out the impermissible taint of bias that colors the death penalty. This Response suggests how the death penalty’s connection to slavery should inform death penalty jurisprudence and concludes with a discussion of the future of abolition, given a Supreme Court in flux

Coffee to Biofuels

This project proposes a production plant that will utilize 9.58 million kg/year of spent coffee grounds in order to produce 1.03 million liters/year of coffee biofuel and 2.56 million kg/year of biomass pellets. This plant will be located in northern New Jersey, where the maximum amount of spent coffee grounds can be obtained every day from each of the five boroughs in New York City. Practically, trucks could obtain grounds from 875 Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts coffee shops, collected 3-4 times per week. Overall uptime is taken to be 90%. The biodiesel is formed by oil extraction, conversion to free fatty acids and glycerol in a fat splitter and esterification in a bubble reactor. The biomass pellets are formed by drying and pelletizing after removal from the extractor. Thorough sensitivity analyses were performed to determine plant feasibility based on gas prices, flow rate and a combination of both. Based on the current market value of gas and realistic expectations of coffee collection, total capital investment is $4,028,000 and a weighted average cost of capital of 15$6.8 million. The IRR is negative and the third-year ROI is -22%. Therefore, given the current biodiesel market and coffee ground accessibility, pursuing this project is not recommended. However, when the biodiesel price is at its 90th percentile over the past 10 years and a capacity of five times as much coffee grounds per year is obtained, matching the total of Bio-Bean, the IRR is 17%, the NPV in 2017 is $0.9 million and third year ROI is 9.5$4 per gallon and the investing company has the ability to access coffee grounds from the equivalent of 4,375 coffee shops, this project may be feasible, just as long as the investing company does not have an alternative investment with a NPV higher than $0.9 million over the next 20 years