Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War (Book Review) by Bruce Dancis

Review of Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War by Bruce Danci

Characterization of Trap Frequencies for Cold Atom Laboratory Bose-Einstein Condensates

With the recent production of Bose-Einstein condensates using NASA\u27s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) aboard the International Space Station, research is underway focusing on the extent to which quantum mechanics can be studied in a microgravity environment. These condensates have the potential to be the coldest ever studied in experiment and in free-fall their place in orbit allows us to observe them in long time-of-flights. This thesis reports fitting analyses and trap frequency characterization of imaging data from condensates in conventional magnetic potentials. This information will be used for the calibration and design of future experiments with CAL, regarding both conventional and radio-frequency dressed traps. Of particular interest to further study are ellipsoidal shell condensates and the quasi-two-dimensional condensate that exists on its surface in the limit of low shell thickness

Review of Dublin’s Great Wars: The First World War, the Easter Rising, and the Irish Revolution by Richard S. Grayson

Review of Dublin’s Great Wars: The First World War, the Easter Rising, and the Irish Revolution by Richard S. Grayso

Multidisciplinary Viewpoints on Global River Systems

In January 2014, 27 scholars from across the disciplines met at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis for the Rivers of the Anthropocene conference to present their research on global river systems. While they were here, we interviewed eleven of them about the methodological and conceptual challenges of transdisciplinary approaches to environmental research. In our paper, we synthesize those interviews into an accessible report detailing the presenters’ responses. The sources of information that we use are the interviews themselves, which we cross-reference with the recorded presentations from the Rivers conference, as well as published work on transdisciplinarity. This research is important because it shows how studying the effects humans have had on global river systems from a multidisciplinary angle gives us, as a society, a better idea of how to address the problems caused by human alterations to the natural environment

Pseudodeterminants and perfect square spanning tree counts

The pseudodeterminant $\textrm{pdet}(M)$ of a square matrix is the last nonzero coefficient in its characteristic polynomial; for a nonsingular matrix, this is just the determinant. If $\partial$ is a symmetric or skew-symmetric matrix then $\textrm{pdet}(\partial\partial^t)=\textrm{pdet}(\partial)^2$. Whenever $\partial$ is the $k^{th}$ boundary map of a self-dual CW-complex $X$, this linear-algebraic identity implies that the torsion-weighted generating function for cellular $k$-trees in $X$ is a perfect square. In the case that $X$ is an \emph{antipodally} self-dual CW-sphere of odd dimension, the pseudodeterminant of its $k$th cellular boundary map can be interpreted directly as a torsion-weighted generating function both for $k$-trees and for $(k-1)$-trees, complementing the analogous result for even-dimensional spheres given by the second author. The argument relies on the topological fact that any self-dual even-dimensional CW-ball can be oriented so that its middle boundary map is skew-symmetric.Comment: Final version; minor revisions. To appear in Journal of Combinatoric

Is Food Security Targeting Possible in Sub?Saharan Africa? Evidence from North Sudan

Summary Targeting food security interventions in sub?Saharan Africa presents special difficulties and has rarely been successful. A case study of Darfur in Western Sudan shows that targeting can be improved. The key is to focus not just on safeguarding current income and food consumption, but also on long term livelihood interventions that reduce vulnerability; and to do this with programmes which are geographically specific, self?targeting in administrative terms and designed inter alia to support traditional community food security arrangements. Consistency in food policy at macro and micro levels is also important

Functional Analysis of European Wetland Vegetation

Riverine marginal wetland vegetation was studied at thirty-two hydrogeomorphic units of sites used by the European Community project "Functional Analysis of European Wetland Ecosystems", these units were situated in England, France, Ireland and Spain. Fieldwork was carried out between May 1991 and August 1993. The aim of the work was to develop a system of analysis of wetland vegetation using functional attributes which could be used to predict the effect of anthropogenic perturbation. Grime's C-S-D established-phase strategy theory was used as the framework for this study. Analysis of plant species abundance, using DCA (detrended correspondence analysis) and PCA (principal components analysis), revealed the extent of variation in the plant species composition between the hydrogeomoq)hic units. A majority of the hydrogeomorphic units could be assigned to CORINE biotope categories (the European Community categorisation system of sites of nature conservation importance); most sites were water fringe vegetation (53) or humid grassland (37). Eight morphological traits were measured from one hundred and forty-four common plant populations from the hydrogeomorphic units. Non-hierarchical classification of populations by traits was carried out using sum of squares and centroid dissimilarity algorithms. It was determined that the most efficient classification was into three groups. Each of these three groups was associated with different parts of the C-S-D strategy space. The results strongly suggested that morphological traits can be used to classify plants into functional groups which have differing ecological properties. Using twelve traits, linear and multiple discriminant analysis were used to distinguish objectively between populations with a selected strategies determined from the work of Grime. Competitive and stress-tolerant populations were found to be significantly different using twelve traits. Stepwise multiple regression identified the important traits for predicting competitive ability (C) and stress tolerance (S). Significant predictors of the C-strategy were height of plant and the dry weight of leaves; and of the S strategy, the dry weight of stems and the weight per seed. Use of these predictive equations permitted calculation of C and S for the one hundred and forty-four populations that were studied. The mean C and S scores of the populations present in each hydrogeomorphic unit were used to determine the functional vegetation type (FVT) in terms of competitiveness (CFVT) and stress-tolerance (SFVT). CFVT and SFVT were inversely correlated (r = -0.73, P<0.001). A greenhouse experiment was carried out to determine the effect of competition (phytometer), disturbance (cutting) and stress (saturated soil conditions) on the morphology of six common wetland plants. The stress treatment was too weak to have much effect on the morphology of the species. The ranking of the species in terms of C and D (disturbance-tolerance) showed a degree of similarity with the strategy designation of Grime. The competitive ability of the test species, using the phytometr)' method, was significantly related to the field determined C score (r = 0.80, P<0.05). Eleven state variables, defined as measurable variables of biotic communities which have a particular range of values for each type of vegetational community, were measured in the studied wetlands. Using PCA, the major gradient in state variables was most strongly correlated to biomass. However, using CCA (canonical correspondence analysis), constraining the axes to be linear combinations of CFVT and SFVT, a different gradient in state variables was identified. This gradient was related to a high canopy, large stem area with great distance between stems and dominated by a few species at high CP/T-low SFVT values and high stem density, species richness and density of reproductive structures at low CFVT-high SFVT values. Using stepwise multiple regression, state variables could significantly predict CFVT (P<0.0001). Common CORINE biotopes were related to the CCA ordination diagram of FVT and state-variables. 3 biotopes (humid grassland, mesophile grassland and reed beds) were related to certain areas of the CFVT-SFVT gradient. Sedge beds ranged across much of the gradient, this could be due to the taxonomic diversity of the biotope. The results suggested a certain degree of comparability between the strategy, state-variable and phytosociological biotope units in the studied wetlands. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Gazing over the horizon: Will an equitable Green Climate Fund allocation policy be significant for the Pacific post-2020?

The establishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has increased expectations and optimism amongst developing countries, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to climate change. The GCF aims to channel a significant portion of global funds for climate change response, with a goal of reaching US$100 billion per year by 2020. Portrayed as a timely saviour to the climate finance needs of vulnerable countries, the allocation of GCF funds among countries will be key to low carbon and resilient futures. Its broad allocation policy increases the possibility that particularly vulnerable countries which have struggled to access international climate finance will continue to face such challenges. Adopting an equitable/fair principle of allocation, this article highlights a number of scenarios on the possible impact of the post-2020 climate financing environment on particularly vulnerable countries with a special focus on the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS). This study argues that PSIDS are extremely sensitive to GCF allocation mechanisms. While the study supports the notion of balanced allocation as currently advanced by the GCF, the precarious situation of PSIDS necessitates a re-think of how the GCF finance is to be allocated in the future