Equality of P-partition generating functions

To every labeled poset (P,\omega), one can associate a quasisymmetric generating function for its (P,\omega)-partitions. We ask: when do two labeled posets have the same generating function? Since the special case corresponding to skew Schur function equality is still open, a complete classification of equality among (P,\omega) generating functions is likely too much to expect. Instead, we determine necessary conditions and separate sufficient conditions for two labeled posets to have equal generating functions. We conclude with a classification of all equalities for labeled posets with small numbers of linear extensions.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures. Incorporates minor changes suggested by the referees. To appear in Annals of Combinatoric

Education in American prisons : a review of the literature

The purpose of this study is to understand how education programs in prison can benefit both prisoners and society in an America with a perennially rising prison population comprised of less educated individuals and budget cuts on education programs within prisons. The study includes a history of prisons in the United States from the pre-revolution English colonies to the present day, a theoretical perspective emphasizing education\u27s ability to rehabilitate as noted by Ubah (2003), and a current research section analyzing studies from 2005-2010. The findings indicate a correlation with participation in educational programs in prison with reduced recidivism rates, an improvement in the environment of the prisons themselves, and an increased likelihood of the children of prisoners becoming educated along with other positive outcomes. This study displays the importance of higher education in prison juxtaposed with a depiction of how hard it is to implement a college program within prison walls. Also, the impact that facility type in which the prisoner is incarcerated has on the success of education programs is noted. Finally, the study indicates that there is significant value when education programs select prisoners that are incarcerated long enough to finish an education program and are released within a reasonable period of time to use their new skills

The Status of Status in International Relations

This literature review provides a comparative analysis of the four main approaches within the status paradigm (social-psychological, rationalist, constructivist, and social immobility) to determine their respective strengths, limitations, explanatory power, and scope conditions. While there are various elements of ‘status’ that the approaches converge upon, they diverge significantly in their understanding of the motivations and strategies adopted by status-seeking states, how status is a form of power that translates into deference, and whether status-based analyses can be applied beyond rising and established great powers. The review provides five case studies (China, Norway, United States, the UNSC, and Russia) to demonstrate not only whether the strategies advocated by the approaches can accurately explain the status-seeking behaviour of these states, but also to determine if the approach is generalizable beyond its stated scope. Ultimately, it argues that to develop the strongest explanation for status-seeking behaviour, it is necessary to build synthetic accounts that combine insights from multiple approaches. To demonstrate the utility of synthetic explanations, the review provides an argument in favour of synthesizing the social psychological and status immobility approaches

Challenging Weapons Deals Between the United States and Israel: Limitations and Prospects

Weapons deals with Israel violate the plain language and policy considerations of United States’ statutes blocking such aid to serial violators of human rights and nuclear rogue states. This Note seeks to review paths to enforcing these statutes, as well as the political forces hampering such efforts

Monitoring of nitrogen leaching on a dairy farm during four drainage seasons

peer-reviewedThe authors acknowledge funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and Teagasc under the 2000–2006 RTDI programme.The effect of four commonly used dairy farm management systems (treatments), on nitrogen leaching to 1 m was studied over a 4-year period from October 2001 to April 2005. The treatments were (i) grazed plots receiving dirty water, (ii) 2-cut silage plots receiving slurry, (iii) grazed plots and (iv) 1-cut silage plots receiving slurry. All plots had fertiliser N applied; the soil was free-draining overlying fissured limestone. Mean 4-year N input (kg/ha) was 319 and mean annual stocking density was ~2.38 LU/ha. The annual average and weekly NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations in drainage water were analysed for all years, using a repeated measures analysis. For the annual NO3-N data, there was an interaction between treatment and year (P < 0.001). There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in NO3-N concentrations between the treatments in all years except the third. For the NH4-N data there was no interaction between treatment and year or main effect of treatment but there were differences between years (P < 0.01). Mean weekly concentrations were analysed separately for each year. For NO3-N, in all years but the third, there was an interaction between treatment and week (P < 0.001); this occurred with NH4-N, in all 4 years. Dirty water was significantly higher than grazed-fertiliser only and 1-cut silage in NO3-N concentrations in 2001–02; in 2002–03, dirty water and 2-cut silage were significantly higher than the other treatments; while in 2004–05, dirty water and grazed-fertiliser only were significantly higher than the other two treatments. The overall 4-year mean NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations were 8.2 and 0.297 mg/L, respectively.Environmental Protection Agenc

Effect of Agricultural Practices on Nitrate Leaching

Teagasc wishes to acknowledge with gratitude funding from the 2000-2006 EPA RTDI programme in financing this research project.End of project reportA farm-scale study, carried out at Teagasc, Moorepark (Curtin’s farm), examined the effect of four managements (treatments) on nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) leaching over the period 2001-`05. Leaching was measured in these treatments: (T1) plots receiving dirty water and N fertilizer which were grazed; (T2) 2-cut silage and grazing plots receiving slurry and fertilizer N; (T3) grazed plots receiving fertilizer N and (T4) 1-cut silage and grazing plots receiving slurry and fertilizer N. The soil is a free-draining sandy loam overlying Karstic fissured limestone. The mean direct N inputs (kg/ha) for T1-T4 in 2001-`04 were 311, 309, 326, 331, respectively, with stocking rates (LU/ha) of 2.12 - ~2.47. Eight ceramic cups per plot, in 3 replicate plots of each treatment, were used to collect water, on a weekly basis, from 1.0 m deep using 50 kPa suction. There were 33, 37, 26 and 24 sampling dates in the 4 years, respectively. The NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations (mg/l) were determined in the water samples. The annual average and weekly concentration of these parameters was statistically analysed for all years, using a repeated measures analysis. The aggregated data were not normally distributed. There was an interaction between treatment and year (p<0.001). Significant differences (p=0.05) in NO3-N concentrations showed between the treatments in years 1, 2, 4 but not in year 3. For the NH4-N data there was no interaction between treatment and year, p=0.12, or main effect of treatment, p=0.54 but there were differences between years, p=0.01. Mean weekly concentrations were analysed separately for each year. For NO3-N, in years 1, 2 and 4 there was an interaction between treatment and week (p<0.001). With NH4-N, there was an interaction between treatment and week in all 4 years. Dirty water was significantly higher than grazed and 1 cut silage in NO3-N concentrations in year 1; in year 2, dirty water and 2 cut silage were significantly higher than the other treatments while in year 4, dirty water and grazed were significantly higher than the other two treatments. The overall four-year weighted mean NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations were 8.2 and 0.297 mg/l. The NCYCLE (UK) model was adapted for Irish conditions as NCYCLE_IRL. The NCYCLE empirical approach proved to be suitable to predict N fluxes from Irish grassland systems in most situations. Experimental data appeared to agree quite well, in most cases, with the outputs from NCYCLE_IRL. The model was not capable of predicting data from some of the leaching experiments, which suggests that the observed leaching phenomena in these experiments could be governed by non-average conditions or other parameters not accounted for in NCYCLE_IRL. An approach that took into account denitrification, leaching and herbage yield would probably explain the differences found. NCYCLE_IRL proved to be a useful tool to analyse N leaching from grazed and cut grassland systems in Ireland.Environmental Protection Agenc

A Study of Mechanical Systems in Canadian High-rise Multi-unit Residential Buildings

Mechanical systems providing indoor environmental control and domestic hot water functions generally represent the largest consumer of energy in Canadian high-rise multi-unit residential buildings. Many different systems exist, but limited literature is available to guide the selection process. This thesis seeks to identify current available technologies, define the driving factors behind system selection, and to determine if there are specific systems or technologies which are advantageous with respect to economic, environmental, and practical characteristics. Research was divided into four categories. A literature review was conducted to identify both similar high level research projects as well as specific details associated with the design and operation of mechanical systems. A model of an existing high-rise MURB was built and calibrated from extensive real world data. This model was used to construct six reference buildings – 3 code-based, and 3 low-energy – located in Vancouver, Toronto, and Edmonton. Using these reference models, a series of simulations were conducted to evaluate the relative performance of a wide variety of mechanical systems and equipment. Analysis and discussion of system characteristics revealed no mechanical systems which were advantageous in all scenarios, though there are systems which are clearly advantageous to specific stakeholder groups. Location and climate were found to influence ventilation loads more than any other building load. The carbon intensity of the electric grid was found to be the determining factor of greenhouse gas emissions for systems using electricity as their primary fuel source. Heat pump technology was identified as providing the lowest site energy consumption. Air-to-air heat recovery was found to be the most effective in reducing ventilation energy consumption and emissions. Recommendations for future work include expansion of scope to low- and mid-rise buildings with different form factors. Targeted studies could also be performed to evaluate the impact of internal distribution losses as well as to help refine the cost-to-performance relationship of heat pump technology in order to identify cost competitive applications

Transcription Factors Mediate the Enzymatic Disassembly of Promoter-Bound 7SK snRNP to Locally Recruit P-TEFb for Transcription Elongation

SummaryThe transition from transcription initiation into elongation is controlled by transcription factors, which recruit positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) to promoters to phosphorylate RNA polymerase II. A fraction of P-TEFb is recruited as part of the inhibitory 7SK small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (snRNP), which inactivates the kinase and prevents elongation. However, it is unclear how P-TEFb is captured from the promoter-bound 7SK snRNP to activate elongation. Here, we describe a mechanism by which transcription factors mediate the enzymatic release of P-TEFb from the 7SK snRNP at promoters to trigger activation in a gene-specific manner. We demonstrate that Tat recruits PPM1G/PP2Cγ to locally disassemble P-TEFb from the 7SK snRNP at the HIV promoter via dephosphorylation of the kinase T loop. Similar to Tat, nuclear factor (NF)-κB recruits PPM1G in a stimulus-dependent manner to activate elongation at inflammatory-responsive genes. Recruitment of PPM1G to promoter-assembled 7SK snRNP provides a paradigm for rapid gene activation through transcriptional pause release

Growing Up in Ireland: Growing up and developing as an adult: A review of the literature on selected topics pertaining to cohort ’98 at age 20 years. ESRI Report December 2020.

The goal of this report is to provide research information on selected potential research questions using data collected in interviews with 20-year-olds and their parents. At the time of writing, fieldwork was under way, so the topics of the survey were known but not the outcome of the interviews. The research questions address the central outcomes of the Growing Up in Ireland study that contribute to building developmental trajectories from childhood to adulthood: socio-emotional well-being; educational and cognitive development; physical health and growth. Three potential research questions are outlined under each outcome and provide a short supporting review of the national and international literature, followed by a description of the measures in Growing Up in Ireland useful in exploring the topic. While there is a wide array of possible research questions with a dataset such as this, the selected topics are those that offer new potential given the measures at this particular wave and/or are particularly salient to this phase of the life-course