Justice and Inclusive Governance in Nigeria: Rethinking the Niger Delta Problem

The Niger Delta issue besides attracting impressive attention continues to linger due to failure to find plausible explanation for issues of the region. The discourse woven around this issue leaves two clear lines of argument. One sees the region responsible for her development woes, the other hold the alleged flawed Nigerian federal system, responsible for the challenges of the region. This paper relied on triangulation of data to argue that the issue of the Niger Delta lingers because of injustice in the Nigerian governance. The paper concludes that inclusive governance capable of giving the troubled oil-bearing region needed sense of belonging, would be able to bring peace to the region. The paper found inverted justice system in resource politics in Nigeria responsible for the continued agitation of the Niger Delta region. It concludes that true federalism be adopted in Nigeria to birth healthy competition for development. Keywords: Nigeria, Niger Delta, Oil Politics, Inclusion, Justice, Development. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/12-7-03 Publication date:September 30th 202

Expected characteristics of the subclass of Supernova Gamma-ray Bursts (S-GRBs)

The spatial and temporal coincidence between the gamma-ray burst (GRB) 980425 and supernova (SN) 1998bw has prompted speculation that there exists a class of GRBs produced by SNe (``S-GRBs''). Robust arguments for the existence of a relativistic shock have been presented on the basis of radio observations. A physical model based on the radio observations lead us to propose the following characteristics of supernovae GRBs (S-GRBs): 1) prompt radio emission and implied brightness temperature near or below the inverse Compton limit, 2) high expansion velocity of the optical photosphere as derived from lines widths and energy release larger than usual, 3) no long-lived X-ray afterglow, and 4) a single pulse (SP) GRB profile. Radio studies of previous SNe show that only type Ib and Ic potentially satisfy the first condition. Accordingly we have investigated proposed associations of GRBs and SNe finding no convincing evidence (mainly to paucity of data) to confirm any single connection of a SN with a GRB. If there is a more constraining physical basis for the burst time-history of S-GRBs beyond that of the SP requirement, we suggest the 1% of light curves in the BATSE catalogue similar to that of GRB 980425 may constitute the subclass. Future optical follow-up of bursts with similar profiles should confirm if such GRBs originate from some fraction of SN type Ib/Ic.Comment: 11 pages of LaTeX with 1 figure. Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Nuru Ethiopia 2020 Impact Report

Since 2016, the Ray Marshall Center has provided technical assistance to Nuru International’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) team. The Center’s experience and expertise support Nuru’s work in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria by demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of its integrated approach to addressing poverty. This report presents Nuru Ethiopia’s 2020 impact results for farmer cooperatives, rural livelihoods, and healthcare programming. RMC researchers found that Nuru interventions led to higher agricultural incomes for Nuru farmer households and reductions in under‐five mortality while building a foundation of sustainable cooperative businesses. In 2020, communities and farmers in southern Ethiopia experienced the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, a national state of emergency, continued desert locust swarms, and the outbreak of violent conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. However, the firm foundation of livelihood diversification, healthy behaviors, and farmer organization impacts will ensure that meaningful choices are available to farmers in the future through their member‐owned businesses. Rigorous methods including comparison groups and benchmarking‐based analysis demonstrated that Nuru Ethiopia achieved attributable impact in 2020 despite the multiple challenges present in the year.Nuru InternationalRay Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resource

Hard X-ray Imaging Survey of the Galactic Plane with the Caltech Gamma-Ray Imaging Payload GRIP-2

In a recent balloon flight on October 6-7, 1995, the Caltech coded aperture Gamma-Ray Imaging Payload (GRIP-2) imaged numerous fields in the Galactic plane and center in the 25 ke V - 600 ke V energy band. GRIP-2's large phoswich detector (3830 cm2), 15° (FWHM) field of view, 30' angular resolution and 6' point source localization ability make it ideally suited for surveying the accreting binary population of the Galaxy at high energy. We present a brief description of the instrument and we also report preliminary imaging results from our recent Southern hemisphere campaign and show the capabilities of this balloon-borne coded aperture telescope for hard X-ray/gamma ray imaging. Several galactic sources have so far been detected above 25 keV with GRIP-2: IE 1740.7-2942, GRS 1758-258, Cyg X-1, GX 339-4, GX 354-0, GX 1+4, GRS 1915+105, Cyg X-3, 4U 1700-377, 4U 1702-429, Terzan 2 and the Crab pulsar

EXIST: The Ultimate Spatial/Temporal Hard X-ray Survey

The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a proposed mission to conduct an all-sky imaging hard x-ray (HX) survey (~5–600 keV) with ~0.05mCrab sensitivity (5σ; 6mo.; ~5–100keV) comparable to the ROSAT soft x-ray survey, and to provide the maximum sensitivity and resolution (spatial and temporal) HX imager as the Next Generation GRB mission. Its primary science goals are to i) identify and measure obscured AGN and constrain the accretion luminosity of the universe as well as the cosmic IR background from Blazar spectra coincident with GeV-TeV observations, ii) measure spectra, variability and locations for the faintest GRBs to study the most energetic events in the universe and the earliest epoch of star formation, and iii) study black holes on all scales, from x-ray transients to luminous AGN. EXIST would incorporate a very large area (~8m^2) imaging Cd-Zn-Te detector and coded aperture telescope array with nearly half-sky instantaneous view which images the full sky each orbit. With fixed zenith pointing, it could be mounted on the ISS or a free flyer and would complement both GLAST and Constellation-X science if launched before 2010, as recommended by the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey

Generalised growth models for aquatic species with an application to blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra)

This paper presents a maximum likelihood method for estimating growth parameters for an aquatic species that incorporates growth covariates, and takes into consideration multiple tag-recapture data. Individual variability in asymptotic length, age-at-tagging, and measurement error are also considered in the model structure. Using distribution theory, the log-likelihood function is derived under a generalised framework for the von Bertalanffy and Gompertz growth models. Due to the generality of the derivation, covariate effects can be included for both models with seasonality and tagging effects investigated. Method robustness is established via comparison with the Fabens, improved Fabens, James and a non-linear mixed-effects growth models, with the maximum likelihood method performing the best. The method is illustrated further with an application to blacklip abalone ( Haliotis rubra) for which a strong growth-retarding tagging effect that persisted for several months was detected

Grazing incidence optics designs for future gamma-ray missions

Sensitive nuclear line spectroscopy for observations of prompt emission from supernovae, as well as mapping of remnants has been a primary goal of gamma-ray astrophysics since its inception. A number of key lines lie in the energy band from 10 - 600 keV. In this region of the spectrum, observations have to-date been limited by high background and poor angular resolution. In this paper, we present several designs capable of extending the sensitivity of grazing incidence optics into this energy range. In particular, we discuss a 15 m focal length design for NASA's High-Sensitivity Spectroscopic Imaging Mission concept, as well as a 50 m focal length design which can extend ESA's XEUS mission into this band. We demonstrate that an unprecedented line sensitivity of 10^(-7) cm^(-2) s^(-1) can be achieved for the most important lines in this energy band

Gamma-Ray Burst Studies with the Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST)

The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a sensitive, wide field of view hard X-ray (10–600 keV) coded-aperture telescope. This paper describes the capabilities and characteristics of EXIST as proposed to NASA’s Medium—Class Explorer (MIDEX) program. A larger version of EXIST is being studied as a NASA New Mission Concept. In addition to its primary science objective, which is to carry out the first high-sensitivity (0.5 mCrab) hard X-ray imaging survey (14’ resolution) of the entire sky, EXIST has a number of important Gamma-Ray burst (GRB) objectives which include: 1) A sensitive observation toward M31 to search for an extended burst halo to confirm or eliminate models in which isotropically emitting burst sources are distributed in an extended (∼200–400 kpc) Galactic halo. 2) Sensitive wide FOV monitoring to probe the GRB long N -log P distribution an order of magnitude fainter than BATSE 3) Rapid dissemination of accurate (30′′) burst positions for ground-based followup. 4) High time-resolution (100 μsec) burst observations. 5) High quality (ΔE=4.4 keV FWHM @ 60 keV) measurements of GRB spectra

Isatuximab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients with renal impairment: ICARIA-MM subgroup analysis

The randomized, phase 3 ICARIA-MM study investigated isatuximab (Isa) with pomalidomide and dexamethasone (Pd) versus Pd in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and ≥2 prior lines. This prespecified subgroup analysis examined efficacy in patients with renal impairment (RI; estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m²). Isa 10 mg/kg was given intravenously once weekly in cycle 1, and every 2 weeks in subsequent 28-day cycles. Patients received standard doses of Pd. Median progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with RI was 9.5 months with Isa-Pd (n = 55) and 3.7 months with Pd (n = 49; hazard ratio [HR] 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30–0.85). Without RI, median PFS was 12.7 months with Isa-Pd (n = 87) and 7.9 months with Pd (n = 96; HR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.38–0.88). The overall response rate (ORR) with and without RI was higher with Isa-Pd (56 and 68%) than Pd (25 and 43%). Complete renal response rates were 71.9% (23/32) with Isa-Pd and 38.1% (8/21) with Pd; these lasted ≥60 days in 31.3% (10/32) and 19.0% (4/21) of patients, respectively. Isa pharmacokinetics were comparable between the subgroups, suggesting no need for dose adjustment in patients with RI. In summary, the addition of Isa to Pd improved PFS, ORR and renal response rates