Growing Up with Scout and Atticus: Getting from To Kill a Mockingbird Through Go Set a Watchman

This essay argues that Harper Lee’s unexpected but welcomed second novel, Go Set a Watchman, is both a fitting and a disappointing sequel to her beloved debut, To Kill a Mockingbird. It is fitting because it confirms that Atticus Finch, the knowing father of the first novel, despite his noble defense of a falsely accused Black man in the Depression Era South, never was, on closer inspection, much of a Progressive, even on matters of race. That, for many of his admirers, has proved hugely, almost Oedipally, disappointing. But what fits equally well, and disappoints even more, is his adoring daughter Scout’s coming of age. Though twenty-six in the second novel and re-settled in New York City, she is still very much a child of the segregated South. In her second novel as much as in her first, Harper Lee has her heroine learn that, on the things that really matter, her father ultimately knows best. The second novel’s very late arrival thus reminds us of what history has long since taught: “With all deliberate speed” will prove far too fast a pace for some very respectable Southern white folks, both real and imagined

The Case for Improving U.S. Computer Science Education

Despite the growing use of computers and software in every facet of our economy, not until recently has computer science education begun to gain traction in American school systems. The current focus on improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the U.S. school system has disregarded differences within STEM fields. Indeed, the most important STEM field for a modern economy is not only one that is not represented by its own initial in "STEM" but also the field with the fewest number of high school students taking its classes and by far has the most room for improvement—computer science

Economic Doctrines and Approaches to Climate Change Policy

In climate change, as in all policy issues, economic philosophy has a significant influence on how people view both the problems and the solutions. For the first time, ITIF surveys four dominant schools of economic thought and analyzes how adherents approach policy options for climate change and energy policy. With climate change and major energy legislation stalled, maybe it is time to put aside fixed philosophical notions and take a practical look on ways to address climate change in an economically feasible way. The report reviews the principles and goals of each economic doctrine, and offers a critique of the advantages and limitations of each doctrine's contribution to addressing the challenge of climate change.Innovation; Economics; Climate Change; Public Policy

Economics of intelligent selection of wireless access networks in a market-based framework : a game-theoretic approach

The Digital Marketplace is a market-based framework where network operators offer communications services with competition at the call level. It strives to address a tussle between the actors involved in a heterogeneous wireless access network. However, as with any market-like institution, it is vital to analyze the Digital Marketplace from the strategic perspective to ensure that all shortcomings are removed prior to implementation. In this paper, we analyze the selling mechanism proposed in the Digital Marketplace. The mechanism is based on a procurement first-price sealed-bid auction where the network operators represent the sellers/bidders, and the end-user of a wireless service is the buyer. However, this auction format is somewhat unusual as the winning bid is a composition of both the network operator’s monetary bid and their reputation rating. We create a simple economic model of the auction, and we show that it is mathematically intractable to derive the equilibrium bidding behavior when there are N network operators, and we make only generic assumptions about the structure of the bidding strategies. We then move on to consider a scenario with only two network operators, and assume that network operators use bidding strategies which are linear functions of their costs. This results in the derivation of the equilibrium bidding behavior in that scenario

Nitrogen fixation and soil nitrogen in organic ley arable rotations

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Nitrogen (N) fixation in a white clover/ryegrass mixture was measured in 1,2,3 and 4-year-old organically managed leys during 2000. N fixation varied between 73.7 in 1-year-old leys and 33.5 kg ha-1 in 4-year-old leys. Soil nitrate-N, grass N yield and N content of grass and clover were all lowest in 2-year-old leys and highest in 3-year-old leys. The proportion of clover nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (pNdfa) was significantly lower in 3-year-old leys

The enumeration of three pattern classes using monotone grid classes

The structure of the three pattern classes defined by the sets of forbidden permutations \{2143,4321\}, \{2143,4312\} and \{1324,4312\} is determined using the machinery of monotone grid classes. This allows the permutations in these classes to be described in terms of simple diagrams and regular languages and, using this, the rational generating functions which enumerate these classes are determined

The enumeration of permutations avoiding 2143 and 4231

We enumerate the pattern class Av(2143, 4231) and completely describe its permutations. The main tools are simple permutations and monotone grid classes

Probing cardiac metabolism in uraemic cardiomyopathy

Cardiovascular complications are the leading cause of death in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Uraemic cardiomyopathy (UCM) is characterised by structural and cellular remodelling including left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), metabolic remodelling and mitochondrial dysfunction. Although ex vivo studies have highlighted evidence of enhanced glucose utilisation in the hypertrophied heart, cardiac glucose metabolism in uraemia has yet to be established in vivo. In addition, little is known about mitochondrial morphology or the impact of iron therapy on cardiac mitochondrial function in CKD. The aims of this study were to (I) investigate cardiac glucose metabolism in vivo using ¹⁸F-flurodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET) during the development of UCM and (II) characterise mitochondrial morphology and the impact of iron therapy on cardiac mitochondrial function in uraemia.Experimental uraemia was induced surgically in male Sprague-Dawley rats via a subtotal nephrectomy. Dynamic PET/CT scans were acquired at 5, 9 and 13 weeks post-surgery using ¹⁸F-FDG PET. The rate and distribution of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake were determined using Patlak and polar map analysis. In a separate series of experiments the iron complex, ferumoxytol, was administered 6 weeks post-surgery and mitochondrial respiratory rates and enzyme activities determined following sacrifice 6 weeks later. Cardiac mitochondrial morphology was characterised by probing the expression of key mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins and evaluating mitochondrial size and structure in left ventricular tissue and isolated mitochondria.Renal dysfunction was prominent in uraemic animals by 12 weeks as evidenced by elevated serum creatinine, urea and the presence of anaemia. LVH was associated with moderately increased ¹⁸F-FDG uptake in the uraemic heart at 5, 9 and 13 weeks. This was paralleled at the cellular level by altered mitochondrial morphology, characterised by a more sparsely packed cristae, and increased mitochondrial state 4 respiration, indicative of reduced efficiency. However, ferumoxytol treatment did not impact on cardiac mitochondrial function at this stage of uraemia. Collectively these data suggest there is evidence of enhanced glucose utilisation in the uraemic heart in vivo and these changes are associated with altered mitochondrial structure and bioenergetics