Pathways to Economic Mobility: Key Indicators

Outlines how indicators of social, human, and financial capital affect an individual's chances of moving up or down the economic ladder. Analyzes data on family structure, community, education, race/ethnicity, health, home ownership, and other factors

The Science Behind Learning: Practical Applications of Curiosity, Sociality, and Emotion in Communication Center Consultations

How humans learn is a topic explored by many disciplines.  Eyler (2018) synthesized research from diverse fields such as developmental psychology, anthropology, and cognitive neuroscience to identify themes important for understanding the science behind learning. Three of these principles have important relevance for center work: curiosity, sociality, and emotion. This paper explores practical strategies, based on these three principles, that consultants in communication centers can use to enhance learning and better assist students.Keywords: communication centers, consulting, science of learning, curiosity, sociality, emotio

Reliability indicators for water distribution system design: comparison

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.When designing a water distribution system (WDS), it is imperative that the reliability of the network is taken into consideration. It is possible to directly evaluate the reliability of a WDS, although the calculation processes involved are computationally intensive and thus undesirable for some state-of-the-art, iterative design approaches (such as optimization). Consequently, interest has recently grown in the use of reliability indicators, which are simpler and faster to evaluate than direct reliability methods. In this study, two existing reliability indicators, the Todini resilience index and entropy for WDS, are examined by analyzing their relationships with different subcategories of reliability, namely the mechanical (network tolerance to pipe failure) and hydraulic reliability (network tolerance to demand change). The analysis is performed by generating comparable solutions through multiobjective optimization of cost against the chosen indicators using the well known Anytown WDS benchmark as a case study. It is found that WDS solutions with high entropy have increased mechanical reliability, yet are expensive and have poor hydraulic operation and water quality. In contrast, high resilience index networks are relatively cheaper and present reasonable hydraulic operational performance, yet have limited improvement in mechanical reliability. Both indicators appear to be correlated to hydraulic reliability, but each has its own associated disadvantages. Including minimum surplus head as an additional objective in the optimization of the reliability indicators appeared to improve the performance. When optimized together, a trade-off between the two indicators is identified, implying that significantly increasing both simultaneously is not possible, and thus a new indicator is recommended to account for both the mechanical and hydraulic reliability while ensuring reasonable standards of hydraulic operation.This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council as part of the Urban Futures Project (EP/F007426/1)

The Glasgow tobacco merchants and the American Revolution, 1770-1800

The tobacco trade formed the basis of the Chesapeake economy during the Eighteenth Century. Tobacco was shipped to Britain during the -colonial period, in accordance with the Navigation Acts, and then sold in European markets. The French market increased rapidly during the first half of the century, and the Glasgow tobacco companies took the lead in supplying the French monopoly administered by the Farmers General. The Scots gained the advantage over other British merchants by setting up networks of stores to facilitate the collection of tobacco and the sale of goods, and by devising an extensive credit system to cater for the needs of the smaller planters in the Piedmont. The Scottish merchants were in fierce competition with each other, and with English merchants. This competition ensured that the planters were not, to any significant degree, exploited by the merchants. In many cases, the planters were able to combine in order to extract very favourable prices and credit facilities. The Scots were a closely-knit community, and although many left the Glasgow companies to become independent traders they were seen as outsiders. Radical propagandists encouraged this feeling in order to arouse anti-British sentiment. The allegations levelled against the Scots, however, were largely groundless. When war broke out a large proportion of the Scots left the Chesapeake, and the assets of the Glasgow companies were seized. Nevertheless, the Scots set up a system of agents in New York and the West Indies, both to supply the rebelling colonies with goods in exchange for tobacco wherever this was practicable, and to have channels available for a speedy return to the Chesapeake whenever peace was declared. After the war significant numbers of Scots returned to the Chesapeake, in order to collect debts and to trade in goods and tobacco. Many planters returned to their pre-war Scots companies, and trade once again fell into the colonial pattern. Britain dominated the carrying trade, the only major difference being that it was now not necessary to call at a British port before proceeding to Europe, other than to collect orders. The readiness of planters to return to the old pattern of trade suggests that it was advantageous to the Americans, and not a mere product of the Navigation Acts. The Scots were not successful in using trade after the war as a means of recovering debt; and with the outbreak of war in Europe, most companies closed their stores and relied on the assistance of the British government to recovery debts. Yet many of the Scots factors remained in the Chesapeake, and continued to trade and benefit the area

Aspects of the biology of Caffrogobius Caffer (Günter) (Pisces : Teleostei : Gobiidae) in the Eastern Cape

Several strategies used by the gobiid fish Caffrogobius caffer enabling it to colonise the harsh intertidal environment in the eastern Cape were studied. Q. caffer is opportunistic in its use of available food resources and feeds throughout the day with a slight tendency towards crepuscular peaks of feeding activity. The system of space utilisation used by C. caffer is so organised that all individuals of the population have access to patchily distributed food resources. Current velocities occurring over high tide limit the movements of Qo caffer and interpool movements occur only during the initial stages of a rising tide and in the final stages of an ebbing tide when the current velocities are below the tolerance limit of Q. caffer. The epifauna associated with the alga Ulva rigida, which forms an important constituent of the diet of the intermediate size classes of Q. caffer, was examined and it appears that this epifauna is an important source of food to Q. caffer. This report presents the results of the first detailed study of the biology of an intertidal fish in southern Africa

Provision of dietary education in UK-based cardiac rehabilitation: a cross-sectional survey conducted in conjunction with the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.

Dietary education is a core component of cardiac rehabilitation (CR). It is unknown how or what dietary education is delivered across the United Kingdom (UK). We aimed to characterise practitioners who deliver dietary education in UK CR and determine the format and content of the education sessions. A 54-item survey was approved by the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (BACPR) committee and circulated between July and October 2021 via two emails to the BACPR mailing list and on social media. Practitioners providing dietary education within CR programmes were eligible to respond. Survey questions encompassed: practitioner job title and qualifications, resources, and the format, content and individual tailoring of diet education. Forty-nine different centres responded. Nurses (65.1%) and dietitians (55.3%) frequently provided dietary education. Practitioners had no nutrition-related qualifications in 46.9% of services. Most services used credible resources to support their education, and 24.5% used BACPR core competencies. CR programmes were mostly community-based (40.8%), lasting 8-weeks (range: 2-25) and included 2 (range: 1-7) diet sessions. Dietary history was assessed at the start (79.6%) and followed-up (83.7%) by most centres; barriers to completing assessment were insufficient time, staffing, or other priorities. Services mainly focused on the Mediterranean diet whilst topics such as malnutrition and protein intake were lower priority topics. Service improvement should focus on increasing qualifications of practitioners, standardisation of dietary assessment, and improvement in protein and malnutrition screening and assessment