NGO'S AND THE AFRICAN FARMER: A SKEPTICAL PERSPECTIVE

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Smoking Cessation and the Role of Stigma: A Systematic Review

There have been smoking cessation programs in existence for more than three decades. Stigma has been used in smoking campaigns with good results for individuals in higher socioeconomic status, but not for those in poverty. Perceptions of smokers and behaviors of smokers continue to be stigmatized. This paper reviews the existing literature in an attempt to understand what role stigma plays in smoking cessation programs for those living in poverty

Smoking Cessation and the Role of Stigma: A Systematic Review

There have been smoking cessation programs in existence for more than three decades. Stigma has been used in smoking campaigns with good results for individuals in higher socioeconomic status, but not for those in poverty. Perceptions of smokers and behaviors of smokers continue to be stigmatized. This paper reviews the existing literature in an attempt to understand what role stigma plays in smoking cessation programs for those living in poverty

Man, the Forgotten

Non-fiction by Carl W. White

Tributes to Professor Robert Berkley Harper

In 1977, I began teaching at The University of Pittsburgh Law School and in short order one of my closest friends during my tenure there was Professor Robert “Bob” Harper. I wondered when I was hired whether I was selected because I looked strikingly similar to Bob, and perhaps the faculty thought my favoring Professor Harper would make my assimilation into the law school faculty that much easier. Students constantly called me Professor Harper and, indeed, many on the faculty called me Bob for several years; I never bothered to correct them. I thought if they paid that little attention to detail in law school, I would just let them go through life missing some of the finer points their education, and life for that matter, has to offer

Concept for a large master/slave-controlled robotic hand

A strategy is presented for the design and construction of a large master/slave-controlled, five-finger robotic hand. Each of the five fingers will possess four independent axes each driven by a brushless DC servomotor and, thus, four degrees-of-freedom. It is proposed that commercially available components be utilized as much as possible to fabricate a working laboratory model of the device with an anticipated overall length of two-to-four feet (0.6 to 1.2 m). The fingers are to be designed so that proximity, tactile, or force/torque sensors can be imbedded in their structure. In order to provide for the simultaneous control of the twenty independent hand joints, a multilevel master/slave control strategy is proposed in which the operator wears a specially instrumented glove which produces control signals corresponding to the finger configurations and which is capable of conveying sensor feedback signals to the operator. Two dexterous hand master devices are currently commercially available for this application with both undergoing continuing development. A third approach to be investigated for the master control mode is the use of real-time image processing of a specially patterned master glove to provide the respective control signals for positioning the multiple finger joints

Millimetre and submillimetre molecular line observations of the reflection nebula NGC 2023

Observations in the CO J = 2 - 1, CO J = 3 - 2 and HCO+ J = 4 - 3 transitions of the molecular cloud associated with NGC 2023 are presented. The observations reveal the complex structure of the gas in the surrounding cloud, and show the presence of several hot-spots which may represent separate bodies of gas. A search has been made for the source of excitation of two nearby groups of Herbig-Haro objects recently discovered by Malin et al. (1987). No such objects can be clearly identified from the data. CO J = 3 - 2 spectra taken at positions lying on the CO J = 1 - 0 shell observed by Gatley et al. (1987) show marked enhancements in peak line strength relative to coincident CO J = 2 - 1 data. By contrast, no such enhancements are observed away from the shell. Observations of the submillimeter wavelength HCO+ J = 4 - 3 transition show that the line strength is greatest in the vicinity of the shell structure. Simple large velocity gradient modeling of the excitation conditions of the shell material suggests that the gas may be hot (Tkin ~ 140 K), dense, and optically thin

The Multi-Component Nature of the Vela Pulsar Nonthermal X-ray Spectrum

We report on our analysis of a 274 ks observation of the Vela pulsar with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The double-peaked, pulsed emission at 2 - 30 keV, which we had previously detected during a 93 ks observation, is confirmed with much improved statistics. There is now clear evidence, both in the spectrum and the light curve, that the emission in the RXTE band is a blend of two separate non-thermal components. The spectrum of the harder component connects smoothly with the OSSE, COMPTEL and EGRET spectrum and the peaks in the light curve are in phase coincidence with those of the high-energy light curve. The spectrum of the softer component is consistent with an extrapolation to the pulsed optical flux, and the second RXTE pulse is in phase coincidence with the second optical peak. In addition, we see a peak in the 2-8 keV RXTE pulse profile at the radio phase.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa