Evaluating Rice Straw as a Substitute for Barley Straw in Inhibiting Algal Growth in Farm Ponds

Algal blooms disrupt aquatic ecosystems and are more common in lakes, ponds, and rivers during the summer months due to nutrient pollution. Livestock production can contribute increased quantities of nutrients to water bodies from runoff of manure. Commonly used mechanical and chemical control methods may have limited success because algae are small and propagate quickly. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) straw has been shown to inhibit the growth of algae as the straw decomposes aerobically in ponds. Therefore, barley represents a natural option for algal biomass control. However, the small amount of barley production in Arkansas limits the availability of barley straw as a solution to control algal blooms locally. Other cereal grain straws may produce similar inhibitory effects during decomposition. Rice (Oryza sativa) is produced in large quantities in Arkansas, making rice straw a locally sourced straw product. The objective of this research was to determine the efficacy of using rice compared to barley straw to inhibit algal growth in freshwater ponds. Data were collected from nine farm ponds, three treated with rice straw, three treated with barley straw, and three without amendment to serve as the experimental control. Dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate-nitrogen (NO3--N), dissolved phosphorus (P), temperature, and turbidity were measured for 14 weeks from June 12 to September 17, 2018. Algal biomass was measured as chlorophyll-a concentration to evaluate treatment effectiveness over time. Dissolved oxygen was significantly influenced by treatment and time. The NO3--N concentration in ponds treated with rice straw was significantly greater than the control and barley treatment. Chlorophyll-a concentrations were variable, and there were no consistent trends through time within a treatment. More research under controlled conditions to understand impacts of abiotic conditions, microbial and algal community compositions, and mode of action of algal inhibition is required before cereal straw can be a reliable, locally sourced method of algal control in farm ponds

Cellular Helmet Liner Design through Bio-inspired Structures and Topology Optimization of Compliant Mechanism Lattices

The continuous development of sport technologies constantly demands advancements in protective headgear to reduce the risk of head injuries. This article introduces new cellular helmet liner designs through two approaches. The first approach is the study of energy-absorbing biological materials. The second approach is the study of lattices comprised of force-diverting compliant mechanisms. On the one hand, bio-inspired liners are generated through the study of biological, hierarchical materials. An emphasis is given on structures in nature that serve similar concussion-reducing functions as a helmet liner. Inspiration is drawn from organic and skeletal structures. On the other hand, compliant mechanism lattice (CML)-based liners use topology optimization to synthesize rubber cellular unit cells with effective positive and negative Poisson's ratios. Three lattices are designed using different cellular unit cell arrangements, namely, all positive, all negative, and alternating effective Poisson's ratios. The proposed cellular (bio-inspired and CML-based) liners are embedded between two polycarbonate shells, thereby, replacing the traditional expanded polypropylene foam liner used in standard sport helmets. The cellular liners are analyzed through a series of 2D extruded ballistic impact simulations to determine the best performing liner topology and its corresponding rubber hardness. The cellular design with the best performance is compared against an expanded polypropylene foam liner in a 3D simulation to appraise its protection capabilities and verify that the 2D extruded design simulations scale to an effective 3D design

Any Changes, Eh? : Party Defection, Party Switching, and Shifting Allegiances in Antebellum America, 1830-1860

Political party ties hardened during the Second Party System period, most noticeably in the transition from the Federalist and Democratic-Republicans to the Democratic and Whig parties. “Any Changes, Eh?” argues that politically-minded Americans still found ways to leave their political parties and support another, even in the face of social and political ostracism. As party ties grew stronger, party defection shifted from direct to indirect methods to challenge political system. Sometimes these movements were permanent conversions, other times they were a protest vote only to make a point to their home party. Party defection took a variety of forms beyond just announcing a leave of party; forming coalitions, fusion tickets, and double agents. These strategies formed the basis of partisan strategies as well as contributed to final election results. Combining newspaper sources, print media, and the personal writings of political insiders, this dissertation complicates the story of antebellum politics to show the direct and indirect ways Americans challenged the party conventions of their age. “Any Changes, Eh?” also shows the limits to such movement between parties. Even after their new party identity, those defectors reckoned with the lingering remnants of the old party ties, even as the parties themselves disappeared and became replaced. At the start of the antebellum era in the 1820s, parties were formed by strong personalities and local allegiances allowing individuals greater ease in supporting opposing factions. For the next three decades the stain of apostasy could be mitigated through a careful process of engaging in the political culture of honor. One could take performative steps to demonstrate the sincerity of their conviction to change political parties, often in the public eye for community approbation. Surrounding the 1844 election parties of personality declined, replaced with loyalty to issues and the party itself. As discreet issues overtook personal loyalty, the increased focus on slavery infected the Whig and Democratic parties as they attempted to wrestle with internal factions demanding that the only way to organize a national party was in accepting sectional demands as the party line. The collision of sectional, local, and decades-long loyalties to party meant that the new Republican Party had to navigate creative methods to encourage defection, such as fusing with dissident Know-Nothings at the local level or encouraging defectors to use their old party allegiances to fight their rivals from within the old battle line

Loose Canons: The Supreme Court\u27s New Interpretive Methodology

Just over fifty years ago, Congress enacted the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) to address burning rivers and bacteria infested waterways that plagued the United States. The objective of the Act was to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” The judicial branch is responsible for reviewing and interpreting the law, and through such review, the United States Supreme Court has been tasked with interpreting the CWA more than any piece of environmental legislation. In Sackett v. EPA, it did so using a new interpretive approach: canonism

Native vs. non-native English speaking teachers: an analysis of business schools in the tertiary education sector

The study examines how Business Schools at universities in Korea can motivate Korean, English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in business courses under the policy of English-medium instruction (EMI). This research focuses on the role of non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) and native English speaking teachers (NESTs) in an EFL environment. To conduct the experiment, EFL learners' motivation changes and qualitative interviews are collected; the NNEST class (n = 19), and NEST class (n = 18). The results of the motivation survey showed that at the beginning of the semester, the NNEST class learners displayed a lower level of confidence and intrinsic motivation than that of NEST class learners. However, by the end of the semester, while the intrinsic motivation levels remained the same, the NNEST class showed a higher level of confidence, interest, and extrinsic motivation than that of NEST class. Qualitative interviews were also done after the semester ended. The results of the interviews showed that motivation changes had no direct effect on classroom satisfaction in EFL contexts as learners understood the differences between NNESTs and NESTs, and their expectations in class of these two teachers were clearly different. Based on the findings, the paper also provides some policy advice to universities so as to help increase Korean EFL learners' motivation and class satisfaction under the English-medium instruction policy

The sustainability of the WTO dispute settlement system: does it work for developing countries?

Our study provides an econometric analysis of whether developing countries are disadvantaged by the WTO dispute settlement procedure. Despite the many successes of the Dispute Settlement Board (DSB), there is a need to better understand the overall effectiveness of the dispute mechanism. Using bilateral data for about 160 countries from 1995 to 2017, this paper describes the influencing factors for developing countries' participation in the dispute settlement process. By conducting a rare events logistic regression analysis, the results from this study show that the key factors that determine the ability for a developing country to initiate a dispute against another country include the export intensity, retaliation capability, economic power, and economic threat from potential defendant countries. This means that not all developing countries can participate in trade dispute settlement mechanisms, so the WTO dispute settlement system has relative legitimacy. In addition, we further compare and analyze the influence of these four dimensions over different time periods and in different target countries through seemingly unrelated estimations

Brexit: the economic and political implications for Asia

Often trumpeted as a bastion of modern economic and political integration, the European Union (EU) has played an integral role in the development of the United Kingdom’s (UK) economy. However, in recent times, the relationship between the EU and the UK has become increasingly fragile, particularly on issues of national sovereignty, immigration, and the general bureaucratic reach of Brussels. Tension surrounding these concerns meant that on 23 June 2016, the British public voted, by way of a referendum, to leave the EU. This decision, often referred to as Brexit, has created a watershed moment in the history of the region, with implications that may have a significant impact on not only Europe, but also Asia and the wider global community. In order to make better sense of the issue, this study provides a brief synopsis of Britain’s decision to leave the EU, before providing a detailed analysis of how the Brexit decision will impact the Asian region. As part of this discussion, a series of relevant policy issues are considered

Knowledge Networks of the Information Technology Management Domain: A Social Network Analysis Approach

Using the social network analysis technique, we decomposed the knowledge networks of the information technology management (ITM) domain. We included a total of 893 papers published during the 1995-2014 period in the network analysis. From this domain, the network and ego level properties—such as, degree centralities, density, components, structural holes, and degree distribution—suggest that, unlike the other information systems communities, the ITM is a community with a unique character and distinct collaboration patterns. The results show that the ITM knowledge networks are fragmented and exhibit a power law distribution in which incoming nodes and links prefer to attach to the nodes that are already well connected. We discuss several implications that arise from the network configuration that could aid the future development of the ITM domain