The Politics of Fragmentation in an Age of Scarcity: A Synthetic View and Critical Analysis of Welfare State Crisis

A general perception of crisis at the end of the postwar period of growth has spawned two types of theoretical response: while a conservative theory of overload focusses on ungovernability caused by postmaterialist value change, radical analysis points to the structural contradictions of the welfare and intervention state. This article suggests that the current crisis is characterized by postmaterialist persistence and structural contradictions under the conditions of economic constraint. It examines polarization and potential mobilization of fragmented postindustrial societies in the context of neo-conservative politics, and it suggests a regime of economic dualism and/or corporatism as the most likely outcome

The New Dictionary of Pastoral Studies

Title: New dictionary of pastoral studies. Publisher: Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans ; London: SPCK, 2002

Moving from Shame to Self-worth: Preaching and Pastoral Care

Author: Wimberly, Edward P. Title: Moving from shame to self-worth. Publisher: Nashville: Abingdon Pr, 1999

Isolation of a Novel Phage OTooleKemple52

A bacteriophage is a virus capable of infecting bacteria like ubiquitous soil-dwelling genus Bacillus. Within the Bacillus genus, there is the “ACT family” made up of B. thuringiensis, B. cereus, and B. anthracis, which are highly related but with different pathogenic characteristics. Because of this, phages isolated using a species in this group may have a broad host range encompassing several species from Bacillus. Since B. cereus and B. anthracis can result in fatal to mild sickness in humans, the non-pahtogenic B. thuringiensis kurstaki was used to discover and characterize novel phages. The phage OTooleKemple52 was isolated from a soil sample collected from Chesapeake, VA using “soil enrichment” to increase phage concentration and thus make detection more likely. A phage plaque was observed from this enrichment infection upon plating. The phage population was then purified until the morphology of the phage plaques was consistent (3 mm diameter with pinpoint clear centers). A large volume of phage stock (high titer lysate, HTL) was collected and was then used to obtain purified DNA for gel electrophoresis and genome sequencing. Additionally, an HTL sample was stained with 1% uranyl acetate and imaged using transmission electron microscopy to determine a myoviridae morphology with a head diameter of 80 nm and a tail length of 200 nm. The phage has a broad host range and was able to able to form plaques on 6 out of 8 Bacillus strains tested. The genome of the phage will be annotated and compared to other phage genomes. Through studying phages we can work to better understand both phage diversity and the interrelatedness of the Bacillus genus. The benefits of studying bacteriophages have reaches from environmental to medical significance because of the ubiquitous and pathogenic characteristics of the host bacteria.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1241/thumbnail.jp

On Making Judges Do the Right Thing

Denna rapport beskriver arbetet med att sammanställa ångförbrukande processer på Norrmejeriers Mejeri i Umeå som skulle kunna konverteras till fjärrvärmedrift. En del arbete har också lagts ner på att hitta förbättringsförslag på mejeriets ångsystem och beräkna nödvändig maxeffekt på en ny biobränsleeldad panna som är planerad att driftsättas före slutet på 2017. Processdata, som till stor del uppmätts av Sweco Systems för en energikartläggning av mejeriet, har använts till att undersöka 23 olika processer med en årlig energianvändning på ca 22 000 MWh. 11 av dessa processer har så låga temperaturkrav att fjärrvärme skulle kunna driva dessa året om, de anses därför vara mer lämpade för fjärrvärmedrift än de övriga. Dessa 11 processer har ett sammanlagt årligt energibehov på ca 15 000 MWh och hit hör bland annat uppvärmning av vatten till processer och tapp, värme till mejeriets ventilationssystem och förvärmning av nytt pannvatten. Resterande processer anses olämpliga att driva med fjärrvärme då kostnaden för att göra detta troligen blir högre än i dagsläget och en del av dessa processer enbart kan drivas med fjärrvärme en begränsad del av året. Till dessa processer hör värmning av mjölk och grädde vid några av mejeriets pastörer och återuppvärmning av diskvatten. I arbetet presenteras 3 olika förslag på hur fjärrvärmen kan kopplas in till undersökta processer. De två första förslagen ger framtida visioner om hur alla 23 undersöka processer kan konverteras till fjärrvärme. Det tredje förslaget visar däremot hur en fjärrvärmeanslutning kan se ut inom en snar framtid och i detta förslag ansluts endast de 11 mest lämpade processerna till fjärrvärmen. Det tredje förslaget användes till att göra en ekonomisk jämförelse mellan att värma processerna med ånga eller fjärrvärme. Det enda som jämfördes i beräkningarna var kostnaden för uppvärmning av processerna och ingen hänsyn togs till installationskostnader av fjärrvärmen eller den nya pannan. Beräkningarna visade att störst ekonomisk vinst kunde göras genom att använda sig av fjärrvärme för basbehovet och sedan toppa på detta med ånga när värmeförbrukningen var hög. Med ångproduktion i de befintliga pannorna skulle Norrmejerier kunna spara 1,8 miljoner kr/år med denna lösning. När den nya biobränslepannan installeras så sjunker däremot den möjliga besparingen till någonstans mellan 420 000- 860 000 kr/år. Förutom de besparingar som skulle kunna göras med en fjärrvärmeinstallation har flera förlustfaktorer identifierats i gångsystemet. Bland annat förloras ca 9 000 MWh årligen som flashånga eller genom att kondensat inte återförs till pannorna. Förbättringsförslag för att minska förlorade energimängder och effektivisera andra processer tas därför upp. Med nuvarande kostnadsbild på fjärrvärmen anses investeringskostnaden för denna inte väga upp den möjliga årliga besparingen efter att biobränslepannan konstruerats. Fjärrvärmen ses däremot som ett bättre miljömässigt alternativ och genom att installera fjärrvärme skulle maxeffekten på den nya biobränslepannan kunna minskas. Hur maxeffekten på den nya pannan bör dimensioneras vid en möjlig fjärrvärmeinkoppling och vid olika effektiviseringsförslag diskuteras därför också.This report describes the work of compiling steam consuming processes that could be converted to district heating in the dairy plant Norrmejerier in Umeå. Some work has also been put into finding possible improvement for the dairy's steam system and calculating the necessary maximum output of a new biofuel boiler that is to be built before the end of 2017.   Process data, which has been gathered by Sweco systems for an energy audit of the dairy, has been used to further investigate 23 different processes with an annual energy consumption of approximately 22 000 MWh. 11 of these processes have such low temperature requirements that district heating could be utilized to power them throughout the whole year. These 11 processes are those considered most suitable for a district heating installation and they have an annual energy consumption of about 15 000 MWh. The processes include heat to process- and tap-water, preheating new boiler water and heat to the dairy’s ventilation. The remaining processes are considered less suitable for a district heating installation since the cost of using district heating to power these probably would be more expensive than using self-produced steam. Some of these processes also have such high temperatures that district heating only could power them for a short period of the year. These processes include heating of milk and cream at some of the dairy's pasteurs and reheating dish water in the dairy’s dish system. Three different proposals for connecting the dairy to the district heating network have been suggested. Two of these proposals provide a futuristic vision for how Norrmejerier could connect district heating in the future to access all 23 investigated processes. The last proposal shows how a district heating installation could be utilized in the near future and in this suggestion only the 11 most suitable processes are connected.   The basic data from the last connection suggestion was used to make a financial comparison between district heating and self-generated steam for heating. The only thing compared in the calculations are the energy costs for heating and no consideration was taken to the installation costs of district heating or the new boiler. The calculations showed that the largest economical gain could be achieved by using district heating for the base load and then adding self-produced steam for peak loads. With steam productions in the current boilers Norrmejerier could save 1.8 million SEK annually with this solution. However, with the installation of a new biofuel boiler the possible savings drops to somewhere between 420 000 to 860 000 SEK/year. In addition to the savings that could be made with a district heating installation, several loss factors have been identified in the steam system. Among other things, about 9,000 MWh are annually lost as flash steam or condensate that disappears from the system. Suggestions to reduce losses in the system and improving energy use in different processes are therefore presented.   The possible savings that can be achived by installing district heating are not considered to be worth the big investment cost once the new steam boiler is installed. District heating is however seen as a better environmental option and by installing district heating the new boiler would be able to be constructed with a smaller maximum output, which would lower the installation costs. How suggested improvements to the steam system and a possible district heating installation would affect the new boiler is therefor also discussed

Public Participation in Risk Regulation

After discussing the increasing recognition of different kinds of claims for public participation in Risk regulation, this paper discusses a spectrum of approaches and examines six points along its range

The Morse-Bott inequalities, orientations, and the Thom isomorphism in Morse homology

The Morse-Bott inequalities relate the topology of a closed manifold to the topology of the critical point set of a Morse-Bott function defined on it. The Morse-Bott inequalities are sometimes stated under incorrect orientation assumptions. We show that these assumptions are insufficient with an explicit counterexample and clarify the origin of the mistake