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

A review of knowledge: inter-row hoeing & its associated agronomy in organic cereal & pulse crops

The aim of this project was to establish the “state of the art” for inter-row hoeing and its associated agronomic practices in organic cereal and pulse crops. To achieve this a detailed review of literature was undertaken. • To facilitate inter-row cultivation in cereal and pulse crops, some adjustment of row spacing may be required. For cereals, drilling crops in 25 cm rows can reduce yield compared with normal drilling practice, primarily due to greater intra-specific competition amongst the crop (i.e. competition between crop plants). • The yield penalty resulting from widely spaced crop rows can be minimised using a number of approaches, depending on the drill: 1. Reducing the seed rate in widely spaced crop rows can help to minimise excessive intra-specific competition. 2. Band sowing the crop in wide rows can also help to minimise intra-specific competition as the seed is distributed over a greater area. 3. Using a twin-row arrangement can completely overcome the yield penalty. • The recommended row spacing for peas (up to 20 cm) and beans (up to 35 cm) does not require any further adjustment for inter-row hoeing. • Recent developments in automated guidance of inter-row hoeing equipment mean that weeding operations can now be conducted a much higher speeds (10 km h-1). This has highlighted the limitations of some of the cultivators currently used (e.g. ‘A’ blades), as excessive soil throw can occur at this high speed. Rolling cultivators may prove to be the most suitable at high forward speeds. For manually guided hoes working at slower speeds (5 km h-1), ‘A’ and ‘L’ blades offer an effective low cost solution. • In terms of the timing of inter-row hoeing, it is suggested that weeding operations should be conducted at an early stage in the growing season, as the weeds that emerge with or shortly after the crop are the ones that pose the most significant threat for crop yield. Weeding on two occasions can provide better levels of weed control than weeding once, but weeding more frequently offered little additional benefit. Reductions of weed biomass of up to 99 % have been reported as a result of inter-row hoeing, although this has not always resulted in a positive crop yield response. This is probably due to crop damage resulting from inaccurate hoeing, a problem that can be overcome with automated guidance. • There is some evidence to suggest that mechanical weeding operations can mineralise soil bound nitrogen. • The impact of inter-row hoeing on ground nesting birds is uncertain. Early indications suggest that skylarks prefer to nest directly adjacent to or in the crop row rather than between rows. The information contained within this review should enable farmers to make best use of inter-row hoeing in their arable crops. There are a number of areas that require further research and development: • The interaction of seed rate and row spacing needs to be confirmed in organic systems. • Relatively little is known about the mechanisms of weed kill and the detailed interaction between the cultivator blade, the weed and the soil. This is particularly important with the new automated guidance equipment that allows weeding at high forward speeds. • The timing and frequency of inter-row hoeing has received very little attention. The optimum weed control timings are based on small-plot crop:weed competition studies and need to be verified under field scale management with inter-row hoeing equipment. • Finally, the impact of inter-row hoeing and widely spaced crop rows on ground-nesting birds has not been looked at directly, but is of importance. Please see the main report for a more detailed summary before the full text

Property Insurance for Ohio\u27s Urban Areas

Thirty-eight million dollars damage to property occurred in Watts in 1965, $49,000,000 in Detroit, and$10,000,000 in Newark, New Jersey in 1967, plus many others that have resulted in about $187,000,000 being paid in the five years ending in 1968. Until Watts, riot coverage was provided as an afterthought by the insurance industry with little or no additional charge. Besides this problem, insurers were faced with loss of reinsurance by foreign reinsurers alarmed by inability of Government authorities to maintain law and order

Property Insurance for Ohio\u27s Urban Areas

Thirty-eight million dollars damage to property occurred in Watts in 1965, $49,000,000 in Detroit, and$10,000,000 in Newark, New Jersey in 1967, plus many others that have resulted in about $187,000,000 being paid in the five years ending in 1968. Until Watts, riot coverage was provided as an afterthought by the insurance industry with little or no additional charge. Besides this problem, insurers were faced with loss of reinsurance by foreign reinsurers alarmed by inability of Government authorities to maintain law and order

Measuring mathematical resilience : an application of the construct of resilience to the study of mathematics

To meet the challenge of accelerating demands for quantitative literacy in the work force, improvements are needed in mathematics education. Student skill must be increased at all ability levels while also reducing the achievement gap across gender, racial and ethnic groups to increase their participation in advanced mathematics coursework and representation in mathematics related careers (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008). Research has shown that affective traits such as motivation and attitude are linked to increased likelihood of taking advanced mathematics courses (Ma, 2006) and are significant predictors of improved cognitive activity and achievement (Buff, Reusser, Rakoczy,& Pauli, 2011; Ethington & Wolfe, 1986). In addition, males generally score more favorably than females on affective variables related to mathematics achievement and persistence (McGraw, Lubienski, & Strutchens, 2006; Sherman & Fennema, 1977; Wilkins and Ma, 2003). Although psychological resilience has been researched extensively (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Luthar, 2007) the study of mathematical resilience, defined as a positive adaptive stance to mathematics which allows students to continue learning despite adversity, represents a new approach (Johnston-Wilder & Lee, 2010; Rivera & Waxman, 2011). Math anxiety looks at maladaptive response to learning mathematics and is well-studied (Hembree, 1990; Richardson & Suinn, 1977; Tobias, 1978). In contrast, resilience incorporates factors associated with optimal functioning. Although mathematical resilience has been identified as important for success (Johnston-Wilder & Lee, 2010; Rivera & Waxman, 2011), little consensus exists around its definition and no measures of resilience have been rigorously developed and/or validated. Rivera & Waxman (2011) identified the use of teacher nomination of resilient students as a limitation of their study, further motivating development of an instrument. This presentation will report on efforts to develop and validate an instrument measuring mathematical resilience. Ultimately, the measure will aid in developing and testing models that gauge the role of mathematical resilience in student achievement and persistence in advanced coursework. These models can be used to develop interventions to improve mathematical resilience, achievement, and quantitative literacy (Johnston-Wilder & Lee, 2010)

Overexpression of hedgehog signaling is associated with epidermal tumor formation in vitamin D receptor-null mice.

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) ligand, 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25(OH)(2)D(3)), reduces proliferation and enhances differentiation, and thus has been investigated for a role in preventing or treating cancer. Mice deficient for the VDR display a hyperproliferative response in the hair follicle and epidermis and decreased epidermal differentiation. Unlike their wild-type littermates, when treated with 7,12 dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) or UVB, they develop skin tumors, including some characteristic of overexpression of the hedgehog (Hh) pathway. Both the epidermis and utricles of the VDR-null animals overexpress elements of the Hh pathway (sonic hedgehog (Shh) 2.02-fold, patched1 1.58-fold, smoothened 3.54-fold, glioma-associated oncogene homolog (Gli)1 1.17-fold, and Gli2 1.66-fold). This overexpression occurs at an age (11 weeks) at which epidermal hyperproliferation is most visible and is spatially controlled in the epidermis. DMBA- or UVB-induced tumors in the VDR-null mice also overexpress elements of this pathway. Moreover, 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) downregulates the expression of some members of the Hh pathway in an epidermal explants culture system, suggesting a direct regulation by 1,25(OH)(2)D(3). Our results suggest that increased expression of Shh in the keratinocytes of the VDR-null animal activates the Hh pathway, predisposing the skin to the development of both malignant and benign epidermal neoplasms

Spin chains and channels with memory

In most studies of the channel capacity of quantum channels, it is assumed that the errors in each use of the channel are independent. However, recent work has begun to investigate the effects of memory or correlations in the error. This work has led to speculation that interesting non-analytic behaviour may occur in the capacity. Motivated by these observations, we connect the study of channel capacities under correlated error to the study of critical behaviour in many-body physics. This connection enables us the techniques of many-body physics to either completely solve or understand qualitatively a number of interesting models of correlated error. The models can display analogous behaviour to associated many-body systems, including `phase transitions'.Comment: V2: changes in presentation, some additional comments on generalisation. V3: In accordance with published version, most (but not all) details of proofs now included. A separate paper will shortly be submitted separately with all details and more result