Christian Missions and Islam: The Reformed Church in America and the Origins of the Moslem World

This thesis examines the historical background of missionary attitudes toward Islam within the framework of the mission emphasis of the Reformed Church in America between the 1880s and 1911. It argues that the historical experience of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands produced a sense of pride and destiny that was transplanted by Dutch emigration to North America and maintained in the relationships of the Reformed Church in America with other nationalities and missions. That sense of pride ad destiny prepared the church to stand on its convictions in the face of opposition, which it drew upon itself when it began mission work among Muslims previously neglected by the modern missionary movement. Finally, this thesis shows that Dutch American missionaries sought to change western perceptions of Islam by creating an awareness of the advance of Islam that may pose a threat to Christianity

Avian Flu: An AgentSheets Project

To use Agent Sheets software to tract the spread of the Avian Flu given certain factors

Air quality monitoring and anthropogenic correlations in Northwest Indiana

Currently, there are seven PurpleAir sensors deployed throughout Lake and Porter counties in cities including Gary, Chesterton, Valparaiso, and Schererville as part of the North Lake County Environmental Partnership (NLCEP). Communities have been partnering with Valparaiso University in order to set up and help maintain the PurpleAir sensors in their municipalities. In addition to setup and monitoring, communities are learning about their local air quality and the monitoring systems in place. We additionally observe air quality metrics for these sensors with attention to particulate concentrations and compare to spatial and meteorological factors. Within the Gary and Valparaiso areas, sensors have qualitative trends. Relative to a 5-mile radius in the Gary area, the distributions of particulates are not the same within the 95% confidence interval. Meteorological factors like humidity and pressure have an effect on the particulate concentrations and trends in pressure where particulate concentrations data show a transposed relationship. Anthropogenic spikes in particulate matter (PM1.0) are modeled with meteorological data with the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT) to evaluate particulate origin

Carbon Free Boston: Transportation Technical Report

Part of a series of reports that includes: Carbon Free Boston: Summary Report; Carbon Free Boston: Social Equity Report; Carbon Free Boston: Technical Summary; Carbon Free Boston: Buildings Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Waste Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Energy Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Offsets Technical ReportOVERVIEW: Transportation connects Boston’s workers, residents and tourists to their livelihoods, health care, education, recreation, culture, and other aspects of life quality. In cities, transit access is a critical factor determining upward mobility. Yet many urban transportation systems, including Boston’s, underserve some populations along one or more of those dimensions. Boston has the opportunity and means to expand mobility access to all residents, and at the same time reduce GHG emissions from transportation. This requires the transformation of the automobile-centric system that is fueled predominantly by gasoline and diesel fuel. The near elimination of fossil fuels—combined with more transit, walking, and biking—will curtail air pollution and crashes, and dramatically reduce the public health impact of transportation. The City embarks on this transition from a position of strength. Boston is consistently ranked as one of the most walkable and bikeable cities in the nation, and one in three commuters already take public transportation. There are three general strategies to reaching a carbon-neutral transportation system: • Shift trips out of automobiles to transit, biking, and walking;1 • Reduce automobile trips via land use planning that encourages denser development and affordable housing in transit-rich neighborhoods; • Shift most automobiles, trucks, buses, and trains to zero-GHG electricity. Even with Boston’s strong transit foundation, a carbon-neutral transportation system requires a wholesale change in Boston’s transportation culture. Success depends on the intelligent adoption of new technologies, influencing behavior with strong, equitable, and clearly articulated planning and investment, and effective collaboration with state and regional partners.Published versio

Vector species richness increases haemorrhagic disease prevalence through functional diversity modulating the duration of seasonal transmission

© Copyright Cambridge University Press 2015. SUMMARY Although many parasites are transmitted between hosts by a suite of arthropod vectors, the impact of vector biodiversity on parasite transmission is poorly understood. Positive relationships between host infection prevalence and vector species richness (SR) may operate through multiple mechanisms, including (i) increased vector abundance, (ii) a sampling effect in which species of high vectorial capacity are more likely to occur in species-rich communities, and (iii) functional diversity whereby communities comprised species with distinct phenologies may extend the duration of seasonal transmission. Teasing such mechanisms apart is impeded by a lack of appropriate data, yet could highlight a neglected role for functional diversity in parasite transmission. We used statistical modelling of extensive host, vector and microparasite data to test the hypothesis that functional diversity leading to longer seasonal transmission explained variable levels of disease in a wildlife population. We additionally developed a simple transmission model to guide our expectation of how an increased transmission season translates to infection prevalence. Our study demonstrates that vector SR is associated with increased levels of disease reporting, but not via increases in vector abundance or via a sampling effect. Rather, the relationship operates by extending the length of seasonal transmission, in line with theoretical predictions

Erratum: Vector species richness increases haemorrhagic disease prevalence through functional diversity modulating the duration of seasonal transmission (Parasitology (2015) 143 (874-879) DOI: 10.1017/S0031182015000578)

© Cambridge University Press 2016. The publisher apologises for the link to the Supplementary Material being incorrect. On page 878, the Supplementary Material section should read as follows: SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL To view supplementary material for this article, please visit https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182015000578

NEW FRICTION DURABLE ADDITIVE TECHNOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATION IN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS

Ovaj rad prikazuje razvoj tehnologije novih aditiva koja omogućuje formulaciju fluida za automatske prijenosnike (ATF-Automatic Transmission Fluids) na osnovi mineralnih ulja sa značajno poboljšanom otpornošću na trenje. U radu se uspoređuju performance trenja tehnologije novih aditiva kod komercijalno dostupnih ATF-a u Europi, Aziji i Sjevernoj Americi pri industrijski standardnim testovima trenja kao što su SAE No’2 rig (SAE No\u272 mjerna oprema) i Low Velocity Friction Apparatus (aparatura za ispitivanje trenja pri niskim brzinama). Isto tako, u radu se razmatraju primjeri još većih tehničkih izazova koje postavljaju posljednje ATF specifikacije u uvjetima još naglašenije oksidacije, trošenja, ekstremnih pritisaka, otpornosti na trenje, kapaciteta okretnog momenta i antikorozijskih zahtjeva, te se performance nove tehnologije aditiva otpornih na trenje uspoređuju s ostalim dostupnim ATF tehnologijama na nekim od spomenutih područja. Performance fluida otpornih na trenje koje su omogućene pomoću tehnologije novih aditiva mogu se primijeniti kod čitavog niza automatskih prijenosnika, npr. mokrih spojki za pokretanje, spojki pretvarača okretnog momenta, prijenosnika s dvostrukim spojkama i posljednje generacije automatskih prijenosnika sa šest, sedam, i osam stupnjeva prijenosa.This paper reports the development of a new additive technology allowing formulation of mineral oil based Automatic Transmission Fluids (ATFs) with significantly improved friction durability. The paper compares friction performance of the new additive technology with commercially available European, Asian and North American style ATFs in industry standard friction tests such as the SAE No’2 rig and the Low Velocity Friction Apparatus. The paper also considers examples of the broader technical challenges posed by the latest ATF specifications in terms of more stringent oxidation, wear, extreme pressure, friction durability, torque capacity and anti-corrosion requirements, and compares the performance of the new friction durable ATF technology with other commercially available ATFs in some of these areas. The fluid friction durability performance offered by this new additive technology is applicable in a variety of automatic transmission hardware, e.g. wet starting clutches, torque converter clutches, dual clutch transmissions and the latest generation six-, seven- and eight-speed step type automatic transmissions

Primary results of long-term outcomes in the MOMENTUM 3 pivotal trial and continued access protocol study phase: a study of 2200 HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device implants

AIM: The MOMENTUM 3 pivotal trial established superiority of the HeartMate 3 (HM3) left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a fully magnetically levitated centrifugal-flow pump, over the HeartMate II axial-flow pump. We now evaluate HM3 LVAD outcomes in a single-arm prospective continuous access protocol (CAP) post-pivotal trial study. METHODS AND RESULTS: We enrolled 2200 HM3 implanted patients (515 pivotal trial and 1685 CAP patients) and compared outcomes including survival free of disabling stroke or reoperation to replace or remove a malfunctioning device (primary composite endpoint), overall survival and major adverse events at 2 years. The 2-year primary endpoint [76.7% vs. 74.8%; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.71-1.08, P = 0.21] and overall survival (81.2% vs. 79.0%) were similar among CAP and pivotal cohorts despite sicker patients (more intra-aortic balloon pump use and INTERMACS profile 1) in CAP who were more often intended for destination therapy. Survival was similar between the CAP and pivotal trial in transplant ineligible patients (79.1% vs. 76.7%; adjusted HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.68-1.16, P = 0.38). In a pooled analysis, the 2-year primary endpoint was similar between INTERMACS profiles 1-2 (\u27unstable\u27 advanced heart failure), profile 3 (\u27stable\u27 on inotropic therapy), and profiles 4-7 (\u27stable\u27 ambulatory advanced heart failure) (75.7% vs. 77.6% vs. 72.9%, respectively). The net burden of adverse events was lower in CAP (adjusted rate ratio 0.93, 95% CI 0.88-0.98, P = 0.006), with consequent decrease in hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: The primary results of accumulating HM3 LVAD experience suggest a lower adverse event burden and similar survival compared to the pivotal MOMENTUM 3 trial

Lack of Correlation Between Pulmonary Disease and Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator Dysfunction in Cystic Fibrosis: A Case Report

Introduction: Mutations in both alleles of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene result in the disease cystic fibrosis, which usually manifests as chronic sinopulmonary disease, pancreatic insufficiency, elevated sodium chloride loss in sweat, infertility among men due to agenesis of the vas deferens and other symptoms including liver disease. Case presentation: We describe a pair of African-American brothers, aged 21 and 27, with cystic fibrosis. They were homozygous for a rare frameshift mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator 3791delC, which would be expected to cause significant morbidity. Although 80% of cystic fibrosis patients are colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa by eight years of age, the older brother had no serum opsonic antibody titer to P. aeruginosa by age 13 and therefore would have failed to mount an effective antibody response to the alginate (mucoid polysaccharide) capsule of P. aeruginosa. He was not colonized with P. aeruginosa until 24 years of age. Similarly, the younger brother was not colonized with P. aeruginosa until age 20 and had no significant lung disease. Conclusion: Despite a prevailing idea in cystic fibrosis research that the amount of functional cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator predicts clinical status, our results indicated that respiratory disease severity in cystic fibrosis exhibits phenotypic heterogeneity. If this heterogeneity is, in part, genetic, it is most likely derived from genes outside the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator locus