Detroit to Flint and Back Again: Solidarity Forever

For several years the authors have been working in Detroit with grassroots coalitions resisting Emergency Management. In this essay, we focus on how community groups in Detroit and Flint advanced common struggles for clean, safe, affordable water as a human right, particularly during the period of 2014 to 2016. We explore how, through a series of direct interventions – including public meetings and international gatherings, independent journalism and social media, community-based research projects, and citizen-led policy initiatives – these groups contributed to challenging neoliberal governance, to undermining the legitimacy of state officials and their policies, and to shifting public consciousness around the human right to water

Low-distortion slow light using two absorption resonances

We consider group delay and broadening using two strongly absorbing and widely spaced resonances. We derive relations which show that very large pulse bandwidths coupled with large group delays and small broadening can be achieved. Unlike single resonance systems, the dispersive broadening dominates the absorptive broadening which leads to a dramatic increase in the possible group delay. We show that the double resonance systems are excellent candidates for realizing all-optical delay lines. We report on an experiment which achieved up to 50 pulse delays with 40% broadening.Comment: 4 pages 4 figure

Moore’s Law and Space Exploration: New Insights and Next Steps

Understanding how technology changes over time is important for industry, science, and government policy. Empirical examination of the capability of technologies across various domains reveals that they often progress at an exponential rate. In addition, mathematical models of technological development have proven successful in deepening our understanding. One area that has not been shown to demonstrate exponential trends, until recently, has been space travel. This paper will present plots illustrating trends in the mean lifespan of satellites whose lifespans ended in a given year. Our study identifies both Wright’s law and Moore’s law regressions. For the Moore’s law regression, we found a doubling time of approximately 15 years. For Wright’s law we can see an approximate doubling of lifespan with every doubling of accumulated launches. We conclude by presenting a conundrum generated by the use of Moore’s law that is the subject of ongoing research

\u3ci\u3eMetaphasia\u3c/i\u3e: Shelley and the Language of Remoter Worlds

The aim of this project was to trace the evolution of Percy Shelley\u27s metaphasic narrative, or language of the dead, chronologically through the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Mont Blanc, and Prometheus Unbound. Proceeding from Earl Wasserman\u27s detailed map of Shelley\u27s mythopoeic structure, I charted this evolution while identifying a fifth discrete entity within the mythological hierarchy of what Harold Bloom has characterized as a mythopoeic trilogy (36). Concurrently, I examined the ongoing debate concerning Shelley\u27s influences, as well as the early formation of his personality, as it pertains to the poems in question, and his fascination with worlds beyond the grave

Immunomodulatory roles of endotoxin and glutaraldehyde in the development of latex allergy

Although much data has been obtained related to the clinical manifestations of latex allergy and the characterization of the protein allergens, little is known regarding the natural history of the disease. These studies were undertaken to demonstrate the immunological relevance of both dermal and respiratory exposure in the development of latex allergy and to investigate the role of co-exposure by these routes to other agents in the health care environment on the development of NRL sensitization.;An initial study in female BALB/c mice demonstrated comparable rates of induction of latex specific IgE following dermal and respiratory latex exposure, demonstrating the importance of both routes in the development of latex allergy. Upon further investigation using whole body plethysmography, non-specific airway hyper-reactivity to methacholine was observed in mice following both dermal and intratracheal sensitization with latex proteins. In contrast, at these exposure levels latex specific airway hyper-reactivity was only observed in dermally sensitized mice.;Endotoxin, a common contaminant of powdered gloves, and glutaraldehyde, a frequently used cold sterilant, were chosen to investigate the Immunomodulatory effects of other agents in the health care setting on the development of latex allergy. In comparison with mice exposed to latex alone, mice concurrently exposed to latex and increasing concentrations of endotoxin demonstrated ∼50% lower levels of latex specific IgE and a decrease in latex specific airway hyper-reactivity and mucin production. The same animals demonstrated increased levels of latex specific IgG2a and IgA, cellular infiltration (i.e. macrophages and neutrophils) into the peribronchial and perivascular regions of the lung, messenger IFN-gamma and IL-12 levels in the draining mediastinal lymph nodes, and non-specific airway hyper-reactivity upon respiratory challenge with methacholine. Upon concurrent dermal exposure to latex and concentrations of glutaraldehyde surrounding the permissible exposure limit, mice demonstrated a dose responsive increase in latex specific IgE levels through an as yet undetermined mechanism.;These studies demonstrate the potential for mixed exposures in the health care environment to diversely modulate the development of IgE mediated responses to NRL proteins underscoring the importance of environmental factors in the development of allergies to foreign antigens

Metaphasia: Shelley and the Language of Remoter Worlds

The aim of this project was to trace the evolution of Percy Shelley\u27s metaphasic narrative, or language of the dead, chronologically through the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Mont Blanc, and Prometheus Unbound. Proceeding from Earl Wasserman\u27s detailed map of Shelley\u27s mythopoeic structure, I charted this evolution while identifying a fifth discrete entity within the mythological hierarchy of what Harold Bloom has characterized as a mythopoeic trilogy (36). Concurrently, I examined the ongoing debate concerning Shelley\u27s influences, as well as the early formation of his personality, as it pertains to the poems in question, and his fascination with worlds beyond the grave

Comparative Growth and Survival of Juvenile Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua)Cultured in Copper and Nylon Net Pens

Bio-fouling on net pens has been a major concern for the marine aquaculture industry. As cage systems increase in size, so does the surface area for the attachment of colonial organisms that create drag on the net, reduce water flow important to fish health, and increase operational expenses due to net cleaning. To solve this problem, the International Copper Association (ICA) has been developing copper alloy netting for sea cages. Copper netting has unique properties that minimize bio-fouling, reduce the risk of fish escapement, prevent predators from entering the net pen, and is recyclable. To test the alloy netting, an experiment was conducted to compare juvenile cod cultured in traditional nylon nets with cod grown in Seawire copper netting ([email protected]). Six, 0.78 m3 cages were each stocked with 200 Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) averaging 29 ± 2.2 g and grown for 4 months in coastal waters of New Hampshire, USA. Results of the study indicated no significant differences in cod growth, survival, feed conversion ratio (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR), or Fulton’s condition factor (K) between the fish grown in the copper alloy and nylon nets. A chemical analysis was conducted on the cod and indicated no differences in copper levels in muscle, liver and gill tissues taken from the net treatments. Nylon nets with antifouling paint accumulated significantly more bio-fouling than the copper nets. Materials that were in direct contact with the copper netting (plastic cable ties) fouled heavily with hydroids indicating minimal leaching to the environment. This study describes some of the beneficial attributes of copper netting, however future studies need to be conducted over a longer period of time, on a larger scale, and in a more energetic environment to definitively test the utility of this new product

Further investigations into the term structure of interest rates

Recent empirical term structure literature questions the usefulness of the standard three-parameter yield curve model in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and the widespread adoption of unconventional monetary policies, such as Large-scale Asset Purchases (LSAP). This thesis builds on these concerns by extracting a new parameter from the term structure that measures the position of the traditional hump in the yield curve along the maturity axis. My alternative decomposition of the term structure makes it easier to track-down the influence of quantities on interest rates. Given that Treasuries are held as safe assets by many investor types, I interpret the new parameter as a gauge of investors’ risk appetite. It is time-varying and pro-cyclical, leading the business cycle and indexes of financial stress by several months and forming part of the risk-taking policy transmission channel. My results contradict the widely-held view from event studies that LSAP reduce long-term Treasury yields. They can also explain the often divergent relative movements between Treasury term premia and the premia on risky assets, such as corporate credits

Foundation for an Independent Tomorrow: Treatment Effects of the Stages of Employment Job Readiness Program on Program Completion and Employment Outcomes for Ex-Offenders

Foundation for an Independent Tomorrow (FIT) is a local not for profit organization that seeks to assist residents of Southern Nevada by providing workforce development services (e.g., interviewing skills, job searching techniques, resume assistance) to increase a program participant’s opportunities to obtain and maintain employment. FIT is currently being federally funded through the Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) grant, with a specific goal of serving the re-entry, or ex-offender, population. This population presents with a very unique set of barriers to obtaining employment, and in order to combat these barriers, FIT created the Stages of Employment job readiness course to better serve this specialized population. HPH Consulting met with FIT’s program director and was commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the Stages of Employment job readiness course, with a specific look at the duration of the course and its impact on employment outcomes. FIT provided HPH with data from the completion of their first program year, which resulted in a sample size of 452 participants. Once the data was cleaned and compiled, the resulting population of the sample was 61. With a population smaller than expected, HPH decided to create two separate data sets, one to study the impact to program completion (N = 94) and the other to study annual salary (N = 61). The results of the regression analyses were for the most part insignificant, with few regression models showing significant impact on program completion or annual salary. These results may be due to the fact that the Stages of Employment job readiness program was not mandatory the first year, as well as experimentation with the program duration. HPH recommends a comprehensive cohort study be conducted after the completion of FIT’s third contract year