A NASA Perspective on the Growing Role of In-Situ Process Monitoring in Managing Risk of AM Hardware

No abstract availabl

Price Squeezes and Imputation Tests on Next Generation Access Networks

A vertically integrated firm that wholesales to its retail rivals can, if it has sufficient market power, set the margin between its retail and wholesale prices so as to harm its rivals. Conventionally, an imputation test is used to determine whether such behavior is being undertaken. Such tests are common in electronic communications, and the EC calls for their potentially intensive ex ante application in the supply of NGANs. This paper shows that while imputation tests are helpful analytical tools for understanding the nature of price squeezes, difficulties associated with implementation, which are sharp in an NGAN context, can make them misleading in practice. Instead, price squeezes are best dealt with through the rigorous comparison of expected outcomes, given the alleged anticompetitive behavior, with the outcomes expected in that behavior’s absence. Such analysis is not suited to ex ante application.price squeeze, imputation tests, next generation access networks, vertical discrimination, electronic communications, regulation

Where geology meets pedology: Late Quaternary tephras, loess, and paleosols in the Mamaku Plateau and Lake Rerewhakaaitu areas

On this trip we focus on tephrostratigraphy and soil stratigraphy together with aspects of palaeoenvironmental reconstruction over long and short time-spans. We will examine the relationship between the deposition of tephras and tephric loess and the formation of soils in these deposits as they accumulate, either incrementally (millimetre by millimetre) or as thicker layers, in a process known as upbuilding pedogenesis. Development of age models for the eruption of marker tephras, and of the new climate event stratigraphy for New Zealand within the NZ-INTIMATE project (Integration of ice-core, marine, and terrestrial records for New Zealand since 30,000 years ago), will also be touched upon

Feminist activism, education and social change

Semi-structured individual interviews were used to document the experiences of five young women, who created the grassroots feminist activist group, the Miss G_Project. The Miss G_Project was created to advocate for equity in education. The integration of a women\u27s and gender studies course in the Ontario secondary school curriculum is a primary goal of this organization. All participants self-identified as feminist, and this identity interacted with and was affected by their activism. As well, it was expressed that their friendships and sense of belonging to a feminist community helped to sustain the project. The group used a collective approach to organizing, which developed organically, through their friendships with each other. Online communication was a key element of their organizing. The study also revealed that a two-pronged approach was used, as the group strived for legal change, while also working at a grassroots level to strengthen the support in schools for the course. At the curricular level, they saw that the interdisciplinary curriculum and the locally developed course option were spaces where women\u27s and gender studies was being developed and thus supported these efforts. Feminist identity, feminist organizing, curricular change and the notion of the third wave were primary themes, which were considered in this study. Further the struggles they have faced in their work with the Miss G_Project, as well as their notions about the potentials for curricular change were explored

The Effect of Chemical Amendments Used for Phosphorus Abatement on Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia Emissions from Dairy Cattle Slurry: Synergies and Pollution Swapping

peer-reviewedLand application of cattle slurry can result in incidental and chronic phosphorus (P) loss to waterbodies, leading to eutrophication. Chemical amendment of slurry has been proposed as a management practice, allowing slurry nutrients to remain available to plants whilst mitigating P losses in runoff. The effectiveness of amendments is well understood but their impacts on other loss pathways (so-called ‘pollution swapping’ potential) and therefore the feasibility of using such amendments has not been examined to date. The aim of this laboratory scale study was to determine how the chemical amendment of slurry affects losses of NH3, CH4, N2O, and CO2. Alum, FeCl2, Polyaluminium chloride (PAC)- and biochar reduced NH3 emissions by 92, 54, 65 and 77% compared to the slurry control, while lime increased emissions by 114%. Cumulative N2O emissions of cattle slurry increased when amended with alum and FeCl2 by 202% and 154% compared to the slurry only treatment. Lime, PAC and biochar resulted in a reduction of 44, 29 and 63% in cumulative N2O loss compared to the slurry only treatment. Addition of amendments to slurry did not significantly affect soil CO2 release during the study while CH4 emissions followed a similar trend for all of the amended slurries applied, with an initial increase in losses followed by a rapid decrease for the duration of the study. All of the amendments examined reduced the initial peak in CH4 emissions compared to the slurry only treatment. There was no significant effect of slurry amendments on global warming potential (GWP) caused by slurry land application, with the exception of biochar. After considering pollution swapping in conjunction with amendment effectiveness, the amendments recommended for further field study are PAC, alum and lime. This study has also shown that biochar has potential to reduce GHG losses arising from slurry application.This research was funded by the Teagasc Walsh Fellowship Scheme and the AnimalChange Framework 7 Project (FP7-KBBE-2010-4)

In situ N2O emissions are not mitigated by hippuric and benzoic acids under denitrifying conditions

This research was financially supported under the National Development Plan, through the Research Stimulus Fund, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Grant numbers RSF10/RD/SC/716 and 11S138).peer-reviewedRuminant urine patches deposited onto pasture are a significant source of greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) from livestock agriculture. Increasing food demand is predicted to lead to a rise in ruminant numbers globally, which, in turn will result in elevated levels of urine-derived N2O. Therefore mitigation strategies are urgently needed. Urine contains hippuric acid and together with one of its breakdown products, benzoic acid, has previously been linked to mitigating N2O emissions from urine patches in laboratory studies. However, the sole field study to date found no effect of hippuric and benzoic acid concentration on N2O emissions. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the in situ effect of these urine constituents on N2O emissions under conditions conducive to denitrification losses. Unadulterated bovine urine (0 mM of hippuric acid, U) was applied, as well as urine amended with either benzoic acid (96 mM, U + BA) or varying rates of hippuric acid (8 and 82 mM, U + HA1, U + HA2). Soil inorganic nitrogen (N) and N2O fluxes were monitored over a 66 day period. Urine application resulted in elevated N2O flux for 44 days. The largest N2O fluxes accounting for between 13% (U) and 26% (U + HA1) of total loss were observed on the day of urine application. Between 0.9 and 1.3% of urine-N was lost as N2O. Cumulative N2O loss from the control was 0.3 kg N2O–N ha− 1 compared with 11, 9, 12, and 10 kg N2O–N ha− 1 for the U, U + HA1, U + HA2, and U + BA treatments, respectively. Incremental increases in urine HA or increase in BA concentrations had no effect on N2O emissions. Although simulation of dietary manipulation to reduce N2O emissions through altering individual urine constituents appears to have no effect, there may be other manipulations such as reducing N content or inclusion of synthetic inhibitory products that warrant further investigation.Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marin

Yay Or Nay? A Media Analysis Of How Deception Is Utilized As A Leadership Tactic In The Television Show Sons Of Anarchy

Deception is a tactic that is seen by individuals on a daily basis. One of the places most people endure deception is in the workplace. This thesis analyzes how leaders utilize deception in the workplace through the television show Sons of Anarchy. Throughout the show, both transformational and transactional leadership styles are present. Various story arcs portraying deceptive actions will be analyzed through the lenses of leader-member exchange theory and interpersonal deception theory. This thesis reveals that transformational leaders utilize deception more effectively, while transactional leaders use deceptive measures more frequently

A Systematic Review of Bullying Prevention Programs in Schools

Bullying prevention programs have been shown to be generally effective in reducing bullying and victimization. Because it is crucial for social workers to understand the impact of bullying prevention programs, a systematic review was conducted for this project to identify which programs have been found to be successful. A total of 518 reports concerned with bullying prevention were found, and 33 were assessed for eligibility. Of these reports, fifteen were included in this review. All articles from 1993 up to 2014 were hand-searched, and were in 9 electronic databases. Through a review of fifteen articles that acknowledged bullying prevention, numerous similarities, differences, as well as future questions were identified. Populations served through these programs included individual adolescents, teachers, and parents. No two articles presented a bullying prevention program identical to another, though numerous aspects were replicated in a number of the articles. All of the research articles reviewed identified some degree of positive effects in a bullying prevention programs. Findings indicate that bullying prevention programs work, as the combined effect of the various programs and implementations are shown to decrease bullying and victimization by an average of 17-23 percent

Characterisation and paleoclimatic signals within tephric loess deposits aged between c. 33 to 9.5 cal ka in the Rotorua area, northern New Zealand

I studied tephric loess deposits aged between c. 33 and 9.5 cal ka in the Rotorua region, north-east central North Island. I produced a stratigraphic framework for the loess deposits and characterised them using a range of field and laboratory methods to develop a multi-proxy paleoclimatic reconstruction for the region. A number of key tephra marker layers, including Kawakawa (c. 25.4 cal ka), Te Rere (c. 25.2 cal ka), Okareka (c. 21.9 cal ka), Rerewhakaaitu (c. 17.5 cal ka), Rotorua (c. 15.6 cal ka), Waiohau (c. 13.6 cal ka) and Rotoma (c. 9.5 cal ka) tephras, were used as isochronous tie-points within the loess deposits and to provide ages within the loess. In contrast to those of previous studies, the findings from my study suggest that loess deposition continued at some sites in the Rotorua region until c. 9.5 cal ka. The average rate of loess accumulation was about 2.3 cm per century. The thickest loess sequence deposited between c. 33 and 9.5 cal ka was about 4.3 metres (tephra-free thickness) at Dansey Rd. In general, the tephric loess deposits are largely massive, silty and often yellowish brown, dull yellowish brown or dull yellow orange in colour (Munsell colour codes 10YR 5/4, 5/6, 5/8 or 6/4). Paleoclimate proxy analyses of the loess included grain size, accumulation rates, phytolith analysis, magnetic susceptibility, total carbon content, carbon isotopes and potassium content. The results from my study suggest that the Rotorua region underwent a change from relatively warm, wet and less windy interstadial conditions to relatively cold, dry and more windy stadial conditions (indicative of the beginning of the extended-last glacial maximum) at c. 25.4 cal ka (about the time of deposition of the Kawakawa Tephra). Between c. 25.4 and 18.4 cal ka, stadial conditions likely dominated, although climate was also variable, and results suggest that two short-lived interstadials, centred around c. 23 cal ka and c. 21 cal ka, may have occurred. Stadial conditions appear to have ended at c. 18.4 cal ka when conditions became relatively warmer, wetter and less windy (likely indicative of last glacial – interglacial transition conditions). However, during these warming conditions, between c. 13.8—12.8 cal ka, results suggest that conditions became temporarily relatively cooler and drier (indicative of the late glacial reversal). In general, there is good support from the New Zealand climate event stratigraphy (CES) (D.J. Barrell and others in preparation. “The sequence of climatic events in New Zealand over the past 30 000 years – a composite stratotype for regional correlation and comparison.” Quaternary Science Reviews [Australasian INTIMATE issue]) and other North Island paleoclimate records for these three broad changes in climate from interstadial to stadial and back to interstadial (and possibly interglacial) conditions during this time. However, the exact timing of these broad changes as well as that of the shorter-lived climatic variations are not perfectly synchronised with the timing of similar changes in the CES and other North Island records