Tackling the Global NCD Crisis: Innovations in Law and Governance

35 million people die annually of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries—representing a marked epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases and from richer to poorer countries. The total number of NCDs is projected to rise by 17% over the coming decade, absent significant interventions. The NCD epidemic poses unique governance challenges: the causes are multifactorial, the affected populations diffuse, and effective responses require sustained multi-sectorial cooperation. The authors propose a range of regulatory options available at the domestic level, including stricter food labeling laws, regulation of food advertisements, tax incentives for healthy lifestyle choices, changes to the built environment, and direct regulation of food and drink producers. Given the realities of globalization, such interventions require global cooperation. In 2011, the UN General Assembly held a High-level meeting on NCDs, setting a global target of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2025. Yet concrete plans and resource commitments for reaching this goal are not yet in the offing, and the window is rapidly closing for achieving these targets through prevention--as opposed to treatment, which is more costly. Innovative global governance for health is urgently needed to engage private industry and civil society in the global response to the NCD crisis

The design and construction of electronic motor control and network interface hardware for advance concept urban mobility vehicles

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 25).Over the past several years, the Smart Cities Group at MIT's Media Lab has engaged in research to develop several advanced concepts for vehicles to improve urban mobility. This research has focused on developing a modular vehicle architecture, centered around the concept of the self-contained Wheel Robot. The goal is to develop Wheel Robot systems in which all power, transmission, suspension, and steering functions are incorporated into self-contained units with a simple, standardized interface providing for mechanical mounting, electrical power distribution, and access to the vehicle control network. This thesis outlines my research and design work implementing several electronic power and control systems that contribute to ongoing Wheel Robot development efforts. The designs for a high-current motor controller and two electronic sensing and control interfaces are described, and several strategies for further control systems development are proposed.by Bryan L. Morrissey.S.B

Benchmarking Diversity: A First Look at New York City Foundations and Nonprofits

New York City foundations and nonprofit organizations have racially diverse staffs, according to a new report by Philanthropy New York and the Foundation Center, but this diversity decreases at higher levels of seniority. A substantial number of foundations and nonprofits are tracking information about the racial and ethnic makeup of the grantees and populations that they respectively serve. The study is the first of its kind in New York City and the nation to examine "both sides" of the equation -- with survey data from 95 grantmaking foundations and 540 nonprofit organizations in the five boroughs

THE EFFECTS OF INTERACTIONS AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS ON EGRESS DOWN STAIRS

For high-rise building evacuations, travel on stairs accounts for a large portion of the total egress time. Previous research has typically focused on the relationship between speed and density, with the results being relatively poor for predicting how long an individual requires to descend the stairs. In this dissertation, methods for measuring fundamental variables for determining speed and density are presented. The inverse of speed (normalized time) is shown to be more conservative for prediction methods. Furthermore, the interactions between individuals and flow units and the characteristics of individuals provide a deeper understanding of the flow dynamics and lead to more accurate predictions than relying on density alone. Rather than all of the occupants behaving in a uniform manner, flow units form where all of the occupants in them descend at the same rate. The first persons in flow units were found to be engaging in five different types of behavior that set the pace for their followers. There are also flow states identified that previous researchers have not identified. How occupants interacted with one another was also found to vary based on individual characteristics. The behavior of individuals was not random, but appeared to be based on variables like gender and exit lane. These characteristics, in turn, were found to influence their descent rate. These findings are then applied to a blind data set and the actual observations are accurately predicted. This allowed equations to be presented that are representative of the flow dynamics

Citation and peer review of data: moving towards formal data publication

This paper discusses many of the issues associated with formally publishing data in academia, focusing primarily on the structures that need to be put in place for peer review and formal citation of datasets. Data publication is becoming increasingly important to the scientific community, as it will provide a mechanism for those who create data to receive academic credit for their work and will allow the conclusions arising from an analysis to be more readily verifiable, thus promoting transparency in the scientific process. Peer review of data will also provide a mechanism for ensuring the quality of datasets, and we provide suggestions on the types of activities one expects to see in the peer review of data. A simple taxonomy of data publication methodologies is presented and evaluated, and the paper concludes with a discussion of dataset granularity, transience and semantics, along with a recommended human-readable citation syntax

Alfalfa Hay for Horses (and Horse Owners!)

Alfalfa is one of the most common hays fed to horses in Kentucky. Other hays that are often used include timothy and orchardgrass. As a legume, alfalfa has many nutritional advantages over timothy or orchardgrass. Alfalfa hay contains more protein and calcium than grass hays and thus is an excellent source of these nutrients for broodmares and growing horses. Another legume that may be useful as a hay for horses is red clover. Nutritionally, red clover has many of the same advantages as alfalfa. However, red clover has some non-nutritional characteristics which have traditionally limited its popularity with horse owners. Red clover will occasionally cause horses to slobber excessively. “Clover slobbers” is not usually harmful to horses, but it is not a pleasing sight for horse owners. Even when red clover hay does not cause slobbering, some horse owners avoid it. Red clover hay may not have a nice green color preferred by horse owners, and it may also be somewhat dusty

Texas Business Review, January 1976

The Business Situation in Texas; The Last Hundred Years; The Next Hundred Years; Electric Funds Transference: Development and Prospects; Texas Construction: Four Decades of ChangeBureau of Business Researc