Postcard: No. 39. Blacksmith Shop Fort Riley, Kansas

This black and white photographic postcard depicts a blacksmith shop. A row of machines with hoods to allow fumes and smoke to migrate outside are lined up in a row. Buckets for water are in front of the machines. Written text is at the bottom of the card. Handwriting is on the back of the card.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/tj_postcards/1993/thumbnail.jp

A Translation of Richard Morison's Apomaxis Calumniarum

The thesis includes a foreword and a translation from the Latin of the Apomaxis Calumniarum, a book written by Richard Morison, apologist for Henry VIII, hired by his secretary, Thomas Cromwell. The work was composed as a rebuttal to an attack by the German theologian Johann Coclaeus, and contains a defense of Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and of the executions of Thomas More and John Fisher, and an attack upon the papacy. Morison maintains and supports by Biblical testimony that the divorce merely righted a wrong, as Henry's union with Catherine had been incestuous. He claims that More and Fisher were respectively sick and old, and were seeking the glory of martyrdom, but both were deserving of an ignominious death for the horrendous crime of obstinately upholding the power of the pope in England. He charges that the papacy had a spurious origin, and that throughout history popes have had a harmful effect. A large part of Morison's book consists of a personal attack on Coclaeus

Plant Manage

ABSTRACT We examined the impacts of mechanical shredding (i.e., shredding plants and leaving biomass in the system) of the water chestnut ( Trapa natans ) on water quality and nutrient mobilization in a control and experimental site in Lake Champlain (Vermont-New York). A 1-ha plot was mechanically shredded within 1 h on 26 July, 1999. Broken plant material was initially concentrated on the lake surface of the experimental station after shredding, and was noticeable on the lake surface for 19 d. Over a two week period after shredding, concentrations of total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), and soluble reactive P increased in the lower water column of the experimental station, coinciding with decomposition of water chestnut. Sediments in the control and experimental stations exhibited very low rates of N and P release and could not account for increases in nutrient concentrations in the water column after mechanical shredding. Shredded plant material deployed in mesh bags at the experimental station lost ~ 70% of their total mass, and 42% N and 70% P within 14 d, indicating substantial nutrient mobilization via autolysis and decomposition. Chlorophyll a concentrations increased to 35 g/L at the experimental station on day 7 after shredding, compared to a concentration of 4 g/L at the control station, suggesting uptake of mobilized nutrients by phytoplankton. Disruption of the surface canopy of water chestnut by shredding was associated with marked increases in turbidity and dissolved oxygen, suggesting increased mixing at the experimental site

Public Sector Reform and Governance for Adaptation: Implications of New Public Management for Adaptive Capacity in Mexico and Norway

Although many governments are assuming the responsibility of initiating adaptation policy in relation to climate change, the compatibility of “governance-for-adaptation” with the current paradigms of public administration has generally been overlooked. Over the last several decades, countries around the globe have embraced variants of the philosophy of administration broadly called “New Public Management” (NPM) in an effort to improve administrative efficiencies and the provision of public services. Using evidence from a case study of reforms in the building sector in Norway, and a case study of water and flood risk management in central Mexico, we analyze the implications of the adoption of the tenets of NPM for adaptive capacity. Our cases illustrate that some of the key attributes associated with governance for adaptation—namely, technical and financial capacities; institutional memory, learning and knowledge; and participation and accountability—have been eroded by NPM reforms. Despite improvements in specific operational tasks of the public sector in each case, we show that the success of NPM reforms presumes the existence of core elements of governance that have often been found lacking, including solid institutional frameworks and accountability. Our analysis illustrates the importance of considering both longer-term adaptive capacities and short-term efficiency goals in public sector administration reform

Climate change adaptation to escape the poverty trap: role of the private sector

Climate change adaptation and poverty alleviation call for an integrated strategy, because poverty exacerbates the vulnerability to climate change and vice versa. The private sector, which has traditionally been excluded from adaptation planning, may contribute greatly to the development of an integrated strategy. Here, we identify the differences in adaptation trajectories between the private sector and communities by proposing a conceptual framework and report on a case study in a dryland area of China, where the private sector led a successful adaptation and poverty alleviation project. We found that their win–win strategy achieved both climate change adaptation and development, thereby helping a disadvantaged community to escape the poverty trap and achieve sustainable development. The private sector played a dominant role in the response, as this sector can adapt in ways that are not possible for governments or communities. We suggest that participatory governance that includes private-sector stakeholders is more likely to achieve sustainable development

Internal deformation of the subducted Nazca slab inferred from seismic anisotropy

Within oceanic lithosphere a fossilized fabric is often preserved originating from the time of plate formation. Such fabric is thought to form at the mid-ocean ridge when olivine crystals align with the direction of plate spreading1, 2. It is unclear, however, whether this fossil fabric is preserved within slabs during subduction or overprinted by subduction-induced deformation. The alignment of olivine crystals, such as within fossil fabrics, can generate anisotropy that is sensed by passing seismic waves. Seismic anisotropy is therefore a useful tool for investigating the dynamics of subduction zones, but it has so far proved difficult to observe the anisotropic properties of the subducted slab itself. Here we analyse seismic anisotropy in the subducted Nazca slab beneath Peru and find that the fast direction of seismic wave propagation aligns with the contours of the slab. We use numerical modelling to simulate the olivine fabric created at the mid-ocean ridge, but find it is inconsistent with our observations of seismic anisotropy in the subducted Nazca slab. Instead we find that an orientation of the olivine crystal fast axes aligned parallel to the strike of the slab provides the best fit, consistent with along-strike extension induced by flattening of the slab during subduction (A. Kumar et al., manuscript in preparation). We conclude that the fossil fabric has been overprinted during subduction and that the Nazca slab must therefore be sufficiently weak to undergo internal deformation

CD169+ Monocyte and Regulatory T Cell Subsets Are Associated with Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is influenced by activation of circulating and synovial immune cells. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and monocytes are key cells that drive inflammation in RA. This study investigated if a relationship exists between disease activity in RA and circulating Treg and monocyte numbers and phenotypes. A potential sialic acid (Sia) mediated link between Tregs and monocytes was also probed in vitro. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from RA patient (n = 62) and healthy control (n = 21) blood using density gradient separation. Flow cytometry was used to count and phenotype Treg and monocyte subsets, and to sort healthy control Tregs for Sia cell culture experiments. The effects of Sia on activated Treg FoxP3 and NFκB expression was assessed by flow cytometry and concentrations of secreted TNFα, IL-10 and IFNγ determined by ELISA. High disease activity RA patients who were unresponsive to disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (n = 31), have significantly lower relative numbers (percentages) of CD4(+)CD25(+)CD127(−) Tregs (p < 0.01) and memory CD45RA(−)FoxP3(+) Tregs (p < 0.01), compared to low disease activity responders (n = 24). Relative numbers of non-classical CD169(+) monocytes are associated with disease activity in RA (p = 0.012). Sia reduced Treg expression of FoxP3, NFκB and cytokines in vitro. A strong association has been identified between non-classical CD169(+) monocytes and post-treatment disease activity in RA. This study also indicates that Sia can reduce Treg activation and cytokine release. We postulate that such a reduction could be mediated by interaction with sialyted proteins captured by CD169(+) monocytes

Reducing office workers' sitting time: rationale and study design for the Stand Up Victoria cluster randomized trial

Background: Excessive time spent in sedentary behaviours (sitting or lying with low energy expenditure) is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Desk-based office workers typically accumulate high amounts of daily sitting time, often in prolonged unbroken bouts. The Stand Up Victoria study aims to determine whether a 3-month multi-component intervention in the office setting reduces workplace sitting, particularly prolonged, unbroken sitting time, and results in improvements in cardio-metabolic biomarkers and work-related outcomes, compared to usual practice