Some Comments on Branes, G-flux, and K-theory

This is a summary of a talk at Strings2000 explaining three ways in which string theory and M-theory are related to the mathematics of K-theory.Comment: 10pp., late

Hell is a Teenage Girl

This paper won an honorable mention writing flag award in the research category. It was written for Mia Carter's E 344L class, "Representations of Childhood and Adolescence in Literature and Film".Carter, MiaUndergraduate Studie

Everything counts in small amounts

This paper describes an encoding tool which utilises the "data is code" principle of symbolic expressions available in Lisp-like languages to allow the scripting of tightly packed, cross-platform network protocols. This dynamic approach provides specific flexibility when working on embedded systems as it reduces the amount of cross compilation and deploy cycles that occur following more traditional development approaches. In addition, the separation of how the data is encoded from the compiled application facilitates a concept known as extensibility of the network protocol without requiring special handling

Removal and Reuse of Phosphorus as a Fertilizer from CAFO Runoff

Eutrophication is the process in which nutrient saturated waters promote algal blooms on the surface of the water. This limits the amount of dissolved oxygen content in the water, effectively limiting the range of species that can survive in a body of water. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) can contribute to this issue. The animals in a CAFO produce large amounts of nutrient-rich waste streams that can enter natural waterways if not properly managed and increase the problem of eutrophication. The ability to treat these waste streams and recover the excess nutrients would allow for not only the reduction of nutrient leaching and runoff but would help create sustainable phosphorus practice. Phosphorus is vital in terms of food production, and there is no replacement for phosphorus for plants or humans. As the population continues to increase, food demand will as well. This means that at any point that phosphorus can be recovered, it should be. To recover phosphorus effectively from waste water sources, reverse osmosis, anion exchange, or adsorption are all viable options. Woo Pig Pooie researched these options for recovering phosphorus, and adsorption was found to be the most promising from standpoints of low maintenance and cost effectiveness. Multiple adsorption materials were ranked based on appropriate performance of cost, particle size, adsorption qualities, and the effects of application of the material. Water treatment residuals, WTR (i.e. spent alum from a drinking water treatment plant), was determined to be the most effective adsorbent. WTR, a waste product, is 80% water as it exits the water treatment plant. It must be pelletized and dried before use as an adsorbent. Pelletized and dried WTR was utilized in a full-scale facility treating 62 GPM of feed using two 11,000 gallons packed columns with associated equipment. If the cost of pelletizing and drying the WTR is included, an alternative strategy for implementation on individual farms is for several farmers to form a cooperative, which would allow the minimization of the $1,460,000 fixed capital cost and the$504,000 cost of manufacturing of the drying pelletizing facility. This would allow for the maximum amount of WTR to be treated increasing the revenue of the operation to $731,500. The cooperative would have an operation of 10 years with a net present value of$5,000. Experimental results using WTR packed columns have shown non-detectable levels of phosphorus in the effluent. The produced phosphorus saturated WTR could be land applied to reduce the level of nutrients in runoff from fields, making a safer agriculture operation

Fairness in international trade : the case of economic partnership agreements.

This book arises out of papers delivered at the World Congress of the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics (ISBEE) held in Cape Town in 2008. There are two sections. First, a number of key papers provide an insight into global business, wealth creation and welfare issues with particular reference to the African continent - appropriate for a Congress that was based in South Africa and drew wide participation from African scholars. Second, it provides the output from a global research project on "Fairness in International Trade" which ran over the two years prior to the Congress. This project drew together the work of scholars in five regions across the globe and is the first time that such a global perspective has been attempted. This book is aimed at academics working in the area of international trade or development economics particularly those who have an interest in the ethical dimensions of trade. It will also be of interest to students of development economics and business ethics particularly at Masters and Doctoral level

Are randomised controlled trials positivist? Reviewing the social science and philosophy literature to assess positivist tendencies of trials of social interventions in public health and health services

Background: We have previously proposed that trials of social interventions can be done within a ‘realist’ research paradigm. Critics have countered that such trials are irredeemably positivist and asked us to explain our philosophical position. Methods: We set out to explore what is meant by positivism and whether trials adhere to its tenets (of necessity or in practice) via a narrative literature review of social science and philosophical discussions of positivism, and of the trials literature and three case studies of trials. Results: The philosophical literature described positivism as asserting: 1) the epistemic primacy of sensory information; 2) the requirement that theoretical terms equate with empirical terms; 3) the aim of developing universal laws; and 4) the unity of method between natural and social sciences. Regarding 1), it seems that rather than embodying the epistemic primacy of sensory data, RCTs of social interventions in health embrace an anti-positivist approach aiming to test hypotheses derived deductively from prior theory. Considering 2), while some RCTs of social interventions appear to limit theorization to concepts with empirical analogues, others examine interventions underpinned by theories engaging with mechanisms and contextual contingencies not all of which can be measured. Regarding 3), while some trialists and reviewers in the health field do limit their role to estimating statistical trends as a mechanistic form of generalization, this is not an inevitable feature of RCT-based research. Trials of social interventions can instead aim to generalize at the level of theory which specifies how mechanisms are contingent on context. In terms of 4), while RCTs are used to examine biomedical as well as social interventions in health, RCTs of social interventions are often distinctive in using qualitative analyses of data on participant accounts to examine questions of meaning and agency not pursued in the natural sciences. Conclusion: We conclude that the most appropriate paradigm for RCTs of social interventions is realism not positivism