504 research outputs found
Ep. #183 - Solar Power, Solar Justice (feat. Dustin Mulvaney)
No full textThis recording and transcript form part of a collection of podcasts conducted by the Cultures of Energy at Rice University. Cultures of Energy brings writers, artists and scholars together to talk, think and feel their way into the Anthropocene. We cover serious issues like climate change, species extinction and energy transition. But we also try to confront seemingly huge and insurmountable problems with insight, creativity and laughter.Cymene and Dominic cover the stress (and joy!) of center directorships and sandwich-making on this week’s podcast. Then (13:53) Dustin Mulvaney (http://www.dustinmulvaney.com) visits the pod to tell us all the things we need to know about solar energy but were afraid to ask. He’s the author of the excellent new book, Solar Power: Innovation, Sustainability and Environmental Justice(U California Press, 2019). We start by talking about whether it’s possible to make a solar power revolution both rapid and just. That gets us to the toxic externalities of solar cell manufacture and his work with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (http://svtc.org) to create a Solar Scorecard system that helps pressure manufacturers to clean up their production processes. Dustin breaks down for us the environmental advantages and disadvantages of both photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar (CSP) systems and then we turn to what he calls the “Green Civil War” brewing between animal rights activists and renewable energy activists over land use changes especially in the American Southwest. In closing we discuss whether a radically decentralized energy ecology could help advance environmental justice goals and what lessons should be learned from Obama era ARRA solar investments in terms of improving energy justice in the future
Jonesin': the life and music of Philly Joe Jones
No full textThis thesis explores the life of drummer “Philly” Joseph Rudolf Jones, one of jazz’s most renowned, unknown figures. As the drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet/Sextet and a later incarnation of the Bill Evans Trio, Joe achieved worldwide fame and success. Yet, his life story has always been told in the footnotes of the towering figures he performed with: John Coltrane, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, etc. Jazz history books recognize Joe’s contributions and nearly all provide a space, albeit a small one, to recognize his accomplishments. Leonard Feather’s The Encyclopedia of Jazz has an entry for Joe, Lewis Porter’s An Historical Survey of Jazz Drumming Styles lists Joe as an important figure in the evolution of jazz drumming, and The Oxford Companion to Jazz states that “just about anyone of consequence worked with Jones.” These texts and many others put Joe in a place of prominence for a handful of sentences. However, footnoting Joe’s success overlooks the fact that he recorded on more than one-hundred albums from 1955-1960 and was probably the most recorded American drummer in any genre during that time period. Despite his popularity and critical acclaim, no published author has delved into Joe’s complex life with any depth. This thesis explores Joe’s musical biography and seeks to illuminate the paradoxes therin. Joe’s story contains drug use, prison time, and abrasive behavior. On the other hand, he was an excellent musician and a generous man who mentored many young musicians. Joe’s life is intertwined in a web of circumstantial experiences: a fatherless upbringing, military service during World War II, integrating the Philadelphia Transit Company, and working to survive as a musician in New York. There are also lesser-known parts of his life including his roots as a Rhythm and blues drummer, his love for big band music, and his associations with the avant-garde. Joe overcame the obstacles of socioeconomic status, racism, evolving musical styles, and the drug culture to become a superb musician who still found time to educate the next generation.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Dustin E. MalloryIncludes discograph
Label-free Redox Imaging of Patient-Derived Organoids Using Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy.
No full textHigh-throughput drug screening of patient-derived organoids offers an attractive platform to determine cancer treatment efficacy. Here, selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) was used to determine treatment response in organoids with endogenous fluorescence from the metabolic coenzymes NAD(P)H and FAD. Rapid 3-D autofluorescence imaging of colorectal cancer organoids was achieved. A quantitative image analysis approach was developed to segment each organoid and quantify changes in endogenous fluorescence caused by treatment. Quantitative analysis of SPIM volumes confirmed the sensitivity of patient-derived organoids to standard therapies. This proof-of-principle study demonstrates that SPIM is a powerful tool for high-throughput screening of organoid treatment response
A phase 2 study of an oral mTORC1/mTORC2 kinase inhibitor (CC-223) for non-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors with or without carcinoid symptoms
No full textSecond-generation mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors such as CC-223 may have theoretical advantages over first-generation drugs by inhibiting TOR kinase in mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and 2 (mTORC2), potentially improving clinical efficacy for well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NET).Enrolled patients had metastatic, well-differentiated NET of non-pancreatic gastrointestinal or unknown origin, with/without carcinoid symptoms, had failed ≥1 systemic chemotherapy, and were taking a somatostatin analog (SSA). Oral once-daily CC-223 was administered in 28-day cycles starting at 45 mg (n = 24), with a subsequent cohort starting at 30 mg (n = 23). Objectives were to evaluate tolerability, preliminary efficacy, and pharmacokinetic and biomarker profiles of CC-223. Forty-seven patients completed the study, with mean treatment duration of 378 days and mean dose of 26 mg; 26% of patients remained on the starting dose. Most frequent grade ≥3 toxicities were diarrhea (38%), fatigue (21%), and stomatitis (11%). By investigator, 3 of 41 evaluable patients (7%) showed partial response (PR) and 34 (83%) had stable disease (SD) for a disease control rate (DCR) of 90% (95% confidence interval [CI] 76.9–97.3%). Duration of PR was 125–401 days; median SD duration was 297 days (min–max, 50–1519 days). Median progression-free survival was 19.5 months (95% CI 10.4–28.5 months). Carcinoid symptoms of flushing, diarrhea, or both improved in 50%, 41%, and 39% of affected patients, respectively. For the first time, this study describes that a second-generation mTOR pathway inhibitor can result in highly durable tumor regression and control of NET carcinoid symptoms. The manageable safety profile, high DCR, and durable response, coupled with reduction in carcinoid symptoms refractory to SSA, make CC-223 a promising agent for further development.</div
Golden, Oregon cultural landscape report
No full textby Susan Johnson and Dustin Welch ; prepared in collaboration with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and the University of Oregon.Title from PDF title page (viewed on September 4, 2020).This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Includes bibliographical references.Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English
High-resolution trace element geochemistry and sequence stratigraphy of the Middle-Late Devonian (Givetian-Frasnian) Frasnes crisis
No full textThe Middle–Late Devonian (Givetian–Frasnian) ‘Frasnes’ event is marked by a second order mass extinction approximately coeval with the deposition of black shale on a global scale and the ‘falsiovalis’ positive δ13C isotope excursion. These characteristics are also hallmarks of extensively studied mass extinction events such as the Late Devonian Kellwasser (Frasnian-Famennian) and the end-Devonian Hangenberg crises. However, the relative timing of black shale intervals, eustatic sea-level fluctuations, and the carbon isotope excursion is unknown, and any possible causative relationships cannot be determined. This research provides a high-resolution integrated geochemical dataset to evaluate the paleoenvironmental condition of the rocks deposited during the Frasnes interval in central Nevada and compares those results to the better understood Kellwasser and Hangenberg events. Geochemical data from the Frasnes event is tied to lithostratigraphic sections and used to build a sequence stratigraphic framework from which eustatic changes are identified and linked directly to elemental abundance data. These data, in conjunction with new biostratigraphic and carbon isotope data collected from the same samples, places these events within a chronostratigraphic framework and helps to further our understanding of this significant Earth history event.Restricted until 06/2023. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left
The Malleability of the Past: "Íslendingabók" as Narrative History
No full text"Íslendingabók" (Book of Icelanders) is the earliest surviving history of Iceland, written by the priest Ari Þorgilsson sometime between 1122 and 1133. Despite spanning the period from the Settlement in the ninth century to 1118, the work is concise, which suggests that a specific selection of information was made by the author during the composition process. This hypothesis is supported by the quality of the information conveyed, which seems to favour Ari himself and his patrons, and by Ari’s omission of material that would compromise his view, evidence of which is nevertheless present in other sources.
This article explores "Íslendingabók" as a careful reconstruction of the Icelandic past, thus as narrative history; the focus will be on the strategies and aims that lay behind the author’s project, not least on the ideological foundations that shaped Ari’s views. This approach will allow for a better appreciation of the text and its production context, as compared to the influential but often uncritical methods used to study the work that flourished during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and which still reverberate today, within both scholarly discussions of the work and popular contemporary attitudes in Iceland towards the country’s medieval history and culture
Toward a Credible Pacifism: Violence and the Possibilities of Politics
No full textAdvocates of pacifism usually stake their position on the moral superiority of nonviolence and have generally been reluctant or unwilling to concede that violence can be an effective means of conducting politics. In this compelling new work, which draws its examples from both everyday experience and the history of Western political thought, author Dustin Ells Howes presents a challenging argument that violence can be an effective and even just form of power in politics. Contrary to its proponents, however, Howes argues that violence is no more reliable than any other means of exercising power. Because of this there is almost always a more responsible alternative. He distinguishes between violent and nonviolent power and demonstrates how the latter can confront physical violence and counter its claims. This brand of pacifism gives up claims to moral superiority but recuperates a political ethic that encourages thoughtfulness about suffering and taking responsibility for our actions.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1404/thumbnail.jp
A Volumetric Proof of the Log-Concavity of the Characteristic Polynomial of Matroids
No full textThis thesis presents a novel proof of the Heron–Rota–Welsh conjecture using a volume theoretic approach. Originating in the 1950's, the conjecture proposes that the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of a matroid exhibit the property of log-concavity. A complete proof for all matroids was found only in 2018, when Jun Huh, in collaboration with Karim Adiprasito and Eric Katz, achieved this milestone by developing the theory of combinatorial Hodge theory. We review the link between the combinatorial data of matroids, algebraic objects known as Chow rings, and geometric objects called Bergman fans, and then outline the recent work of Dustin Ross, Anastasia Nathanson, Lauren Nowak, and the author on the theory of normal complexes of fans and their volumetric properties. Our main result stems from showing that the Bergman fans of matroids meet criteria such that the (extended) mixed volumes of their normal complexes obey the Alexandrov–Fenchel inequality, yielding log-concave sequences. We hope this demonstrates that the theory of normal complexes is a tool able to tackle modern problems in mathematics
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