272 research outputs found
Adapting authoritarianism: institutions and co-optation in Egypt and Syria
No full textThis PhD thesis compares Egypt and Syria’s authoritarian political systems. While the tendency in social science political research treats Egypt and Syria as similarly authoritarian, this research emphasizes differences between the two systems with special reference to institutions and co-optation. Rather than reducibly understanding Egypt and Syria as sharing similar histories, institutional arrangements, or ascribing to the oft-repeated convention that “Syria is Egypt but 10 years behind,” this thesis focuses on how events and individual histories shaped each states current institutional strengthens and weaknesses. Specifically, it explains the how varying institutional politicization or de-politicization affects each state’s capabilities for co-opting elite and non-elite individuals.
Beginning with a theoretical framework that considers the limited utility of democratization and transition theoretical approaches, the work underscores the persistence and durability of authoritarianism. Chapter two details the politicized institutional divergence between Egypt and Syria that began in the 1970s. Chapter three and four examines how institutional politicization or de-politicization affects elite and non-elite individual co-optation in Egypt and Syria. Chapter five discusses the study’s general conclusions and theoretical implications.
This thesis’s argument is that Egypt and Syria co-opt elites and non-elites differently because of the varying degrees of institutional politicization in each governance system. Rather than view one country as more politically developed than the other, this work argues that Syria’s political institutions are more politicized than their Egyptian counterparts. Syria’s political arena is, thus, described as politicized-patrimonialism. Syria’s politicized-patrimonial arena produces uneven co-optation of elites and non-elites as they are diffused through competing institutions. Conversely, the Egyptian political arena remains highly personalized as weak institutions and individuals are manipulated and molded according to the president’s ruling clique. This is referred to as personalized-patrimonialism. As a consequence, Egypt’s political establishment demonstrates more flexibility in ad hoc altering and adapting its arena depending on the emergence of crises.
This study’s theoretical implications suggest that, contrary to modernization and democratization theory’s adage that institutions lead to a political development, politicized institutions within a patrimonial order actually hinder regime adaptation because consensus is harder to achieve and maintain. It is within this context that Egypt’s de-politicized institutional framework advantages its top political elite. In this reading of Egyptian and Syrian politics, Egypt’s personalized political arena is more adaptable than Syria’s. These conclusions do not indicate that political reform is a process underway in either state
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White-collar criminal prosecutions in the U.S. and U.K. ::a comparative guide for practitioners /
No full text"The content in this book, focuses on just the most important points that financial crime lawyers in London, New York, Los Angeles, or Washington are likely to encounter. The rationale for writing this book was to create a resource that many may have wished existed when they began a cross border practice: a holistic, easy-to-follow explanation of the American and British statutes and procedural rules that govern the investigation and prosecution of white collar crime, along with their key differences. The author has sought to present this information objectively, and hopes that it may be equally useful to those in law enforcement and other lawyers in private practice"-
The Brooklyn Panorama competition: A historical account
No full textThe Brooklyn Panorama competition in New York is one of the largest steelpan
competitions in the United States with roots that trace back to the birthplace of the steelpan,
Trinidad and Tobago. New York is also the diasporic landing zone of steelpan into America.
Traditions and customs of New York’s Panorama, such as the rules for the competition,
arrangements and style of music performed, and performing forces that compete, are similar to
the Panorama competition that takes place in Trinidad every year during Carnival. This yearly
historical event in the United States preserves the traditions and customs associated with the
West Indies people, Carnival festival season, and musical styles that originated in Trinidad and
Tobago’s Panorama Competition.
In Janine Tiffe’s article “The Arrival of Steel Pan in the United States,” she shares that
Rudy King, Ellie Mannette, and Kim Loy Wong were among the first Trinidadians to bring the
steelpan to the United States in the 1940s. In Ray Allen’s article “J’Ouvert in Brooklyn Carnival:
Revitalizing Steel Pan and Ole Mas Traditions,” he states that Rudy King was the first person to
include a steelpan element in the New York festival in the mid-1950s. Although there is quite
extensive research into the early years of steelpan in the United States, most of that research has
traced steelpan through the education systems and academia. This document deviates from this
approach to include traditional music being performed in a culturally accurate representation of
how it is taught and performed in Trinidad. Most of the original Trinidadians that first brought
this instrument and style of music to the United States have recently passed away; therefore, it is
the author’s belief of the importance to document the music, traditions, and heritage. Many
countries now have steelpan competitions as part of their Carnival festivals. Today, the steelpan
can be found around the world and involved in many styles and genres of music
Essä betyder försök
No full textGestaltande kompletteringar i två delar. Ljudinspelning 1. Palmtrees Galore 18 min 13 sek. Konversation Mellan Marcus Harrling och Ray York i bil på väg från Joshua Tree till Palm Springs för att gå på biograf. Ljudinspelning 2. "Cinema has failed us" 5 min 51 sek. Utdrag ur föreläsning av Thom Andersen inspelad på Calarts utanför Los Angeles
X-Ray Diffraction Microscopy of Magnetic Structures
No full textInternational audienceWe report the first proof-of-principle experiment of iterative phase retrieval from magnetic x-ray diffraction. By using the resonant x-ray excitation process and coherent x-ray scattering, we show that linearly polarized soft x rays can be used to image both the amplitude and the phase of magnetic domain structures. We recovered the magnetic structure of an amorphous terbium-cobalt thin film with a spatial resolution of about 75 nm at the Co L 3 edge at 778 eV. In comparison with soft x-ray microscopy images recorded with Fresnel zone plate optics at better than 25 nm spatial resolution, we find qualitative agreement in the observed magnetic structure
Reasoning about objects under full occlusion
No full textThesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 41-43).While state-of-the-art machine learning models can outperform humans on certain tasks, most of them generalize poorly across domains and cannot reason about complex scenes. In this paper, we attempt to resolve this shortcoming by incorporating a physics engine as a prior for scene understanding. We test our approach on two computer vision tasks -- pose estimation and object matching -- under full occlusion, and demonstrate superior performance over state-of-the-art methods. We also present a preliminary case study which demonstrates that our model is consistent with human behavior. Our work demonstrates a successful approach to a novel and challenging task, provides a general framework to infer latent factors of scene via physics simulation, and extends support for intuitive physics-based approaches for robust visual reasoning.by Shraman Ray Chaudhuri.M. Eng
Toward an Understanding of the Progenitors of Gamma-Ray Bursts
No full textThe various possibilities for the origin ("progenitors") of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) manifest in differing observable properties. Through deep spectroscopic and high-resolution imaging observations of some GRB hosts, I demonstrate that well-localized long-duration GRBs are connected with otherwise normal star-forming galaxies at moderate redshifts of order unity. Using high-mass binary stellar population synthesis models, I quantify the expected spatial extent around galaxies of coalescing neutron stars, one of the leading contenders for GRB progenitors. I then test this scenario by examining the offset distribution of GRBs about their apparent hosts making extensive use of ground-based optical data from Keck and Palomar and space-based imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope. The offset distribution appears to be inconsistent with the coalescing neutron star binary hypothesis (and, similarly, black-hole-neutron star coalescences); instead, the distribution is statistically consistent with a population of progenitors that closely traces the ultra-violet light of galaxies. This is naturally explained by bursts which originate from the collapse of massive stars ("collapsars"). This claim is further supported by the unambiguous detections of intermediate-time (approximately three weeks after the bursts) emission "bumps" which appear substantially more red than the afterglows themselves. I claim that these bumps could originate from supernovae that occur at approximately the same time as the associated GRB; if true, GRB 980326 and GRB 011121 provide strong observational evidence connecting cosmological GRBs to high-redshift supernovae and implicate massive stars as the progenitors of at least some long-duration GRBs. Regardless of the true physical origin of these bumps, it appears that all viable alternative models of these bumps (such as dust scattering of the afterglow light) require a substantial amount of circumburst matter that is distributed as a wind-stratified medium; this too, implicates massive stars. Also suggested herein are some future observations which could further solidify or refute the supernova claim. In addition to the observational and modeling work, I also constructed the Jacobs Camera (JCAM), a dual-beam optical camera for the Palomar 200-inch Telescope designed to follow-up rapid GRB localizations.</p
Uptake, translocation, and metabolism 2,4-D in enlist crops and control of drought-stressed waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) with 2,4-D and glyphosate
No full textThe synthetic auxin herbicide, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), is one of the oldest and most widely-used herbicides in the world and is a systemic, postemergence (POST) herbicide that is selective in monocots such as corn, wheat, sorghum, and turf, but dicots are sensitive to 2,4-D. Auxin herbicides mimic and induce similar responses as the natural phytohormone, indole-3-acetic acid. Sensitive dicots are controlled through a cascade of events derived from elevated cellular levels of 2,4-D, resulting in increased phytohormone levels, reactive oxygen species, cell membrane injury, and ultimately plant death. Selectivity of 2,4-D is derived from metabolism differences between monocots and dicots.
Until recently, 2,4-D could not be used in dicot crops like soybean (Glycine max) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum); however, genetically-modified varieties are being developed. The Enlist Weed Control System™ developed by Dow AgroSciences will confer 2,4-D resistance in several crops including corn (Zea mays), soybean, and cotton. Resistance is derived from insertion of a transgene from the soil bacteria enzyme family, aryloxyalkanoate dioxygenase (AAD), which can metabolize 2,4-D to the nonherbicidal metabolite, dichlorophenol.
During the development of Enlist soybean, injury was observed to treated leaves following certain herbicide applications, which is atypical of synthetic auxins. When the premixed product, Enlist Duo (2,4-D choline, glyphosate, and specific adjuvant package (Adj.)) or the tank-mixture of 2,4-D choline + glyphosate + Adj. was applied to Enlist soybean, small necrotic spots formed on treated leaves, but injury to Enlist corn was less frequent. Injury to Enlist soybean was unexpected due to the previously determined rapid rate of 2,4-D metabolism by the AAD enzyme. To develop a better understanding of how and why this injury occurs in Enlist soybean, research was conducted to measure uptake, translocation, and metabolism of 2,4-D in Enlist soybean, Enlist corn, and non-transformed varieties utilizing radiolabeled 2,4-D in a whole-plant and an excised-leaf assay. It was concluded that enhanced 2,4-D uptake with the Enlist Duo treatment leads to injury in Enlist soybean. In both Enlist crop varieties, the rate and/or amount of 2,4-D metabolism were greater relative to non-transformed varieties and glyphosate did not affect 2,4-D metabolism. In the Enlist Duo treatment, 2,4-D uptake is very rapid and greater than with other treatments in soybean. In corn, 2,4-D uptake levels were much lower than detected in soybean, and surprisingly Enlist Duo resulted in the least amount of uptake. When the concentration of free 2,4-D was reduced in soybean by utilizing the ester formulation of 2,4-D, injury to Enlist soybean was eliminated. By tank mixing a chloroacetamide herbicide with Enlist Duo, injury was observed in Enlist corn and 2,4-D uptake was increased compared to using Enlist Duo alone.
Excessive 2,4-D uptake levels derived from Enlist Duo result in injury to Enlist soybean. The rapid influx of 2,4-D into soybean may overwhelm or exceed the metabolic capacity of the AAD enzyme, resulting in a pool of free 2,4-D acid in the soybean plant. Injury is reduced when 2,4-D ester is used instead of 2,4-D choline because 2,4-D ester must be converted to the active form of 2,4-D acid by esterases located within the cuticle and/or apoplast, limiting the influx and amount of 2,4-D that must be metabolized by AAD. Reducing 2,4-D uptake in Enlist crops by altering the adjuvants or changing the formulation of 2,4-D would reduce the risk of crop injury, but 2,4-D uptake in weeds and efficacy may be compromised.
Weed control with POST herbicides can be affected by many factors including the growing conditions during the application. An environmental condition known to alter POST herbicide efficacy is drought. Plants under drought stress (water stress) tend to be more difficult to control compared to unstressed plants. With predicted climate changes, a greater potential for periods of less rain or more frequent droughts may drive the need to maintain weed control levels when plants are drought stressed. The objectives of this research were to determine the effect of drought stress on waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) control POST with 2,4-D and/or glyphosate, and to define potential differences between the two herbicides in relation to drought stress and POST activity.
Greenhouse assays and a whole-plant assay utilizing radiolabeled herbicides were conducted to investigate levels of waterhemp control in relation to varying drought stress levels, timing of the stress, and their effect on herbicide uptake and translocation. Levels of waterhemp control were determined in the greenhouse with varying rates of 2,4-D and glyphosate (less than labeled rates; termed “low” and “high”), as well as tank mixtures of these two herbicides, under varying levels of water stress created by watering the plants with 10, 20, or 40 mL of water per day. Another greenhouse assay was utilized to determine waterhemp control with the two herbicides under different timings of water stress. The drought condition occurred either one week before the herbicide application, one week after the herbicide application, or during the full two-week period.
Herbicide efficacy increased as the amount of water supplied per day increased. At high-stress levels, the reduction of waterhemp dry matter was greater with 2,4-D-low compared to glyphosate-low and was equivalent to glyphosate-high. Herbicide efficacy was greatest when the drought stress occurred before the herbicide application and when plants were watered to saturation after the application. When the drought stress occurred immediately after the herbicide application, waterhemp dry matter levels were equal to plants held under drought stress both before and after the herbicide application. Uptake and translocation of radiolabeled glyphosate was significantly less in plants under drought stress, while uptake and translocation of radiolabeled 2,4-D was not altered.
Significant dry matter reduction in waterhemp plants under drought stress is possible with 2,4-D compared to glyphosate at the rates examined in the greenhouse study. Greater uptake and translocation of 2,4-D in drought-stressed waterhemp plants may have contributed the greater herbicide efficacy achieved with 2,4-D compared to glyphosate. With both herbicides, higher efficacy levels were attained when plants were not stressed after the herbicide application. Whenever possible, timing POST herbicide applications in accordance with rainfall events and selecting the appropriate herbicide-adjuvant combination can increase waterhemp control, even if the plants are stressed prior to the application.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I only', the embargo will last until 2017-08-01The student, Joshua Skelton, accepted the attached license on 2015-07-01 at 10:27.The student, Joshua Skelton, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2015-07-01 at 10:37.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2015-07-08 at 09:31.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #8329 on 2015-09-29 at 14:59:02Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-29T20:49:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
SKELTON-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf: 2028912 bytes, checksum: ec3bb857b1eff49d893abe1ea1b726fd (MD5)
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'Disrobing Suky': One Mistress but Two Masters? The examination of a portrait of Susanna Trevelyan
No full textThe article discusses an 18th-century family portrait of Susanna Trevelyan, known as Suky, located at Wallington Hall in England. The portrait has often been attributed to painter Thomas Gainsborough, with over-painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds completed in the 1770s. The portrait underwent conservation at the University of Northumberland, where infrared reflectography (IR) and X-radiography (X-ray) showed changes made to the painting. The author analyzes the portrait's connections to Reynolds
High-resolution brain tractography from X-ray phase-contrast images
No full textAccepted manuscript (author version after peer review)International audienceX-ray phase contrast tomography (XPCT) can produce high contrast isotropic images of biological samples in only a few minutes thanks to the unique properties of the synchrotron X-ray beam. XPCT of brain tissue provides an exquisite contrast of white matter, which could be exploited for 3D directional analysis. In this article, we present the first XPCT-based pipeline to perform white matter tractography on rodent brains. We observed the disorganization of white matter in the vicinity of focal demyelinating lesions in the corpus callosum. The ability to obtain an isotropic, high-resolution tractogram is an important landmark which could drive further interest of the neuroscience community toward XPCT
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