Speculative futures at the bottom of the pyramid

Celebrated as creative, flexible catalysts of inclusive capitalism, urban youth are central to bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid (BoP) models of development, which set out to repurpose the jobless as entrepreneurs in the making. We explore the multiple (at times conflicting) temporalities – the practices, technologies, and representations of time – which figure in a BoP initiative offering entrepreneurial opportunities to unemployed youth in Nairobi's slums: from the invocation of clock‐time discipline to the professional time of entrepreneurial subjectivities and the enchantments of the not‐yet. But the appeal of BoP, we suggest, does not turn either on the here‐and‐now of survival or on an impossible pipe dream of prosperity, but rather resides firmly in the medium term: a foreseeable future of modest desires, which nonetheless remain tantalizingly just out of reach for most. By examining how these temporal conflicts play out in attempts to fashion a cadre of self‐willed, aspiring entrepreneurs, we reveal the limits to entrepreneurial agency, and the contradictions inherent in the mission of (self‐)empowerment through enterprise upon which the ideology of inclusive markets is built.     

Explanation for the pyramid effect

It was established that the dynamics of volatile compounds from samples placed inside chambers is affected by the shape of the chambers. The mechanisms of this effect were analyzed. It was shown that the experimental results obtained previously are consistent with the theory. It was also shown that all phenomena observed in constructions of various shapes are described in terms of the known physical conceptions. Chambers with outside pulsating heating are variations of the known "Brown motor devices".     

Extracting the abstraction pyramid from complex networks

Background  

At present, the organization of system modules is typically limited to either a multilevel hierarchy that describes the "vertical" relationships between modules at different levels (e.g., module A at level two is included in module B at level one), or a single-level graph that represents the "horizontal" relationships among modules (e.g., genetic interactions between module A and module B). Both types of organizations fail to provide a broader and deeper view of the complex systems that arise from an integration of vertical and horizontal relationships.     

A shield against the sun

Niyogi, K.K., Grossman, A.R. and Björkman, O. (1998) Arabidopsis mutants define a central role for the xanthophyll cycle in the regulation of photosynthetic energy conversion, Plant Cell 10, 1121–1134     

Herbivory in sun versus shade at a natural meadow-woodland ecotone in the Rocky Mountains

We examined herbivore damage in a natural association in order to evaluate the hypothesis that herbivory is generally greater in the shade (Maiorana 1981). Damage was measured in relation to habitat, adult plant distribution, and plant size for 13 species of native herbaceous forbs that cross the natural shade/sun ecotone at the interface of montane meadow and aspen (Populus tremuloides) woodland. Eight of the 13 species had statistically significant differences in leaf area damaged between sun and shade individuals (p<0.05). Only 3 of those were more damaged in shade (Aquilegia coerulea, Epilobium angustifolium, and Galium biflorum), while six were more damaged in the sun (Delphinium nelsoni, Helianthella quinquenervis, Lupinus argenteus, Thalictrum fendleri, and Vicia americana). No pattern was detected for 5: Erigeron speciosus, Fragaria ovalis, Lathyrus leucanthus, Viguiera multiflora, and Viola nuttallii. Levels of herbivory were species-specific rather than habitat-related. Thus, the shade habitat hypothesis must be rejected for our system, and the null hypothesis accepted for this natural assemblage. Herbivory within the shade was generally related to plant and leaf size. Two equally common community level patterns of loss occurred in relation to plant distribution. These were: 1. frequency-related, where herbivory was higher in the habitat of highest adult plant occurrence, and 2. inversely-related, where herbivory was higher in the habitat where plants were less common.     

Influence of alignment of the pyramid on its beneficial effects

The present study was aimed to find out whether a change in the alignment of the pyramid from the north-south axis causes any variation in the effects produced by it on plasma cortisol levels and markers of oxidative stress in erythrocytes of adult-female Wistar rats. Plasma cortisol and erythrocyte TBARS levels were significantly lower whereas erythrocyte GSH was significantly higher in rats kept in pyramid that was aligned on the four cardinal points--north, east, south and west, as compared to normal control rats. Although there was a significant difference in the plasma cortisol level between normal control group and the group of rats kept in randomly aligned pyramid, there was no significant difference between these two groups for the other parameters. Erythrocyte TBARS levels in the group of rats kept in the randomly aligned pyramid was significantly higher than that in the group kept in the magnetically aligned pyramid. The results suggest that the north-south alignment of the pyramid is crucial for its expected effects.     

Rotovibrational states of the water molecule on the sun

The infrared spectrum of water observed in sunspots is complex and dense, with bands separated by approximately 0.01 cm^?1. For top asymmetrical molecules, there is no theoretical approach that allows for the calculation of rotovibrational energy with such precision. Experimentally derived rotovibracional energy levels of water at high temperatures combined with variational calculations have been used for the band assignments. These energy levels are employed to refine the analysis of a small portion of the infrared absorption spectrum. Such procedure has allowed for the identification of additional 55 bands to the 70 already identified as rotovibrational transitions of the water molecule. Our new assignments, which include pure and cross transitions, offer additional evidence of the existence of water on the sun, but above all they illustrate the complexity of the solar spectrum that involves states with higher levels of rotational excitation. Given the conditions on the sun, more molecules of water would occur in excited electronic states, which include apolar and paramagnetic states, generating intense bands in the spectrum. Since there is an analytical solution for the rotovibrational transitions of linear molecules, we were able to identify 16 bands relative to the excited electronic states ¹B₂ and ³A₁ in the sunspot spectrum. Density functional B3LYP/AUG-cc-pVTZ calculations of the electric and magnetic dipole are employed to discuss some consequences of the presence of excited states of water in the dynamics of sunspots and solar magnetic field.     

Heat balance during exercise in the sun

10 male subjects, dressed only in white shorts, exercised for 120 min at 92 W on a bicycle ergometer suspended in a balance. For the first 60 min they were exposed to the sun, from 60.-90. min they were shaded, and from 90.-120. min again exposed to the sun. In 10 experiments they faced the sun, in 10 others their backs were exposed. The values (in W) in the heat balance equation M - W +/- C +/- R +/- E +/- L +/- S = 0 were measured by partitional calorimetry: M metabolic rate, W external work rate, C convective heat loss, R short and long wave radiation exchange, E evaporative sweat loss, L pulmonary evaporative loss, and S rate of heat storage. Means of the measured values (W) are shown below. R in the heat balance equation equals the radiative short wave (Rgs) and long wave (Rgl) heat gains minus the radiative long wave heat loss (Rll). (table; see text) The direct gain from solar radiation is approximately 100 W. In the shade period the reduction in radiant heat gain is compensated for by the decreased evaporation of sweat.