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This practice brief presents the work of doctoral students who aim to reform the graduate experience in their department to support marginalized students. Utilizing strategies from community organization and organizational change theories, we detail the processes of fostering community dialogue and of crafting a demand letter to communicate students’ needs and recommendations. We also discuss implications as it relates to accountability, implementation, and overcoming pushback. By centering students’ voices in change efforts, we hope to empower other students in dismantling oppressive systems and implementing practices to make higher education a more equitable and safer environment for marginalized students to thrive.

Nanoparticles (NPs) of Ba8Ga16Ge30 clathrate-I were synthetized via sol-gel-calcination/chemical-reduction route. A solution of the metallic cations was used to prepare an acryl-amid-based gel. The gel is dried and calcined to obtain nanocrystalline powders of precursor oxides. The oxides are reduced by reacting with CaH2 to produce the clathrate, which is embedded in a CaO matrix. CaO is removed by a washing step to obtain the clathrate NPs. The shape and size of the precursor oxide NPs can be modified by addition of complexing agents, surfactants or by varying the pH or the metal and surfactant concentration in the gel. Powder X-ray diffraction and SAED patterns confirm the clathrate-I-type crystal structure of the products. SEM/TEM investigations show that the size and morphology of the oxides are retained in the clathrate NPs after the reduction. The clathrate NPs exhibit morphology of thin plates similar to 300 x similar to 300 nm(2) and thickness of similar to 50 nm, or sphere-like morphology with similar to 200 nm diameter, depending on the sol gel synthesis conditions. The clathrate NPs were compacted via spark plasma sintering (SPS) to pellets with 53-93 % of crystallographic density. The total thermal conductivity (kappa) of the pellet with 93 % density shows a reduction of 25 % in comparison to the reported K in bulk clathrate. Preliminary characterization of the Seebeck (S) and electrical resistivity (R) of the low density sample (53 %) indicates n-type conduction and semiconductor behavior of the Ba8Ga16Ge30 clathrate-I. The transport properties of Ba8Ga16Ge30 clathrate-I with 3-, 4- or 5-layer slabs and [100] surface termination as well as of the bulk material were calculated by using the semi-classical Boltzmann transport theory within the constant scattering approximation. Our results show an increase in S for the geometries with reduced dimensions in agreement with the experimental observations.

This study connects the topic of natural resource conflicts with political elements, especially elections and looks into clashes between a pastoralist (Orma) and an agricultural (Pokomo) community in Kenya. It analyses the clashes in the Tana delta which escalated in August 2012 from a political angle. The main aim of this study was to see how elections and conflicts influence each other but also which role other (political) aspects played in the case of the Tana delta. The Tana delta is a wetland area at the Kenyan Coast which is mainly inhabited by pastoralist Orma and agricultural Pokomo communities. Also, it is a fall back area for pastoralists from as far as Ethiopia, who migrate to the delta in times of drought in search for water and pasture. The area frequently sees conflicts which occasionally claim lives or even end in severe violence. The latter one was the case in 2012-2013 when almost 200 people died in ethnic clashes. On 4th March 2013 Kenya held its first elections under the new constitution which was embarked in 2010 and foresees a new government structure delegating more responsibilities to the regional level, the counties. This study analyses how the clashes in the Tana delta were influenced by these transitional elections and how institutional failure and legal pluralism contributed. Also, it identifies the root cause of natural resource conflicts in the Tana delta. Due to the fact that theories on election violence suggest that politicians instigate violence to unite their voters or to reduce the number of their competitors' supporters, this study also takes into account how the clashes influenced the elections. In this respect it examines which consequences the conflict had on the electorate, how it affected the popularity of different aspirants and what effects it had on the relevance of factors for the voting decision.

A series of norephedrine-based Schiff bases (1a-6a and 1b-6b) were synthesized by reacting substituted salicylaldehydes with d-norephedrine or l-norephedrine. The structure of these compounds was confirmed by elemental analyses and spectroscopic techniques. The molecular structures of 5a and 6a have been determined by X-ray crystallography, which revealed that the compounds are in the oxoamino form, with bent intramolecular N-H���O (N���O?2.58�) hydrogen bonds and that they are associated in dimers bridged by linear intermolecular O-H���O (O���O?2.69�) hydrogen bonds. The density functional theory calculations on 5a confirmed that the oxoamino form is more stable than the phenolimino form by 12.2kcal/mol. All the compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial activity using resazurin dye as indicator by twofold dilution method against four bacteria namely, Bacillus subtilis (NCIM2718), Staphylococcus aureus (NCIM5021), Escherichia coli (NCIM2931), and Proteus vulgaris (NCIM2813). � 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Fenofibrate has been noted to cause an elevation in serum creatinine in some individuals. Participants in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Lipid Study were studied to better characterise who is at risk of an increase in creatinine level and to determine whether those with creatinine elevation have a differential risk of adverse renal or cardiovascular outcomes.