Double Duty Research Articles

Religious Freedom in Modern Russia by Poole Randall A. (review)

SEER, 98, 2, APRIL 2020 372 ‘distinguished past from present’ — ‘what was acceptable in the sixteenth century was not acceptable today’ (p. 42). He may have accepted that Ivan IV’s centralization of Muscovy was progressive and therefore the bloodletting ‘necessary historically’, but this did not ‘justify it morally — not in the past and not in the present’ (p. 42). Strengthening Muscovy and defeating its enemies was a profound achievement, but at what cost? The violence of Ivan’s reign, and Stalin’s, could not ultimately be justified historically. Ivan the Terrible was Eizenshtein’s grand endeavour to ‘dissect totalizing power as immoral and inevitable’ (p. 239), inevitable it would seem in ‘authoritarian societies’, be it Ivan’s Muscovy or Stalin’s Soviet Union. By asking the viewer ‘“Am I right in what I am doing”?’, Eizenshtein’s Ivan ‘gives us the kind of individual moral accounting that we need in order to understand a society […] of “permanent moral compromise”’ (p. 346). Neuberger’s account of the making of Ivan the Terrible contributes significantly to our understanding of what constitutes Stalinist civilization. Department of History Steven A. Usitalo Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD Poole, Randall A. and Werth, Paul W. (eds). Religious Freedom in Modern Russia. Russian and East European Studies. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 2018. 314 pp. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Index. $50.00. How did subjects of the Russian Empire define ‘religious freedom’ and particularly ‘freedom of conscience’? Religious Freedom in Modern Russia — an anthology with eight contributions — continues the discussion begun in the 2012 forum on freedom of conscience in the journal Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History (vol. 13, no. 3), which, editor Randall A. Poole states, ‘served as the foundation’ for this volume (p. 8). In fact, two of the original articles of that forum, by G. M. Hamburg and Victoria Frede, are reprinted here. The six new chapters redirect the discussion so that ‘[t]he focus of this volume is not religious policy […] but rather the various meanings that religious freedom, toleration, and indeed freedom of conscience had in Russia among nonstate actors’ (pp. 7–8). This new focus yields a remarkably coherent anthology that reveals the intellectual and philosophical vitality around a concept that was contested and, at its core, Poole argues, ‘incompatible with autocracy’ (p. 42). The first two chapters provide thoughtful introductions to the intellectual history of tolerance and the concept of freedom of conscience. Hamburg’s REVIEWS 373 essay (chapter 2) traces the evolution of views on toleration from Muscovite and Polish-Lithuanian sixteenth-century texts through Decembrist manifestos, highlighting ‘the impact of the European Enlightenment’ (p. 45) on the Russian thinkers. Hamburg finds an inherent tension throughout between promoting greater toleration and proposing limits. Poole’s chapter one serves double duty asanintroductiontothevolumeandasascholarlycontributioninitsownright. He ties the development of the concept of ‘freedom of conscience’ in Russia to the religious revival over the long nineteenth century — renewed hesychasm and monasticism, the veneration of icons, and the pastoral movement of parish priests — that ‘provided the experiential basis and then the philosophical articulation of freedom conscience’ (p. 43). The inherent tension here was with autocracy itself, which was ‘inimical’ to the concept and ‘continued to resist it’ (p. 43). Chapters by Patrick Lally Michelson and Victoria Frede reveal that in the early 1860s, neither clerical nor revolutionary intellectuals promoted ‘freedom of conscience’ in the modern sense of the term. Michelson deftly traces the ecclesiastical genealogy of the concept as it was understood by Orthodox churchmen, culminating in the first use of the term by an ecclesiastical scholar, Archimandrite Ioann (Sokolov) in 1864–65. For Ioann, ‘freedom of conscience’ meant choosing with free will devotion to Christ as the source of salvation, and he condemned any coercion in faith (p. 99). Turning to the early revolutionaries in the organization Land and Freedom in 1861–64, Frede argues ‘they found they could only promote freedom of confession, not freedom of conscience, worrying that they would alienate potential supporters’ (p. 106). The revolutionaries themselves embraced the liberal concept, but they understood the tensions against it in Russian society, particularly among the peasants. Two chapters explore perspectives from outside the Russian core of the empire...

Monasone Naphthoquinone Biosynthesis and Resistance in Monascus Fungi.

Despite the important biological activities of natural product naphthoquinones, the biosynthetic pathways of and resistance mechanisms against such compounds remain poorly understood in fungi. Here, we report that the genes responsible for the biosynthesis of Monascus naphthoquinones (monasones) reside within the gene cluster for Monascus azaphilone pigments (MonAzPs). We elucidate the biosynthetic pathway of monasones by a combination of comparative genome analysis, gene knockouts, heterologous coexpression, and in vivo and in vitro enzymatic reactions to show that this pathway branches from the first polyketide intermediate of MonAzPs. Furthermore, we propose that the monasone subset of biosynthetic genes also encodes a two-tiered resistance strategy in which an inducible monasone-specific exporter expels monasones from the mycelia, while residual intracellular monasones may be rendered nontoxic through a multistep reduction cascade.IMPORTANCE The genes for Monascus naphthoquinone (monasone) biosynthesis are embedded in and form a composite supercluster with the Monascus azaphilone pigment biosynthetic gene cluster. Early biosynthetic intermediates are shared by the two pathways. Some enzymes encoded by the supercluster play double duty in contributing to both pathways, while others are specific for one or the other pathway. The monasone subcluster is independently regulated and inducible by elicitation with competing microorganisms. This study illustrates genomic and biosynthetic parsimony in fungi and proposes a potential path for the evolution of the mosaic-like azaphilone-naphthoquinone supercluster. The monasone subcluster also encodes a two-tiered self-resistance mechanism that models resistance determinants that may transfer to target microorganisms or emerge in cancer cells in case of naphthoquinone-type cytotoxic agents.

Photocatalyst does double duty

Artificial photosynthesis offers a way to store the energy of sunlight within chemical bonds and could be used to produce renewable solar fuels such as hydrogen. Researchers hoping to harness the sun’s energy in this way tend to mimic the strategy of natural photosynthesis, using separate molecules to capture light and catalyze chemical reactions. But maybe nature doesn’t always know best. Claudia Turro and colleagues at Ohio State University have now developed a rhodium catalyst that performs both these tasks, harvesting light and then using its energy to create hydrogen gas (Nat. Chem. 2020, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-019-0397-4). The catalyst is more efficient than previous examples that combine these two functions in a single molecule, and unlike rival catalysts, it can make full use of the sun’s spectrum, including red and infrared light. “It’s easy to prepare, and it’s also stable in air and water, which is not the case for many

ИЗМЕНЕНИЕ РАЗМЕРОВ СУДЕБНОЙ ПОШЛИНЫ И ОБЪЕМОВ ФИНАНСИРОВАНИЯ АРБИТРАЖНЫХ СУДОВ КАК ПРЕДПОСЫЛКА ПОВЫШЕНИЯ ЭФФЕКТИВНОЙ ЗАЩИТЫ ПРЕДПРИНИМАТЕЛЕЙ

The purpose of the article is to identify, in the interests of protecting the rights of entrepreneurs, the functioning of the institution of court duty in economic justice (its compensatory, preventive and social functions) and find ways to harmonise such functioning. The methodo-logical basis of the article is the subject-activity research strategy. It describes the imbalance in the functioning of the court duty institution. Duty rates do not deter unjustified applications to the courts, and the courts have financial problems that can be solved with additional duty revenues and thus significantly improve the quality of economic justice by ensuring real and rapid protection of entrepreneurs' rights. It is justified to strengthen the preventive and compensatory functions and to strengthen the social function of court duty more adequately. It is proposed to conduct social and legal experiments to adjust court duty rates, and to rely on European indicators of court duty collec-tion. It is justified to increase budget financing of courts on the basis of European average indicators of financing per inhabitant rather than as a percentage of the gross domestic product. The argument is made in favour of an increase in duty rates with a parallel increase in court funding: the authority of the court will increase as judges and participants in a case become aware that they have received funds for justice not simply from the "public trough", but from "own" ("paid", "earned") funds. Conclusions: 1. An opinion has been expressed about an increase in arbitration duty rates, as the institution of court duty currently has neither a preventive nor a compensatory function. Inadequate consolidation of the social function of the court duty institution must be eliminated. 2. The increase in the share of unjustified appeals requires more rapid counteraction: the starting duty rates must be constantly indexed to the inflation rate and the possibility of additional increases must be determined on the basis of European averages and social and legal experi-ments. 3. In order to strengthen the trust of entrepreneurs in courts, it is necessary to introduce European standards in the field of justice: it is advisable to bring the funding indicators for Russian courts up to the average level of funding for courts in Council of Europe member states. 4. A study of the European experience of changes in the volumes of two financial flows - revenue from court fees and court financing - makes it possible to conclude that it is justified to increase these flows substantially at the same time. As a possible option, it is pro-posed to increase court duty rates for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs by 20% per annum of the current rates (in the future - to double court duty fees), to increase annual current state budget financing of the court system by 10% (in the future - to double the financing).

In God we Trust: sobre las raíces cristianas del concepto de libertad religiosa en los Estados Unidos de América

De manera sucinta y panorámica, el presente artículo presenta el concepto de libertad religiosa en los Estados Unidos de América, desde una perspectiva histórica. Se trata de un valor esencial que los estadounidenses recibieron como un legado del espíritu cristiano de los primeros colonos y la notable influencia de las corrientes inglesas de pensamiento durante el siglo XVII. Si bien la libertad fue el valor que los primeros colonos adoptaron como una piedra angular capaz de sostener sus textos legislativos y sus relaciones interpersonales, ha predominado en el imaginario norteamericano la construcción historiográfica de los Padres Peregrinos como la personificación de dicho valor. La vigencia del tema se ve confirmada ante el auge actual de ciertos tipos de fundamentalismos religiosos. En este contexto, se enfatiza el sano equilibrio que debe tener el Estado para cumplir con un doble deber: por un lado, la defensa de la libertad religiosa y, por el otro, el de no cejar en el empeño de erradicar cualquier tipo de violencia que pretenda justificar sus aberraciones utilizando el nombre de Dios.

Absence of XRCC4 and its paralogs in human cells reveal differences in outcomes for DNA repair and V(D)J recombination

The repair of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) is an essential function performed by the Classical Non-Homologous End-Joining (C-NHEJ) pathway in higher eukaryotes. C-NHEJ, in fact, does double duty as it is also required for the repair of the intermediates formed during lymphoid B- and T-cell recombination. Consequently, the failure to properly repair DSBs leads to both genomic instability and immunodeficiency. A critical DSB protein required for C-NHEJ is the DNA Ligase IV (LIGIV) accessory factor, X-Ray Cross Complementing 4 (XRCC4). XRCC4 is believed to stabilize LIGIV, participate in LIGIV activation, and to help tether the broken DSB ends together. XRCC4′s role in these processes has been muddied by the identification of two additional XRCC4 paralogs, XRCC4-Like Factor (XLF), and Paralog of XRCC4 and XLF (PAXX). The roles that these paralogs play in C-NHEJ is partially understood, but, in turn, has itself been obscured by species-specific differences observed in the absence of one or the other paralogs. In order to investigate the role(s) that XRCC4 may play, with or without XLF and/or PAXX, in lymphoid variable(diversity)joining [V(D)J] recombination as well as in DNA DSB repair in human somatic cells, we utilized gene targeting to inactivate the XRCC4 gene in both parental and XLF− HCT116 cells and then inactivated PAXX in those same cell lines. The loss of XRCC4 expression by itself led, as anticipated, to increased sensitivity to DNA damaging agents as well as an increased dependence on microhomology-mediated DNA repair whether in the context of DSB repair or during V(D)J recombination. The additional loss of XLF in these cell lines sensitized the cells even more whereas the presence or absence of PAXX was scarcely negligible. These studies demonstrate that, of the three LIG4 accessory factor paralogs, the absence of XRCC4 influences DNA repair and recombination the most in human cells.

Idleness and Aesthetic Consciousness, 1815–1900. Richard Adelman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. v+233.

<i>Idleness and Aesthetic Consciousness, 1815–1900</i>. Richard Adelman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. v+233.

Analisis Sistem Informasi Akuntansi Penggajian Pada CV ABC di Jawa Tengah

This research was conducted at CV ABC which is engaged in the furniture industry. In managing the payroll system this company is still less effective. It can be seen from several salary payment activities to employees who still often make mistakes in the process of calculating salaries and employee attendance records. In addition, in the process of paying salaries to employees, they often experience late payments. The purpose of this study is to analyze the payroll accounting information system in the company which is expected to help resolve the problems faced by the company. The research method used in this study is a qualitative descriptive research method. The thing that will be done by the researcher is to describe the use of payroll accounting system on CV ABC. The conclusion of this study is that the payroll system on CV ABC is already good because it has used a computerized system. The internal control in the payroll process is still weak because there are still division of tasks and responsibilities of each part that is unclear, namely there is a double duty and interdependence in working tasks, besides that supervision is still lacking for activities that should be routinely checked or corrected.

Robust photocatalyst does double duty

Light-activated catalysts are increasingly used in reduction-oxidation reactions, generating radicals that selectively modify complex molecules. But most such photoredox catalysts rely on expensive, scarce metals like iridium and rubidium. Many are vulnerable to harsh reagents, and different reactions usually need custom catalysts. Chemists in Germany have developed an alternative that not only is cheap and stable but also can catalyze a broad range of radical-based redox reactions. The catalyst is a solid semiconductor material called mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride, an extended network of triazine-based aromatic rings that is easily prepared from cyanamide (Science 2019, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw3254). “We believe it offers a significant improvement,” says Burkhard Konig at the University of Regensburg, part of the research team. Blue light separates charges on the catalyst’s surface, generating electrons that drive reduction reactions, and holes that handle oxidation reactions. This allows the catal...

Little citizens, big missions in Manchuria: the Shōkokumin as imperial pedagogy

ABSTRACTThe wartime shōkokumin discourse of Japan rested on two competing premises, each catenated with a different part of the compound word: the “shō” that emphasized children’s immaturity and vulnerability and the “kokumin” that activated them immediately as mobilizable citizens. This paper charts how the tensions innate in shōkokumin discourse became manifest both at home and in the colonial territories abroad, focusing especially on the exceptionally ambiguous category of settler children in Manchuria. By employing settler children’s tsuzurikata essays from the late 1930s and early 1940s as a central source of examination, the current study fleshes out the particulars of their lives in Manchuria – the trials and tribulations, as well as the privileges and prestige. Neither metropolitan shōkokumin nor colonial kōmin, the settler children in Manchuria had the double duty of becoming Manchurian and Japanese, embracing their role as the gatekeepers of Japan’s Manchuria. Ranging from language acquisition and assimilating into local customs to declaring Japanese ethnic membership, settler children’s writings expose how they articulated their relationship to the naichi metropole, and emphasized their identities as Japanese kokumin. Whether these children ever gained legitimate status as imperial shōkokumin during the turmoil and exigencies of war remains an unresolved question; however, what is clear is that the shōkokumin discourse itself operated as an imperial pedagogy, binding settler children to their double duties while not necessarily guaranteeing their rights at war’s end.

Incommensurability and Wide-Ranging Arguments for Steadfastness in Religious Disagreements: Increasingly Popular, But Eventually Complacent

Choo and Pittard recently have presented new attractive incommensurability arguments for remaining steadfast in religious beliefs even when disagreeing with sophisticated disputants. This article responds to the latest iteration of this genre in the work of Choo, and does double duty evaluating more generally the merits of this genre, which is becoming increasingly more popular since originally championed by Alston. Both Choo and Alston argue that it is reasonable to stay steadfast in one’s religious beliefs when there are no commensurable ways of evaluating the disputant’s claims. This paper first describes four views about disagreement that inform Choo’s conclusion, one of which is the incommensurability argument similarly championed by Alston. Incommensurability arguments are attractive, but, when deployed in the most challenging disagreements, ultimately complacent.

Double Duty Actions to Tackle All Forms of Malnutrition (P10-053-19)

ObjectivesBackground: Most countries are now experiencing a double burden of malnutrition (DBM), characterized by the coexistence of nutritional deficiencies (underweight, wasting, stunting, micronutrient deficiencies) and overweight/obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (obesity/DR-NCDs). Actions to address the two sides of the DBM are typically managed by separate communities, policies, programs, governance structures, and funding streams. Double duty actions, defined as actions that simultaneously address nutritional deficiencies and obesity/DR-NCDs, have been proposed as a win-win solution to tackling malnutrition in all its forms. The objective of the work was to explore opportunities—and make recommendations—for double duty actions to be delivered by programs and policies in key sectors such as health, social protection, education, and agriculture. MethodsWe reviewed evidence on the known shared drivers of undernutrition and obesity/DR-NCDs; searched the literature to identify examples of undernutrition-focused programs (in the four sectors selected) that have inadvertently caused harm by increasing risks of obesity/DR-NCDs; and looked for additional information on measures that programs may have adopted to correct these problems following recognition of harm. ResultsUndernutrition and obesity/DR-NCDs are intrinsically linked through four shared drivers: early life nutrition; dietary quality; food environments; and socioeconomic factors. Failure to adopt double duty actions in the past has caused harm. Examples from Latin America and Egypt show that some social cash/food transfer programs aimed at reducing poverty and undernutrition have led to deteriorations in diet quality (e.g., excess intakes of energy- fat- and sugar-dense and micronutrient-poor foods) and rises in obesity/DR-NCD risks. Realizing the harm, some of these programs pilot-tested successful corrective measures, thereby providing useful examples of early double duty actions. ConclusionsLeveraging the shared drivers of undernutrition and obesity/DR-NCDs through programs and policies delivered by the health, social protection, education, or agriculture sectors is possible and offers considerable opportunities for double duty actions and impacts on all forms of malnutrition. Funding SourcesCGIAR A4NH program led by IFPRI.

Double Duty across the Magisterial Branches

Journal of Supreme Court HistoryVolume 44, Issue 1 p. 26-38 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Double Duty across the Magisterial Branches Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, Saikrishna Bangalore PrakashSearch for more papers by this author Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, Saikrishna Bangalore PrakashSearch for more papers by this author First published: 12 July 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/jsch.12197Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume44, Issue1March 2019Pages 26-38 RelatedInformation

Jumping in and Out of the Dirty Water… Learning from Stories while Doing Social Science

ABSTRACTThe pursuit of knowledge surrounding health-related issues during disasters, emergencies, and crises, can be delicate and challenging. Social scientists use a host of research methods to design and execute studies with the goal of making intellectual contributions. During extended field work following Hurricane Harvey in the Greater Houston area, our team collected data – interviews, observations, and private social media – from citizens, emergency responders, and volunteer rescuers. Yet sometimes the data collected, analyzed, and reported in published findings is only part of the research story. The researchers’ experiences, both in the field as well as their past, can serve as personal-sensemaking devices. Integrating these stories can help scientists build trust and collect meaningful data, well beyond what is anticipated. In this essay, I share such examples, related to dirty water: temporarily health-compromised individuals, and responders doing double duty. Below the surface, there are many more opportunities for health communication to make an impact in times of crisis.

Such similatives: a cross-linguistic reconnaissance

This paper is a preliminary exploration of the semantic and formal properties of the English word such and some of its counterparts in other languages. The proposal is that such words are ‘demonstrative similatives’ (or, equivalently, ‘similative demonstratives’), i.e., their meanings lie at the intersection of the semantic dimensions of similarity and demonstration. We show that this kind of classification is straightforward for languages like Latin and Sanskrit, in which the counterparts to such occur in both similative and demonstrative paradigms. In these so-called ‘correlative’ paradigms the demonstrative similatives occur in systems with both non-demonstrative similatives and non-similative demonstratives. English such and French tel do not occur in correlative systems, and the treatments of such and tel in their respective traditions show a great amount of confusion, in part as a result of the absence of these paradigms, and also because both elements differ strongly from ordinary demonstratives. We also show how the Sanskrit similative paradigm (and that of Kannada) extends the one of Latin in allowing similatives to encode similarity with the speaker and the hearer(s). The paper ends with the methodological point: if more than one language-specific category can do justice to the specifics of one language, the better category is the one that does double duty as a cross-linguistic category.

Double Duty across the Magisterial Branches

Double Duty across the Magisterial Branches SAIKRISHNA BANGALORE PRAKASH Supreme Court Justices have full-time day jobs. Justices have duties as federal judges on the apex court and many reason­ ably regard these responsibilities as requiring their complete and undivided attention. But Justices can do so much more, and they can be so much more. The Constitution does not bar them from serving their country in other ways. From our nation’s inception, several Justices also have occupied other high offices and taken on other vital responsibil­ ities. This article considers early examples of double duty and the constitutionality of these off-the-bench pastimes. The article makes two assertions. First, although the Constitution established three branches, each vested with a particular sort of power and thereby created what we call the separation of powers, it never demanded an absolute separation of personnel. To be sure, members of Congress cannot simulta­ neously serve in either of the other two branches because the Constitution specifi­ cally so proclaims.1 Yet there is nothing in the Constitution that prevents someone from being both a judge and an executive.2 Second, the founding generation did not read the Constitution as barring this parti­ cular practice. In fact, early Justices (and judges) simultaneously served their nation in other capacities. If that understanding and practice is still valid, as I believe it is, nothing today prevents Justice Samuel Alito from simultaneously negotiating with Kim Jong Un. Similarly, nothing bars modern executives from wearing two hats, hearing court cases in the morning and performing executive functions in the afternoon. Secre­ tary of State Mike Pompeo could be a judge on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in his spare time. Doubly Dutiful Chief Justices Before diving into the legal questions about cross-branch service, some comments about John Jay and John Marshall are appropriate, as these are our earliest multi­ taskers, Justices who ably spanned two branches. Our story begins with John Jay. DOUBLE DUTY 27 Jay was a scion of a patrician New York family. He attended King’s College, now Columbia.3 He took up lawyering in 1768. A little less than a decade later, he became involved in the disputes with Great Britain, eventually favoring a complete break from that nation.4 In 1774 and 1775, he served as a New York delegate to the first and second Continental Congresses.5 In 1777, at the ripe age of thirty-two, he helped draft the first New York Constitution and was selected as the first chief justice of the New York Supreme Court.6 In 1778, New York re­ turned him to the Continental Congress, where his fellow delegates elected him to serve as their presiding officer, the president of the Continental Congress.7 This office was quite unlike our presidency, for its duties primarily consisted of chairing Con­ gress’s deliberations and proceedings. Jay simultaneously served as Congress’s presi­ dent and as New York Chief Justice until 1779, when he resigned the latter position.8 After a little less than a year as president, Congress sent Jay to convince Spain to recognize America’s independence and to procure a loan. He secured the latter, but not the former.9 From there, Congress dispatched him to Paris in 1782 to negotiate a peace treaty with the British.10 Although Benjamin Franklin and John Adams also served as treaty commissioners, Jay was the principal American interlocutor. The envoys secured the 1783 Treaty of Paris, with the British belatedly recognizing America’s independence.11 Of course, the diplomats received a strong assist from George Washington and the 1781 Battle of Yorktown. Jay returned to the United States in 1784 and discovered that the Continental Congress in 1784 had appointed him as its second Secretary of Foreign Affairs.12 Under the Articles of Confederation, there was no separate, independent executive. Rather, the Continental Congress exercised a few legis­ lative authorities and the executive power over foreign affairs, wielding war powers and directing diplomacy. While serving as Congress’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs through 1789, Jay wrestled with difficult matters related to piracy in the Mediterra­ nean, Spanish control of the Mississippi, and the...

High Gain Transformer-Less Double-Duty-Triple-Mode DC/DC Converter for DC Microgrid

High-gain DC/DC converters with high efficiency are needed in dc microgrid owed to the low voltage of power sources, e.g., photovoltaic-cell and fuel-cell. This paper proposed a new high-gain double-duty-triple-mode (DDTM) converter for dc-microgrid applications. The proposed DDTM converter operates in three modes to achieve higher voltage gain without utilizing transformer, coupled inductor, voltage multiplier, and multiple voltage lifting techniques, e.g., triple, quadruple voltage lift. The modes of operation of the converter are controlled through three switches with two distinct duty ratios (double duty) to achieve wide range duty ratio. The operating principle, voltage gain analysis, and efficiency analysis of the proposed converter are discussed in detail and to show its benefits comparison is provided with the existing high-gain converters. The boundary operating condition for continuous conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) is presented. The prototype of the proposed converters with 500-W power is implemented in the laboratory and experimentally investigated, which validate the performance and feasibility of the proposed converter. Due to double duty control, the proposed converter can be controlled in different ways and the thorough discussion on controlling of the converter is provided as a future scope.

The Best of Iggy by Annie Barrows

Reviewed by: The Best of Iggy by Annie Barrows Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Barrows, Annie The Best of Iggy; illus. by Sam Ricks. Putnam, 2020 [144p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-9848-1330-5 $13.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-9848-1331-2 $8.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-4 The actions of nine-year-old Iggy usually fall into one of three categories: things he says he wishes as he hadn't done but really just wishes he hadn't got caught doing; things he wishes he hadn't done the way he did them; and things that he genuinely wishes he had not done. Getting golden boy Jeremy to jump off the roof of his shed falls into that first category, and making himself up with Mom's makeup and Dad's shaving cream is in line with the second; scaring the heck out of his favorite teacher by jokingly attacking her with a desk is a third-category action, though, which he feels pretty terrible about and needs to figure out how to make amends for. The lovable screwup is an old but perennially appealing trope, and Iggy is a prime example, clueless to how his actions might affect others, frustratingly lacking in foresight but also oddly admirable in his carefree spirit. Barrows' framing is fresh and particularly helpful for early readers, as the direct address from the third-person narrator serves double duty as a wink-and-nod kind of humor and, more significantly, as scaffolding that guides youngsters through the reading experience. Lists, repetition, callbacks to previous events, and Ricks' cartoony black and white art together build on developing literacy skills, and the book ends with an enthusiastic congratulations on finishing a twenty-chapter book. Young readers, especially those with a passion for mischief, will hope there are more chapters of Iggy's exploits to come. [End Page 157] Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Nanoparticles clean wastewater

Scientists have created a nanoparticle-based material that does double duty when cleaning up wastewater—filtering out small particulate matter and dissolved chemicals in a single step. The strategy could streamline wastewater treatment processes, which currently use multiple steps to eliminate unwanted colloids, ions, and organic chemicals from water. To remove unwanted particulate matter from wastewater, treatment facilities use a coagulant, such as FeCl3, which forms a fine precipitate that settles to the bottom of the water, allowing the facilities to filter out the small particles. Researchers led by Peking University’s Huazhang Zhao and Yale University’s Menachem Elimelech thought they could create coagulants that also remove ions and organic chemicals at the same time. But they were having trouble making material that sopped up dissolved chemicals and could be stored without precipitating or forming a gel. “The behavior of the marine predator Actinia popped into our minds,” Zhao says. These sea anemones

Is Double Duty the Future of Batteries?

Building energy storage into the structural framework of cars and aircraft