The area of international programs, as part of a rapidly developing university, has become increasingly important to Michigan State University, in East Lansing, in the last two decades. Faculty research abroad has been a primary factor in the growth of private and federal agency-sponsored technical assistance programs in educational activities overseas. Projects in Turkey, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Okinawa, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil, and Nigeria have been and are being conducted in the fields of business administration, public administration, agriculture, community development, education, and general university development. Continued outside financial assistance has enabled further enlargement of such programs on the campus as a whole.

The initiation of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University in 1960 owes much to an offer from the U.S. Office of Education to support the teaching of West African languages on campus. By coincidence, this occurred at the same time that the University was engaged in two closely related projects: the ICA (AID) contract of establishing and developing the University of Nigeria at Nsukka and the initiation of a Ford Foundation-supported research program for African studies.

New courses and additional teaching staff now allow for specialized courses in the departments of linguistics and Oriental and African languages, political science, history, anthropology, and geography. Much research is emerging from the Center's activity. In 1963-1964, for example, field research was under way in education, fisheries and wildlife, political science, economics, history, and geography, and there were four projects in the area of languages and linguistics.

Kinematically redundant parallel mechanisms (PMs) have attracted extensive attention from researchers due to their advantages in avoiding singular configurations and expanding the reachable workspace. However, kinematic redundancy introduces multiple inverse kinematics solutions, leading to uncertainty in the mechanism’s motion state. Therefore, this article proposes a method to optimize the inverse kinematics solutions based on motion/force transmission performance. By dividing the kinematically redundant PM into hierarchical levels and decomposing the redundancy, the transmission wrench screw systems of general redundant limbs and closed-loop redundant limbs are obtained. Then, input, output, and local transmission indices are calculated, respectively, to evaluate the motion/force transmission performance of such mechanisms. To address the problem of multiple inverse kinematics solutions, the local optimal transmission index is employed as a criterion to select the optimal motion/force transmission solution corresponding to a specific pose of the moving platform. By comparing performance atlas before and after optimization, it is demonstrated that the optimized inverse kinematics solutions enlarge the reachable workspace and significantly improve the motion/force transmission performance of the mechanism.

The investigation of proteomics, which describes the large-scale study of multiple proteins and their interconnected pathways, may enable a more comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms due to the integral role of proteins in many biological processes (1). Circulating protein levels can be altered by diet, but current evidence on this is limited. We aimed to assess differences in the plasma proteome between people of different habitual dietary groups, defined by degree of animal food consumption.

We used data from the UK Biobank (2) of middle-aged (mostly 40 to 69 years) men and women recruited throughout the UK between 2006-2010. Relative concentrations of 2920 plasma proteins were quantified using the Olink Proximity Extension Assay in blood samples from 49,615 (54% women) participants. All participants completed a touchscreen questionnaire, which asked about their consumption of red and processed meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs, as well as ethnicity and lifestyle habits. We defined six diet groups among the white British participants, including 23,243 regular meat eaters (red and processed meat consumption >3 times/wk), 23,472 low meat eaters, 486 poultry eaters, 1081 fish eaters, 721 vegetarians, and 54 vegans, and two diet groups among the British Indians, including 391 meat eaters and 167 vegetarians. We used multivariable linear regressions adjusting for key socio-demographic and lifestyle confounders to assess the differences in individual protein concentrations between diet groups, with correction for multiple testing based on the effective number of independent tests.

We observed significant differences in many plasma proteins by diet group. In the white British population, 632 plasma proteins were significantly different in one or more pairwise comparisons between regular meat eaters and at least one of the other diet groups (p-value< 0.000037), including 266 proteins for vegetarians and 15 proteins for vegans. Of the biggest differences, compared with regular meat eaters, vegetarians (and other non-meat eaters) had significantly higher FGF21 (+0.40 SD), CKB (+0.34), GUCA2A (+0.33), FOLR1 (+0.32), IGFBP2 (+0.31) and DSG2 (+0.30); all groups except the vegans had lower HAVCR1 (also called KIM-1, -0.38 in vegetarians). Vegetarians also had significantly lower SELENOP (-0.46), while the vegans had lower FGFBP2 (-0.68). The observed differences were generally similar in direction in both ethnicities, but only two proteins were significantly different (SUMF2 and ATRAID, both of which were higher in vegetarians) when comparing British Indian vegetarians and meat eaters, likely owing to the relatively small number of British Indians in the study.

In this first comprehensive assessment of plasma proteins by diet group, we identified many differences in proteins between groups defined by animal food consumption. The variations in protein levels suggest differences in various biological activities, including gastrointestinal tract and kidney function, which may relate to differences in future disease risk.

In 2025, the United States raised tariffs to rates not seen for more than a century. These tariffs were not part of a carefully designed industrial strategy. Instead, the second Trump administration distanced itself from existing industrial policy initiatives and indicated a desire to roll back government-funded subsidies for businesses. This article examines the rationale behind the United States’ pivot from subsidies to tariffs and explores implications for trade partners and multilateral institutions.

The workplace is considered an important setting for public health dietary interventions (1). For employers, workplace wellbeing provision has the potential for cost-savings related to outcomes such as employee absenteeism, productivity, retention, and company reputation. Yet the evidence to support workplace dietary interventions against these outcomes is limited (2). The aim of this study was to characterise workplace dietary intervention studies that have evaluated organisational-related outcomes.

A systematic review (PROSPERO CRD42023454673) was conducted. Six databases, (Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, APA PsycINFO, Business Source Complete) were searched for articles from 1990 to September 2023. Studies were screened in duplicate and included if they were a randomised controlled trial (RCT) or quasi-experimental design, conducted in a workplace setting in a high-income country, the intervention included a dietary component, and they reported organisational-related outcomes. A narrative synthesis was conducted to characterise study components (population, study design, study duration, intervention characteristics) and outcome measures (outcome measurement tools, unit of measure).

From the 29,418 articles retrieved, 168 met the inclusion criteria. Most articles reported using a quasi-experimental (68.4%) design. Provision of educational materials (62.5%) and group nutritional education (56.0%) were the most frequently reported intervention components and, 82% were combined with a physical activity component. Of the included studies 20.2% were short-term interventions (≤ 3 months) and 42.3% studies were long-term (>12 months). Most studies (26.8%) did not report the personnel delivering the intervention, 25.6% of studies reported a dietitian or nutritionist were involved in delivering the intervention. Most interventions (63.7%) had at least one element of the intervention delivered face to face. Most studies (76.2%) were conducted in the USA or Canada, with 3.6% conducted in UK workplaces. The five main occupational settings reported were health and social care (19.8%), education (14%), manufacturing (12.2%), finance and insurance (11.0%) and public administration (8.1%). The three most frequently reported organisational-related outcomes were absenteeism (45.2%), healthcare costs (35.7%), and program return on investment (ROI) or cost benefit analysis (20.8%). Varied approaches were used to measure organisational-related outcomes, e.g., absenteeism was measured using self-reported WHO-Health and Work Performance questionnaire (3), the Productivity and Disease questionnaire(4), or objective methods such as human resource records. Economic outcomes e.g., healthcare costs and ROI were measured using insurance claims data and/or cost modelling.

The results indicate a substantial volume of studies published evaluating dietary workplace interventions against organisational outcomes, although there is variation in how individual outcomes are measured. The review has found an over representation of studies conducted in North American organisations and limited studies conducted in the UK. The next stage of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of the evidence for dietary interventions to impact the organisational outcomes identified.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts,currently offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses and seminarsthat concern themselves exclusively with the history, government, and socialorganization of the peoples of northern and sub-Saharan Africa. The Departmentof Tropical Public Health in the School of Public Health, the Law School, andthe School of Business Administration also find a place for Africa in theirrespective curricula. The Center for International Affairs has for a number ofyears sponsored an interdisciplinary faculty seminar on Africa. It has alsosupported research in the fields of African history and government and maintainsa continuing interest through its Development Advisory Service in the economicproblems of Africa.

The resources of the Harvard University library system serve these variedteaching and research needs. Of the more than 7 million volumes housed in thevarious constituent libraries of the University, approximately 34, 000 form thecore of the African collection. Much of this collection is scattered throughoutthe component libraries and, within each, shelved among a number of subjectclassifications. The largest single centralized Africana grouping is found,appropriately under “Africa,” in the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library. Itcontains about 14, 000 books and periodicals. A total of about 6, 000 additionalvolumes is classified according to language or under the categories Folklore,Archaeology, Economics, Education, Sociology, Geography, South America, andAsia. (Early printed titles are often housed, however, in the Houghton Library.)The Law School Library holds about 5, 500 volumes pertaining to Africa; nearlyhalf of its collection relates to the Republic of South Africa. The Library ofthe Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology contains about 2,400 volumes ofmonographs, 1, 600 volumes of serials, and several hundred pamphlets, all ofwhich, together with an index of periodical articles by author and subject,appear in the 53-volume printed catalogue of the Library. The Andover-HarvardTheological Library of the Harvard Divinity School has about 700 volumes thatdeal with the churches of the Republic of South Africa and some 1, 500 volumeson Protestant missions in tropical Africa. The libraries of the Harvard Schoolsof Medicine and Public Health, the Graduate School of Business Administration,the Graduate School of Public Administration, and the Museum of ComparativeZoology each contain several hundred books and serials directly relevant to thestudy of Africa. The Library of the Center for International Affairs alsomaintains a select collection of books and periodicals dealing with contemporaryAfrica.

Recipe boxes, or meal kits, offer pre-portioned ingredients for multiple meals, delivered to, and cooked at home. They are emerging on the food retail market and increasingly popular with an estimated grocery spend c.£1B GBP in 2023, tripled since 2018 [1]. They are marketed as healthy and may have the potential to improve dietary intake. but little or no research has been done on their nutritional profile. The aim is to assess the evolution of recipe box healthiness over time.

Data was collected in two cross-sectional online surveys in September 2018 and March 2023. At both time points, all recipe box companies operating were identified and, for those supplying sufficient nutritional information (for energy, total fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugar, protein, salt, and fibre) per 100g or portion, details were extracted. Two internationally recognised standards were used to assess recipe box healthiness: the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA)Traffic Lights labelling guidance (2) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for population nutrition (3) (4). The proportion of recipes that met FSA green colour coded nutrient levels indicating a healthier profile, (low in fat, saturates, sugars and salt, per 100g and per portion), or complied with WHO standards (for energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugar, protein, salt, and fibre content per portion), were calculated and compared between 2018 and 2023 using z-proportion tests in Python 3.10.

After excluding companies with insufficient nutritional information there was a decrease from 9 to 5 companies between 2018 and 2023. The number of recipes captured increased from 132 to 206. Approximately 50% of all recipes met the WHO standard for energy in both surveys (2023, 43-56%; 2018, 43-61%) (p=0.6207).

Statistically significant changes in realising nutrient guidelines occurred between surveys. By either metric only 20% (CI 15-26%) of recipes achieved salt targets in 2023: a 30-point reduction from 2018 (p<0.0001). There was a 20% increase in recipes fulfilling WHO carbohydrate guidelines with 63% (CI 56-69%) compared to 43% (CI 35-52%) (p=0.000457) in 2023 and 2018 respectively and relatedly for sugar, 50% (CI 42-59%), from 62% (CI 56-69%), (p-0.028).

Across the surveyed recipes, 43% (95% CI 39-46%) of all nutrients achieved FSA green light status in 2023, a smaller proportion than in 2018, 52%, (95% CI 47-56%) (p=0·0001). Similar proportions of nutrients complied with all WHO standards in 2023 and 2018, 40% (CI 37-42%) vs 41% (CI 37-43%) (p=0.744).

Most recipe boxes surveyed in 2023 had a poor nutritional profile, that had worsened since 2018. Recipe boxes need an improved nutritional profile, worthy of their 'health-halo', if they are to improve population nutrition. This is the first study to comprehensively analyse the nutritional profile of recipe boxes. A limitation is the lack of nutritional information for some companies.

As a result of European Union (EU) Exit, on 1 January 2021, Great Britain (GB) became responsible for the scientific assessment of applications for new nutrition and health claims. The UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC) was set up to provide scientific risk assessment on nutrition and health claim applications. The UKNHCC has adapted processes established by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and developed its own evolving Framework for the evaluation of evidence for submitted nutrition and health claims. The objective was to evaluate the work of the UKNHCC since its inception in 2021.

Scientific opinions of the UKNHCC were searched via the UKNHCC webpage from 2021 to 30 September 2024. Outcomes evaluated were number of scientific opinions with/without positive outcomes, duration of assessment, proportion of applications adhering to the 5 month assessment period and reasons for applications not receiving a positive scientific opinion.

To date (30 September 2024), the UKNHCC has published 4 scientific opinions(1). All scientific opinions (4/4; 100%), have not received a positive outcome as applications have not had sufficient evidence to substantiate the health claim either due to no evidence or insufficient evidence being provided. Mean duration of assessment was 4.75 months or 4 months and 23 days (based on a 30 day month), taking into account the ‘stop-the-clock’ process on 2 opinions. All scientific opinions (4/4; 100%) were published within the 5 month legal timeframe. The main reasons for scientific opinions not receiving a positive outcome were due to the appropriateness of the dose of the food that is the subject of the health claim to the conditions of use and the applicability of study populations to the target population for the health claim.

Learnings from applications received to date indicate that evidence submitted to support health claims needs to demonstrate a cause and effect relationship between the food that is the subject of the health claim and the claimed effect, such as randomised controlled trials, as set out in the UKNHCC Framework(2). Robust assessment processes put in place by the UKNHCC to assess submitted health claims include risk of bias, such as the Cochrane risk of bias 2 tool for randomised trials(3). Adhering to UKNHCC process and guidance should lead to better quality applications.

The quality of evidence expected for the substantiation of nutrition and health claims is high in order to demonstrate a cause and effect relationship between the food that is the subject of the claim and the claimed effect. High quality evidence is central to the scientific assessment, critical for risk management decisions (whether nutrition and health claims are authorised) and subsequently to ensure that health claims made about a food products/ingredients are accurate and consumers are not misled.

Digital eXtended Reality technologies enable users to view and interact with spaces and objects in three dimensions (3D), thus supporting a variety of potential innovative embodied applications in archaeology. Here, we review the Apple Vision Pro as a Mixed/Augmented Reality (MR/AR) headset to determine where it might fit within current archaeological practice. Our interest in this device spans primary field data collection, in situ visual–spatial interpretation, and public education and tourism. Overall, we find that although it makes certain advances on prior eXtended Reality hardware, it does not yet represent a significant enough shift forward to have a major impact on archaeology. However, we do plan to continue our field experiments with this technology to push its limits and to prepare for future improvements to this product and its competitors.

The African Studies Center at UCLA will offer a special NDEA summer program in African languages and area studies for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students. Five intensive language courses will be offered during the eight-week summer session from June 20 to August 12, 1966 (the first six of which will be coterminous with the regular six-week summer session). Introductory courses will be offered in Afrikaans, Hausa, and Zulu, and both introductory and intermediate courses will be offered in Swahili. Area courses in anthropology, education, geography, and political science will be offered during the first six-week summer session, and courses in education and history in the second six-week session. The area courses will be open to students enrolled in the eight-week language program. Each language course will include three hours of classroom instruction and one hour of work in the language laboratory each day, five days a week for the eight weeks. Classroom and laboratory hours will be conducted jointly by a linguist and an informant. The language courses are 6-unit courses, and the area courses are 2-unit courses.

A limited number of language fellowships for undergraduates will be available under the NDEA Fellowship Program. Inquiries should be directed to the Student Support Section, Graduate Division, Administration Building, UCLA.

The tuition fee for the eight-week summer session will be $130 and will also cover enrollment in any courses offered in the first six-week session. There will be no out-of-state fee.

We focus on the wake of a cylinder placed in uniform flow and forced to rotate periodically at subcritical Reynolds numbers, i.e. for Reynolds numbers smaller than 47 calculated based on the incoming flow velocity and the cylinder diameter, where vortices are not shed in the wake of a fixed cylinder. We show that in the near wake, the imposed periodic rotation causes the Föppl vortices (the symmetric steady vortices that are formed right behind a fixed cylinder within the Reynolds number range of $5\lt {Re}\lt 47$) to appear only momentarily during each rotation cycle until they disappear at higher rotation rates. In the far wake, vortices can be induced for certain values of rotation rate, $\alpha$, and rotation frequency, $f$. The shedding of these vortices in the wake results in a periodic lift force that acts on the cylinder. We have defined a new parameter $\omega /(f\alpha )\equiv 1/F$, where $\omega$ is the angular velocity of the cylinder, which is significant in describing the system. For any values of angular velocity and the frequency of change in the rotation direction, the wake pattern remains the same if the value of $1/F$ stays constant. Subsequently, the fluctuating lift coefficient and the average drag coefficient peak at the same value of $1/F$ for any value of $\omega /f\equiv \alpha /F$. The Reynolds number for the onset of shedding decreases with increasing rotation rate at a constant $\alpha /F$. We have observed shedding at Reynolds numbers as low as ${Re}=1$ for higher rotation rates.