Engines of liberation

women;technological change

How Useful are High-Precision Delta ?17O Data in Defining the Asteroidal Sources of Meteorites?: Evidence from Main-Group Pallasites, Primitive and Differentiated Achondrites

High-precision oxygen isotope analysis is capable of revealing important information about the relationship between different meteorite groups. New data confirm that the main-group pallasites are from a distinct source to either the HEDs or mesosiderites

Kv7 and Kv11 channels in myometrial regulation.

Ion channels play a key role in defining myometrial contractility. Modulation of ion channel populations is proposed to underpin gestational changes in uterine contractility associated with the transition from uterine quiescence to active labour. Of the myriad ion channels present in the uterus, this article will focus upon potassium channels encoded by the KCNQ genes and ether-à-go-go-related (ERG) genes. Voltage-gated potassium channels encoded by KCNQ and ERG (termed Kv7 and Kv11, respectively) are accepted as major determinants of neuronal excitability and the duration of the cardiac action potential. However, there is now growing appreciation that these ion channels have a major functional impact in vascular and non-vascular smooth muscle. Moreover, Kv7 channels may be potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of preterm labour

Origin of the ungrouped achondrite NWA 4518: mineralogy and geochemistry of FeNi-metal

Ungrouped achondrite NWA 4518 is an ultramafic breccia with abundant siderophile rich IIA-like metal. Its silicate chemistry is similar to that of WINs, HEDs, and silicate inclusions of IIE irons. Oxygen isotopic composition is nearby IAB-IIICD-WIN

Streamlining or watering down? Assessing the 'smartness' of policy and standards for the promotion of low and zero carbon homes in England 2010-15

The knowledge and enforcement problems faced by governments in defining traditional ‘command and control’ regulation are well known. Significant legal scholarship offers alternative models of ‘smart,’ ‘responsive’ environmental regulation, emphasising the need for policy instrument mixes, including the vital role of voluntary, industry-led sustainability standards. Yet, as is being increasingly recognised, these contributions leave open the need for detailed, qualitative evaluation of instrument mixes as a complement to primarily quantitative cost-benefit analyses that predominate in regulatory impact assessments by governments. Addressing this need, this paper evaluates policy and standards for low and zero carbon homes in England during the Coalition government (2010-2015) when the ecological modernisation discourse of the previous New Labour government became subsumed by a deregulation agenda. Our study, incorporating 70 stakeholder interviews, suggests that, in supplier-driven markets such as housing in England, a ‘smart’ mix of mandatory and voluntary standards requires a strong, central role for government in setting national, mandatory standards and supporting their delivery. There is an important potential supplementary role for voluntary tools and local authority discretion, though our study highlights problems that can arise when such different instruments promote diverging roadmaps towards a policy goal

Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Shergottite RBT 04262

This abstract presents mineralogical and geochemical data on newly discovered shergottite RBT 04262 and compares it with other known shergottites

Could Stannern-trend eucrites be crustal-contaminated melts?

In this paper, we show that the composition of Stannern trend eucrites can be satisfactorily explained by contamination of normal main group eucrites by a crustal partial melt

Development of a mechatronic sorting system for removing contaminants from wool

Automated visual inspection (AVI) systems have been extended to many fields, such as agriculture and the food, plastic and textile industries. Generally, most visual systems only inspect product defects, and then analyze and grade them due to the lack of any sorting function. This main reason rests with the difficulty of using the image data in real time. However, it is increasingly important to either sort good products from bad or grade products into separate groups usingAVI systems. This article describes the development of a mechatronic sorting system and its integration with a vision system for automatically removing contaminants from wool in real time. The integration is implemented by a personal computer, which continuously processes live images under the Windows 2000 operating system. The developed real-time sorting approach is also applicable to many other AVI systems

Capacity strengthening in malaria research: the Gates Malaria Partnership.

The Gates Malaria Partnership (GMP) includes five African and four European partner institutions. Its research programme has five priority areas involving an extensive range of field-based studies. GMP research has contributed significantly to the development of new research consortia investigating strategies for improving means of malaria control, and has already had an impact on policy and practice. A substantial investment in innovative training activities in malaria has enhanced knowledge and practice of malaria control at all levels from policy making to local community involvement. Capacity development, notably through a PhD programme, has been an underlying feature of all aspects of the programme