How can we make multi-agency work in the arena of child trafficking more effective?

Sharing our experience: practitioner-led research 2008-200

Giving Up the Ghost: Alaska Bar Ethics Opinion 93-1 and Undisclosed Attorney Assistance Revisited

Twenty years ago, the Alaska Bar Association adopted Ethics Opinion No. 93-1 which permitted attorneys to ghostwrite pleadings and provide other undisclosed services to pro se litigants. The goal of this ethical guidance was to enable attorneys to assist low-income individuals who could not otherwise afford representation. Ethics Opinion No. 93-1 construed ghostwriting broadly as an attorney\u27s undisclosed assistance to a pro se client whether by providing legal advice or drafting pleadings or other documents. This Note argues that, despite the moral allure of its theoretical justifications, ghostwriting is unnecessary, provides little demonstrable benefit to pro se litigants, and potentially conceals the unethical practice of law. Ghostwriting may also confuse the interactions between judges and pro se litigants in a way that works against the pro se party\u27s interests. Specifically, this Note argues that ghostwriting may cause judges to misapprehend pro se litigants\u27 legal understanding and to withdraw prematurely the solicitude those judges are otherwise required to give. Therefore, the Alaska Bar Association should revise its guidance on ghostwriting to require attorneys providing unbundled services to append their Alaska Bar Number on their submissions. This requirement would discourage abuses, enable judges effectively to manage pro se litigants, and still permit experimentation in the unbundled legal market

Fracture mechanics of plate debonding: experimental validation

Premature plate debonding hampers the efficient use of externally bonded FRP plates for flexural strengthening of concrete beams. Existing research mostly concentrates on finite element (FE) modelling of the concrete–FRP interface but such analyses are of dubious validity because they require far more details than will ever be available for the interface. A fracture-mechanics-based plate debonding model has been developed by the authors; since detailed stress analysis of concrete is unattainable the model is based on the global energy balance of the system. Flaws will inevitability be present in the vicinity of the interface; the model investigates the energy balance when such a flaw propagates. The energy released when the crack extends (GR) is compared with the interface fracture energy required to create the new surfaces GF: If GR > GF the crack will extend causing debonding.Determination of both GR and GF associated with crack extension is not trivial because of the unknowable microstructure of concrete. The early work of the present study developed methods to find both parameters to accuracies sufficient for practical purposes. A modified version of Branson’s model, which takes account of the effects caused by the axial force in the FRP, has been developed for the moment–curvature and subsequent GR analyses, while GF has been determined according to the actual fracture mechanism that takes place in the interface.This paper presents comparisons with a variety of plate debonding test data (including steel plate bonded beams) reported in the literature and shows that the present model can correctly determine both the failure load and the debonding mode. Only simply-supported beams, without additional plate end anchors, under short-term monotonic loads are considered here, but the model could be extendedto analyse more complex practical problems

A fracture-mechanics model for debonding of external fibre reinforced polymer plates on reinforced concrete beams

A Fracture-mechanics model for debonding of external fibre reinforced polymer plates on reinforced concrete beams is presented. The conventional methods of concrete-FRP interface analysis use finite element models, which require details of unknown and unknowable interface characteristics. The present model assumes flaws in the vicinity of the interface and assesses whether sufficient energy can be released to cause these flaws to propagate. Energy released by an extension of an existing flaw depends on the change of recoverable energy stored in the system. This paper concentrates on the moment-curvature model for a cracked reinforced-concrete beam under a prestress caused by the force in a FRP plate. The use of the proposed model to determine the energy released from the system with the extension of an existing flaw is also presented. The energy required to create the associated new surfaces depends on interface fracture energy which is first reviewed and methods to determine is also discussed

Analysing the lattice transition of thin filaments in striated muscle

Thin filaments, through interaction with thick filaments, form the contractile apparatus of striated muscle. Therefore, the length and arrangement of the thin filaments are of key importance to the function of the muscle. The thin filaments from adjacent sarcomeres are anchored at the Z-disc. In 1968 Pringle predicted that thin filament are organised in the Z-disc in a rhomboid lattice rather than a square lattice. Previous experimental evidence has been insufficient to verify Pringle’s suggestion. In the A-band the thin filaments interdigitate with the thick filaments on a hexagonal lattice, hence from the Z-disc to the A-band, there is a transition of the lattice from square to hexagonal. In this project, I have firstly used Fourier analysis and electron tomography to investigate the thin filament lattice in the Z-disc. I have used electron tomography to determine how the lattice transition occurs between the Z-disc and the A-band. Electron tomography of these samples also allowed me to determine the lengths of thin filaments, showing unequivocally that they are of variable lengths in cardiac muscle

Fracture mechanics of plate debonding

The study has shown that the phenomena of plate debonding can be studied by means of a fracture-mechanics approach, which obviates the need for a finite element analysis which would have dubious validity in the presence of infinite stress concentrations.It has been necessary to produce a modified form of Branson’s method to allow the calculation of the beam stiffness when the section is partially cracked and when subjected to an axial load imposed by the FRP plate.Hutchinson’s interface breakdown model has proved to be a very useful tool for the study of the debonding of FRP plates from concrete structures. More work remains to be done to study the importance of the various parameters that influence the result. Comparisons with experimental data in the literature are being undertaken

Oxidation of Atg3 and Atg7 mediates inhibition of autophagy

Macroautophagy (autophagy) is a crucial cellular stress response for degrading defective macromolecules and organelles, as well as providing bioenergetic intermediates during hypoxia and nutrient deprivation. Here we report a thiol-dependent process that may account for impaired autophagy during aging. This is through direct oxidation of key autophagy-related (Atg) proteins Atg3 and Atg7. When inactive Atg3 and Atg7 are protected from oxidation due to stable covalent interaction with their substrate LC3. This interaction becomes transient upon activation of Atg3 and Atg7 due to transfer of LC3 to phosphatidylethanolamine (lipidation), a process crucial for functional autophagy. However, loss in covalent-bound LC3 also sensitizes the catalytic thiols of Atg3 and Atg7 to inhibitory oxidation that prevents LC3 lipidation, observed in vitro and in mouse aorta. Here findings provide a thiol-dependent process for negatively regulating autophagy that may contribute to the process of aging, as well as therapeutic targets to regulate autophagosome maturation

Functional Verification through Operation Diagnostics

One of the core objectives of the commissioning process is to ensure that the dynamic systems function correctly. Just as important, if not more so, is enabling the correct function of those systems throughout occupancy. While verification strategies vary, it is clear that examination of actual operation produces the most accurate results. This is accomplished through trend logging. With analysis of regularly recorded control point data through visualization (including graphs, charts, etc.), a quick and accurate diagnosis of incorrect or less than optimal operation can be assessed. However, several questions arise regarding this process: What data should be visualized? What form should this visualization take? How can data from several different yet interrelated control points be best compared? Finally, what patterns within a visualization should be sought

Apparatus

This exhibition gathers the work of eight artists: Greig Burgoyne, Pierre Martens, Thomas Beckers, Pascal Courcelles, Pascal Bernier, Robert Quint, François Huon, and Aldo Guillaume Turin. Burgoyne's series of site specific works act as propositions only activated by the engagement of the viewer in the experience of the work in situ. Rule based repetition; endurance and accumulation seek to explore how physical spaces can be reconfigured through gesture and duration. For L’escaut a project space engaged in architectural and spatial concerns, Burgoyne created a series of propositions centred around the columns that dominate the space. In the largest works suspended between floor and ceiling, the starting point was the dimensions themselves. Beginning with the furthest away drawing at the back of the space, determined by rule based processes the drawings appear to rise and fall. The lengths of which are unknown in advance but in turn determine the starting point of the drawing that will follow it. In doing so Burgoyne hopes the resulting drawing might contest the contradictions between the physical role of support and volume alongside how we might see this in our perception and experience of moving around the space. The outcome maybe the liberation of our perceptions as to what maybe solid and secure and as a result the need for re-evaluation in our rapport with the space of our mind and the physical one we encounter. The smaller works that accompany this show begin in the centre of the paper, through repetitive gesture until the ink runs out, the cartridge placed at the starting point may measure, penetrate or not the resulting markmaking

Coastal Currents Arts Festival

The annual contemporary arts festival run for the first time independently of local or regional council, and curated by Greig Burgoyne. This year with a focus on the notion of elsewhere, a theme in the writings of Michel DeCerteau, Burgoyne curated a programme of site-specific projects embracing performance, dance, light installations, text works & large scale installations and public interventions by international and upcoming artists