How European Human Rights Law Will Reshape U.S. Business

In recent years several European states have enacted human rights due diligence laws, culminating in the imminent EU-wide Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of these laws and explores their potential impact on U.S. businesses. Human rights due diligence emerges from the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) and was originally conceived as a voluntary means by which corporations could demonstrate that they proactively monitor and manage potential human rights abuses within their corporate group and supply chains. Since 2017, European states have begun enacting binding human rights due diligence laws. These laws are innately extraterritorial in nature, designed to ensure that corporations that operate in the European market comply with human rights standards throughout their value chain, including through their suppliers and business partners. The emergence of European due diligence laws will thus impact U.S. businesses and industries: an estimated 10,000 U.S. businesses will be directly affected, and far more will have to comply as a result of supplying or partnering with EU-based firms. The effect on U.S. business could be dramatic, particularly with major divergences between the EU and United States in relation to labor law and other legal regimes. The article analyzes how U.S. businesses will be affected, what businesses may need to do, and how divergent legal regimes may be addressed. It further discusses options for the U.S. Government to take a proactive approach to the European incursion on U.S. law and business in the interest of protecting rights while providing business certainty

The design of systems for learning and working in librarianship.

The paper presents a philosophy and theory for the design of a system that would mediate between the librarian as a knowledge worker and the library as a learning organization. It does this by combining Activity Theory and Ecological Interface Design. The task to be supported is that of classification. The hypothesis is that the task of library classification can be supported by using the surrounding organization as an interactive learning environment, as the process of organizational learning depends on an appreciation of the cognitive process of classification

Optimal Extraction of Fibre Optic Spectroscopy

We report an optimal extraction methodology, for the reduction of multi-object fibre spectroscopy data, operating in the regime of tightly packed (and hence significantly overlapping) fibre profiles. The routine minimises crosstalk between adjacent fibres and statistically weights the extraction to reduce noise. As an example of the process we use simulations of the numerous modes of operation of the AAOmega fibre spectrograph and observational data from the SPIRAL Integral Field Unit at the Anglo-Australian Telescope.Comment: Accepted for publication in PAS

Gene therapy for pyoderma gangrenosum: optimal transfection conditions and effect of drugs on gene delivery in the HaCaT cell line using cationic liposomes

Background/Aims: Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a rare ulcerative skin disease, currently treated empirically with immunosuppression. PG is a good target for gene therapy since the skin is easily accessible. This study used the FDA-approved vector Lipofectamine® 2000 to investigate in vitro transfection of skin keratinocytes. The aim was to determine an optimum transfection protocol, including the effect of drugs currently used to treat PG on the efficiency of gene transfer, since gene therapy is unlikely to be used as monotherapy. Methods: Cells of the HaCaT line were transfected with the lacZ reporter gene, and transgene expression was measured after a given time period. Conditions tested were: relative concentrations of DNA and Lipofectamine®, time from transfection to measurement of expression, pH, and exposure to clinically relevant drugs (hydrocortisone, methotrexate, infliximab). Results: The greatest levels of β-galactosidase expression were observed using a DNA:Lipofectamine® ratio of 1:5 (μg/μl) on day 3 after transfection, using culture medium at pH 7, and in the presence of hydrocortisone. Transfection efficiency was reduced by the presence of methotrexate and not significantly affected by infliximab. Conclusion: Gene therapy is a potential future strategy for the management of PG; this study is a step towards the development of a topical gene-based agent

Characterisation of Rb and Cs spin-exchange optical pumping for application to hyperpolarised 129Xe functional lung MRI

When performing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) it is desirable to maximise the available polarisation of the spin system in order to achieve optimal signal-to-noise ratios. One method of achieving this is via the process of spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP). SEOP can be used to produce hyperpolarised (HP) noble gases, which possess numerous applications in the fields of science and medicine, ranging from spectroscopic imaging of porous media to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the human lungs. The SEOP process involves transfer of angular momentum from circularly polarised laser photons to the electrons of an alkali metal vapour. Noble gas nuclei can then be polarised via collisions with the alkali metal vapour. Ultra-low frequency Raman Spectroscopy may be used to perform rotational temperature measurements of a nitrogen buffer gas in these SEOP experiments in real-time, in an attempt to understand the poorly understood and highly complex system dynamics and energy transport processes. The work contained in this thesis aims to investigate the co-dependence of these dynamics, in order to characterise the SEOP process in greater detail for a variety of gas mixtures, temperatures and alkali metal targets. With this, it is hoped that HP noble gases may be produced with greater efficiency, achieving faster build-up rates and higher net magnetisation. In addition to in situ Raman spectroscopy, additional diagnostic techniques were implemented in order to illustrate the co-dependence of variables during the thermal exchange processes present in SEOP. Low-field NMR spectroscopy was utilised to determine the 129Xe net spin polarisation (P_Xe) as a function of time and position within the SEOP vessel, whilst near-infra-red (NIR) optical absorption spectroscopy allowed an estimate of the alkali metal polarisation and global pump laser power absorption to be determined. Additionally, initial studies into the use of optical absorption spectroscopy at various wavelengths for determination of the alkali metal number density are discussed. A chronology of experiments conducted using an `in-line', optically filtered Raman probe arrangement will be presented, culminating in the development of a fully automated, single-axis translational stage to perform rapid measurement of the rotational nitrogen temperature (T_N2) within the optical pumping cell with a high degree of temporal and spatial precision. The automated nature of the system facilitates a >3-fold improvement in the rate of thermal data acquisition, with greater ease and reliability than the previous manual method. In addition to pure rubidium, rotational temperature determination via Raman spectroscopy is demonstrated in a variety of rubidium/caesium hybrid alloy mixtures. In this way it may be possible to more efficiently utilise the greater spin exchange rate of caesium with 129Xe to achieve hybrid Rb/Cs cross-polarisation. The result of this is the first observation of 129Xe polarisation in a hybrid Rb/Cs system exceeding that of an equivalent pure Rb system under otherwise identical experimental conditions

The Incidence of X-ray selected AGN in Nearby Galaxies

We present the identification and analysis of an unbiased sample of AGN that lie within the local galaxy population. Using the MPA-JHU catalogue (based on SDSS DR8) and 3XMM DR7 we define a parent sample of 25,949 local galaxies ($z \leq 0.33$). After confirming that there was strictly no AGN light contaminating stellar mass and star-formation rate calculations, we identified 917 galaxies with central, excess X-ray emission likely originating from an AGN. We analysed their optical emission lines using the BPT diagnostic and confirmed that such techniques are more effective at reliably identifying sources as AGN in higher mass galaxies: rising from 30% agreement in the lowest mass bin to 93% in the highest. We then calculated the growth rates of the black holes powering these AGN in terms of their specific accretion rates ($\propto L_X/M_*$). Our sample exhibits a wide range of accretion rates, with the majority accreting at rates $\leq 0.5\%$ of their Eddington luminosity. Finally, we used our sample to calculate the incidence of AGN as a function of stellar mass and redshift. After correcting for the varying sensitivity of 3XMM, we split the galaxy sample by stellar mass and redshift and investigated the AGN fraction as a function of X-ray luminosity and specific black hole accretion rate. From this we found the fraction of galaxies hosting AGN above a fixed specific accretion rate limit of $10^{-3.5}$ is constant (at $\approx 1\%$) over stellar masses of $8 < \log \mathrm{M_*/M_\odot} < 12$ and increases (from $\approx 1\%$ to $10\%$) with redshift.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 2 appendices. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Polyol synthesis, functionalisation, and biocompatibility studies of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as potential MRI contrast agents

Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) of low polydispersity were obtained through a simple polyol synthesis in high pressure and high temperature conditions. The control of the size and morphology of the nanoparticles was studied by varying the solvent used, the amount of iron precursor and the reaction time. Compared with conventional synthesis methods such as thermal decomposition or co-precipitation, this process yields nanoparticles with a narrow particle size distribution in a simple, reproducible and cost effective manner without the need for an inert atmosphere. For example, IONPs with a diameter of ca. 8 nm could be made in a reproducible manner and with good crystallinity as evidenced by X-ray diffraction analysis and high saturation magnetization value (84.5 emu g(-1)). The surface of the IONPs could be tailored post synthesis with two different ligands which provided functionality and stability in water and phosphate buffer saline (PBS). Their potential as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent was confirmed as they exhibited high r1 and r2 relaxivities of 7.95 mM(-1) s(-1) and 185.58 mM(-1) s(-1) respectively at 1.4 T. Biocompatibility and viability of IONPs in primary human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) was studied and confirmed