The membrane bound N-terminal domain of human adenosine diphosphate ribosylation factor-1 (ARF1)

The small G protein adenosine diphosphate ribosylation factor-1 (ARF1) is activated by cell membrane binding of a self-folding N-terminal domain. We present a model of the human ARF1 N-terminal peptide in planar lipid bilayers, determined from neutron lamellar diffraction and circular dichroism data with molecular modelling. This amphipathic domain lies at a shallow membrane depth, ideal for regulation of the ARF1 bio-timer by rapid, reversible membrane binding. The helical region does not elongate upon membrane binding, leaving the connecting flexible linker region's length unchanged.NRC publication: N

Alginate Additives and Coating Migration Control

In this study the feasibility of using alginate compounds in latex coating slurries to control migration so as to improve the coating properties of the latex is discussed. In the past, starch and casein have been used in an attempt to alleviate streaking, blade build-up and premature drying, but they have not performed in an entirely satisfactory way, particularly with higher concentrations of solids. Considerable evidence is presented to indicate that the use of alginate additives will enhance both the coating ability and the coating properties of latex, even when high concentrations of solids are present. In addition, a new method, using the Perkins-Elmer infrared spectrascope, for measuring migration is introduced. The greatest asst here is that the method can be used without other special equipment and can be applied after the coatings have been completely processed

Design knowledge capture for a corporate memory facility

Currently, much of the information regarding decision alternatives and trade-offs made in the course of a major program development effort is not represented or retained in a way that permits computer-based reasoning over the life cycle of the program. The loss of this information results in problems in tracing design alternatives to requirements, in assessing the impact of change in requirements, and in configuration management. To address these problems, the problem was studied of building an intelligent, active corporate memory facility which would provide for the capture of the requirements and standards of a program, analyze the design alternatives and trade-offs made over the program's lifetime, and examine relationships between requirements and design trade-offs. Early phases of the work have concentrated on design knowledge capture for the Space Station Freedom. Tools are demonstrated and extended which helps automate and document engineering trade studies, and another tool is being developed to help designers interactively explore design alternatives and constraints

Challenges and changes in gendered poverty: the feminization, de-feminization, and re-feminization of poverty in Latin America

Despite reductions in poverty generally, recent trends in Latin American countries show processes of both a de-feminization and re-feminization of poverty. The latter has occurred despite feminized anti-poverty programmes, most notably conditional cash transfer (CCTs), which target resources to women. We show that methodological differences in what, how, and who is the focus of measurement, may influence patterns of poverty ‘feminization’. We also suggest that feminized policy interventions might in themselves be playing a role in the re-feminization of poverty, not least because the participation of female-headed households may be limited by default if not design. The somewhat paradoxical interactions between the feminization of household headship, the feminization of poverty, and the feminization of anti-poverty programmes, present interesting challenges for redressing gender gaps in poverty within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmen

Gender and poverty: what we know, don’t know, and need to know for Agenda 2030

Drawing on historical debates on gender, poverty, and the ‘feminisation of poverty’, this paper reflects on current evidence, methods and analysis of gendered poverty. It focuses on initiatives by UN Women, including the Progress of the World’s Women 2015–16. Our analysis of the data compiled by UN Women raises questions about what might account for the over-representation of women among the poor in official accounts of poverty, and how this is plausibly changing (or not) over time. The paper highlights that analysis of what is measured and how needs to be understood in relation to who is the focus of measurement. The lack of available data which is fit for purpose questions the extent to which gender poverty differences are ‘real’ or statistical. There is a continued reliance on comparing female with male headed households, and we argue the move by UN Women to adopt the notion of Female Only Households reflects available data driving conceptual understandings of women’s poverty, rather than conceptual advances driving the search for better data. Wider UN processes highlight that while sensitivity to differences among women and their subjectivities are paramount in understanding the multiple processes accounting for gender bias in poverty burdens, they are still accorded little priority. To monitor advances in Agenda 2030 will require more and better statistics. Our review suggests that we are still far from having a set of tools able to adequately measure and monitor gendered poverty

Extractive industries as sites of supernormal profits and supernormal patriarchy?

This article considers how patriarchal power relations between men and women are produced and reproduced within extractive industries, and examines the idea that the ‘supernormal profits’ to be made there encourage the development of ‘supernormal patriarchy’. By looking at the sites where extraction takes place and relationships between men and women within these sites, we show the extreme and exaggerated gender roles and relations that are found here. We nuance this account by highlighting the need to recognise that patriarchal power is not felt equally by all women and men. Exploring the different roles women adopt in the extractives context we demonstrate the fluidity of women’s identities as workers, ‘whores’, and wives with a focus on transactional sex. The article demonstrates the importance of not seeing women merely as victims of patriarchal relations, or making assumptions about how these relations operate, or the form they take. Better understanding of the range of gender roles adopted in the extractives and the supernormal patriarchal relations that produce and reproduce these is needed by policymakers. This will enable them to promote gender equality and natural resource justice, as part of an agenda to redistribute wealth gains from natural resource extraction

The discord between discourse and data in engendering resilience building for sustainability

This paper explores how gender is considered in the resilience discourse, and the extent to which there is an evidence base to support the targeting of women in resilience programmes. The paper provides an overview of the approaches adopted in the fields of gender and development and gender and environment, and the critiques of these approaches. Mainstream approaches to engendering policy and practice are charged with being essentialist and instrumentalist, drawing on women’s ‘natural’ attributes and altruism, placing women at the service of the policy agenda, rather than served by it. Despite these critiques it highlights how these approaches have been borrowed by ‘newer’ policy arenas such as disasters and within this, resilience building. An analysis of the gendered language in resilience highlights a contradictory discourse, presenting women as vulnerable and as agents for change, and an explicit instrumentalism. The paper notes that in the disaster resilience discourse much of the focus actually remains on vulnerability, problematising this and how vulnerability/resilience are defined and measured generally, and in gender terms. The pseudo-scientific constructions of ‘objective’ knowledge at the base of much policy are critiqued from a feminist theoretical and practical perspective. It concludes that there is no reliable evidence base on which to base any policy moves to ‘engender’ resilience. As such the focus on women in resilience must be based on gendered assumptions and/or other policy aims, and as such the inclusion of women in resilience building is more about efficiency, than about equality

It’s gender Jim, but not as we know it … A critical review of constructions of gendered knowledge of the global south

This article explores how research helps construct a certain type of ‘gender’ knowledge that arises from, informs and reinforces ‘instrumentalist’ gendered policy perspectives on development of the Global South. It uses a case study of research funded under the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation which awarded 122 grants amounting to £66.2 million (around US$88 million) between 2005 and 2015. From a systematic review of the awards a typology of gender inclusion and exclusion was constructed that found 60% of all awards mentioned gender or included some level of gender analysis. The subsequent synthesis of the evidence suggested that in only 30% of all awards was the gendered knowledge produced central to the study and/or focused on better understanding gender roles, relations and identities. Applying a Feminist Institutionalist lens, the study highlights how institutional ideas around gender are reflected in the funding call specifications, and in turn influence how researchers ‘engendered’ their research, and the type of gendered knowledge produced. It finds much of the new gendered knowledge produced out of the Joint Fund emerged from non-gender focused research often produced by non-gendered researchers. It suggests that as gender becomes mainstreamed into research, and as more researchers ‘do gender’, so research becomes, conversely, less ‘gendered’. The ‘new’ gender knowledge produced may then merely evidence existing institutional policy positions rather than advance the policy agenda

Anatomy and Physiology of Artificial Intelligence in PET Imaging

The influence of artificial intelligence (AI) within the field of nuclear medicine has been rapidly growing. Many researchers and clinicians are seeking to apply AI within PET, and clinicians will soon find themselves engaging with AI-based applications all along the chain of molecular imaging, from image reconstruction to enhanced reporting. This expanding presence of AI in PET imaging will result in greater demand for educational resources for those unfamiliar with AI. The objective of this article to is provide an illustrated guide to the core principles of modern AI, with specific focus on aspects that are most likely to be encountered in PET imaging. We describe convolutional neural networks, algorithm training, and explain the components of the commonly used U-Net for segmentation and image synthesis