40 research outputs found
From laggard to leader: explaining offshore wind developments in the UK
Offshore wind technology has recently undergone rapid deployment in the UK. And yet, up until recently, the UK was considered a laggard in terms of deploying renewable energy. How can this burst of offshore wind activity be explained? An economic analysis would seek signs for newfound competitiveness for offshore wind in energy markets. A policy analysis would highlight renewable energy policy developments and assess their contribution to economic prospects of offshore wind. However, neither perspective sheds sufficient light on the advocacy of the actors involved in the development and deployment of the technology. Without an account of technology politics it is hard to explain continuing policy support despite rising costs. By analysing the actor networks and narratives underpinning policy support for offshore wind, we explain how a fairly effective protective space was constructed through the enroling of key political and economic interests
The LOFAR Transients Pipeline
Current and future astronomical survey facilities provide a remarkably rich
opportunity for transient astronomy, combining unprecedented fields of view
with high sensitivity and the ability to access previously unexplored
wavelength regimes. This is particularly true of LOFAR, a
recently-commissioned, low-frequency radio interferometer, based in the
Netherlands and with stations across Europe. The identification of and response
to transients is one of LOFAR's key science goals. However, the large data
volumes which LOFAR produces, combined with the scientific requirement for
rapid response, make automation essential. To support this, we have developed
the LOFAR Transients Pipeline, or TraP. The TraP ingests multi-frequency image
data from LOFAR or other instruments and searches it for transients and
variables, providing automatic alerts of significant detections and populating
a lightcurve database for further analysis by astronomers. Here, we discuss the
scientific goals of the TraP and how it has been designed to meet them. We
describe its implementation, including both the algorithms adopted to maximize
performance as well as the development methodology used to ensure it is robust
and reliable, particularly in the presence of artefacts typical of radio
astronomy imaging. Finally, we report on a series of tests of the pipeline
carried out using simulated LOFAR observations with a known population of
transients.Comment: 30 pages, 11 figures; Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Computing; Code at https://github.com/transientskp/tk
Towards Heat-stable Oxytocin Formulations: Analysis of Degradation Kinetics and Identification of Degradation Products
Purpose. To investigate degradation kinetics of oxytocin as a function of temperature and pH, and identify the degradation products. Materials and Methods. Accelerated degradation of oxytocin formulated at pH 2.0, 4.5, 7.0 and 9.0 was performed at 40, 55, 70 and 80°C. Degradation rate constants were determined from RP-HPLC data. Formulations were characterized by HP-SEC, UV absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Degradation products were identified by ESI-MS/MS. Results. The loss of intact oxytocin in RP-HPLC was pH- and temperature-dependent and followed (pseudo) first order kinetics. Degradation was fastest at pH 9.0, followed by pH 7.0, pH 2.0 and pH 4.5. The Arrhenius equation proved suitable to describe the kinetics, with the highest activation energy (116.3 kJ/mol) being found for pH 4.5 formulations. At pH 2.0 deamidation of Gln 4, Asn 5, and Gly 9-NH2, as well as combinations thereof were found. At pH 4.5, 7.0 and 9.0, the formation of tri- and tetrasulfidecontaining oxytocin as well as different types of disulfide and dityrosine-linked dimers were found to occur. Beta-elimination and larger aggregates were also observed. At pH 9.0, mono-deamidation of Gln 4, Asn 5, and Gly 9-NH2 additionally occurred. Conclusions. Multiple degradation products of oxytocin have been identified unequivocally, including various deamidated species, intramolecular oligosulfides and covalent aggregates. The strongly pH dependent degradation can be described by the Arrhenius equation. KEY WORDS: aggregation; Arrhenius kinetics; degradation; mass spectrometry; oxytocin
Mitochondrial physiology
As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery
Mitochondrial physiology
As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery
From Politics to Pope: An Account of the Group Aesthetic
This paper discusses the study of Chartist and working-class literatures, noting that the pronounced development of aesthetic criticism in these areas uncomfortably corresponds with the rejection of “aesthetics„ in other fields. Chartist, working-class, and laboring-class scholars have broken free from monolithically sociological or political readings that only a generation ago too often dismissed artistic endeavors as, at best, merely a re-accenting of the mainstream. Current studies focus on the aesthetic innovations that emerged out of working-class entanglements with mainstream counterparts. The paper argues that the rejection of “aesthetics„ generally fails to recognize marginalized and group aesthetics (including the critical work done on marginalized and group aesthetics) and specifically what it meant for a political cohort—the Chartists are my example—to think aesthetically
Gospels and grit : subtitle work and labour from Thomas Carlyle to George Orwell
This thesis examines a group of writers from Thomas Carlyle to Joseph Conrad to George
Orwell. Though Orwell receives the majority of coverage, my argument has to do with the
group: its character, or the attitudes these figures share that can justify the grouping. Carlyle,
Conrad, and Orwell mostly, but also many other Victorians and post-Victorians (though,
importantly, not the 'high' Modernists), preach the Gospel of Work. In turn, they vilify work
rationalization, implicitly condemn the theory of disutility, and rage against economism. They
extol the intrinsic value of work and imagine a moral economy. But these same thinkers deal
pragmatically with the specific, concrete, historical conditions of modern work: with such
practical issues as wages. 'Inside the Whale' of rationalism they struggle, but they also concede
to the reality and size of the beast.
The expression of that pragmatism, however, is kept far away from the Gospel of Work. The
latter is treated as a point of transcendence, a refuge to withdraw into and thus bypass the real
properties of society. In the texts I examine, the contradictions between a pragmatic concession
to modern economic modes or relations and sermons on Work remain non-dialectical: neither of
the two discourses is qualified or challenged by its opposite. They exist side by side, on paths set
for a collision, but they do not encounter each other. Orwell epitomizes the split because he
swings harder, faster, and farther than those before him between claiming the unqualified
abstract and negotiating the problematic concrete, between representing work as subjectively
good and objectively perverted.
I make three major but interconnected arguments: one, about the anti-rationalist or anti-utilitarian
tradition; two, about the relationship between economic theory and culture; and three, the most
important, about the rifts, impasses, or glitches between moral and pragmatic work. I argue that
those spaces primarily signify attitudes toward class, praxis, and moralism.Arts, Faculty ofEnglish, Department ofGraduat