Risk, Identity and Conflict: A Critical Overview

This chapter provides an overview of the book by critically examining some of the ways in which risk and identity intersect especially in relation to conflict. The relationships between risk, identity and conflict take complex forms, especially when the intersection between identity construction and politics has the potential to create conditions related to risks of conflict, instability, marginalization, human rights abuse and oppression. This is because identity can be used as a means of mobilization to expand political influence, resist hegemony, articulate demands for a group interest or as a means of achieving particular political ends. The book attempts to cover such aspects by looking at specific case studies around the world. While focusing on diverse historical and contextual differences, it also provides some common strands in relation to how various forms of identity such as ethnicity, religion, culture and gender are linked to social and political mobilization, framing of the “Other,” electoral engineering, group oppression and even genocide

Risk, Identity and Conflict: Some Concluding Remarks

The final chapter reviews various arguments in the book, which show through various country experiences and theoretical analysis, that the relationships between risks and identity are multi-layered, transformative and manifest themselves in multiple ways. It also shows that globalization has created conditions for connections and influences of risk across nations and between the global and local levels in deep-seated and transformative ways. The analytical eclecticism approach of the book provides the space for recombining diverse conceptual and empirical discourses and applications without the limitations of a mono-theoretical approach. The book is a tapestry of diverse frameworks and approaches about different experiences from around the world regarding the intersection between identity and risk of conflict. The conclusion pulls together a few common discursive threads from the case studies and raises some issues about the relationship between risk and identity for further discussion

Oxygen’s Role in Aqueous Gold Cluster Synthesis

The presence of oxygen in thiolate-protected gold nanoparticle synthesis influences product distribution. Oxygen’s diradical nature underlies this effect, and oxygen can be replaced with radical initiators in the synthesis of organosoluble gold nanoclusters. The role of O₂ in the synthesis of water-soluble clusters such as Au₁₀₂(<i>p</i>-MBA)₄₄, Au₂₅(SR)₁₈, as well as the thiol etching of water-soluble colloidal gold particles is not yet established. Herein it is shown that radicals, either from O₂ or from radical initiators such as 4-hydroxy-TEMPO, are necessary components for synthesis of water-soluble thiolate-protected gold nanoclusters, as well as the etching of aqueous colloidal gold by thiols. Furthermore, air-free synthetic routes to water-soluble gold nanoclusters Au₁₀₂(SR)₄₄ and Au₂₅(SR)₁₈ are described. Overall, the understanding of the role of radicals in the synthesis of water-soluble gold clusters will allow standardization of often difficult to reproduce syntheses that attract increasing attention for biological applications

Cherry chlorotic rusty spot and Amasya cherry diseases are associated with a complex pattern of mycoviral-like double-stranded RNAs. I : Characterization of a new species in the genus Chrysovirus

Cherry chlorotic rusty spot (CCRS) and Amasya cherry disease (ACD) display similar symptoms and are associated with a series of dsRNAs. However, a direct comparison has been lacking. Here, a side-by-side analysis confirmed that both diseases were symptomatologically very similar, as were the number (10-12) and size of their associated dsRNAs. Sequence determination of four of these dsRNAs revealed that they were essentially identical for CCRS and ACD. The largest (3399 bp), which potentially encoded a protein of 1087 aa with the eight motifs conserved in RNA-dependent RNA polymerases of dsRNA mycoviruses, had the highest similarity to those coded by dsRNA 1 of viruses belonging to the genus Chrysovirus and was termed CCRS or ACD chrys-dsRNA 1. The three closely migrating dsRNAs had the properties of the other components of a chrysovirus and in CCRS and ACD versions, respectively, were chrys-dsRNA 2 (3125 and 3128 bp), chrys-dsRNA 3 (2833 bp) and chrys-dsRNA 4 (2499 and 2498 bp), potentially encoding the major capsid protein (993 and 994 aa) and two proteins (884 and 677 aa, respectively) of unknown function. The four 5′- and 3′-UTRs shared internal similarities and had conserved GAAAAUUAUGG and AUAUGC termini, respectively. The 5′-UTRs contained the 'Box 1' motif followed by a stretch rich in CAA, CAAA and CAAAA repeats, characteristic of chrysovirus dsRNAs. Because species of the genus Chrysovirus have only been described as infecting fungi, this suggests a fungal aetiology for CCRS and ACD, a proposal supported by the properties of two other CCRS- and ACD-associated dsRNAs (see accompanying paper by Coutts et al., 2004, in this issue).Peer reviewe

Comparison of air kerma area product and air kerma meter calibrations for X-ray radiation qualities used in diagnostic radiology. Report on the EURAMET project #1177, identified in the BIPM key comparison database (KCDB) as EURAMET RI(I) – S9

Kalibrointilaboratorioiden tarkkuutta ja luotettavuutta testattiin röntgendiagnostiikan annosmittareiden kalibrointiprojektissa EURAMET#1177 (vertailun tunnus EURAMET.RI(I)-S9). Mukana oli 22 eurooppalaista kalibrointilaboratoriota, joiden kalibroitavana kiersi annoksen ja pinta-alan tulon mittareita (DAP, KAP). Vertailu tehtiin vuosien 2011 ja 2012 aikana ja pilottilaboratorio oli kreikkalainen (IRCL/GAEC-EIM). Mittausvertailu oli ensimmäinen laajamittainen kansainvälinen kalibrointivertailu KAP-mittareille. Vertailu toteutettiin yhdessä EURAMET järjestön, IAEA/WHOn laboratorioverkoston ja EURADOS järjestön kanssa. Kaikkiaan 216 suoritetusta KAP mittarin kalibroinnista 176 oli 5% sisällä yhtäpitäviä. Kahdeksalla laboratoriolla tuloksissa oli yli 5% - 45 % ylityksiä vertailuarvosta. Tavanomaisten KAP mittareiden tuloksen riippuvuus röntgenspektristä ja käytetystä annosnopeudesta osoittautui arvioitua suuremmaksi ja myös nämä tekijät vaikuttivat myös joidenkin laboratorioiden tuloksiin. Vertailun tuloksia käytetään varmistamaan kansainvälisen paino- ja mittakomitean hyväksymiä mittaus- ja kalibrointisuoritteita (CIPM-MRA). STUKin kansallinen mittanormaalitoiminta on mukana em. sopimuksessa ja STUKin tulokset kalibrointivertailussa olivat tarkimpien joukossa

Comparison of air kerma area product and air kerma meter calibrations for X-ray radiation qualities used in diagnostic radiology

The EURAMET #1177 project, identified as EURAMET RI(I)-S9 comparison, was the first EURAMET wide scale supplementary comparison in the field of diagnostic radiology for air kerma area product, P-KA, and air kerma, K. It was conducted with the goal of testing the measurement and calibration capabilities for P-KA and K, as well as of supporting the relevant CMCs of the participating laboratories. Two commercial KAP meters and an ionization chamber were selected as transfer instruments and circulated between the 22 European participants. The measurements were performed from April 2011 until July 2012. The stability and the performance of the transfer instruments were tested by the pilot laboratory (IRCL/GAEC-EIM) and few other laboratories as well. The test results revealed that the energy (radiation quality), Q, irradiation area, A, and air kerma rate, K dependences of response of the transfer KAP meters influence the comparison of the results when different measurement conditions were pertained and therefore, appropriate correction factors were obtained and applied to the reported calibration results of the laboratories, when necessary. The comparison reference values (CRVs) for each instrument were determined as the weighted mean of the calibration coefficients of the three participating primary laboratories. The relative standard uncertainty of the CRVs were in the range of (0.4-1.6)% depending on the transfer instruments and beam qualities. The comparison result as the ratio of the corrected calibration coefficient of participant and the respective CRV, and its uncertainty were calculated for all beam qualities and transfer instruments. The informative degrees of equivalence (DoE) were calculated for the refrence RQR 5 beam quality. In case of air kema area product measurements the results for the RADCAL PDC KAP meter were used. The 216 KAP meter calibration results of the two different transfer instruments in terms of air kerma area product were consistent within 5% except 40 results of 8 participants. The 103 air kerma calibration results were consistent within 1.7%, except 10 results of 4 participants

Effect of Diaporthe RNA virus 1 (DRV1) on growth and pathogenicity of different Diaporthe species

A 4.1 kbp positive-strand RNA virus known as Diaporthe RNA virus 1 (DRV1) occurs in hypovirulent, non-sporulating isolates of the fungal pathogen Diaporthe perjuncta. A full-length cDNA clone of DRV1 was developed and RNA transcribed from the cDNA clone used to transfect different Diaporthe spp. The transfected species included three D. ambigua isolates and an unidentified Phomopsis asexual state of a Diaporthe sp. Successful transfections were confirmed using RT-PCR. Although the in vitro-transcribed positive sense single-stranded RNA used for transfection included vector sequences at both ends, the genomes of progeny virus from DRV1-transfected isolates were free of the vector sequences. Transfection resulted in morphological changes in these fungal pathogens. However, the presence of DRV1 did not reduce growth rate in two of the three D. ambigua or the Phomopsis sp. significantly. Pathogenicity studies showed that the transfected isolates have reduced aggresiveness