Smooth transitions from Schwarzschild vacuum to de Sitter space

We provide an infinity of spacetimes which contain part of both the Schwarzschild vacuum and de Sitter space. The transition, which occurs below the Schwarzschild event horizon, involves only boundary surfaces (no surface layers). An explicit example is given in which the weak and strong energy conditions are satisfied everywhere (except in the de Sitter section) and the dominant energy condition is violated only in the vicinity of the boundary to the Schwarzschild section. The singularity is avoided by way of a change in topology in accord with a theorem due to Borde..Comment: revtex4, two figures. Final form to appear in Phys. Rev.

Report of the working group on the measurement of triple gauge boson couplings

The working group discussed several aspects of triple gauge coupling analysis viewed in the light of experiences with the first high energy data recorded at energies above the W pair threshold. Some analysis methods were reviewed briefly, and consideration given to better ways of characterising the data. The measurement of CP violating parameters was discussed. Results were prepared to further quantify the precision attainable on anaomalous couplings in the four-quark channel using jet-charge methods, and finally the trade off between maximum LEP energy-vs-luminosity was quantified.The working group discussed several aspects of triple gauge coupling analysis viewed in the light of experiences with the first high energy data recorded at energies above the W pair threshold. Some analysis methods were reviewed briefly, and consideration given to better ways of characterising the data. The measurement of CP violating parameters was discussed. Results were prepared to further quantify the precision attainable on anaomalous couplings in the four-quark channel using jet-charge methods, and finally the trade off between maximum LEP energy-vs-luminosity was quantified

'Moving life stories tell us just why politics matters’: personal narratives in tabloid anti-austerity campaigns

This article examines the use of personal narratives in two tabloid newspaper campaigns against a controversial welfare reform popularly known as the ‘bedroom tax’. It aims firstly to evaluate whether the personal narratives operate as political testimony to challenge government accounts of welfare reform and dominant stereotypes of benefits claimants, and secondly to assess the potential for and limits to progressive advocacy in popular journalism. The study uses content analysis of 473 articles over the course of a year in the Daily Mirror and Sunday People newspapers, and qualitative analysis of a sub-set of 113 articles to analyse the extent to which the campaign articles extrapolated from the personal to the general, and the role of ‘victim-witnesses’ in articulating their own subjectivity and political agency. The analysis indicates that both newspapers allowed affected individuals to express their own subjectivity to challenge stereotypes, but it was civil society organisations and opinion columnists who most explicitly extrapolated from the personal to the political. Collectively organised benefits claimants were rarely quoted, and there was some evidence of ventriloquization of the editorial voice in the political criticisms of victim-witnesses. However, a campaigning columnist in the Mirror more actively empowered some of those affected to speak directly to politicians. This indicates the value of campaigning journalism when it is truly engaged in solidarity with those affected, rather than instrumentalising victim-witnesses to further the newspapers’ campaign goals

An Adolescent with a Rare De Novo Distal Trisomy 6p and Distal Monosomy 6q Chromosomal Combination

We report on a 12-year-old female with both a partial duplication and deletion involving chromosome 6. The duplication involves 6p25.3p24.3 (7.585 Mb) while the deletion includes 6q27q27 (6.244 Mb). This chromosomal abnormality is also described as distal trisomy 6p and distal monosomy 6q. The patient has a Chiari II malformation, hydrocephalus, agenesis of the corpus callosum, microcephaly, bilateral renal duplicated collecting system, scoliosis, and myelomeningocele associated with a neurogenic bladder and bladder reflux. Additional features have included seizures, feeding dysfunction, failure to thrive, sleep apnea, global developmental delay, intellectual disability, and absent speech. To our knowledge, our report is just the sixth case in the literature with concomitant distal 6p duplication and distal 6q deletion. Although a majority of chromosomal duplication-deletion cases have resulted from a parental pericentric inversion, the parents of our case have normal chromosomes. This is the first reported de novo case of distal 6p duplication and distal 6q deletion. Alternate explanations for the origin of the patient's chromosome abnormalities include parental gonadal mosaicism, nonallelic homologous recombination, or potentially intrachromosomal transposition of the telomeres of chromosome 6. Nonpaternity was considered but ruled out by whole exome sequencing analysis

Requirement of a Membrane Potential for the Posttranslational Transfer of Proteins into Mitochondsria

Posttranslational transfer of most precursor proteins into mitochondria is dependent on energization of the mitochondria. Experiments were carried out to determine whether the membrane potential or the intramitochondrial ATP is the immediate energy source. Transfer in vitro of precursors to the ADP/ATP carrier and to ATPase subunit 9 into isolated Neurospora mitochondria was investigated. Under conditions where the level of intramitochondrial ATP was high and the membrane potential was dissipated, import and processing of these precursor proteins did not take place. On the other hand, precursors were taken up and processed when the intramitochondrial ATP level was low, but the membrane potential was not dissipated. We conclude that a membrane potential is involved in the import of those mitochondrial precursor proteins which require energy for intracellular translocatio

Enterprise agility: A Balancing Act - a local government case study

Austerity and financial constraints have been threatening the public sector in the UK for a number of years. Foreseeing the threat of continued budget cuts, and addressing the situation many local councils face, requires internal transformations for financial stability without losing the key focus on public service. Agile transformations have been undertaken by organisations wanting to learn from the software development community and bringing agile principles into the wider organisation. This paper describes and analyses an ongoing behaviour-led transformation in a district council in the UK. It presents the results of the analysis of 19 interviews with internal stakeholders at the council, of observations of meetings among senior and middle management in a five-month period. The paper explores the successes and the challenges encountered towards the end of the transformation process and reflects on balancing acts to address the challenges, be-tween: disruption and business as usual, empowerment and goal setting, autonomy and processes and procedures, and behaviours and skills. Based on our findings, we suggest that behaviours on their own cannot guarantee a sustained agile culture, and that this is equally important for enterprise agility and for large-scale agile software development transformations

Biosynthesis of Mitochondrial Porin and Insertion into the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane of Neuruspora crassa

Mitochondrial porin, the major protein of the outer mitochondrial membrane is synthesized by free cytoplasmic polysomes. The apparent molecular weight of the porin synthesized in homologous or heterologous cell-free systems is the same as that of the mature porin. Transfer in vitro of mitochondrial porin from the cytosolic fraction into the outer membrane of mitochondria could be demonstrated. Before membrane insertion, mitochondrial porin is highly sensitive to added proteinase; afterwards it is strongly protected. Binding of the precursor form to mitochondria occurs at 4°C and appears to precede insertion into the membrane. Unlike transfer of many precursor proteins into or across the inner mitochondrial membrane, assembly of the porin is not dependent on an electrical potential across the inner membrane

Escala de perceção dos alunos sobre o feedback dos professores: construção e validação

O presente estudo procura testar as propriedades psicométricas de um questionário que avalia (a) perceção do aluno sobre o feedback do professor; a identificação escolar do aluno; as trajetórias escolares (factos e expectativas) e; a perceção do aluno sobre o seu envolvimento escolar. O questionário foi aplicado a 1089 alunos dos 6º, 7º, 9º e 10º anos de escolaridade (M=13.4, DP=1.7), sendo que 52% são do sexo feminino. A amostra é composta por alunos essencialmente de nacionalidade portuguesa (95.9%). A partir dos resultados da análise factorial e seguindo o racional teórico, chegou-se a uma estrutura composta por oito dimensões principais. O QFITE apresenta bons índices de consistência interna, com sete das oito principais dimensões a obterem valores entre .77 e .89. Assim, as análises psicométricas realizadas revelam valores satisfatórios, concluindo-se que o QFITE é um instrumento útil e adequado para avaliar a identificação escolar dos alunos, o envolvimento comportamental escolar, e as perceções dos alunos sobre o feedback do professor

Incommensurable worldviews? Is public use of complementary and alternative medicines incompatible with support for science and conventional medicine?

Proponents of controversial Complementary and Alternative Medicines, such as homeopathy, argue that these treatments can be used with great effect in addition to, and sometimes instead of, ?conventional? medicine. In doing so, they accept the idea that the scientific approach to the evaluation of treatment does not undermine use of and support for some of the more controversial CAM treatments. For those adhering to the scientific canon, however, such efficacy claims lack the requisite evidential basis from randomised controlled trials. It is not clear, however, whether such opposition characterises the views of the general public. In this paper we use data from the 2009 Wellcome Monitor survey to investigate public use of and beliefs about the efficacy of a prominent and controversial CAM within the United Kingdom, homeopathy. We proceed by using Latent Class Analysis to assess whether it is possible to identify a sub-group of the population who are at ease in combining support for science and conventional medicine with use of CAM treatments, and belief in the efficacy of homeopathy. Our results suggest that over 40% of the British public maintain positive evaluations of both homeopathy and conventional medicine simultaneously. Explanatory analyses reveal that simultaneous support for a controversial CAM treatment and conventional medicine is, in part, explained by a lack of scientific knowledge as well as concerns about the regulation of medical research