Test structures to characterise a novel circuit fabrication technique that uses offset lithography

This paper reports on the use of microelectronic test structures to characterise a novel fabrication technique for thin-film electronic circuit boards. In this technology, circuit tracks are formed on paper-like substrates by depositing films of a metal-loaded ink via a standard lithographic printing process. Sheet resistance and line width are electrically evaluated and these quantities are compared with optical and surface profiling measurements

Source Bonding, 'Music' and 'Sound in Electroacoustic Composition and The Audiovisual Sound Canvas

Denis Smalley’s theories of Spectromorphology, Source Bonding, and Bonding Play can help us to understand the malleable relationships between sounds and their perceived sources in the context of electroacoustic music, and how these relationships can enrich and be enriched through their application within audiovisual media. (Smalley, D, 1997) These theories interact with the ideas and practices of composers working within fields such as Sonorism and Soundscape Composition in a way that helps to build the concept of an audiovisual sound canvas, adapted from the definition posited by Julio d’Escrivan’s. (d’Escrivan’s, J, 2009) A sound canvas in which sounds generated by musical instruments and all manner of ‘non-musical’ objects and environments may integrate into one aesthetic entity and challenge the conventional distinctions between ‘sound’ or ‘noise’ and ‘music’. A sound canvas, too, in which the expectations and tensions surrounding the abstract, intrinsic properties of sounds, and their extrinsic links to perceived sources may be reinforced, stretched or broken by way of creating, gratifying and undermining a listener’s expectations, thus building and resolving tensions like tonal dissonance and consonance in harmonic music. By weaving such a sound canvas into an audiovisual production one may liberate ‘sound’ beyond naturalistic representation and bring greater depth to the relationships between sounds and sources via the structured, visual representation of sound-making objects. In turn, such a sound canvas may enrich a visual montage and abolish any hierarchy between audiovisual elements, instead fostering aesthetic unity between ‘sound’, ‘music’ and moving image. These ideas are born-out in the portfolio of compositions, which represents the cultivation and realization of this vision in practice

The MERG Suite: Tools for discovering competencies and associated learning resources

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

How Personality Became Treatable:The Mutual Constitution of Clinical Knowledge and Mental Health Law

In recent years, personality disorders – psychiatric constructs understood as enduring dysfunctions of personality – have come into ever-greater focus for British policymakers, mental health professionals and service-users. Disputes have focussed largely on highly controversial attempts by the UK Department of Health to introduce mental health law and policy (now enshrined within the 2007 Mental Health Act of England and Wales). At the same time, clinical framings of personality disorder have dramatically shifted: once regarded as untreatable conditions, severe personality disorders are today thought of by many clinicians to be responsive to psychiatric and psychological intervention. In this article, I chart this transformation by means of a diachronic analysis of debates and institutional shifts pertaining to both attempts to change the law, and understandings of personality disorder. In so doing, I show how mental health policy and practice have mutually constituted one another, such that the aims of clinicians and policymakers have come to be closely aligned. I argue that it is precisely through these reciprocally constitutive processes that the profound reconfiguration of personality disorder from being an obdurate to a plastic condition has occurred; this demonstrates the significance of interactions between law and the health professions in shaping not only the State’s management of pathology, but also perceptions of its very nature

Malignant spinal cord compression: a retrospective audit of clinical practice at a UK regional cancer centre

Malignant Spinal Cord Compression (MSCC) is a particularly challenging area of cancer care where early diagnosis and expert multiprofessional care and rehabilitation, are paramount in optimising quality of life. This audit reports data collected retrospectively over a period of 12 months on patients with MSCC referred to the West of Scotland Cancer Centre (n=174). It was carried out to build on the work of the Clinical Resource and Audit Group (CRAG) and to examine current practice for symptom assessment, multiprofessional care and rehabilitation of patients with MSCC admitted to the cancer centre. Areas of concern include poor assessment of pain, the poor ambulatory status of patients on admission and the lack of clear plans for mobilisation and rehabilitation for the majority of patients. Recommendations include the development of regional guidelines for referral, treatment and rehabilitation, and the development of a pathway of care for use in all care settings across the region, together with improvements for use in patient information, staff education, audit and research. These are now being taken forward through the West of Scotland Cancer Network with dedicated funding from Macmillan Cancer Relief

Criminal and Noncriminal Psychopathy: The Devil is in the Detail

Brooks, NS ORCiD: 0000-0003-1784-099XPsychopathy is prevalent and problematic in criminal populations, but is also found to be present in noncriminal populations. In 1992, Robert Hare declared that psychopaths may also “be found in the boardroom”, which has since been followed by an interest in the issue of noncriminal, or even successful, psychopathy. In this chapter, the paradox of criminal and noncriminal psychopathy is discussed with specific attention given to the similarities and differences that account for psychopathic personality across contexts. That psychopathy is a condition typified by a constellation of traits and behaviours requires wider research across diverse populations, and thus the streams of research related to criminal and noncriminal psychopathy are presented and the implications of these contrasting streams are explored

Mechanistic model of natural killer cell proliferative response to IL-15 receptor stimulation

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that provide early host defense against intracellular pathogens, such as viruses. Although NK cell development, homeostasis, and proliferation are regulated by IL-15, the influence of IL-15 receptor (IL-15R)-mediated signaling at the cellular level has not been quantitatively characterized. We developed a mathematical model to analyze the kinetic interactions that control the formation and localization of IL-15/IL-15R complexes. Our computational results demonstrated that IL-15/IL-15R complexes on the cell surface were a key determinant of the magnitude of the IL-15 proliferative signal and that IL-15R occupancy functioned as an effective surrogate measure of receptor signaling. Ligand binding and receptor internalization modulated IL-15R occupancy. Our work supports the hypothesis that the total number and duration of IL-15/IL-15R complexes on the cell surface crosses a quantitative threshold prior to the initiation of NK cell division. Furthermore, our model predicted that the upregulation of IL-15Rα on NK cells substantially increased IL-15R complex formation and accelerated the expansion of dividing NK cells with the greatest impact at low IL-15 concentrations. Model predictions of the threshold requirement for NK cell recruitment to the cell cycle and the subsequent exponential proliferation correlated well with experimental data. In summary, our modeling analysis provides quantitative insight into the regulation of NK cell proliferation at the receptor level and provides a framework for the development of IL-15 based immunotherapies to modulate NK cell proliferation

Job Creation and Trade in Manufactures: Industry-Level Analysis Across Countries

This paper examines industry-level responses of manufacturing employment in the context of globalization using a large sample of developed, developing, and transition economies. We find that developing countries need atypically high rates of value-added growth (about 10 %) to increase manufacturing employment appreciably (about 4 %). The employment benefits of export orientation are also modest even in “comparative advantage” industries of developing countries. However, diversifying the export basket contributes significantly to employment growth, particularly in the medium- and high-technology industries. Import competition does not undermine employment growth in low-technology industries of developing countries while it displaces jobs in the same industries in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and transition economies. For developing countries, import-induced job losses are higher in the more capital-intensive medium-technology industries. Jobs in high-technology industries are less sensitive to imports with positive relationships observed in the OECD. Investment also complements job creation in low-technology industries of developing countries that have yet to industrialize

Invasion of Wolbachia into Anopheles and Other Insect Germlines in an Ex vivo Organ Culture System

The common bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia manipulates its host's reproduction to promote its own maternal transmission, and can interfere with pathogen development in many insects making it an attractive agent for the control of arthropod-borne disease. However, many important species, including Anopheles mosquitoes, are uninfected. Wolbachia can be artificially transferred between insects in the laboratory but this can be a laborious and sometimes fruitless process. We used a simple ex vivo culturing technique to assess the suitability of Wolbachia-host germline associations. Wolbachia infects the dissected germline tissue of multiple insect species when the host tissue and bacteria are cultured together. Ovary and testis infection occurs in a density-dependent manner. Wolbachia strains are more capable of invading the germline of their native or closely related rather than divergent hosts. The ability of Wolbachia to associate with the germline of novel hosts is crucial for the development of stably-transinfected insect lines. Rapid assessment of the suitability of a strain-host combination prior to transinfection may dictate use of a particular Wolbachia strain. Furthermore, the cultured germline tissues of two major Anopheline vectors of Plasmodium parasites are susceptible to Wolbachia infection. This finding further enhances the prospect of using Wolbachia for the biological control of malaria

Psychological and educational interventions for atopic eczema in children.

Psychological and educational interventions have been used as an adjunct to conventional therapy for children with atopic eczema to enhance the effectiveness of topical therapy. This is an update of the original Cochrane review