Pseudorapidity dependence of anisotropic flow in heavy ion collisions with ALICE

The pseudorapidity dependence of flow coefficients, $v_n$, is presented over a large range in pseudorapidity ($-3.5 \leq \eta \leq 5$) in Pb$-$Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV. The flow coefficients are measured with 2- and 4-particle cumulants with $|\Delta \eta | > 0$ and $|\Delta \eta | > 2$. The difference between $v_2\{2,|\Delta \eta|>0\}$ and $v_2\{2,|\Delta \eta|>2\}$ implies changes in either the de-correlation of flow vectors or non-flow effects between the two methods. The AMPT model shows a qualitative agreement with the measurements

"Taking Culture to Court" - Considering the Use of the Concept of Culture in a Cultural Defence

This thesis is a result of an initial interest in multiculturalism – how states to deal with cultural plurality and the role of the concept of culture in this process – which led to a particular interest in the use of “culture” as a defence plea in courts; what is referred to as a “cultural defence”. With reference to two empirical cases it explores the legal, political and anthropological discussion on the cultural defence and how the concept of culture has been presented in the trials. The argument of the author is that there needs to be a focus on the very concept of culture itself before it can be decided if and how we should accommodate culture in court. In particular it is argued that an essentialist notion of culture cannot be at the base of a cultural defence as a cultural defence needs to adjust to the changing nature of culture and acknowledge the issues related to culture and authority. This argument is in part driven by alternative notions of culture and cultural representation such as those provided by Wikan, Barth, Ardener and Baumann

Analysis of Head Acceleration Kinematics in Collegiate and Elite Women’s Rugby Union

Women are 1.4 times more likely to suffer concussion in collegiate sports than men. Despite this, the concussion protocols used in women’s rugby union are derived almost exclusively from androcentric data. However, androcentric data has limited generalisability to women due to sexual dimorphisms within axonal structure, cervical anatomy and stabilising cervical musculature. These anatomical and functional differences may result in female head acceleration kinematics differing from those reported in androcentric data. Therefore, the study aim was to identify female-specific head acceleration kinematics in elite and collegiate women’s rugby union. In the collegiate players, instrumented mouthguards (Protecht™, SWA Ltd, Swansea, UK) were used alongside video footage to quantify head acceleration during matches. These mouthguards employed tight sensor-skull coupling and had been validated. For elite players, video footage of two international matches were analysed. Video from both cohorts were analysed using identical criteria for comparison of head acceleration kinematics across cohorts. The instrumented mouthguard system recorded 73 verified and low-pass filtered head acceleration events (HAEs) in collegiate players, with median peak linear and rotational accelerations of 11.9 g (interquartile range (IQR 7.3) and 4291.7 rad/s2 (IQR 646.9), respectively. Collegiate players experienced twice the number of HAEs per playing minute compared to elite players. Whiplash-style kinematics not previously documented in androcentric data were observed in both cohorts. As players fell, muscular control of the neck was often lost, resulting in a whiplash motion of the head hitting the ground. These kinematics were evident in 31.5% of collegiate and 4.2% of elite contact events, and likely resulted from poor neck strength and fall technique. Indeed, as world ranking of elite teams increased, incidence of whiplash-style kinematics decreased. Overall, these findings highlight distinct sexual dimorphisms in head acceleration kinematics. It is therefore necessary to understand female-specific head kinematics for the development of mitigation strategies

Neutrophils in respiratory syncytial virus infection

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections, especially in infants. In clinical studies of RSV infection, neutrophils have long been implicated as drivers of disease severity as they make up the vast majority of the cellular composition of the airways of infants hospitalised with severe disease. Furthermore, a transcriptomic analysis found that genes related to neutrophil function were over-expressed in infants hospitalised with severe RSV infections. Although airway neutrophilia is a hallmark of severe RSV disease, the mechanisms underlying neutrophil recruitment and activation in the lung are not yet well understood. Furthermore, it is unclear whether airway neutrophilia during RSV infection contributes to viral control and/or drives disease severity. Mechanistic studies into the role of neutrophils during RSV infection in murine and bovine models of disease have suggested that neutrophils may release NETs in response to RSV but whether this causes lung pathology in a manner which affects the outcome of disease is unknown. In these studies, the innate immune signalling pathways underlying neutrophil recruitment and activation in RSV-infected mice were investigated. MyD88/TRIF signalling was found to be essential for lung neutrophil recruitment while MAVS signalling, leading to type I IFN production, was necessary for neutrophil activation. Furthermore, antibody mediated neutrophil depletion was used to investigate the role of neutrophils during RSV infection. Neutrophils were not required for the production type I interferons (IFNs) in response to RSV, nor did neutrophils contribute to viral control. Neutrophil depletion also demonstrated that neutrophil recruitment during primary RSV infection was not required for the formation of memory T cell responses during RSV re-challenge. Neither neutrophil removal nor the enhancement of airway neutrophilia, by administration of the chemoattractant CXCL1 following RSV infection, affected disease severity as measured by weight loss. However, increased airway neutrophilia pre-infection, as established by administration of CXCL1, enhanced disease severity as measured by weight loss during RSV infection. This was associated with an enhanced recruitment of CD8+ T cells to the lung at the peak of disease. This study found that two distinct pathogen sensing pathways must collaborate for neutrophil recruitment and activation during RSV infection. Furthermore, although neutrophil recruitment in response to RSV does not appear to drive disease in mice, pre-existing infections or conditions which heighten airway neutrophilia may contribute to disease severity during RSV infection.Open Acces

Old English Syntax and Its Relation to German: A Comparative Study

At first glance, the syntax of ancient Old English appears reminiscent of the syntax of the Present-Day German language. A number of shared syntactic traits such as Subject Object Verb constituent order, Verb Second, and a complicated inflectional system have caused the two languages to be compared by scholars, who often have referred to German as simply a present-day version of the now far-gone Old English. Exploring both similarities and dissimilarities of the two languages, this article examines the relationship between the two languages’ syntax to show that although structurally similar once, modern-day English has lost most of the syntactic traits linking it to the German language and their common Proto-Germanic roots. These syntactical differences not only show that Old English was never just a modern-day variant of German but also show that the two languages are developing in separate directions – or at least in separate paces

20 years of steering the European Citizenship – How to Get Europeans on Board?

This thesis has the constructive aim of analyzing the European Commission's normative expectations on European citizens and exploring the prerequisites for their realization. To this purpose, three main perspectives in citizenship theory, liberalism, republicanism and communitarianism are used in the analysis of official Commission documents. The main sources are the regularly published Citizenship Reports which allow for a tracing of the concept's development. The analysis points towards a thickening of the concept over time. From having been defined in mainly liberal terms, the citizenship concept has thickened and demands increasingly from citizens in terms of participation and identification through the introduction of an ethical component. The norm suggests actively participating European citizens united in a European identity acting in a European public space. In order for these expectations to be met by citizens, enabling conditions must be created at both the EU and Member State levels. To this purpose, some of the thesis' proposals are a stronger focus on duties in the Treaty, open political contestation and mechanisms of complexity reduction enabling participation