358 research outputs found
From vocational training to education: the development of a no-frontiers education policy for Europe?
This article focuses on developments towards an EU educational policy. Education was not included as one of the Community competencies in the Treaty of Rome. The first half of the article analyses the way that the European Court of Justice and the Commission of the European Communities between them managed to develop a series of substantial Community programmes out of Article 128 on vocational training. The second half of the article discusses educational developments in the community following the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty of Amsterdam. Whilst the legal competence of the community now includes education, the author's argument is that the inclusion of an educational competence will not result in further developments to mirror those in the years before the Treaty on Europe</p
Constraints on the Universal CIV Mass Density at z~6 from Early IR Spectra Obtained with the Magellan FIRE Spectrograph
We present a new determination of the intergalactic CIV mass density at 4.3 <
z < 6.3. Our constraints are derived from high signal-to-noise spectra of seven
quasars at z > 5.8 obtained with the newly commissioned FIRE spectrograph on
the Magellan Baade telescope, coupled with six observations of northern objects
taken from the literature. We confirm the presence of a downturn in the CIV
abundance at =5.66 by a factor of 4.1 relative to its value at =4.96, as
measured in the same sightlines. In the FIRE sample, a strong system previously
reported in the literature as CIV at z=5.82 is re-identified as MgII at z=2.78,
leading to a substantial downward revision in for these prior
studies. Additionally we confirm the presence of at least two systems with
low-ionization CII, SiII, and OI absorption but relatively weak signal from
CIV. The latter systems systems may be of interest if the downward trend in
at high redshift is driven in part by ionization effects.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Ap
The first legal mortgagor: a consumer without adequate protection?
This article contends that the UK government’s attempt to create a well-functioning consumer credit market will be undermined if it fails to reform the private law framework relating to the first legal mortgage. Such agreements are governed by two distinct regulatory regimes that are founded upon very different conceptions of the mortgagor. The first, the regulation of financial services overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority, derives from public law and is founded upon a conception of the mortgagor as “consumer”. The other is land law, private law regulation implemented by the judiciary and underpinned by a conception of the mortgagor as “landowner”. Evidence suggests that the operation of these two regimes prevents mortgagors from receiving fair and consistent treatment. The current reform of financial services regulation therefore will change only one part of this governance regime and will leave mortgagors heavily reliant upon a regulator that still has to prove itself. What this article argues is that reform of the rules of private law must also be undertaken with the aim of initiating a paradigm shift in the conception of the mortgagor from “landowner” to “consumer”. Cultural shifts of this kind take time but the hope is that this conceptual transformation will occur in time to deter the predicted rise in mortgage possessions
Evaluating the GeoSnap 13-m Cut-Off HgCdTe Detector for mid-IR ground-based astronomy
New mid-infrared HgCdTe (MCT) detector arrays developed in collaboration with
Teledyne Imaging Sensors (TIS) have paved the way for improved 10-m
sensors for space- and ground-based observatories. Building on the successful
development of longwave HAWAII-2RGs for space missions such as NEO Surveyor, we
characterize the first 13-m GeoSnap detector manufactured to overcome the
challenges of high background rates inherent in ground-based mid-IR astronomy.
This test device merges the longwave HgCdTe photosensitive material with
Teledyne's 2048x2048 GeoSnap-18 (18-m pixel) focal plane module, which is
equipped with a capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) readout circuit
paired with an onboard 14-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The final
assembly yields a mid-IR detector with high QE, fast readout (>85 Hz), large
well depth (>1.2 million electrons), and linear readout.
Longwave GeoSnap arrays would ideally be deployed on existing ground-based
telescopes as well as the next generation of extremely large telescopes. While
employing advanced adaptive optics (AO) along with state-of-the-art diffraction
suppression techniques, instruments utilizing these detectors could attain
background- and diffraction-limited imaging at inner working angles <10
, providing improved contrast-limited performance compared to JWST
MIRI while operating at comparable wavelengths. We describe the performance
characteristics of the 13-m GeoSnap array operating between 38-45K,
including quantum efficiency, well depth, linearity, gain, dark current, and
frequency-dependent (1/f) noise profile.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in special addition of
Astronomische Nachrichten / Astronomical Notes as a contribution to SDW202
Improved efficacy of ciprofloxacin administered in polyethylene glycol-coated liposomes for treatment of Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia in rats.
Animal and clinical data show that high ratios of the area under the
concentration-time curve and the peak concentration in blood to the MIC of
fluoroquinolones for a given pathogen are associated with a favorable
outcome. The present study investigated whether improvement of the
therapeutic potential of ciprofloxacin could be achieved by encapsulation
in polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated long-circulating sustained-release
liposomes. In a rat model of unilateral Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia
(MIC = 0.1 microg/ml), antibiotic was administered at 12- or 24-h
intervals at twofold-increasing doses. A treatment period of 3 days was
started 24 h after inoculation of the left lung, when the bacterial count
had increased 1,000-fold and some rats had positive blood cultures. The
infection was fatal within 5 days in untreated rats. Administration of
ciprofloxacin in the liposomal form resulted in delayed ciprofloxacin
clearance and increased and prolonged ciprofloxacin concentrations in
blood and tissues. The ED(50) (dosage that results in 50% survival) of
liposomal ciprofloxacin was 3.3 mg/kg of body weight/day given once daily,
and that of free ciprofloxacin was 18.9 mg/kg/day once daily or 5.1
mg/kg/day twice daily. The ED(90) of liposomal ciprofloxacin was 15.0
mg/kg/day once daily compared with 36.0 mg/kg/day twice daily for free
ciprofloxacin; 90% survival could not be achieved with free ciprofloxacin
given once daily. In summary, the therapeutic efficacy of liposomal
ciprofloxacin was superior to that of ciprofloxacin in the free form.
PEG-coated liposomal ciprofloxacin was well tolerated in relatively high
doses, permitting once daily administration with relatively low
ciprofloxacin clearance and without compromising therapeutic efficacy
Clouds in the Coldest Brown Dwarfs: FIRE Spectroscopy of Ross 458C
Condensate clouds are a salient feature of L dwarf atmospheres, but have been
assumed to play little role in shaping the spectra of the coldest T-type brown
dwarfs. Here we report evidence of condensate opacity in the near-infrared
spectrum of the brown dwarf candidate Ross 458C, obtained with the Folded-Port
Infrared Echellette (FIRE) spectrograph at the Magellan Telescopes. These data
verify the low-temperature nature of this source, indicating a T8 spectral
classification, log Lbol/Lsun = -5.62+/-0.03, Teff = 650+/-25 K, and a mass at
or below the deuterium burning limit. The data also reveal enhanced emission at
K-band associated with youth (low surface gravity) and supersolar metallicity,
reflecting the properties of the Ross 458 system (age = 150-800 Myr, [Fe/H] =
+0.2 to +0.3). We present fits of FIRE data for Ross 458C, the T9 dwarf ULAS
J133553.45+113005.2, and the blue T7.5 dwarf SDSS J141624.08+134826.7B, to
cloudless and cloudy spectral models from Saumon & Marley. For Ross 458C we
confirm a low surface gravity and supersolar metallicity, while the temperature
differs depending on the presence (635 [+25,-35] K) or absence (760 [+70,-45]
K) of cloud extinction. ULAS J1335+1130 and SDSS J1416+1348B have similar
temperatures (595 [+25,-45] K), but distinct surface gravities (log g = 4.0-4.5
cgs versus 5.0-5.5 cgs) and metallicities ([M/H] ~ +0.2 versus -0.2). In all
three cases, cloudy models provide better fits to the spectral data,
significantly so for Ross 458C. These results indicate that clouds are an
important opacity source in the spectra of young cold T dwarfs, and should be
considered when characterizing the spectra of planetary-mass objects in young
clusters and directly-imaged exoplanets. The characteristics of Ross 458C
suggest it could itself be regarded as a planet, albeit one whose cosmogony
does not conform with current planet formation theories.Comment: Accepted for publication to ApJ: 18 pages, 11 figures in emulateapj
forma
Bartonella species detection in captive, stranded and free-ranging cetaceans
We present prevalence of Bartonella spp. for multiple cohorts of wild and captive cetaceans. One hundred and six cetaceans including 86 bottlenose dolphins (71 free-ranging, 14 captive in a facility with a dolphin experiencing debility of unknown origin, 1 stranded), 11 striped dolphins, 4 harbor porpoises, 3 Risso's dolphins, 1 dwarf sperm whale and 1 pygmy sperm whale (all stranded) were sampled. Whole blood (n = 95 live animals) and tissues (n = 15 freshly dead animals) were screened by PCR (n = 106 animals), PCR of enrichment cultures (n = 50 animals), and subcultures (n = 50 animals). Bartonella spp. were detected from 17 cetaceans, including 12 by direct extraction PCR of blood or tissues, 6 by PCR of enrichment cultures, and 4 by subculture isolation. Bartonella spp. were more commonly detected from the captive (6/14, 43%) than from free-ranging (2/71, 2.8%) bottlenose dolphins, and were commonly detected from the stranded animals (9/21, 43%; 3/11 striped dolphins, 3/4 harbor porpoises, 2/3 Risso's dolphins, 1/1 pygmy sperm whale, 0/1 dwarf sperm whale, 0/1 bottlenose dolphin). Sequencing identified a Bartonella spp. most similar to B. henselae San Antonio 2 in eight cases (4 bottlenose dolphins, 2 striped dolphins, 2 harbor porpoises), B. henselae Houston 1 in three cases (2 Risso's dolphins, 1 harbor porpoise), and untyped in six cases (4 bottlenose dolphins, 1 striped dolphin, 1 pygmy sperm whale). Although disease causation has not been established, Bartonella species were detected more commonly from cetaceans that were overtly debilitated or were cohabiting in captivity with a debilitated animal than from free-ranging animals. The detection of Bartonella spp. from cetaceans may be of pathophysiological concern
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