International Travel for LGBTQ+ Staff in Higher Education

The growing focus on internationalisation across UK Higher Education creates additional challenges for LGBTQ+ Staff owing to the complex and uneven legal and social framework for LGBTQ+ people worldwide. In this report, we detail how these issues are currently being addressed across the sector, highlight instances of best practice, and outline the need for further work and research in this area

Proton magnetic resonance and polarographic studies of some aminated naphthoquinones

Variable temperature n.m.r. and polarographic measurements have been performed on a series of cyclic secondary aminonaphthoquinones. The results indicate that ring strain is not the only factor which would explain the order of effective electron donation by the various amines to the quinone nucleus

Underreamer mechanics

In the oil and gas industry, an underreamer is a tool used to extend and enlarge the diameter of a previously-drilled bore. The problem proposed to the Study Group is to obtain appropriate mathematical models of underreamer dynamics, in forms that will lead to feasible computation. The modes of dynamics of interest are torsional, lateral and axial. This report describes some initial models, two of which are developed in more detail: one for the propagation of torsional waves along the drill string and their reflection from contact points with the well bore; and one for the dynamic coupling between the underreamer and the drill bit during drilling

A Kepler study of starspot lifetimes with respect to light-curve amplitude and spectral type

ACC acknowledges support from STFC consolidated grant number ST/M001296/1. RDH gratefully acknowledges support from STFC studentship grant ST/J500744/1, a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, and NASA XRP grant NNX15AC90G.Wide-field high-precision photometric surveys such as Kepler have produced reams of data suitable for investigating stellar magnetic activity of cooler stars. Starspot activity produces quasi-sinusoidal light curves whose phase and amplitude vary as active regions grow and decay over time. Here we investigate, first, whether there is a correlation between the size of starspots - assumed to be related to the amplitude of the sinusoid - and their decay time-scale and, secondly, whether any such correlation depends on the stellar effective temperature. To determine this, we computed the auto-correlation functions of the light curves of samples of stars from Kepler and fitted them with apodised periodic functions. The light-curve amplitudes,representing spot size, were measured from the root-mean-squared scatter of the normalized light curves. We used a Monte Carlo Markov Chain to measure the periods and decay time-scales of the light curves. The results show a correlation between the decay time of starspots and their inferred size. The decay time also depends strongly on the temperature of the star. Cooler stars have spots that last much longer, in particular for stars with longer rotational periods. This is consistent with current theories of diffusive mechanisms causing starspot decay. We also find that the Sun is not unusually quiet for its spectral type -stars with solar-type rotation periods and temperatures tend to have(comparatively) smaller starspots than stars with mid-G or later spectral types.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Deception and Disclosure: A Socio-Legal Analysis of HIV Transmission Offences and Mobile Dating Applications

In England and Wales, the criminalisation of disease transmission has principally arisen in cases involving HIV transmission. This includes Rowe [2018] where intentional transmission was established for the first time, in part through digital evidence. Criminal law scholarship on transmission offences has acknowledged that issues of HIV (non-)disclosure can be contentious, presenting particular challenges stemming from various disclosure expectations and understandings of HIV transmission risk which exist in different contexts/communities. Such issues have been compounded by the proliferation of HIV disclosure features on mobile “dating” applications targeted at men who have sex with men in recent years. How these new technologies influence and supplant existing expectations, knowledge of risk, and distributions of responsibility is an issue which has yet to be considered in empirical socio-legal literature. Utilising a visual, scenario-driven, methodology, this project analyses the responses of 102 application users who use these apps to connect with men and demonstrates that these features are understood in several complex and often contradictory ways. Firstly, this thesis illustrates how participants’ conceptualisations of risk and safety might challenge existing approaches to “sexual responsibility” and the uneven distribution of responsibility for HIV prevention. Secondly, it highlights how contextual disclosure expectations and the perceived “right to know” have the potential to influence legal debates on “conditional consent”. Thirdly, it demonstrates how discourses on responsibility and agency, as well as participants’ often erroneous understanding of the law, are shaped by these disclosure features. This thesis, therefore, makes a significant and original contribution to criminal law scholarship. It emphasises the importance of proper appraisal of contextual norms and knowledge in transmission cases and concludes by summarising that whilst applications offer new ways to understand culpability, responsibility and obligation in transmission cases, this can only be achieved justly through a detailed examination of social context in which these are used, which is not achieved if applications are presented as straightforward and unnuanced at trial

High fat diet rescues disturbances to metabolic homeostasis and survival in the Id2 null mouse in a sex-specific manner

Inhibitor of DNA binding 2 (ID2) is a helix-loop-helix transcriptional repressor rhythmically expressed in many adult tissues. Our previous studies have demonstrated that Id2 null mice have altered expression of circadian genes involved in lipid metabolism, altered circadian feeding behavior, and sex-specific enhancement of insulin sensitivity and elevated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue. Here we further characterized the Id2−/− mouse metabolic phenotype in a sex-specific context and under low and high fat diets, and examined metabolic and endocrine parameters associated with lipid and glucose metabolism. Under the low-fat diet Id2−/− mice showed decreased weight gain, reduced gonadal fat mass, and a lower survival rate. Under the high-fat diet, body weight and gonadal fat gain of Id2−/− male mice was comparable to control mice and survival rate improved markedly. Furthermore, the high-fat diet treated Id2−/− male mice lost the enhanced glucose tolerance feature observed in the other Id2−/− groups, and there was a sex-specific difference in white adipose tissue storage of Id2−/− mice. Additionally, a distinct pattern of hepatic lipid accumulation was observed in Id2−/− males: low lipids on the low-fat diet and steatosis on the high-fat diet. In summary, these data provides valuable insights into the impact of Id2 deficiency on metabolic homeostasis of mice in a sex-specific manner

“The internet: to regulate or not to regulate?” Submission to House of Lords Select Committee on Communications' inquiry

In early 2018 The House of Lords Select Committee on Communications' began an inquiry into how regulation of the internet should be improved, taking into consideration how the internet has transformed global interaction, information gathering and educational/entertainment consumption, and how it opens up new opportunities but also presents challenges. This is the written submission of University of Cumbria Lecturer in Law Ann Thanaraj (along with other members of NINSO, Northumbria Internet & Society Research Interest Group), in response to the invitation to submit written evidence to the inquiry

The internet: to regulate or not regulate

This submission was prepared in response to a call for evidence launched on 29 March 2018 by the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications entitled “The Internet: To Regulate or Not to Regulate?”. The broad inquiry sought evidence to explore how the regulation of the internet should be improved, and to consider whether online platforms which mediate individuals’ use of the internet have sufficient accountability and transparency, and whether they use fair and effective processes to moderate content. This collaborative response, prepared on behalf of NINSO (The Northumbria Internet & Society Research Interest Group), provides recommendations in relation to the wide range of issues raised by the Committee. The key themes that are highlighted by NINSO to be addressed by any reform are effective user education and the power imbalance between the platform and user. NINSO recommends that an empirical, holistic, evidence-based approach should be applied which is tailored appropriately to the size and resources of the platform as well as the context of the situation

Surface flux evolution constraints for flux transport dynamos

The surface flux transport (SFT) model of solar magnetic fields involves empirically well-constrained velocity and magnetic fields. The basic evolution of the Sun's large-scale surface magnetic field is well described by this model. The azimuthally averaged evolution of the SFT model can be compared to the surface evolution of the flux transport dynamo (FTD), and the evolution of the SFT model can be used to constrain several near-surface properties of the FTD model. We compared the results of the FTD model with different upper boundary conditions and diffusivity profiles against the results of the SFT model. Among the ingredients of the FTD model, downward pumping of magnetic flux, related to a positive diffusivity gradient, has a significant effect in slowing down the diffusive radial transport of magnetic flux through the solar surface. Provided the pumping was strong enough to give rise to a downflow of a magnetic Reynolds number of 5 in the near-surface boundary layer, the FTD using a vertical boundary condition matches the SFT model based on the average velocities above the boundary layer. The FTD model with a potential field were unable to match the SFT results.Comment: Accepted for A&