Cicero's post reditum speeches: three studies

This thesis is divided into three subject areas. The first section examines Cicero’s employment of the terms "amicitia" and "inimicitia". It takes the form of a prosopographical study of all those named. The Republic came before all ties of "amicitia" and "inimicitia". Cicero saw his cause as one and the same as that of the Republic. The second section is divided into four sub-sections. The first deals with Cicero’s references to the Consulship. Consuls must possess certain essential qualities and abide by a code of practice. The second sub-section contains an analysis of Cicero’s references to the Tribunate. The Tribunates of Clodius, Milo and Sestius are assessed in detail Cloduis' legislation may be defended. Cicero's attitude towards "vis" is ambivalent. Cicero's references to violence are fax more Sequent in the Senatorial speech. The third sub-section looks at Cicero's treatment of public meetings and assemblies. Cicero's descriptions of the meetings held in 58 B.C. are compared with those of 57 B.C. They are contrasted with Cicero's ideal Cicero is keen to draw attention to the consensus that recalled him. Finally, all Cicero’s allusions to the Senate are analysed. Cicero exaggerates the extent to which the Senate lost its authority in 58 B.C. Cicero boasts of the consensus in favour of his recall Cicero extols the comitia centuriata. The final section analyses Cicero's references to place. This section is divided into three themes. The first theme is "the city lost, the city restored". Cicero employs the connotations of specific places in the city to enhance this central theme. The second theme examines Cicero's comparison between city and country. The country receives great praise. The last theme looks at allusions to the Empire. This reveals the Roman curiosity in foreign lands and prejudice against foreign people

Perspective relativity: A conceptual examination of the applicability of an articulated notion of "perspective" to such matters as the problem of meanings

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The aim of this thesis is to articulate and defend a general notion of 'perspectives' and some of the ways that they relate to one another, in order to help to clarify one of the preliminary conceptual problems in cybernetics, namely, the relation between energy propagation (signal) and information propagation (message). The literature on this topic is meagre, although the literature relevant to it is too great to cover comprehensively. The approach closely follows the ideas of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend in the philosophy of science. It is found that the perspective notion has possible uses other than that of signal and message, since the same arguments apply to a wide variety of conceptual and human situations. The concepts considered include: point of view, field space, overall view, three broad categories of perspective difference, compatible and incompatible perspectives, the effect of values and goals, and mutual sensitivity and relevance of perspective spaces. There are five chapters: the first introduces the perspective approach to the 'problem of meanings' and provides a brief introduction to the other four chapters; the second examines two fragments of the philosophical background; the third offers a relatively informal discussion of perspectives and perspective relativity; the fourth suggests an example of a terminology of perspectives (true to perspective relativity, not the only possible one); and the final chapter summarises some immediate results as well as suggesting some possible specialised applications, including political models, information retrieval and machine intelligence.SER

Problem of take-all disease in continuous cereal-growing in south-east Scotland

The literature of the ecological and agricultural aspects of take-all disease caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis var tritioi is reviewed.Assessment of the disease in a long-term spring barley trial from its 3rd to 12th years revealed that^although it developed in the accepted take-all decline pattern^the onset of decline was delayed. Incidence was low until the 9th season, rose to a maximum of 80% in the 11th and decreased to about 45% in the 12th year. Applications of 50, 100 and 150 kg/ha of nitrogen fertiliser decreased incidence but different methods of ploughing had more variable results: until the 6th year in barley take-all was less prevalent in the deepand unploughed compared with the shallow- and chisel-ploughed treatments, but subsequently only direct-drilling suppressed disease. At the peak of infection there was no difference in incidence between cultivation treatments. Severity of infection increased slightly from the 3rd to 12th crops but was always low.A technique was devised to predict the development of disease in different soil types. When soil from the long-term barley trial was assayed the occurrence of infection was similar in some ways to the field pattern. An experiment using the technique compared infection in four soils: a sand, a sandy loam, a clay loam and a clay, each at four cropping histories. Although infection patterns peaked and declined in all soils their disease development differed with time and cropping history. Inoculation increased level of infection but did not change the pattern. Assaying field soil samples collected in 1975 and 1976 revealed a wide range of disease patterns.Evolvement of a technique to assess the virulence of field populations of the take-all fungus showed that virulence was not correlated with soil texture or cereal history but might be affected by previous cultivation technique.The theory and practical problems of the assay techniques and their relevance to contemporary agriculture are discussed.Incidence of the take-all fungus was found to be wide¬ spread in the soils of South-East Scotland yet loss of grain yield from infection appeared to be small unless other adverse predisposing factors were present

On the Relation Between the Velocity and the Resistance Encountered by Bodies Moving in Fluids.

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Untersuchungen zur Ätiologie des ösophagealen Adenokarzinoms in Abhängigkeit zur Myosminbelastung durch die Ernährung

Die beiden tabakspezifischen Nitrosamine (TSNA) 4 (Methylnitrosamino) 1-(3 pyridyl)-1-butanon (NNK) und N'-Nitrosonornicotin (NNN) sind kanzerogene Inhaltstoffe des Tabakrauchs. NNK erzeugt im Tierversuch vor allem Tumoren in Lunge, Leber, Bauchspeicheldrüse und der Nasenhöhle. NNN führt dagegen zu Ösophagustumoren, aber auch zu Tumoren der Nasenhöhle. Unter metabolischer Aktivierung bilden beide TSNA eine reaktive Zwischenstufe, die mit Biomolekülen reagiert und nach Hydrolyse 4-Hydroxy-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanon (HPB) abspaltet. Nach Extraktion und Derivatisierung kann das HPB mit hoher Nachweisempfindlichkeit mittels Gaschromatographie/Massenspektrometrie (GC/MS) bestimmt werden. Eine andere Quelle für diese Addukte stellt das Myosmin dar. Zwar ist es auch ein Nebenbestandteil der Alkaloidfraktion des Tabaks, aber unabhängig davon kommt es in einer Vielzahl von Nahrungsmitteln vor und kann in Plasma und Speichel des Menschen nachgewiesen werden. Myosmin bildet im sauren Milieu durch Nitrosierung bzw. Peroxidierung ebenfalls HPB-Addukte. Ähnliche Bedingungen liegen in der unteren Speiseröhre bei einer Refluxerkrankung vor. Bei einem Teil der Patienten kommt es zu einer Metaplasie der Speiseröhrenschleimhaut, dem Barrett-Ösophagus, der ein Präkanzerose darstellt, und aus dem sich pro Jahr bei 1-2% der Patienten ein ösophageales Adenokarzinoms (EAC) entwickelt. Das EAC zeigt vor allem in westlichen Industriestaaten eine stark steigende Inzidenzrate. Hauptrisikofaktoren für die Entstehung eines EAC sind neben dem Barrett-Ösophagus das männliche Geschlecht, Übergewicht und eine gemüse-/obstarme Ernährung bzw. der übermäßige Verzehr von tierischen Fetten. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Untersuchung der Rolle von HPB-abspaltenden DNA-Addukten in Biopsien der unteren Speiseröhre für das Krankheitsbild, insbesondere der Sequenz Reflux, gastroösophageale Refluxkrankheit (GERD), Barrett, EAC und der mögliche Beitrag des Rauchens und der Myosminbelastung durch die Ernährung. Im Rahmen einer endoskopischen Untersuchung erhielten wir von nüchternen Patienten zwei Biopsien der Ösophagusschleimhaut oral and aboral der magennahen Läsion für die Bestimmung der DNA-Addukte und eine Blutprobe zur Bestimmung der Myosmin- und Cotininkonzentration. Zusätzlich wurden die Teilnehmer gebeten einen Fragebogen zu Lebens- und Ernährungsgewohnheiten auszufüllen. Vorrangiges Ziel war zunächst die Verbesserung der bestehenden analytischen Methoden. Bei der Bestimmung der Plasmakonzentration der Nicotinoide konnte durch Verwendung einer Mischpolymer-Festphase der Zeit- und Materialaufwand deutlich reduziert werden. Insgesamt nahmen 92 Patienten an der Studie teil, wobei von 84 Teilnehmern auch die HPB-Addukte und Plasmakonzentrationen bestimmt werden konnten. Die Konzentration der HPB-Addukte in Schleimhautbiopsien der unteren Speiseröhre war mit 4,75 pmol/mg deutlich höher als zuvor berichtete Adduktlevel von Gewebeproben, die im Rahmen von Autopsien gewonnen worden waren und auch untere Schichten der Ösophaguswand einschlossen. Insgesamt ergab sich keine Abhängigkeit der Adduktkonzentration vom Geschlecht oder Rauchstatus. In der Sequenz Reflux, GERD, Barrett, EAC zeigten Patienten mit Reflux eine deutliche Tendenz zu höheren Werten. Bei Patienten, die häufig unter Sodbrennen leiden, war die Konzentration der HPB-Addukte gegenüber symptomfreien Patienten signifikant erhöht. Diese Ergebnisse stützen die Hypothese der Bildung von HPB-Addukten aus Myosmin in der unteren Speiseröhre. Hinsichtlich der Ernährungsgewohnheiten zeigten sich wenige Auffälligkeiten. Lediglich bei häufigem Verzehr von scharfen Speisen und nusshaltigen Lebensmitteln und bei regelmäßigem Alkoholkonsum zeigte sich eine Tendenz zu höheren Adduktwerten. Beim Milchkonsum verhielt es sich umgekehrt, der häufigere Verzehr führte zu einer Erniedrigung der HPB-Konzentration an der DNA. Die Myosminkonzentration im Plasma der nüchternen Patienten hatte aufgrund der anzunehmenden kurzen Halbwertszeit von Myosmin nur eine geringe Aussagekraft. Es bestand keine Korrelation mit den HPB-Addukten und auch keine Abhängigkeit vom Rauchstatus, während regelmäßiger Alkoholkonsum die Konzentration von Myosmin signifikant erhöhte

Why banker Bob (still) can’t get TLS right: A Security Analysis of TLS in Leading UK Banking Apps

This paper presents a security review of the mobile apps provided by the UK’s leading banks; we focus on the connections the apps make, and the way in which TLS is used. We apply existing TLS testing methods to the apps which only find errors in legacy apps. We then go on to look at extensions of these methods and find five of the apps have serious vulnerabilities. In particular, we find that two apps pin a TLS root CA certificate, but do not verify the hostname. In this case, the use of certificate pinning means that all existing test methods would miss detecting the hostname verification flaw. We find that three apps load adverts over insecure connections, which could be exploited for in-app phishing attacks. Some of the apps used the users’ PIN as authentication, for which PCI guidelines require extra security, so these apps use an additional cryptographic protocol; we study the underlying protocol of one banking app in detail and show that it provides little additional protection, meaning that an active man-in-the-middle attacker can retrieve the user’s credentials, login to the bank and perform every operation the legitimate user could

Investigating the mechanistic basis of telomeric fusions

Furthermore, NBS1 deficiency results in a paucity of sporadic telomere deletion events which is consistent with the hypothesis that NBS1 is involved in the resolution of Holiday junctions within T-loops creating telomeric deletion events. In contrast, DNA Ligase IV deficiency and PARP1 inhibition caused distinct short telomere length distributions. Both these phenotypes might be related to problems with telomere replication.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The Capacitive Magnetic Field Sensor

The results of a study of sensitive element magnetic field sensor are represented in this paper. The sensor is based on the change of the capacitance with an active dielectric (ferrofluid) due to the magnitude of magnetic field. To prepare the ferrofluid magnetic particles are used, which have a followingdispersion equal to 50 < [the empty set] <= 56, 45 < [the empty set] <= 50, 40 < [the empty set] <=45 and [the empty set] <= 40 micron of nanocrystalline alloy of brand 5BDSR. The dependence of the sensitivity of the capacitive element from the ferrofluid with different dispersion of magnetic particles is considered. The threshold of sensitivity and sensitivity of a measuring cell with ferrofluid by a magnetic field was determined. The experimental graphs of capacitance change of the magnitude of magnetic field are presented

Investigating the mechanistic basis of telomeric fusions

Furthermore, NBS1 deficiency results in a paucity of sporadic telomere deletion events which is consistent with the hypothesis that NBS1 is involved in the resolution of Holiday junctions within T-loops creating telomeric deletion events. In contrast, DNA Ligase IV deficiency and PARP1 inhibition caused distinct short telomere length distributions. Both these phenotypes might be related to problems with telomere replication.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo