Foreign national prisoners in the UK: explanations and implications

This article examines the rapid expansion of the foreign national prison population in the UK against a backdrop of public and political anxiety about immigration and crime. It explores official data considering some of the possible explanations for the growth in the number of foreign national prisoners and the implications this has for penal management. Whilst increases in both the number of foreign nationals entering the UK and the number of foreign nationals in UK prisons has strengthened the association between immigration and crime in the public imagination, there is little empirical evidence to suggest that foreign nationals are more dangerous than British nationals. Instead, the growth of the foreign national prison population appears to stem from a number of sources that may operate alone or in tandem

pH regulatory Na/H exchange by Amphiuma red blood cells.

In Amphiuma red blood cells, the Na/H exchanger has been shown to play a central role in the regulation of cell volume following cell shrinkage (Cala, P. M. 1980. Journal of General Physiology. 76:683-708.) The present study was designed to evaluate the existence of pH regulatory Na/H exchange in the Amphiuma red blood cell. The data illustrate that when the intracellular pHi was decreased below the normal value of 7.00, Na/H exchange was activated in proportion to the degree of acidification. Once activated, net Na/H exchange flux persisted until normal intracellular pH (6.9-7.0) was restored, with a half time of approximately 5 min. These observations established a pHi set point of 7.00 for the pH-activated Na/H exchange of Amphiuma red blood cell. This is in contrast to the behavior of osmotically shrunken Amphiuma red blood cells in which no pHi set point could be demonstrated. That is, when activated by cell shrinkage the Na/H exchange mediated net Na flux persisted until normal volume was restored regardless of pHi. In contrast, when activated by cell acidification, the Na/H exchanger functioned until pHi was restored to normal and cell volume appeared to have no effect on pH-activated Na/H exchange. Studies evaluating the kinetic and inferentially, the molecular equivalence of the volume and pHi-induced Amphiuma erythrocyte Na/H exchanger(s), indicated that the apparent Na affinity of the pH activated cells is four times greater than that of shrunken cells. The apparent Vmax is also higher (two times) in the pH activated cells, suggesting the involvement of two distinct populations of the transporter in pH and volume regulation. However, when analyzed in terms of a bisubstrate model, the same data are consistent with the conclusion that both pH and volume regulatory functions are mediated by the same transport protein. Taken together, these data support the conclusion that volume and pH are regulated by the same effector (Na/H exchanger) under the control of as yet unidentified, distinct and cross inhibitory volume and pH sensing mechanisms

Motivating masters

Motivation is the powerful inner force that drives all of our thoughts, feelings and actions. One of the critical differences between a champion athlete and an also-ran entails how they are able to maintain intensity of effort over time. Elite athletes such as 45-year-old sprinter Merlene Ottey, who competed in her 7th Olympics in Athens 2004, have the propensity to direct their energies extremely effectively. We will be examining how motivation contributes to success for masters athletes and suggest some motivational techniques which you can tailor to your athletes’ needs

Three-dimensional instabilities and transition of steady and pulsatile axisymmetric stenotic flows

Published versio

Analysis of axisymmetric laminated composite shells subjected to asymmetric loading

A finite element formulation for the static analysis of a laminated composite shell of revolution with general meridional curvature, subjected to asymmetric loading, is presented. The analysis uses an axisymmetric laminated shell element where the shell geometry is satisfactorily represented; higher order polynomial approximations are used for the displacement fields. The asymmetric loading problem is handled through a Fourier series representation of the applied loads and the resultant displacements. Solutions are presented for typical aerospace shell structures like a composite cone and a tangent ogive shell subjected to wind loads