The Elements of Adequate Housing: Grenfell as Violation

This paper considers the Grenfell Tower fire as a breach of the right to housing by the UK, in contravention of its obligations under international law. I examine how the fire, the underlying housing conditions that at least in part led to it, and the government’s response, breach the elements of the right to housing under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. I concentrate on the requirements that housing must be habitable, accessible – particularly for disadvantaged groups – and in an adequate and safe location. In a close analysis of the international legal standards, I clarify the ways the UK breached the right to housing, and how those international legal standards point to its inadequate actions and response for the survivors and victims. In concluding, I suggest that although the government is likely to resist the right to housing, it remains a powerful political tool to demonstrate the government’s lack of care of its people, and its overall legal and policy shortcomings as made strikingly clear by the Grenfell Tower fire

Vertebrate DNA in Fecal Samples from Bonobos and Gorillas: Evidence for Meat Consumption or Artefact?

Background: Deciphering the behavioral repertoire of great apes is a challenge for several reasons. First, due to their elusive behavior in dense forest environments, great ape populations are often difficult to observe. Second, members of the genus Pan are known to display a great variety in their behavioral repertoire; thus, observations from one population are not necessarily representative for other populations. For example, bonobos (Pan paniscus) are generally believed to consume almost no vertebrate prey. However, recent observations show that at least some bonobo populations may consume vertebrate prey more commonly than previously believed. We investigated the extent of their meat consumption using PCR amplification of vertebrate mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) segments from DNA extracted from bonobo feces. As a control we also attempted PCR amplifications from gorilla feces, a species assumed to be strictly herbivorous. Principal Findings: We found evidence for consumption of a variety of mammalian species in about 16% of the samples investigated. Moreover, 40% of the positive DNA amplifications originated from arboreal monkeys. However, we also found duiker and monkey mtDNA in the gorilla feces, albeit in somewhat lower percentages. Notably, the DNA sequences isolated from the two ape species fit best to the species living in the respective regions. This result suggests that the sequences are of regional origin and do not represent laboratory contaminants. Conclusions: Our results allow at least three possible and mutually not exclusive conclusions. First, all results may represent contamination of the feces by vertebrate DNA from the local environment. Thus, studies investigating a species' diet from feces DNA may be unreliable due to the low copy number of DNA originating from diet items. Second, there is some inherent difference between the bonobo and gorilla feces, with only the later ones being contaminated. Third, similar to bonobos, for which the consumption of monkeys has only recently been documented, the gorilla population investigated (for which very little observational data are as yet available) may occasionally consume small vertebrates. Although the last explanation is speculative, it should not be discarded a-priori given that observational studies continue to unravel new behaviors in great ape species

Ultrastructural analysis of chromatin in meiosis I plus II of rye (Secale cereale L.)

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) proves to be an appropriate technique for imaging chromatin organization in meiosis I and II of rye (Secale cereale) down to a resolution of a few nanometers. It could be shown for the first time that organization of basic structural elements (coiled and parallel fibers, chromomeres) changes dramatically during the progression to metaphase I and II. Controlled loosening with proteinase K (after fixation with glutaraldehyde) provides an enhanced insight into chromosome architecture even of highly condensed stages of meiosis. By selective staining with platinum blue, DNA content and distribution can be visualized within compact chromosomes as well as in a complex arrangement of fibers. Chromatin interconnecting threads, which are typically observed in prophase I between homologous and non-homologous chromosomes, stain clearly for DNA. In zygotene transversion of chromatid strands to their homologous counterparts becomes evident. In pachytene segments of synapsed and non-synapsed homologs alternate. At synapsed regions pairing is so intimate that homologous chromosomes form one filament of structural entity. Chiasmata are characterized by chromatid strands which traverse from one homolog to its counterpart. Bivalents are characteristically fused at their telomeric regions. In metaphase I and II there is no structural evidence for primary and secondary constrictions. Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF SMALL INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES IN INDUSTRIAL ARTS SHOPS

This study was developed to determine the possibilities of teaching a unit or area covering small internal combustion engines in our industrial arts shops. The questionnaire method was used to gather subjective data. The returns revealed that some schools were already teaching such work in their industrial arts programs, as well as points of view on such matters as equipment requirements, grade level considerations, course materials, etc. Other data were gathered from books, periodicals, and engine manuals. The general opinion seemed to be that these engines should be included as a unit or area in either auto mechanics or the general shop. Most automobile mechanics teachers indicated they would be able to teach such a course. It was concluded that auto mechanics is not becoming too complicated for secondary schools but, if auto mechanics was not available, then definitely a unit of small gas engines should be taught

Effects of the Bridges to Baccalaureate Program on Student Success

The Baccalaureate & Beyond (B&B) programs at Purchase College, State University of New York are designed to help underrepresented community college students successfully transition to and graduate from 4-year schools. These programs have been at the college for between 10 and 15 years and include an intensive 5-week summer program. In the current study we investigated whether students who participated in the programs and then transferred to Purchase College (n = 75) were more successful than similar community college students who did not participate in the programs before transferring to Purchase College (n = 75). Students were matched for Community College of origin, major and ethnicity. Post-graduate information was retrieved through the National Student Clearing House, and all other information was retrieved from the Purchase College institutional records. We examined major GPA, cumulative GPA, total credits completed, graduation rate, graduation major, graduate school attendance, and graduate degrees. We hypothesized that transfer students who participated in the program would have higher major GPAs and cumulative GPAs, more credits completed, and a higher rate of graduation and graduate school attendance compared to non-participating students. As of Spring 2015, data is being collected

Design evolution of the orbiter reaction control subsystem

The challenges of space shuttle orbiter reaction control subsystem development began with selection of the propellant for the subsystem. Various concepts were evaluated before the current Earth storable, bipropellant combination was selected. Once that task was accomplished, additional challenges of designing the system to satisfy the wide range of requirements dictated by operating environments, reusability, and long life were met. Verification of system adequacy was achieved by means of a combination of analysis and test. The studies, the design efforts, and the test and analysis techniques employed in meeting the challenges are described

No-go theorem for bimetric gravity with positive and negative mass

We argue that the most conservative geometric extension of Einstein gravity describing both positive and negative mass sources and observers is bimetric gravity and contains two copies of standard model matter which interact only gravitationally. Matter fields related to one of the metrics then appear dark from the point of view of an observer defined by the other metric, and so may provide a potential explanation for the dark universe. In this framework we consider the most general form of linearized field equations compatible with physically and mathematically well-motivated assumptions. Using gauge-invariant linear perturbation theory, we prove a no-go theorem ruling out all bimetric gravity theories that, in the Newtonian limit, lead to precisely opposite forces on positive and negative test masses.Comment: 19 pages, no figures, journal versio

Multimetric extension of the PPN formalism: experimental consistency of repulsive gravity

Recently we discussed a multimetric gravity theory containing several copies of standard model matter each of which couples to its own metric tensor. This construction contained dark matter sectors interacting repulsively with the visible matter sector, and was shown to lead to cosmological late-time acceleration. In order to test the theory with high-precision experiments within the solar system we here construct a simple extension of the parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism for multimetric gravitational backgrounds. We show that a simplified version of this extended formalism allows the computation of a subset of the PPN parameters from the linearized field equations. Applying the simplified formalism we find that the PPN parameters of our theory do not agree with the observed values, but we are able to improve the theory so that it becomes consistent with experiments of post-Newtonian gravity and still features its promising cosmological properties.Comment: 19 pages, no figures, journal versio

Bistable Gradient Networks II: Storage Capacity and Behaviour Near Saturation

We examine numerically the storage capacity and the behaviour near saturation of an attractor neural network consisting of bistable elements with an adjustable coupling strength, the Bistable Gradient Network (BGN). For strong coupling, we find evidence of a first-order "memory blackout" phase transition as in the Hopfield network. For weak coupling, on the other hand, there is no evidence of such a transition and memorized patterns can be stable even at high levels of loading. The enhanced storage capacity comes, however, at the cost of imperfect retrieval of the patterns from corrupted versions.Comment: 15 pages, 12 eps figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. E. Sequel to cond-mat/020356

Non-linear MPC for winding loss optimised torque control of anisotropic PMSM

For a non-linear anisotropic permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM), a prediction model for model predictive control (MPC) considering effects like cross-coupling and saturation is developed in a straight forward procedure. The objective of the designed MPC is either tracking of reference currents or torque tracking. Both approaches use the projected fast gradient method (PFGM) as optimisation algorithm. The latter approach makes look-up-tables for current references obsolete and additionally minimises winding losses. This two approaches are compared in a simulation study with a state of the art PI controller