Discourses of the War on Terror: Constructions of the Islamic Other in the wake of 7/7

It is widely agreed that the events which took place on 11 September 2001 have played a large part in reshaping global imaginings about contemporary acts of terrorism and their Islamic perpetrators. Given this transformation in the understanding of terrorism and terrorists, our objective in this article is threefold. First we want to present a discussion of the roots of the kind of neo-liberal politics that has grown up alongside acts of terrorism and its global media coverage which has, we argue, resulted in a politics of fear that acts to legitimate ever-increasing legislative controls. In an attempt to reveal how discourse works to support such regulation, in the second part of this article we offer a qualitative analysis of newspaper articles from the UK about acts of terrorism that have taken place since the suicide bombings on the London transport system on 7 July 2005. Together with an analysis of the political speeches of Bush and Blair, we examine how far these discourses can be said to have reframed notions of inclusion/exclusion for Muslim populations. Finally we present a discussion of the consequences of such terrorist acts and their varied representations for the future of the British multicultural imaginary

'"We're a Very Normal Family": Representing the Mundane in Channel 4's The Family'

In 1974 Paul Watson’s The Family pioneered the ‘fly-on-the-wall’ technique to build a picture of family life that also exposed inequalities contained in British society. Today, film-maker Jonathan Smith, has updated this format using technologies usually found in reality programming to focus on the mundane practices of family life, in Channel 4’s The Family (2008). However, instead of the meta-narratives of class, race and gender divisions, displayed in the 1970s documentary, today’s version appears to have been stripped of politics. In this article I argue it is problematic that family representation is solely concerned with the minutiae of everyday life. Arguing that The Family simply became another form of display for the participants of a reality documentary, I consider the possibility that we have seen the end of the sociological imagination in factual film-making and attempt to find responses to this dilemma in current social theory

Optimisation of bulk carrier loading and discharge

This report summarises progress made towards the problem submitted by Rusal Aughinish at the 93rd European Study Group with Industry. Rusal Aughinish is a company that refines alumina from bauxite. The problem presented to the study group was to review the percentage of time that the company’s inner berth was occupied and how to minimise this percent- age. A number of different approaches were taken with this aim in mind. Firstly, data supplied by Rusal Aughinish was analysed. This analysis found that there is an optimal loading rate (with respect to eliminating demurrage costs) and suggested bands of optimal ship sizes. Further to these studies, two models of Rusal Aughinish’s shipping process were developed by the group: a simulation model and an analytical model. Both models were found to replicate the shipping process reasonably well and were, hence, used to study alumina output, berth occupancy and demurrage costs

Geomechanical modelling of sinkhole development using distinct elements: model verification for a single void space and application to the Dead Sea area

Mechanical and/or chemical removal of material from the subsurface may generate large subsurface cavities, the destabilisation of which can lead to ground collapse and the formation of sinkholes. Numerical simulation of the interaction of cavity growth, host material deformation and overburden collapse is desirable to better understand the sinkhole hazard but is a challenging task due to the involved high strains and material discontinuities. Here, we present 2-D distinct element method numerical simulations of cavity growth and sinkhole development. Firstly, we simulate cavity formation by quasi-static, stepwise removal of material in a single growing zone of an arbitrary geometry and depth. We benchmark this approach against analytical and boundary element method models of a deep void space in a linear elastic material. Secondly, we explore the effects of properties of different uniform materials on cavity stability and sinkhole development. We perform simulated biaxial tests to calibrate macroscopic geotechnical parameters of three model materials representative of those in which sinkholes develop at the Dead Sea shoreline: mud, alluvium and salt. We show that weak materials do not support large cavities, leading to gradual sagging or suffusion-style subsidence. Strong materials support quasi-stable to stable cavities, the overburdens of which may fail suddenly in a caprock or bedrock collapse style. Thirdly, we examine the consequences of layered arrangements of weak and strong materials. We find that these are more susceptible to sinkhole collapse than uniform materials not only due to a lower integrated strength of the overburden but also due to an inhibition of stabilising stress arching. Finally, we compare our model sinkhole geometries to observations at the Ghor Al-Haditha sinkhole site in Jordan. Sinkhole depth ∕ diameter ratios of 0.15 in mud, 0.37 in alluvium and 0.33 in salt are reproduced successfully in the calibrated model materials. The model results suggest that the observed distribution of sinkhole depth ∕ diameter values in each material type may partly reflect sinkhole growth trends

Discretization of variational regularization in Banach spaces

Consider a nonlinear ill-posed operator equation $F(u)=y$ where $F$ is defined on a Banach space $X$. In general, for solving this equation numerically, a finite dimensional approximation of $X$ and an approximation of $F$ are required. Moreover, in general the given data \yd of $y$ are noisy. In this paper we analyze finite dimensional variational regularization, which takes into account operator approximations and noisy data: We show (semi-)convergence of the regularized solution of the finite dimensional problems and establish convergence rates in terms of Bregman distances under appropriate sourcewise representation of a solution of the equation. The more involved case of regularization in nonseparable Banach spaces is discussed in detail. In particular we consider the space of finite total variation functions, the space of functions of finite bounded deformation, and the $L^\infty$--space

Right Ventricle Has Normal Myofilament Function But Shows Perturbations in the Expression of Extracellular Matrix Genes in Patients With Tetralogy of Fallot Undergoing Pulmonary Valve Replacement

BACKGROUND: Patients with repair of tetralogy of Fallot (rToF) who are approaching adulthood often exhibit pulmonary valve regurgitation, leading to right ventricle (RV) dilatation and dysfunction. The regurgitation can be corrected by pulmonary valve replacement (PVR), but the optimal surgical timing remains under debate, mainly because of the poorly understood nature of RV remodeling in patients with rToF. The goal of this study was to probe for pathologic molecular, cellular, and tissue changes in the myocardium of patients with rToF at the time of PVR. METHODS AND RESULTS: We measured contractile function of permeabilized myocytes, collagen content of tissue samples, and the expression of mRNA and selected proteins in RV tissue samples from patients with rToF undergoing PVR for severe pulmonary valve regurgitation. The data were compared with nondiseased RV tissue from unused donor hearts. Contractile performance and passive stiffness of the myofilaments in permeabilized myocytes were similar in rToF‐PVR and RV donor samples, as was collagen content and cross‐linking. The patients with rToF undergoing PVR had enhanced mRNA expression of genes associated with connective tissue diseases and tissue remodeling, including the small leucine‐rich proteoglycans ASPN (asporin), LUM (lumican), and OGN (osteoglycin), although their protein levels were not significantly increased. CONCLUSIONS: RV myofilaments from patients with rToF undergoing PVR showed no functional impairment, but the changes in extracellular matrix gene expression may indicate the early stages of remodeling. Our study found no evidence of major damage at the cellular and tissue levels in the RV of patients with rToF who underwent PVR according to current clinical criteria

Differential affinity of FLIP and procaspase 8 for FADD’s DED binding surfaces regulates DISC assembly

Death receptor activation triggers recruitment of FADD, which via its death effector domain (DED) engages the DEDs of procaspase 8 and its inhibitor FLIP to form death-inducing signalling complexes (DISCs). The DEDs of FADD, FLIP and procaspase 8 interact with one another using two binding surfaces defined by α1/α4 and α2/α5 helices, respectively. Here we report that FLIP has preferential affinity for the α1/α4 surface of FADD, whereas procaspase 8 has preferential affinity for FADD's α2/α5 surface. These relative affinities contribute to FLIP being recruited to the DISC at comparable levels to procaspase 8 despite lower cellular expression. Additional studies, including assessment of DISC stoichiometry and functional assays, suggest that following death receptor recruitment, the FADD DED preferentially engages FLIP using its α1/α4 surface and procaspase 8 using its α2/α5 surface; these tripartite intermediates then interact via the α1/α4 surface of FLIP DED1 and the α2/α5 surface of procaspase 8 DED2

Complex circular subsidence structures in tephra deposited on large blocks of ice: Varða tuff cone, Öræfajökull, Iceland

Several broadly circular structures up to 16 m in diameter, into which higher strata have sagged and locally collapsed, are present in a tephra outcrop on southwest Öræfajökull, southern Iceland. The tephra was sourced in a nearby basaltic tuff cone at Varða. The structures have not previously been described in tuff cones, and they probably formed by the melting out of large buried blocks of ice emplaced during a preceding jökulhlaup that may have been triggered by a subglacial eruption within the Öræfajökull ice cap. They are named ice-melt subsidence structures, and they are analogous to kettle holes that are commonly found in proglacial sandurs and some lahars sourced in ice-clad volcanoes. The internal structure is better exposed in the Varða examples because of an absence of fluvial infilling and reworking, and erosion of the outcrop to reveal the deeper geometry. The ice-melt subsidence structures at Varða are a proxy for buried ice. They are the only known evidence for a subglacial eruption and associated jökulhlaup that created the ice blocks. The recognition of such structures elsewhere will be useful in reconstructing more complete regional volcanic histories as well as for identifying ice-proximal settings during palaeoenvironmental investigations

Perspectives in anaerobic digestion of lipid-rich wastewater

Lipid-rich wastewaters are ideal sources for methane production, but lipids are generally separated and removed prior to anaerobic treatment to avoid sludge flotation and microbial inhibition. In this work, we review the major technological and microbiological advances in the anaerobic digestion (AD) of lipids, while highlighting the most important breakthroughs in the field and identifying the future perspectives. In the past decades, several treatment processes have been developed for lipidrich wastewaters, moving from the upflow granular sludge based reactor designs to anaerobic membrane bioreactors and in situ flotation based bioreactors all now commercially available. Knowledge on the complexity of microbial communities and microbial interactions has increased greatly, allowing a better interpretation of lipids anaerobic biodegradation. However, there are still knowledge gaps and bottlenecks in lipids AD that need to be overcome to improve industrial applications. A multi-faceted approach with industrial and academic partners will provide a unique strategy for future widespread usage of waste-lipids as valuable resource for AD.The authors acknowledge the funding from EPA Research (Ireland), the Irish Dairy Processing Technology Centre, The Irish Research Council (EBPS2012) and the Microbiology Society; the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), of Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (UID/CTM/50011/2013), and by BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement no. 323009 and the funding of ANII-Uruguay, UNESCO-IHE and LATU (Uruguay).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio