Peacebuilding in Africa

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The ELBA Force Field for Coarse-Grain Modeling of Lipid Membranes

A new coarse-grain model for molecular dynamics simulation of lipid membranes is presented. Following a simple and conventional approach, lipid molecules are modeled by spherical sites, each representing a group of several atoms. In contrast to common coarse-grain methods, two original (interdependent) features are here adopted. First, the main electrostatics are modeled explicitly by charges and dipoles, which interact realistically through a relative dielectric constant of unity (). Second, water molecules are represented individually through a new parametrization of the simple Stockmayer potential for polar fluids; each water molecule is therefore described by a single spherical site embedded with a point dipole. The force field is shown to accurately reproduce the main physical properties of single-species phospholipid bilayers comprising dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) in the liquid crystal phase, as well as distearoylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC) in the liquid crystal and gel phases. Insights are presented into fundamental properties and phenomena that can be difficult or impossible to study with alternative computational or experimental methods. For example, we investigate the internal pressure distribution, dipole potential, lipid diffusion, and spontaneous self-assembly. Simulations lasting up to 1.5 microseconds were conducted for systems of different sizes (128, 512 and 1058 lipids); this also allowed us to identify size-dependent artifacts that are expected to affect membrane simulations in general. Future extensions and applications are discussed, particularly in relation to the methodology's inherent multiscale capabilities

Problematising New Labour's discourse on 'economic globalisation'

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Implications of China’s G20 Presidency for the Asia-Pacific Region

Implications of China’s G20 Presidency for the Asia-Pacific Region

The Effect of Historical Pact Making and Civic Associations on Democratic Outcomes

© 2016 Policy Studies Organization Scholarship in comparative democratization finds that dialogue between the opposition and the old regime before the advent of democratic elections has consistently produced stable democracies least susceptible to reversals. This is because such “pacted” transitions promote values such as conciliation, compromise building, and consensus seeking. Yet the debate concerning how historical pact making affects the quality of democracy remains mainly anecdotal. Using a dataset of transitional states, I find that not all variants of pacted transitions facilitate consolidation. Pacted transitions initiated by the ancien régime are susceptible to democratic reversal, while transitions where the balance of power between the ancien régime and civic forces is equal in initiating regime change are associated with better democratic outcomes least susceptible to democratic collapse. The article also shows that regime transitions are very much influenced by other historical path-dependent factors—specifically the role of civic associations and coalitions during the transitional process. Related Articles: Sarquís, David. 2012. “Democratization after the Arab spring: The Case of Egypt\u27s Political Transition.” Politics & Policy 40 (5): 871–903. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00381.x/full. Beal, Amanda, and Leah Graham. 2014. “Foundations for Change: Rule of Law, Development, and Democratization.” Politics & Policy 41 (3): 311–345. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12077/full. Luckhurst, Jonathan. 2012. “Governance and Democratization since the 2008 Financial Crisis.” Politics & Policy 40 (5): 958–977. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00386.x/full. Related Media: National Endowment for Democracy. 2013. “Reconsidering Democratic Transitions 2 Francis Fukuyama, Donald Horowitz, Larry Diamond.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDUwmxcx_UI. TU8964. 2015. “Transitions from above Pacted Transitions.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-GPhuDWb3w. Coleman, Isobel. 2014. “Democracy Can Still Deliver.” Council on Foreign Relations. http://blogs.cfr.org/coleman/category/democratization/

Does practice make perfect? The impact of hospital and surgeon volume on complications after intra-abdominal procedures

Background: There is increasing interest in the regionalization of surgical procedures. However, evidence on the volume-outcome relationship for emergency intra-abdominal surgery is not well-synthesized. This systematic review and meta-analysis summarize evidence regarding the impact of hospital and surgeon volume on complications.Methods: We identified cohort studies assessing the impact of hospital/surgeon volume on postoperative complications after emergency intra-abdominal procedures, with data collected after the year 2000 through a literature search without language restriction in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases. A weighted overall complication rate was calculated, and a random effect regression model was used for a summary odds ratio. A sensitivity analysis with the removal of studies contributing to heterogeneity was performed (PROSPERO: CRD42022358879).Results: The search yielded 2,153 articles, of which 9 cohort studies were included and determined to be good quality according to the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. These studies reported outcomes for the following procedures: cholecystectomy, colectomy, appendectomy, small bowel resection, peptic ulcer repair, adhesiolysis, laparotomy, and hernia repair. Eight studies (2,358,093 patients) with available data were included in the meta-analysis. Low hospital volume was not significantly associated with higher complications. In the sensitivity analysis, low hospital volume was significantly associated with higher complications when appropriate heterogeneity was achieved. Low surgeon volume was associated with higher complications, and these findings remained consistent in the sensitivity analysis.Conclusion: We found that hospital and surgeon volume was significantly associated with higher complications in patients undergoing emergency intra-abdominal surgery when appropriate heterogeneity was achieved