Hearing behaviour: social interaction as a means of creating emergent situations in/as/through music

This body of writing serves as accompaniment to a portfolio of musical compositions and visual media composed between September 2013 and August 2014. The work is in three parts. Part one sets the context of the compositions with reference to numerous other artists, explaining the political need for compositions of this kind and how these relate to the topic of emergence in relation to group performance and social enrichment. This part also makes reference to the philosophical influence behind the works and how these ideas might be relevant to wider society. Part two offers a commentary on the works themselves, explaining the thinking that brought them about, and a narrative of the development from one composition to the next. Part three offers a reflection of how well these works relate to the originally stated political agenda, as well as outlining my plans for future artistic direction

Models of dynamic extraction of lipid tethers from cell membranes

When a ligand that is bound to an integral membrane receptor is pulled, the membrane and the underlying cytoskeleton can deform before either the membrane delaminates from the cytoskeleton or the ligand detaches from the receptor. If the membrane delaminates from the cytoskeleton, it may be further extruded and form a membrane tether. We develop a phenomenological model for this processes by assuming that deformations obey Hooke's law up to a critical force at which the cell membrane locally detaches from the cytoskeleton and a membrane tether forms. We compute the probability of tether formation and show that they can be extruded only within an intermediate range of force loading rates and pulling velocities. The mean tether length that arises at the moment of ligand detachment is computed as are the force loading rates and pulling velocities that yield the longest tethers.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Constitutionalism and Democratic Governance in Africa: Contemporary Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa

About the publication Adieu, Steve: Tribute to a scholar of African constitutionalism This volume of essays on constitutionalism in Africa is devoted to the memory of Steve Odero Ouma, who spent most of his professional life working on these issues. He was a colleague and friend to many of the contributors to this volume, and no doubt to many of its actual and potential readers. Steve passed away on 23 February 2012. This publication is a collection of essays written mainly by graduates of the Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa. (One of the authors, Mwiza Jo Nkatha was one of Steve’s class mates in 2005.) The only exception, Professor Kofi Quashigah, is the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, at Legon, Accra. My sincere thanks and congratulations go to each of these contributors for their pointed and important contributions to this volume. I should mention here that the University of Ghana is one of the twelve partner universities in the programme. The other partner faculties are: the University of the Western Cape (South Africa); the University of Venda (South Africa); Makerere University, Uganda; the University of Ghana, Ghana; the University of Lagos, Nigeria; Université Gaston Berger, Senegal; the University of Abomey Calavi, Benin; Catholic University of Central Africa, Cameroon; Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique; Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia; University of Mauritius, Mauritius; and American University, Cairo, Egypt. The editors are two prominent Kenyan academics, Dr Morris Kiwinda Mbondenyi, Senior Lecturer in Law, Africa Nazarene University and Professor Tom Ojienda, Associate Professor of Law, Moi University. I would like to thank them, in particular, for their hard work and dedication in bringing this work into being. They oversaw the peer-review process, and worked with individual authors. It should certainly also be mentioned that Steve Odero conceived of and initiated the idea of this book, together with the two editors, and walked some distance on the road towards this publication. Sadly, it was a road not completed, due to Steve’s sudden death. I am sure Steve would have wanted these pages to take us all along a journey he embarked on, but could not complete: the unfinished journey to secure genuine constitutionalism in states across Africa. Frans Viljoen Director, Centre for Human Rights About the editors: Dr. Morris Kiwinda Mbondenyi is a Senior Lecturer in Law and the Head of the Africa Nazarene University Law School, Kenya. Tom Ojienda is Associate Professor of Law at Moi University, Kenya.Publishe

Minor head injury in the Republic of Ireland : evaluation of written information given at discharge from emergency departments

Most patients presenting to the emergency department with minor head injuries are discharged with written information. Here the quality of minor head injury discharge leaflets in the Republic of Ireland is evaluated against a nationally accepted template. There was great variability in leaflet content. Most provided minimal information on emergency symptoms but 60% contained no information on post-concussional symptoms. No leaflet was available in audio-format or languages other than English. Information provided in minor head injury leaflets should be improved and standardised across Ireland

Do crab spiders perceive Batesian mimicry in hoverflies?

Many putative Batesian mimics only approximately resemble their supposed models, and such “imperfect” mimics are readily distinguished from defended species by humans and other vertebrates. One explanation for the existence of imperfect mimics is that the most important predators of many mimics have very different sensory and cognitive abilities from those of a typical vertebrate. In such circumstances, selection for more accurate mimicry, as perceived by humans, may be reduced. Little is known, however, about how invertebrate predators perceive and respond to mimicry in insect prey. Here, we investigate the foraging behaviour of the crab spider Synema globosum, an important predator of flower-visiting insects at our field site which frequently encounters both Batesian mimics (hoverflies - Diptera: Syrphidae) and their models (bees and wasps - Hymenoptera). In the field, we found that spiders can distinguish among dipteran and hymenopteran prey taxa, frequently attacking some models and mimics, but avoiding others. Laboratory experiments suggest that some apparently accurate mimic taxa are more likely to be avoided when spiders have prior experience of an aversive wasp model. Avoidance by spiders of black and yellow striped artificial prey suggests visual cues play a role in prey selection, but there was no evidence that olfactory cues are used to identify dangerous or noxious species. Overall, our results provide some support for the hypothesis that invertebrate predator behaviour can generate selection on visual signals in putative Batesian mimics