Road User Charging – Pricing Structures.

This project considers the extent to which the public could cope with complex price or tariff structures such as those that might be considered in the context of a national congestion pricing scheme. The key elements of the brief were: • to review existing studies of road pricing schemes to assess what information and evidence already exists on the key issues; • to identify what can be learned about pricing structures from other transport modes and other industries and in particular what issues and conclusions might be transferable; • to improve the general understanding of the relationship between information and people’s ability to respond; and • to recommend what further research would be most valuable to fill evidence gaps and enable conclusions to be drawn about an effective structure

Risk communication and participatory research: ‘Fuzzy felt’, visual games and group discussion of complex issues

Published

<i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> cercariae experience influx of macromolecules during skin penetration

We have observed that when cercariae penetrate the skin of mice, there is influx into their tissues of Lucifer Yellow and certain labelled molecules of up to 20 kDa molecular weight. This observation was made using a variety of fluorescent membrane-impermeant compounds injected into the skin before the application of cercariae. This unexpected phenomenon was investigated further by transforming cercariae in vitro in the presence of the membrane-impermeant compounds and examining the distribution by microscopy. In schistosomula derived from this procedure, the nephridiopore and surface membrane were labelled while the pre- and post-acetabular glands were not labelled. The region associated with the oesophagus within the pharyngeal muscle clearly contained the fluorescent molecules, as did the region adjacent to the excretory tubules and the germinal mass. We used cercariae stained with carmine to aid identification of regions labelled with Lucifer Yellow. Although the mechanism of this influx is unclear, the observation is significant. From it, we can suggest an hypothesis that, during skin penetration, exposure of internal tissues of the parasite to external macromolecules represents a novel host-parasite interfac

Custo de produção do gado puro sangue Charolês.

Foi estimado o custo da criação do rebanho Charolês, mantido para fim de pesquisa na UEPAE de São Carlos, com o objetivo de colher subsidios para o estudo da economicidade da pesquisa e de registrar incidências de custo aplicáveis a criação a nível de empresa

Precautionary advice about mobile phones: Public understandings and intended responses

The official published version can be obtained from the link below - Copyright @ Taylor & FrancisThere is a widespread academic and policy debate about public responses to precaution in public health campaigns. This paper explores these issues in relation to the precautionary stance adopted in the UK around the regulation of mobile telecommunications. The aim of the paper is to examine the nature of attitudes to precaution, and the way in which these, along with other relevant variables, relate to the intention to adopt relevant behaviours. The results from an experimental study (n = 173) indicate that people distinguish between two dimensions of precaution: firstly in relation to its value or necessity per se and secondly as anchored to notions of governance. The two variables differentially relate to other variables including trust and uncertainty, and are predictive of intended behaviour change indirectly, through worry about mobile phone risks. Precautionary advice was generally interpreted as causing concern rather than providing reassurance. The results suggest that precaution may be considered a valuable stance but this does not mean that it is seen as good governance or that it will reduce concern. Whilst the discourse of precaution is aimed at reducing concern, it appears that the uptake of relevant behaviours is largely triggered by worry

Extensive telomere repeat arrays in mouse are hypervariable

In this study we have analysed mouse telomeres by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). A number of specific restriction fragments hybridising to a (TTA-GGG)4 probe in the size range 50-150kb can be detected. These fragments are devoid of sites for most restriction enzymes suggesting that they comprise simple repeats; we argue that most of these are likely to be (TTAGGG)n. Each discrete fragment corresponds to the telomere of an individual chromosome and segregates as a Mendelian character. However, new size variants are being generated in the germ line at very high rates such that inbred mice are heterozygous at all telomeres analysable. In addition we show that specific small (approximately 4-12kb) fragments can be cleaved within some terminal arrays by the restriction enzyme MnII which recognises 5'(N7)GAGG3'. Like the complete telomere-repeat arrays (TRA's) these fragments form new variants at high rates and possibly by the same process. We speculate on the mechanisms that may be involved

Callose deposition and symplastic connectivity are regulated prior to lateral root emergence.

Root growth is critical for the effective exploitation of the rhizosphere and productive plant growth. Our recent work(1) showed that root architecture was dependent upon the degree of symplastic connectivity between neighboring cells during the specification of lateral root primordia and was affected by genes regulating callose deposition at plasmodesmata (PD). Here we provide additional evidence that both symplastic connectivity and callose are also important during the later phase of lateral root development: emergence. Callose immunolocalization assays indicated that transient symplastic isolation of the primordium occur immediately prior to emergence through the overlaying tissues to produce the mature lateral root.(1) Here we could corroborate these results by analyzing the mobility of a symplastic tracer and the expression of PD genes in lateral roots and in response to auxins. Moreover, we show that altering callose deposition affects the number of emerged lateral roots suggesting that PD regulation is important for emergence

Knowledge Engineering Experimentation Management System for Collaboration

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3658-2_100This paper presents a methodology and system for the analysis of complex experiments currently utilized by the Department of Defense. Assessed are effectiveness and efficiency of systems interactions and affected intra- and interorganizational processes. Methodology is derived from an operational experimentation analytics and management system designed to assess next-generation military e-services and infrastructure. A focus is the expansion of systems methodology beyond traditional transaction-oriented exchanges to include management layers for complex inter-organizational processes and mechanisms to accommodate sensitive company operations

Bleeding disorders : functionality of global haemostasis assays in attaining clinical outcomes : a review

Abstract: Many tests used to evaluate haemostasis correspond to artificially created environments. These include some of the traditional screening tests, which were established through understanding the coagulation cascade for example, the prothrombin time (PT), the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and Fibrinogen estimation. And as such, they have contributed greatly to our current knowledge of the haemostatic process. Unfortunately, these traditional laboratory tests have their limitations. Open to debate for example, is their ability to supply enough information timeously (? laboratory turnaround time) in order to diagnose and treat patients according to their phenotype. Anarchetypical shift in haemostasis measurements using global haemostasis tests that determine the complete process in a more physiological and all-inclusive way are consequently being reevaluated..