A Framework Approach To Developing Public Transport Contracting Regimes

Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

David M. Lampton, The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money, and Minds

David Lampton soutient que pour les 20 ans à venir, la Chine et les États-Unis seront dans une situation de « double pari ». Les États-Unis doivent parier que les dirigeants chinois sont plus intéressés par les besoins de leur développement économique que par une agressivité tournée vers l’extérieur, et qu’ils deviendront de ce fait « un modèle de responsabilité et de décence pour les autres » (p. 2). Les dirigeants chinois doivent parier que les États- Unis ne feront rien pour entraver le re..

David M. Lampton, The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money, and Minds

David Lampton argues that for the next 20 years, China and the United States will be engaged in a “double gamble“ in which the United States is required to bet that Chinese leaders are more interested in the needs of developing their economy than external aggression and will therefore become “a responsible, decent role model for others,” (p.2) while China’s leaders are required to bet that the United States will not work to constrain China’s return to power and prosperity. The argument is bas..

Halogen bonding with carbon:directional assembly of non-derivatised aromatic carbon systems into robust supramolecular ladder architectures †

Carbon, although the central element in organic chemistry, has been traditionally neglected as a target for directional supramolecular interactions. The design of supramolecular structures involving carbon-rich molecules, such as arene hydrocarbons, has been limited almost exclusively to non-directional π-stacking, or derivatisation with heteroatoms to introduce molecular assembly recognition sites. As a result, the predictable assembly of non-derivatised, carbon-only π-systems using directional non-covalent interactions remains an unsolved fundamental challenge of solid-state supramolecular chemistry. Here, we propose and validate a different paradigm for the reliable assembly of carbon-only aromatic systems into predictable supramolecular architectures: not through non-directional π-stacking, but via specific and directional halogen bonding. We present a systematic experimental, theoretical and database study of halogen bonds to carbon-only π-systems (C-I⋯πC bonds), focusing on the synthesis and structural analysis of cocrystals with diversely-sized and -shaped non-derivatised arenes, from one-ring (benzene) to 15-ring (dicoronylene) polycyclic atomatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and fullerene C60, along with theoretical calculations and a systematic analysis of the Cambridge Structural Database. This study establishes C-I⋯πC bonds as directional interactions to arrange planar and curved carbon-only aromatic systems into predictable supramolecular motifs. In &gt;90% of herein presented structures, the C-I⋯πC bonds to PAHs lead to a general ladder motif, in which the arenes act as the rungs and halogen bond donors as the rails, establishing a unique example of a supramolecular synthon based on carbon-only molecules. Besides fundamental importance in the solid-state and supramolecular chemistry of arenes, this synthon enables access to materials with exciting properties based on simple, non-derivatised aromatic systems, as seen from large red and blue shifts in solid-state luminescence and room-temperature phosphorescence upon cocrystallisation.</p

Isotopic and zooarchaeological approaches towards understanding aquatic resource use in human economies and animal management in the prehistoric Scottish North Atlantic Islands

Despite being surrounded by aquatic resources, the Prehistoric populations of the North Atlantic Islands have a complex history of aquatic resource that until now has been little understood. Specifically the changing importance and uses of aquatic resources through time, and the role of aquatic resources in the management of animals in prehistory requires further attention. This paper presents results of faunal isotopic analysis in combination with existing human isotopic evidence and zooarchaeological datasets from Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites in the Western Isles (also known as the Outer Hebrides) and Orkney to explore the importance of aquatic resources in the lives of these prehistory populations. In Orkney coastal grazing was an important aspect in the management of sheep throughout prehistory, whereas in the Western Isles this was only evident in the Bronze Age. Aquatic protein was also used in the management of pigs in the Western Isles during the Middle Iron Age. There is little evidence of humans consuming aquatic resources in the Neolithic, and only minor evidence of consumption in the Bronze Age. During the Iron Age aquatic resources become more important in the diet of humans. The Prehistoric Atlantic Islanders of Scotland had a complex and dynamic relationship with aquatic resources, especially in the role of animal management that changed throughout the course of prehistory.The authorswould like to express thanks to NERC for funding this research (Grant number NE/F021054/1, PI Richard Evershed), and the NERC Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility in East Kilbride (EK158- 03/10) for their financial assistance with the analytical researc

Long QT syndrome-associated calmodulin variants disrupt the activity of the slowly activating delayed rectifier potassium channel.

Calmodulin (CaM) is a highly conserved mediator of calcium (Ca2+ )-dependent signalling and modulates various cardiac ion channels. Genotyping has revealed several CaM mutations associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS). LQTS patients display prolonged ventricular recovery times (QT interval), increasing their risk of incurring life-threatening arrhythmic events. Loss-of-function mutations to Kv7.1 (which drives the slow delayed rectifier potassium current, IKs, a key ventricular repolarising current) are the largest contributor to congenital LQTS (>50% of cases). CaM modulates Kv7.1 to produce a Ca2+ -sensitive IKs, but little is known about the consequences of LQTS-associated CaM mutations on Kv7.1 function. Here, we present novel data characterising the biophysical and modulatory properties of three LQTS-associated CaM variants (D95V, N97I and D131H). We showed that mutations induced structural alterations in CaM and reduced affinity for Kv7.1, when compared with wild-type (WT). Using HEK293T cells expressing Kv7.1 channel subunits (KCNQ1/KCNE1) and patch-clamp electrophysiology, we demonstrated that LQTS-associated CaM variants reduced current density at systolic Ca2+ concentrations (1 μm), revealing a direct QT-prolonging modulatory effect. Our data highlight for the first time that LQTS-associated perturbations to CaM's structure impede complex formation with Kv7.1 and subsequently result in reduced IKs. This provides a novel mechanistic insight into how the perturbed structure-function relationship of CaM variants contributes to the LQTS phenotype. KEY POINTS: Calmodulin (CaM) is a ubiquitous, highly conserved calcium (Ca2+ ) sensor playing a key role in cardiac muscle contraction. Genotyping has revealed several CaM mutations associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS), a life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia syndrome. LQTS-associated CaM variants (D95V, N97I and D131H) induced structural alterations, altered binding to Kv7.1 and reduced IKs. Our data provide a novel mechanistic insight into how the perturbed structure-function relationship of CaM variants contributes to the LQTS phenotype

The modification of bottom boundary layer turbulence and mixing by internal waves shoaling on a barrier reef

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 41 (2011): 2223–2241, doi:10.1175/2011JPO4344.1.Results are presented from an observational study of stratified, turbulent flow in the bottom boundary layer on the outer southeast Florida shelf. Measurements of momentum and heat fluxes were made using an array of acoustic Doppler velocimeters and fast-response temperature sensors in the bottom 3 m over a rough reef slope. Direct estimates of flux Richardson number Rf confirm previous laboratory, numerical, and observational work, which find mixing efficiency not to be a constant but rather to vary with Frt, Reb, and Rig. These results depart from previous observations in that the highest levels of mixing efficiency occur for Frt < 1, suggesting that efficient mixing can also happen in regions of buoyancy-controlled turbulence. Generally, the authors find that turbulence in the reef bottom boundary layer is highly variable in time and modified by near-bed flow, shear, and stratification driven by shoaling internal waves.Funding was provided by grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Undersea Research Program, National Science Foundation Grants OCE-0622967 and OCE- 0824972 to SGM, and the Singapore Stanford Program. Kristen Davis was supported by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship and an ARCS Foundation Fellowship

A 6.3-h superhump in the cataclysmic variable TV Columbae: the longest yet seen

We present results from a two week multi-longitude photometric campaign on TV Col held in 2001 January. The data confirm the presence of a permanent positive superhump found in re-examination of extensive archive photometric data of TV Col. The 6.3-h period is 15 per cent longer than the orbital period and obeys the well known relation between superhump period excess and binary period. At 5.5-h, TV Col has an orbital period longer than any known superhumping cataclysmic variable and, therefore, a mass ratio which might be outside the range at which superhumps can occur according to the current theory. We suggest several solutions for this problem.Comment: 8 pages, 1 Latex file, 7 eps figures, MNRAS, accepte

The twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism

This chapter discusses the Rawlsian project of public reason, or public justification-based 'political' liberalism, and its reception. After a brief philosophical rather than philological reconstruction of the project, the chapter revolves around a distinction between idealist and realist responses to it. Focusing on political liberalism’s critical reception illuminates an overarching question: was Rawls’s revival of a contractualist approach to liberal legitimacy a fruitful move for liberalism and/or the social contract tradition? The last section contains a largely negative answer to that question. Nonetheless the chapter's conclusion shows that the research programme of political liberalism provided and continues to provide illuminating insights into the limitations of liberal contractualism, especially under conditions of persistent and radical diversity. The programme is, however, less receptive to challenges to do with the relative decline of the power of modern states

Constitutivism

A brief explanation and overview of constitutivism