Opening access to administrative data for evaluating public services: the case of the Justice Data Lab

As government administrative data sets are increasingly made available for new (non-administrative) purposes, there is a need to improve access to such resources for voluntary and community organizations, social enterprises and private businesses for statistical analysis and evaluation purposes. The Justice Data Lab set up by the Ministry of Justice in the UK presents an innovative case of how administrative data can be linked to other data held by organizations delivering public services. The establishment of a unit within a secure setting holding evaluation and statistical expertise has enabled providers of programmes aimed at reducing re-offending to obtain evidence on how the impact of their interventions differs from that of a matched comparison group. This article explores the development of the Justice Data Lab, the methodological and other challenges faced, and the experiences of user organizations. The article draws out implications for future development of Data Labs and the use of administrative data for the evaluation of public services

A dCas9-based system identifies a central role for Ctf19 in kinetochore-derived suppression of meiotic recombination

In meiosis, crossover (CO) formation between homologous chromosomes is essential for faithful segregation. However, misplaced meiotic recombination can have catastrophic consequences on genome stability. Within pericentromeres, COs are associated with meiotic chromosome missegregation. In organisms ranging from yeast to humans, pericentromeric COs are repressed. We previously identified a role for the kinetochore-associated Ctf19 complex (Ctf19c) in pericentromeric CO suppression. Here, we develop a dCas9/CRISPR-based system that allows ectopic targeting of Ctf19c-subunits. Using this approach, we query sufficiency in meiotic CO suppression, and identify Ctf19 as a mediator of kinetochore-associated CO control. The effect of Ctf19 is encoded in its NH2-terminal tail, and depends on residues important for the recruitment of the Scc2-Scc4 cohesin regulator. This work provides insight into kinetochore-derived control of meiotic recombination. We establish an experimental platform to investigate and manipulate meiotic CO control. This platform can easily be adapted in order to investigate other aspects of chromosome biology

Comparison of two-phase pipe flow in openFOAM with a mechanistic model

Two-phase pipe flow is a common occurrence in many industrial applications such as power generation and oil and gas transportation. Accurate prediction of liquid holdup and pressure drop is of vast importance to ensure effective design and operation of fluid transport systems. In this paper, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study of a two-phase flow of air and water is performed using OpenFOAM. The two-phase solver, interFoam is used to identify flow patterns and generate values of liquid holdup and pressure drop, which are compared to results obtained from a two-phase mechanistic model developed by Petalas and Aziz (2002). A total of 60 simulations have been performed at three separate pipe inclinations of 0°, +10° and -10° respectively. A three dimensional, 0.052m diameter pipe of 4m length is used with the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k - turbulence model to solve the turbulent mixtures of air and water. Results show that the flow pattern behaviour and numerical values of liquid holdup and pressure drop compare reasonably well to the mechanistic model

Surface water numerical modelling for the Clarence-Moreton bioregion. Product 2.6.1 from the Clarence-Moreton Bioregional Assessment

No abstract available

Surface water numerical modelling for the Clarence-Moreton bioregion. Product 2.6.1 from the Clarence-Moreton Bioregional Assessment

No abstract available

Rapid inactivation of airborne bacteria using atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier grating discharge

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 35(5): pp. 1501-1510.Dielectric barrier discharge plasma has been known to inactivate many different microorganisms on surfaces when treatment times are on the order of seconds or minutes in duration. In this paper, a unique plasma air cleaning facility was created which combines a dielectric barrier grating discharge (DBGD) with a filterless laboratory-scale ventilation system and is used to treat concentrated bacterial bioaerosol in a moving air stream at air flow rates of 25 L/s. Results indicate that plasma treatment times on the order of milliseconds corresponding to one pass through the DBGD device can achieve 1.5-log reduction in culturable E. coli immediately after contact with plasma and 5-log reduction totally following in the minutes after the plasma treatment. A numerical characterization study was performed to help predict and understand the mechanism of bacteria inactivation in the DBD plasma from a variety of plasma factors

Dynamics and Regulation of RecA Polymerization and De-Polymerization on Double-Stranded DNA

10.1371/journal.pone.0066712PLoS ONE86