The influence of mineral fertilization of grassland leafhopper associations

Imperial Users onl

Private Prosecutions in New Zealand - A Public Concern?

This article evaluates whether private prosecutions remain a safe and useful mechanism in the modern New Zealand criminal justice system. Private prosecutions are an important constitutional safeguard against state inertia, incompetence and bias and recent legislative reforms have strengthened the judiciary's ability to ensure this mechanism is not misused. Despite this, concerns remain. This article provides an overview of private prosecutions and justification for their continued existence, outlines the current procedure for those prosecutions and explores remaining concerns with this mechanism. Ultimately, while the status quo of private prosecutions remains adequate, a greater alignment of the theoretical and practical purposes of private prosecutions would be beneficial. Further normalisation and commercialisation of private prosecutions is undesirable and the effectiveness of these prosecutions as a "safeguard" is questionable given the considerable financial and investigative burdens faced by applicants.&nbsp

Encapsulating lipids in self-assembled polymeric and inorganic matrix particles

Liquid liquids are attractive as carriers, and encapsulation and delivery systems for poorly water soluble/lipophilic compounds, e.g. for application as functional foods, vitamin supplements and pharmaceuticals. However, such lipid carriers are challenging to formulate as solid material products and are generally manufactured as soft gelatin capsules. These capsules require specific engineering facilities for manufacture, and in many cases do not have optimal stability/shelf life and cannot control the bioactivity or delivery properties. We have developed an alternative approach to encapsulate liquid lipids, i.e. by entrapment within a porous matrix structured microparticle, established through the assembly of inorganic or polymeric nanoparticles [1,2]. More specifically, these are prepared by drying (e.g. spray or freeze drying) a sub-micron lipid emulsion in the presence of inorganic (e.g. silica) or polymeric (e.g. PLGA) nanoparticles – see Fig. 1. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Affirmative Counseling with LGBQQIA Individuals: A Training and Resource Manual for Mental Health Counselors

This article is a review of literature related to issues associated with working with LGBQQIA clients. Although not an exhaustive review, the literature provides evidence of the need for additional training to improve the confidence and competence of counselors working with this population. Further, information is provided on what makes a counselor competent to work with LGBQQIA clients and evidence-based practices that have been shown to be effective in working with them. Following this review, a training and education manual is presented to help fill the need of additional training related to working with this population

Data Analysis and Processing in X-ray Diffraction Studies of Scattering From Myosin Heads in Muscle

The X-ray diffraction pattern of muscle tissue contains sharp reflections from ordered structures, and a region of diffuse scatter from disordered structures. The sharp reflections have been studied in detail over many years, but the diffuse scatter has received much less attention, apart from the pioneering work of J. Lowy and F. R. Poulsen, reviewed in the book 'Fibrous Protein Structure' edited by J. Squire and P. Vibert (Academic Press, 1987). In this thesis a set of FORTRAN programs were written to analyse diffraction data, with particular emphasis on the diffuse scatter. Film patterns from some synchrotron experiments and from some of J. Lowy and F. R. Poulsen’s archived material were analysed, to study the effects of varying osmolarity and/or sarcomere length on the sharp reflections and the diffuse scatter. Conclusions were drawn about the feasibility of using the diffuse scatter as an indication of changes in myosin subfragment 1 (the head of the myosin molecule), and of retrieving scattering data from the archived material which had been taken largely to observe sharp reflections. It was concluded that although the archived material could give interesting indications about physiological effects, new experiments were needed to confirm these indications, and these new experiments should be designed specifically towards the diffuse scattering data. In the course of this work, I have considered the possibility of using Guinier plots to derive information on head shapes from data on intact muscle, and the precision with which such information can be obtained. I conclude that the Guinier plots do contain information about the myosin heads in intact muscle, but that the accuracy of the information may not be much better than ±10%, and this may not be sufficient to confirm or deny possible conformation changes in the myosin head. However, I do not consider that the work done in this thesis reached the limit of accuracy, and further experiments may be worthwhile

Margaret Thatcher's politics: the cultural and ideological forces of domestic femininity

In December 1974 Margaret Thatcher hung up her hat and put on an apron. Despite being a wealthy, professional woman, it was as a lower-middle class ‘housewife’ that she won the Conservative party leadership in 1975 and the general election in 1979. This raises significant historical questions. What was it about a ‘housewife’ identity that was believed to suggest the necessary qualities of a political leader? It also emphasises the centrality of gender to Thatcher’s leadership image. This thesis will explore the cultural, ideological and political significance of Thatcher’s femininity, with a particular focus on the rich and varied resonances of domestic femininity. Although a considerable body of literature analyses Thatcher’s status as Britain’s first female Prime Minister, the majority of work focuses on her failure to either promote ‘women’s issues’ or to improve women’s political representation. The conservatism of Thatcher’s feminine image is frequently presented as a manifestation of the regressive social attitudes that shaped Thatcherite policy on ‘women’s issues’. Emphasis on Thatcher’s opposition to the feminist movement has discouraged a more nuanced understanding of the changing role femininity played in the construction of her public personality. As this ‘public personality’ was a product of multiple influences, focus on Thatcher’s public image facilitates a wide-ranging study that considers diverse cultural and political contexts. Overemphasis on the prescriptivism of Thatcher’s domestic image risks undermining the extent to which it reflected popular and political values, assumptions and prejudices. It also underestimates the extent to which Thatcher’s feminine authority constituted a political problem. By examining gendered responses to Thatcher’s leadership in political institutions, among her staff and colleagues, in popular culture, among women and within ‘the women’s movement’ this thesis will consider the ways in which femininity functioned as part of a strategy for managing the presentation of unprecedented female power

Needing to respond; Responding to need: A thematic analysis exploring Educational Psychologists’ experiences of responding to critical incidents

Literature relating to Educational Psychologists’ (EPs) responses to critical incidents (CIs) is limited. There is a need for a current overview exploring factors which may impact or affect how an EP responds to a CI. Therefore, this research aims to explore what influences an EP’s response to a critical incident. Using a critical realist ontological and constructionist epistemological position semi- structured interviews were carried out with three practicing EPs about their experiences of responding to three different CIs. The interviews were analysed using a thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) where six themes (The CI, The Educational Psychologist, Systems, Impacting factors on approach, Responding to needs and the relational aspect and Post CI- The bigger picture) and 20 subthemes emerged from the data. Findings are discussed in relation to previous literature and the analysis of the interviews. Strengths and limitations of the study, outstanding questions and directions for future research are then summarised. The project concludes with an outline of the professional implications of the research in relation to the six themes

Deferiprone and gallium-protoporphyrin have the capacity to potentiate the activity of antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants

Small colony variants (SCVs) of bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus are characterized by a reduced colony size and are linked to increased antibiotic tolerance and resistance. Their altered expression of virulence factors, slow growing properties and their ability to form biofilms make the eradication of SCVs challenging. In the context of biofilm-related infectious diseases involving S. aureus SCVs, a therapy targeting bacterial iron metabolism was evaluated. The combination of the iron-chelator deferiprone (Def) and the heme-analog gallium-protoporphyrin (GaPP), in solution and incorporated in a surgical wound gel, was tested for activity against planktonic and sessile SCVs. To this end, the activity of Def-GaPP was assessed against planktonic S. aureus SCVs, as well as against in vitro and in vivo biofilms in the colony biofilm model, an artificial wound model and a Caenorhabditis elegans infection model. While Def alone failed to show substantial antibacterial activity, GaPP and the combination of Def-GaPP demonstrated concentration- and strain-dependent antibacterial properties. Specifically, the Def-GaPP combination significantly reduced the bacterial load in an artificial wound model and increased the survival of S. aureus SCV infected C. elegans. When Def-GaPP were combined with gentamicin or ciprofloxacin, the triple combinations exceeded the antibiofilm activity of the individual compounds in the colony biofilm model. In targeting bacterial iron metabolism, Def-GaPP showed significant activity against planktonic and sessile SCVs. Moreover, Def-GaPP could potentiate the activity of gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. Delivered in a wound healing gel, Def-GaPP showed promise as a new topical strategy against infections with S. aureus SCVs.Katharina Richter, Nicky Thomas, Guimin Zhang, Clive A. Prestidge, Tom Coenye, Peter-John Wormald and Sarah Vreugd