CHILDREN: Non-Accidental Death and the Lacuna of Prosecution. A Critical Analysis of the Law Commission's Proposals and a Re-evaluation of the Underlying Case Law

The aim of this dissertation is to examine the Law Commission's proposals in respect of their final report on CHILDREN: Non-Accidental Death and Serious Injury, Law Com 282 and to determine whether the proposals are capable of meeting the criteria set by the Law Commission; i.e. that any recommendations must be justifiable on their own terms. In order to do this a strict literal legal methodology will be employed. This is not because of its suitability to meet the social malaise that is the cause of the problem, or because of the fact that it identifies how that problem might be resolved, it is utilised because it is regarded as the primary method of interpretation. The dissertation is split into two distinct chapters and both of these chapters are equally sub-divided into two parts. In chapter one part I, the proposed Bill is analysed clause by clause and subjected to imminent critique. Part II of chapter one then utilises the cases identified by the Law Commission to determine whether the provisions of the new Bill would substantially alter the out-come of any of the cases demonstrative of the identified lacuna. Reference is also draw to the partial enactment of the Bill within the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004; however this Act is not the main focus within the dissertation. The Second and last chapter re-evaluates the pre-existing case law in this area. Again the methodology employed is one of literal legal interpretation, the reason for this being the fact that during the research for this paper it became apparent that there was a commonly held misinterpretation as to the extent and focus of the legal principles found within the substantive cases in this area of law. For instance, the case of Lowe 1973 is the substantive case on the distinction between an unlawful act and an omission within the offence of unlawful act manslaughter, omissions not being considered sufficient for this offence. Lowe is still considered good law despite being overruled by the House of Lords in Sheppard 1981. Reconciliation of these two cases and the earlier case of Senior 1899 is employed to demonstrate this misinterpretation

The Gonotrophic-Age Structure of a Population of the \u3ci\u3eSimulium Venustum\u3c/i\u3e Complex (Diptera: Simuliidae) in Algonquin Park, Ontario

Eight techniques for the determination of parity and gonotrophic age were assessed for the obligatorily anautogenous blackfly-species complex, Simulium venustum Say. All females could be age-graded by the presence or absence of dilatations on the ovarioles. However, multiple dilatations on a single ovariole were not found and the Polovodova method could not be used to determine the number of completed gonotrophic cycles. Most females could be age-graded by the appearance of the Malpighian tubules, which undergo morphological changes, probably as a result of a bloodmeal. In some cases, the size of the fat body, the presence of retained (relict), mature ova and the presence of meconium in the gut could be used as accessory age-grading criteria. Insemination status, the volume of the esophageal diverticulum, and the stage of development of the terminal ovarian follicles could not be used to age-grade females. The literature of age-grading in blackflies is reviewed, with special reference to the interpretability of the Polovodova method. Seasonal changes in the gonotrophic-age structure of a population of the S. venustum complex in Algonquin Park, ON, Canada, were examined over two years. The maximal proportion of parous females in the population was 75 and 62% in the two years, respectively. There was weak evidence that parous females were more likely to host seek in the morning and nulliparous females in the afternoon. Parity declined in mid-season, due to the recruitment of newly emerged adults to the population

The Structure of Wages in What Should be a Competitive Labour Market

This paper examines the structure of wages in a very specific labour market, for care assistants in residential homes for the elderly on England's "sunshine coast". This sector corresponds closely to economists' notion of what should be a competitive labour market as: (i) there are a large number of small firms undertaking a very homogeneous activity in concentrated geographical areas; and (ii) the workers they employ are not unionized, nor are they covered by any minimum wage legislation so that there are effectively no external constraints on the wage-setting process. We find that the structure of wages does not, in important respects, resemble what we would expect in a competitive labour market. We find there is a small amount of wage dispersion within firms and a correspondingly large amount between firms. And, the wage dispersion that is present does not seem to be closely related to the productivity related characteristics of workers. We propose a test of the hypothesis that unobserved labour quality can explain our findings and reject it. The paper concludes with a discussion of other possible explanations of the patterns in our data.Wage Dispersion, Competitive Model

Geography of Fields in Extra Dimensions: String Theory Lessons for Particle Physics

String theoretical ideas might be relevant for particle physics model building. Ideally one would hope to find a unified theory of all fundamental interactions. There are only few consistent string theories in D=10 or 11 space-time dimensions, but a huge landscape in D=4. We have to explore this landscape to identify models that describe the known phenomena of particle physics. Properties of compactified six spatial dimensions are crucial in that respect. We postulate some useful rules to investigate this landscape and construct realistic models. We identify common properties of the successful models and formulate lessons for further model building.Comment: To be published in "Perspectives on String Phenomenology" (World Scientific

Quadratic estimates and functional calculi of perturbed Dirac operators

We prove quadratic estimates for complex perturbations of Dirac-type operators, and thereby show that such operators have a bounded functional calculus. As an application we show that spectral projections of the Hodge--Dirac operator on compact manifolds depend analytically on $L_\infty$ changes in the metric. We also recover a unified proof of many results in the Calder\'on program, including the Kato square root problem and the boundedness of the Cauchy operator on Lipschitz curves and surfaces.Comment: To appear in Inventiones Mathematicae. Minor final changes added 4/7 200

Wind-driven mixing below the oceanic mixed layer

This study describes the turbulent processes in the upper ocean boundary layer forced by a constant surface stress in the absence of the Coriolis force using large-eddy simulation. The boundary layer that develops has a two-layer structure, a well-mixed layer above a stratified shear layer. The depth of the mixed layer is approximately constant, whereas the depth of the shear layer increases with time. The turbulent momentum flux varies approximately linearly from the surface to the base of the shear layer. There is a maximum in the production of turbulence through shear at the base of the mixed layer. The magnitude of the shear production increases with time. The increase is mainly a result of the increase in the turbulent momentum flux at the base of the mixed layer due to the increase in the depth of the boundary layer. The length scale for the shear turbulence is the boundary layer depth. A simple scaling is proposed for the magnitude of the shear production that depends on the surface forcing and the average mixed layer current. The scaling can be interpreted in terms of the divergence of a mean kinetic energy flux. A simple bulk model of the boundary layer is developed to obtain equations describing the variation of the mixed layer and boundary layer depths with time. The model shows that the rate at which the boundary layer deepens does not depend on the stratification of the thermocline. The bulk model shows that the variation in the mixed layer depth is small as long as the surface buoyancy flux is small

Characteristics of Langmuir Turbulence in the Ocean Mixed Layer

This study uses large-eddy simulation (LES) to investigate the characteristics of Langmuir turbulence through the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget. Based on an analysis of the TKE budget a velocity scale for Langmuir turbulence is proposed. The velocity scale depends on both the friction velocity and the surface Stokes drift associated with the wave field. The scaling leads to unique profiles of nondimensional dissipation rate and velocity component variances when the Stokes drift of the wave field is sufficiently large compared to the surface friction velocity. The existence of such a scaling shows that Langmuir turbulence can be considered as a turbulence regime in its own right, rather than a modification of shear-driven turbulence. Comparisons are made between the LES results and observations, but the lack of information concerning the wave field means these are mainly restricted to comparing profile shapes. The shapes of the LES profiles are consistent with observed profiles. The dissipation length scale for Langmuir turbulence is found to be similar to the dissipation length scale in the shear-driven boundary layer. Beyond this it is not possible to test the proposed scaling directly using available data. Entrainment at the base of the mixed layer is shown to be significantly enhanced over that due to normal shear turbulence

The effect of polypropylene fibres within concrete with regard to fire performance in structures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of various polypropylene fibre additions (types and volume) to concrete with regard to explosive spalling when subject to high temperatures similar to those experienced in building or tunnel fires. Design/methodology/approach – Medium strength concrete was manufactured with varying proportions of polypropylene fibres. Plain control samples were used to determine the original concrete strength and this was used as a benchmark following high temperature heat tests to evaluate the surface condition and final compressive strength. A pilot study was used to determine an appropriate heat source for the test. This was three Bunsen burners, however sufficient heat could not be generated within 150mm concrete cubes and the concrete was shown to be a significant insulator and fire protection for structural members. The concrete test cubes were tested in a saturated condition which may reflect conditions where concrete is used in an external environment and thus is subject to soaking. Findings – One hundred and fifty millimetre concrete cubes with and without fibres were placed into a furnace at 1,000°C. Explosive spalling was shown to be reduced with the use of polypropylene fibres but the final compressive strength of concrete was significantly reduced and had little residual structural value after a two hour period of heating. Research limitations/implications – As the concrete tested was saturated, this condition provided a worst case scenario with regards to the build up of hydrostatic and vapour pressure within the cube. A range of percentage moisture contents would produce a more evenly balanced view of the effects of fibres in concrete. A single grade of concrete was used for the test. As the permeability of concrete influences the rate at which steam can escape from the interior of a saturated concrete cube, testing a range of concrete strengths would show this aspect of material performance with regard to spalling and final residual strength. Further research is recommended with regard to moisture contents, strengths of concrete and a range of temperatures