A/gender for change : a feminist interrogation of secular and theological discourses relating to the new reproductive technologies

The aim of this thesis is to deconstruct the ethical framework, in which the theological community deliberates the new reproductive technologies (NRTs) and to interrogate the constructions of woman and the embryo that have correlated into the ensuing discourses from ecclesiastic traditions. The foundational premise is that the church does not fulfil its pastoral and prophetic role in this increasingly vital socio-cultural area, predominantly because woman’s subject position of invisibility in theological discourses prevents the church from speaking differently to the secular world. The methodology establishes the validity of using critical discourse analysis as a tool of deconstruction based on the insights of Michel Foucault. This is then deployed to interrogate the constructions of woman and the embryo circulating in the popular NRT narratives of the media in order to ground a secular baseline. From this vantage point, critical discourse analysis is undertaken on two church reports and three theological texts. The concluding chapter sketches a different framework of moral perception, within which the church would be enabled to offer greater empathy in its pastoral care and also to prophetically challenge macro-systems of power more effectively

Two neutrino double beta decay within the ξ\xi-approximation

We examine the contributions of odd-parity nuclear operators to the two-neutrino double beta decay $0^+\rightarrow 0^+$ amplitude, which come from the $P$-wave Coulomb corrections to the electron wave functions and the recoil corrections to the nuclear currents. Although they are formally of higher order in $\alpha Z/2$ or $v/c$ of the nucleon than the usual Fermi and Gamow-Teller matrix elements, explicit calculations performed within the QRPA show that they are significant when confronted with the experimental data.Comment: 9 pages, latex, no figure

An investigation into the folding and assembly of engineered antibodies and novel antibody formats

Monoclonal antibodies and novel antibody formats are currently one of the principal therapeutic in the biopharmaceutical industry worldwide and are widely used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer. It is for this reason that the productivity and quality of antibody production requires improvement; specifically investigations into the engineering of antibodies and any issues that may arise from the production of these therapeutics. The work presented in this thesis describes an investigation into the folding and assembly of seven antibodies plus the novel antibody format FabFv. IgG is comprised of two identical HCs and two identical LCs. The folding process of immunoglobulin is controlled by the CH1 domain within the HC. The CH1 domain remains in a disordered state and is sequestered by BiP in the endoplasmic reticulum. Upon the addition of a folded CL domain, BiP is displaced, the CH1 domain is able to fold and the complete IgG protein can then be secreted from the cell. The results presented in this thesis however, have outlined an additional mechanism for the folding of the CH1 domain. We have shown that the CH1 domain is able to fold in the absence of LC resulting in the secretion of HC dimers in a VH dependent manner. The proposed mechanism for the secretion of HC dimers suggests that some VH domains can interact with each other in order to bring the CH1 domains in close proximity to enable folding to occur. As HC dimer secretion is a hindrance in antibody production, this result has highlighted an engineering target to improve antibody yield. Examination of the folding of IgG4 with the variable region A33 has revealed the inability to secrete LC dimers, cleavage of the HC during expression and secretion of HC dimers in the Fab, FabFv and full length forms. The attributes described have also been shown to be variable region dependent. This has introduced a new concept that the variable domain is important in determining the expression and secretion of antibodies and their individual chains. Pulse chase and 2D gel electrophoresis analysis of the novel antibody format FabFv has revealed that the folding and expression of the LC and HC causes multimeric species of FabFv to be secreted, as opposed to the monomeric form which is the desired therapeutic. Our hypothesis is that this process occurs via a LC dependent mechanism. The proposed hypothesis suggests that further engineering to the LC could diminish the formation and secretion of FabFv multimers. The results from these investigations can be applied to increase the productivity of therapeutics and increase the biological understanding of the domain interactions of IgG during folding, assembly and secretion

Neutrino-Nucleus Reactions and Muon Capture in 12C

The neutrino-nucleus cross section and the muon capture rate are discussed within a simple formalism which facilitates the nuclear structure calculations. The corresponding formulae only depend on four types of nuclear matrix elements, which are currently used in the nuclear beta decay. We have also considered the non-locality effects arising from the velocity-dependent terms in the hadronic current. We show that for both observables in 12C the higher order relativistic corrections are of the order of ~5 only, and therefore do not play a significant role. As nuclear model framework we use the projected QRPA (PQRPA) and show that the number projection plays a crucial role in removing the degeneracy between the proton-neutron two quasiparticle states at the level of the mean field. Comparison is done with both the experimental data and the previous shell model calculations. Possible consequences of the present study on the determination of the $\nu_\mu ->\nu_e$ neutrino oscillation probability are briefly addressed.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, Revtex4. Several changes were made to the previous manuscript, the results and final conclusions remain unalterable. It has been accepted for publication as a Regular Article in Physical Review

Provision of artificial shelter on beaches is associated with improved shorebird fledging success

Artificial chick shelters might improve productivity of beach-nesting birds threatened by anthropogenic disturbance. We investigated the efficacy of three different chick shelter designs against four criteria: accessibility to chicks over time, thermal insulation, conspicuousness to beach-goers, and practicality (cost and ease of transport). One design (‘A-frame’) was selected because it offered the greatest thermal insulation, was the least conspicuous, most cost effective, and performed equally well in terms of accessibility. We deployed these artificial shelters on Hooded Plover Thinornis rubricollis territories where broods were present (n 5 11), and compared the behaviour and survival rate of chicks to that at control sites (n 5 10). We were unable to discern any difference in the behaviour of broods when artificial shelters were available. However, the survival rate of chicks to fledging was 71.8% higher where an artificial shelter was provided (n 5 21 broods). This was validated by analysing data from a larger sample of broods monitored as part of an active volunteer-based management programme; shelters conferred a 42.8%increase in survival to fledging (n 5 81 broods). Thus, artificial shelters have the potential to increase survival rates of threatened shorebird chicks, though the mechanisms through which survival is increased require further investigation

Hyperfine Structure Constants for Eu Isotopes: Is The Empirical Formula of HFS Anomaly Universal ?

We calculate the hyperfine structure constant for the Eu isotopes with shell model wave functions. The calculated results are compared with those predicted by the Moskowitz-Lombardi (M-L) empirical formula. It turns out that the two approaches give the very different behaviors of the hfs constants in the isotope dependence. This should be easily measured by experiment, which may lead to the universality check of the M-L formula.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, two figure

Exchange Currents for Hypernuclear Magnetic Moments

The meson(K and $\pi$) exchange currents for the hypernuclear magnetic moments are calculated using the effective Lagrangian method. The seagull diagram, the mesonic diagram and the $\Sigma^0$-excitation diagram are considered. The $\Lambda$-N exchange magnetic moments for the ${}^5_{\Lambda}He$, ${}^6_{\Lambda}He$ and ${}^6_{\Lambda}Li$ are calculated employing the harmonic oscillator shell model. It is found that the two-body correction is about -9% of the single particle value for ${}^5_{\Lambda}He$. The $\pi$ exchange current, induced only in the $\Sigma^0$-excitation diagram, is found to give dominant contribution for the isovector magnetic moments of hypernuclei with A=6.Comment: 11pp, LaTeX, 7 EPS figures, uses epsf.st

Time Reversal Invariance Violating and Parity Conserving effects in Neutron Deuteron Scattering

Time reversal invariance violating parity conserving effects for low energy elastic neutron deuteron scattering are calculated for meson exchange and EFT-type of potentials in a Distorted Wave Born Approximation, using realistic hadronic wave functions, obtained by solving three-body Faddeev equations in configuration space.Comment: There was a technical mistake in calculations due to singular behavior of Yukawa functions at short range. We corrected the integration algorithm. There were some typos which are corrected. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1104.305

Exact evaluation of the nuclear form factor for new kinds of majoron emission in neutrinoless double beta decay

We have developed a formalism, based on the Fourier-Bessel expansion, that facilitates the evaluation of matrix elements involving nucleon recoil operators, such as appear in serveral exotic forms of neutrinoless double beta decay ($\beta\beta_{0\nu}$). The method is illustrated by applying it to the ``charged'' majoron model, which is one of the few that can hope to produce an observable effect. From our numerical computations within the QRPA performed for $^{76}Ge$, $^{82}Se$, $^{100} Mo$, $^{128}Te$ and $^{150}Nd$ nuclei, we test the validity of approximations made in earlier work to simplify the new matrix elements, showing that they are accurate to within 15%. Our new method is also suitable for computing other previously unevaluated $\beta\beta_{0\nu}$ nuclear matrix elements.Comment: 11pp., latex, fixed minor typographical error