British Legislation Against Caste Based Discrimination and the demand for the Sunset Clause

On 23 April 2013, British Parliament agreed an Amendment on caste to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill (ERR Bill). The Bill received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013 and Section 97 of the ERR Act (that provides that Government `shall’ use Section 9(5)a to make caste an aspect of race) came into force on 25 June 2013. The Amendment will be made to the Equality Act 2010 by ‘adding caste as ‘an aspect of’ the protected characteristic of race’ (Waughray 2014). Importantly, although the Government’s timetable states that the legislation will be enforced not before October 2015, the considerable delay in implementation is consequential of the opposition from both Sikh and Hindu organisations. To some degree, there was unanimity amongst most British Sikhs that legislation against caste discrimination was unnecessary under British law. The Sikh Council UK (SCUK) declared that ‘caste allegiances were on their way out in the UK’ and demanded a Sunset Clause which essentially renders the caste legislation as temporary for a period of ten years since the credence of the SCUK is that caste will have absolutely no significance for subsequent generations of British Sikhs. This paper provides an analysis of attitudes, primarily from the British Sikh and Punjabi Dalit communities towards caste discrimination legislation in British Law and in particular attitudes towards the proposal of the Sunset Claus

A chemical substance reporting system for manufacturing companies

While striving to mitigate the risk to human health and the environment, chemical substance regulations continue to impose greater legislative burdens on industry, which ultimately creates business continuity risk. Compliance to these regulations requires greater investment which ultimately undermines profits. Furthermore, as regulations vary between countries or politico-economic unions, impact on manufacturers is dependent on which areas of the world that its supply chain is most prevalent. A chemical substance reporting system for manufacturing companies requires information on parts and manufacturing processes that are both defined in-house and within the external supply chain. Without information on chemical substance uses within the downstream supply chain, manufacturers cannot fulfil their legislative obligations or effectively manage business continuity risk. Often the biggest hurdle to collecting this information is supply chain engagement, which is made more difficult with multiple, different industry standards and data exchange formats. As more and more chemical substances become heavily regulated, manufacturers require increased volumes of downstream supply chain information on a routine basis. The aim of this paper is to identify existing good practices which could be utilized to implement chemical substance reporting systems for manufacturing companies.N/

The impact of Industry 4.0 on supply chains and sustainability.

Industry 4.0 ushers in a new dawn of digitization, utilizing smart devices, communicating across manufacturing process and supply chains, gathering data on mass in a virtual model of a business to investigate areas for improvement, developing new product and service offerings. Industry 4.0 brings a potential shift from mass over production, to production system based on real end consumer demand requirements. Sustainability relates to reducing the amount of scarce resources being used in products, enabling repair, reuse and recycling of materials from products. Industry 4.0 has the potential to influence sustainability and supply chains. This paper establishes key concepts and issues, as well as a current state adoption review. Conclusions were drawn enabling the implementation of (1) industry 4.0; (2) sustainability and; (3) enhanced buyer-supplier supply relationships.N/

Framework for a chemical substance reporting system.

Chemical regulations exist to control hazardous chemical substance use within society. As more chemical substances become more regulated, industry must adapt and develop mechanisms to analyze and report data on substances used on their own, in mixtures or within materials. A chemical substance reporting system is required to ensure compliance by identifying the chemical substances used within a product, which can then be compared against regulated chemical substance lists to identify potential business risks, as well as providing safety data to consumers. This paper contributes to material compliance reporting literature by identifying a research gap and presenting a framework model to enable chemical substance information to be collated (internal and external) to allow for accurate chemical substance reportingN/

Compressed Sensing with off-axis frequency-shifting holography

This work reveals an experimental microscopy acquisition scheme successfully combining Compressed Sensing (CS) and digital holography in off-axis and frequency-shifting conditions. CS is a recent data acquisition theory involving signal reconstruction from randomly undersampled measurements, exploiting the fact that most images present some compact structure and redundancy. We propose a genuine CS-based imaging scheme for sparse gradient images, acquiring a diffraction map of the optical field with holographic microscopy and recovering the signal from as little as 7% of random measurements. We report experimental results demonstrating how CS can lead to an elegant and effective way to reconstruct images, opening the door for new microscopy applications.Comment: vol 35, pp 871-87

A double masked randomised 4-week, placebo-controlled study in the USA, Thailand and Taiwan to compare the efficacy of oral valganciclovir and topical 2% ganciclovir in the treatment of cytomegalovirus anterior uveitis: study protocol.

IntroductionCytomegalovirus (CMV) anterior uveitis is a recognised cause of anterior uveitis in immunocompetent patients and is preventable cause of vision loss. Ocular sequelae include corneal endothelial damage which can cause corneal oedema and failure, as well as glaucoma. Recurrences of inflammation are common and therefore patients are often exposed to long-term therapy. Oral therapy is available in the form of valganciclovir, although with the caveat of systemic side effects such as bone marrow suppression and renal failure necessitating regular interval laboratory monitoring. Recent reports have demonstrated that topical 2% ganciclovir solution may offer promising treatment outcomes in patients with CMV anterior uveitis with superior safety, cost-effectiveness and convenience profiles. An investigation into the relative equipoise of these therapies is warranted for these reasons.Methods and analysisThe Systemic and Topical Control of Cytomegalovirus Anterior uveitis: Treatment Outcomes (STACCATO) trial is designed as a multicentre, block randomised by site, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial comparing the efficacy of oral valganciclovir, 2% topical ganciclovir and placebo in treating PCR-proven CMV anterior uveitis. Participant clinical evaluation will occur at three study time points by a masked study ophthalmologist over a 28-day period to assess resolution of ocular inflammation (secondary outcome). A control group will provide additional information about the possible impact that the infected host's immune response may play in controlling local viral replication. The primary analysis is an analysis of covariance (three arms) correcting for baseline to compare quantitative CMV viral load in the anterior chamber (AC) aqueous fluid before and 7 days after treatment.Ethics and disseminationThe University of California San Francisco Committee on Human Research and the Khon Kaen University Institutional Review Board have given ethical approval. The results of this trial will be presented at local and international meetings and submitted for peer-reviewed journals for publication.Trial registration numberNCT03576898

Localization of the pre-squalene segment of the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway in mammalian peroxisomes

Previous studies have indicated that the early steps in the isoprenoid/cholesterol biosynthetic pathway occur in peroxisomes. However, the role of peroxisomes in cholesterol biosynthesis has recently been questioned in several reports concluding that three of the peroxisomal cholesterol biosynthetic enzymes, namely mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, and mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase, do not localize to peroxisomes in human cells even though they contain consensus peroxisomal targeting signals. We re-investigated the subcellular localization of the cholesterol biosynthetic enzymes of the pre-squalene segment in human cells by using new stable isotopic techniques and data computations with isotopomer spectral analysis, in combination with immunofluorescence and cell permeabilization techniques. Our present findings clearly show and confirm previous studies that the pre-squalene segment of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway is localized to peroxisomes. In addition, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that acetyl-CoA derived from peroxisomal β-oxidation of very long-chain fatty acids and medium-chain dicarboxylic acids is preferentially channeled to cholesterol synthesis inside the peroxisomes without mixing with the cytosolic acetyl-CoA poo

Sexuality and south asian women: A taboo?

Despite the difficulties associated with speaking about sexuality as outlined in the statement above (which probably resonates with many), there have been developments within the South Asian diaspora and India which have attempted to normalize sexuality and to move beyond viewing the linked terms ‘Asian’ and ‘gay’ as problematic. The subjugation of sexual identities such as ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ has been met by resistance from a variety of organizations and individuals. Whilst this ‘road to freedom’ regarding the expression of sexuality has been bumpy and is an unfinished project, there is also a great deal to celebrate. This paper therefore traces what we mean by sexuality and the contradictory ways in which (hetero)sexuality is perceived and understood in South Asian communities. It then moves on to looking in more detail at lesbianism and the developments in recognition of alternative sexualities. It will be shown that living in the closet is preferable to ‘coming out’ for some women due to the violence of internalized oppression and reprisals within the community