Policing minority ethnic communities: a case study in London’s ‘Little India’

The Macpherson Inquiry (1999) was instrumental in forcing into the public domain the issue of police racism, which for decades had been an endemic part of police culture. My thesis, undertaken post Macpherson (1999), examined ongoing tensions in the policing of minority ethnic communities through a case study of policing in London’s ‘Little India’. My thesis highlights the continuing influence of racism in policing, describing a world of policing ethnically diverse communities that is far more complex, variable and contradictory than has yet been documented in the empirical policing literature. I describe how policing in Greenfield was a patchwork of continuity and change, illustrating how, despite the advances the police in Greenfield had made in eradicating overt racism from the organisation, passive prejudice remained rife among officers. Most notably, despite acknowledging Greenfield’s long resident Asian communities as the ‘indigenous population’, officers still had little knowledge about these communities, tending to classify them as ‘Asians’ in a way that obscured, rather than illuminated their diversity. Furthermore, while officers regarded ‘Asians’ as the established communities of Greenfield, new ‘problem populations’ - most notably Somalis, Muslims and travellers - emerged, with officers tending to engage with these communities in antagonistic ways, echoing themes from early studies of race and policing. Yet beneath this somewhat depressing overarching picture of policing, a more complex, contradictory network of attitudes and practice emerged, 3 encompassing both officers who were overtly hostile to ethnic diversity and also examples of inspirational officers committed to reforming the policing of minority ethnic communities. Having described policing in Greenfield, I conclude by discussing the wider ramifications for police legitimacy and democracy in Britain, arguing that until greater emphasis is placed on ensuring that the police support the equitable principles of democracy, the police in Greenfield and other areas will continue to fail the marginalised people who most need their services

Surf’s Up: Riding the Waves of Modernity & Postmodernism at Cronulla Beach

Cronulla Beach, located on the coast of the Sutherland Shire in South Sydney, has been defined over time in conjunction with its Indigenous heritage, its connection to colonial settlement in the 18th Century, as the home of a generational marker in the form of film and as the site of a violent cultural explosion. Defined in conjunction with the ‘Aussie lifestyle’, this site has been transfixed with this stereotype to appeal to our sense of identity as Australian citizens. Using the paradigm of Modernity and the appropriation to Postmodernism as a progression from Tradition, the fundamental basis of this chapter is the historical, social evolution and cultural influence upon an individual’s identity and citizenship. Through the lens of scholarly research, published texts, and with some help from Icehouse, the modernist ideals of progress and the subjective constructs of postmodernism and traditional history are explored through the waves of Cronulla Beach

Signature Verification using Normalized Static Features and Neural Network Classification

Signature verification is very widely used in verification of the identity of any person. Now a days other biometric verification system has been evolved very widely like figure print, iris etc., but signature verification through computer system is still in development phase. The verification system is either through offline mode or online mode in online systems the dynamic information of a signature captured at the time the signature is made while in offline systems based on the scanned image of a signature. In this paper, a method is presented for Offline signatures Verification, for this verification system signature image is first pre-processed and converted into binary image of same size with 200x200 Pixels and then different features are extracted from the image like Eccentricity, Kurtosis, Skewness etc. and that features are used to train the neural network using back-propagation technique. For this verification system 6 different user signatures are taken to make database of the feature and results are analysed. The result demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed methodology when compared with other existing studies. The proposed algorithm gives False Acceptance Rate (FAR) as 5.05% and False Rejection rate (FRR) as 4.25%

Rabies vaccine and neuraxial anaesthesia

This case report of neuraxial anaesthesia for emergency orthopaedic surgery serves to highlight the dilemma faced by anaesthetists when surgical intervention becomes necessary in a patient on anti-rabies vaccine. The two issues of importance are the possible reduction in the efficacy of vaccination by an immunosuppressive effect of anaesthesia and surgery, and the possible need to avoid local anaesthetics for the provision of postoperative analgesia to assist in the early detection of any neurological deficit.Keywords: rabies; vaccine; anaesthesia; neuraxial bloc

Time Independent Signature Verification using Normalized Weighted Coefficients

Signature verification is one of the most widely accepted verification methods in use. The application of handwritten signatures includes the banker’s checks, the credit and debit cards issued by banks and various legal documents. The time factor plays an important role in the framing of signature of an individual person. Signatures can be classified as: offline signature verification and online signature verification. In this paper a time independent signature verification using normalized weighted coefficients is presented. If the signature defining parameters are updated regularly according to the weighted coefficients, then the performance of the system can be increased to a significant level. Results show that by taking normalized weighted coefficients the performance parameters, FAR and FRR, can be improved significantly

A novel envelope mediated post entry restriction of murine leukaemia virus in human cells is Ref1/TRIM5α independent

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>'Intrinsic' resistance to retroviral infection was first recognised with the Friend virus susceptibility gene (Fv1), which determines susceptibility to murine leukaemia virus (MLV) infection in different murine species. Similarly, the tripartite motif (TRIM) family of proteins determine lentiviral restriction in a primate host-species specific manner. For example rhesus TRIM5α (rhTRIM5α) can potently restrict HIV-1 infection while human TRIM5α (huTRIM5α) only has a mild effect on SIVmac and HIV-1 infectivity (Lv1). Human TRIM5α is able to restrict MLV-N virus replication, but is ineffective against MLV-B or MLV-NB virus infection. Lv2 restriction of some HIV-2 viruses is seen in human cells. Like Lv1, Lv2 is a post-entry restriction factor, whose viral determinants have been mapped to the viral capsid (CA). Unlike Lv1, however, Lv2 is determined by envelope (Env) in addition to CA. Here we present evidence of a novel Env determined post entry restriction to infection in human cells of pseudotyped MLV-B and MLV-NB cores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We generated retroviral vectors pseudotyped with various gamma and lentiviral Envs on MLV-B and -NB CAs containing a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter. Flow cytometry was used to determine transduction efficiencies in NP2/CD4/CXCR4 (glioma cell line stably transduced with the HIV receptors) and HeLa/CD4 cell lines. The HeLa/CD4 cell line restricted both MLV CAs in an Env dependent manner, compared to NP2/CD4/CXCR4 cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QT-PCR) analysis of reverse transcription (RT) transcripts demonstrates that this restriction occurs at a post entry and RT level. siRNA knockdown of huTRIM5α ruled out a direct role for this cellular component in mediating this restriction. We describe a previously unobserved Env determined restriction of MLV-B and MLV-NB CAs in HeLa/CD4 cells when pseudotyped with HIV-2 and RD114 Envs, but not gibbon ape leukaemia virus (GALV), HIV-1 or Amphotrophic (Ampho) Envs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data further demonstrate the variability of Env and CA mediated susceptibility to post entry host cell restriction. We discuss the relevance of these findings in light of the growing evidence supporting the complexities involved in innate host immunity to retroviral infection.</p

Sequential C-reactive protein: a cheap and a valuable biomarker in patients with sepsis

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a valuable biomarker of sepsis. Levels of CRP increase very rapidly in response to infection, and decrease just as rapidly with the resolution of the condition. The aim of the research was to study, C-reactive protein levels in patients of sepsis and to study the pattern of CRP levels in patients of Sepsis with hypertension, diabetes, smokers and alcoholics.Methods: This prospective observational cohort study was conducted from December 2016 to September 2018 in 100 cases of sepsis. Patients presenting in emergency with sepsis were included as subjects. C- reactive protein was measured in every patient at the time of admission and after 72 hours.  Facts related to history, clinical examination and biochemical parameters were recorded in a pretyped proforma. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: Males outnumbered females. Most of the patients40(40%)  were in the age group of  less than 30 years  age group. CRP levels were markedly elevated in patients with diabetes mellitus (92.2±102.63) as compared to patients with hypertension (36.66±26.97) or both (24.20±12.87). CRP levels were higher in alcoholics (60.59±44.20) as compared to smokers (13.37±10.96).  CRP levels decreased significantly after 72 hours compared to CRP levels at the time of admission (p &lt;0.001) across all patients suggestive of acute infection.Conclusions: Serial CRP measurement, rather than a single determination at the time of admission, is cheap and valuable in the diagnosis of sepsis and in monitoring the response to therapy.  CRP levels shows exaggerated response in diabetes mellitus and alcoholics with sepsis in this study