Policing the Peace after Yugoslavia: Police Reform between External Imposition and Domestic Reform

政治学 / Political Science and International RelationsSince the mid-1990s, a plethora of international organizations—from the UN and OSCE to the European Union and NATO—have been extensively involved in the reform of police forces across the post-conflict regions of former Yugoslavia. The various international actors have employed a diverse tool kit of police reform, from creating new police forces from scratch to reforming existing, ethnically divided forces.This paper will trace the different efforts in post-conflict settings by discussing policing by international actors, efforts at imposing police reform, post-conflict police assistance and change to policing through conditionality, drawing on the rich empirical record from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia. Despite these extensive efforts, the results have been modest. Lacking clear international or European standards, police reform has been the subject to uneven and changing expectations and contradictory demands.Prepared for the GRIPS State Building Workshop 2010: Organizing Police Forces in Post-Conflict Peace-Support Operations, January 27-28th, 201

Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text and Cognition

Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text and Cognition is a multi-disciplinary research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and based at the Universities of Dundee and Kent. The project uses methods from literary criticism, aesthetics, experimental psychology, fine art and creative practice to study how readers respond to hybrid works which combine the textual with the visual, including digital poetry, concrete and visual poetry, artists' books, text film and poetry combined with photography. In a culture marked by rapidly diversifying forms of visual and textual presentation, the interaction of textual and graphic forms is crucial to the development of critical, creative and scientific thought. There is much relevant research taking place within humanities, art practice and psychology, but only a small body of work links all these disciplines

100 Years: T.S. Eliot and The Waste Land exhibition panels

T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land is one of the world's most popular and most studied poems, published 100 years ago in October 1922 in the first issue of the literary magazine, The Criterion. This exhibition celebrates the centenary of the publication of this remarkable poem with a display of archives and rare books from Special Collections and Archives

Experimentally validated computational docking to characterize protein- protein interactions

Each biomolecule in a living organism needs to adopt a specific threedimensional conformation to function properly. Function itself is usually achieved by specific interactions between biomolecular units. Structural knowledge at atomic level of biomolecules and their interaction is important to understand the mechanisms leading to biological response and to develop strategies to interfere with them when necessary. Antibodies are molecules of the immune system playing an ever more prominent role in basic research as well as in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Characterizing their region of interaction with other proteins (epitopes) is useful for purposes ranging from molecular biology research to vaccine design. During my PhD studies I used a combination of solution NMR mapping, molecular biology and computational docking to provide a structural and biophysical characterization of new neutralizing antibodies from Dengue virus recovered subjects, comparing the binding of the same antibody to the four Dengue serotypes and the binding of different antibodies to the same serotype. We were able to rationally mutate an antibody to first alter its selectivity for different viral strains and then increase its neutralization by ~40 folds. For the first time, this was achieved without the availability of an x-ray structure. In a second sub-project, I investigated the interaction of the chemokine CXCL12 with the chromatin-associated protein HMGB1, confirming their direct interaction (only proposed but never proved before) and providing a structural explanation for the HMGB1 dependent increase of CXCL12 cellular activity. High profile publications resulted from the two above projects. The above mentioned projects relied heavily on solution NMR spectroscopy, which is ideally suited to the atomic level characterization of intermolecular interfaces and, as a consequence, to antibody epitope discovery. Having provided a residue-level description of a protein-protein interface by NMR, we subsequently used this experimental information to guide and validate computational docking experiments aimed at providing a three dimensional structure of the protein-protein (or antibody-protein) complex of interest. In collaboration with other members of my research group I validated the use of NMR and computational simulations to study antibody-antigen interactions, publishing two reviews in collaboration with other members of my research group

Several works over the year

A presentation of eight works, one invited, was exhibited in the Weatherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, from January 5 to 12, 1970. 35mm color slides representing the exhibit are on file at the University of North Carolina Library in Greensboro

Regulation of Myosin II Isoform Localization and Activation during Insulin Stimulated Glucose Uptake in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes.

Insulin stimulated glucose uptake is a critical component of glucose homeostasis. The studies presented here show that myosin IIA is actively recruited to the plasma membrane upon insulin stimulation. I also show that inhibiting the interaction of myosin II with actin or inhibiting the activation of myosin II by myosin light chain kinase resulted in myosin IIA remaining localized to the perinuclear region of 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Based on my findings I hypothesized that the localization and activation of myosin IIA is regulated by the activation of the insulin signaling pathway. The studies presented here reveal underlying interactions and mechanisms affecting insulin stimulated glucose uptake providing important information that can be used to optimize current treatments or develop new treatments for type II diabetes

Metric displacement in the first movement of Brahms's Clarinet quintet, op. 115 : an analysis for performance

The complex interaction between meter and rhythm in Brahms's Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet in B Minor, op. 115, is considered especially challenging for performers. Transitional and developmental passages in the first movement of the quintet contain unusual patterns of accentuation and rhythmic grouping. These accentual patterns and rhythmic groups suggest metric structures that are in conflict with the notated meter. Consequently, a conflict exists between what performers hear and what they see in the notation. The purpose of the study is to analyze and clarify rhythmic ambiguities in metrically displaced passages in the first movement of the quintet

Varus/valgus and internal/external rotational knee joint stiffness in males and females

"The purpose of this investigation was to establish day to day reliability of varus/valgus and internal/external rotational stiffness measures and then compare stiffnesses between males and females. Twenty healthy college students underwent varus/valgus (non-weightbearing) and internal/external (non-weight and weightbearing) applied torques to 10, and 5 Nm, respectively. Ten subjects returned a second day to establish reliability measures. Stiffness constants were calculated for each displacement created by a .5 Nm incrementally applied torque. Results revealed mean female stiffness was significantly less than males for valgus, varus, and weightbearing external rotational stiffness. Interactions demonstrated that female knees were less stiff during initial loading. Female knee joint stiffness increased to equal male stiffness during internal rotation, external rotation, and weightbearing internal rotation. These results suggest that with respect to males, females are in different joint positions as loads are applied, potentially causing a need for alternate strategies to control joint orientation. "--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Effect of age and thirty minutes of exercise on prostacyclin/thromboxane A ratios and circulating concentrations of prostacyclin and thromboxane A

The effect thirty minutes of treadmill exercise on prostacyclin/thromboxane A2 (PGI2/TXA2) ratios, plasma PGI2 and TXA2 in young and older men, 27.8 ± 0.8 and 55.4 ± 1.3 years old, respectively, was determined. Exercise intensity was maintained at 70-75% of V02max. Venipuncture samples were taken at rest, immediately after exercise, and at thirty minutes recovery. Total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were determined from a serum sample taken at rest. Plasma 6-ketoprostaglandin F1 and TXB2 (i.e. stable metabolites of PGI2 and TXA2 respectively) were determined by radioimmunoassay. Plasma PGI2 and TXA2 were corrected for hemoconcentration; TXA2 was corrected for platelet count. Linoleic acid (LLA) intake and polyunsaturated/saturated fat ratios (P/S ratios) were estimated by four-day diet records