Alien Registration- Webber, Ross A. (Monroe, Waldo County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/5192/thumbnail.jp

Clathrate formation and dissociation in vapor/water/ice/hydrate systems in SBA-15, sol-gel and CPG porous media, as probed by NMR relaxation, novel protocol NMR cryoporometry, neutron scattering and ab initio quantum-mechanical molecular dynamics simulation

The Gibbs-Thomson effect modifies the pressure and temperature at which clathrates occur, hence altering the depth at which they occur in the seabed. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements as a function of temperature are being conducted for water/ice/ hydrate systems in a range of pore geometries, including templated SBA-15 silicas, controlled pore glasses and sol-gel silicas. Rotator-phase plastic ice is shown to be present in confined geometry, and bulk tetrahydrofuran hydrate is also shown to probably have a rotator phase. A novel NMR cryoporometry protocol, which probes both melting and freezing events while avoiding the usual problem of supercooling for the freezing event, has been developed. This enables a detailed probing of the system for a given pore size and geometry and the exploration of differences between hydrate formation and dissociation processes inside pores. These process differences have an important effect on the environment, as they impact on the ability of a marine hydrate system to re-form once warmed above a critical temperature. Ab initio quantum-mechanical molecular dynamics calculations are also being employed to probe the dynamics of liquids in pores at nanometric dimensions

Differential development of antibiotic resistance and virulence between Acinetobacter species

The two species that account for most cases of Acinetobacter-associated bacteraemia in the UK are Acinetobacter lwoffii, often a commensal but also an emerging pathogen, and A. baumannii, a well-known antibiotic-resistant species. While these species both cause similar types of human infection and occupy the same niche, A. lwoffii (unlike A. baumannii) has thus far remained susceptible to antibiotics. Comparatively little is known about the biology of A. lwoffii and this is the largest study on it conducted to date, providing valuable insights into its behaviour and potential threat to human health.This study aimed to explain the antibiotic susceptibility, virulence, and fundamental biological differences between these two species. The relative susceptibility of A. lwoffii, was explained as it encoded fewer antibiotic resistance and efflux pump genes than A. baumannii (9 and 30 respectively). While both species had markers of horizontal gene transfer, A. lwoffii encoded more DNA defence systems and harboured a far more restricted range of plasmids. Furthermore, A. lwoffii displayed a reduced ability to select for antibiotic resistance mutations, form biofilm and infect both in vivo and in vitro models of infection.This study suggests that the emerging pathogen A. lwoffii has remained susceptible to antibiotics because mechanisms exist to make it highly selective about the DNA it acquires, and we hypothesise that the fact that it only harbours a single RND system restricts the ability to select for resistance mutations. This provides valuable insights into how development of resistance can be constrained in Gram negative bacteria.Importance Acinetobacter lwoffii is often a harmless commensal but is also an emerging pathogen and is the most common cause of Acinetobacter-derived blood stream infections in England and Wales. In contrast to the well-studied, and often highly drug resistant A. baumannii, A. lwoffii has remained susceptible to antibiotics. This study explains why this organism has not evolved resistance to antibiotics. These new insights are important to understand why and how some species develop antibiotic resistance, while others do not and could inform future novel treatment strategies

Report of the Working Group on `W Mass and QCD' (Phenomenology Workshop on LEP2 Physics, Oxford, April 1997)

The W Mass and QCD Working Group discussed a wide variety of topics relating to present and future measurements of M(W) at LEP2, including QCD backgrounds to W+W- production. Particular attention was focused on experimental issues concerning the direct reconstruction and threshold mass measurements, and on theoretical and experimental issues concerning the four jet final state. This report summarises the main conclusions.Comment: 43 pages LaTeX and 15 encapsulated postscript figures. Uses epsfig and ioplppt macros. Full Proceedings to be published in Journal of Physics

Elephant crop-raiding and human-elephant conflict in Cambodia: crop selection and seasonal timings of raids

Elephants are threatened globally by habitat loss, poaching and accelerating levels of human-elephant conflict. For Elephas maximus in Cambodia, crop raiding underlies this conflict. Understanding the timing of raids and selection of crops can help design locally appropriate mitigation and management strategies. This study, using a 4-year database of events, investigated the most frequently raided crops and patterns of raids, over time and seasons and by location. Damage frequency varied significantly by crop, with rice, banana, cassava, sugar cane and papaya most frequently raided. Considering raid events per unit crop area, banana, sugar cane and pineapple were raided more than would be expected based on their availability. There were differences in both crop-raiding events and crop-damage frequencies over study years and there was a peak raiding season in October-December. Nationally, significant differences were found among provinces but not between years. Rates of damage decreased after mitigation strategies such as observation towers, deterrents and fences were implemented. We suggest further mechanisms to improve human-elephant conflict monitoring in relation to crop choice and availability

Cetacean diversity of the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and Vema Seamount detected during a visual and passive acoustic survey, 2019

This is the final version. Available from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this record. Cetaceans in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean are poorly studied. We present results from a 2 week ship-based survey from Cape Town to Vema Seamount (980 km to the west) during October–November 2019, including visual and towed-hydrophone observations from the vessel, and 10 days of acoustic monitoring on the seamount. Fifty-two hours of visual surveys resulted in 39 encounters of whale groups including seven of humpback, six of fin and one sei whale, as well as four unidentified baleen whales, 18 unidentified balaenopterid whales and four unidentified odontocetes. Two humpback whales at the seamount were engaged in possible feeding behaviour. A large aggregation of mostly fin whales was observed near the continental shelf edge (22 encounters over a 70 × 50 km2 area, six fin, one sei whale, 15 not confirmed to species), an historic whaling ground for both fin and sei whales. Towed-hydrophone data (78.7 h) detected five groups of sperm whales, 45 of delphinids, one beaked whale and no Kogiids. Acoustic data from the seamount detected calls from several baleen whale species including humpback whale non-song calls, Antarctic minke ‘bioduck’ calls, sei whale down-sweep calls and a likely Bryde's whale call. Two call types could not be assigned to species, including the most detected – a simple frequency-modulated call with peak power around 130 Hz. This study contributes to an improved understanding of cetacean occurrence in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and highlights the need for more research to improve identification of cetacean vocalizations in the region.Umweltstiftung Greenpeace Foundation, Hambur

Regulating Clothing Outwork: A Sceptic's View

By applying the strategies of international anti-sweatshop campaigns to the Australian context, recent regulations governing home-based clothing production hold retailers responsible for policing the wages and employment conditions of clothing outworkers who manufacture clothing on their behalf. This paper argues that the new approach oversimplifies the regulatory challenge by assuming (1) that Australian clothing production is organised in a hierarchical ‘buyer-led’ linear structure in which core retail firms have the capacity to control their suppliers’ behaviour; (2) that firms act as unitary moral agents; and (3) that interventions imported from other times and places are applicable to the contemporary Australian context. After considering some alternative regulatory approaches, the paper concludes that the new regulatory strategy effectively privatises responsibility for labour market conditions – a development that cries out for further debate

Toward a constructivist model of radicalization and deradicalization: a conceptual and methodological proposal.

© 2019 Feixas and Winter.This article identifies common features of existing models of radicalization and deradicalization, such as the transition from uncertainty to certainty, before integrating these in a model based upon personal construct theory. It is proposed that the personal construct concepts of validation and invalidation are particularly relevant to processes of identity change such as radicalization and deradicalization. Thus, it is argued that radicalization occurs when major invalidation of an individual’s construing is followed by the development of a new radicalized view of the world that provides a turning point in his or her sense of identity and a more structured and certain view of the world. There is likely to be seeking out of validation for this view in interactions with others who share similar views or by extorting evidence for the individual’s radical constructions. These constructions are likely to involve extreme negative views of another group, by contrast to members of which, and possibly by taking extreme action against this group, the individual’s new self-construction may become further defined. These same processes can be seen to operate in deradicalization, and it will therefore be argued that the model has implications for the development of deradicalization programs. A further advantage of the model is that it has an associated personal construct methodology, particularly repertory grid technique, that may be used to investigate processes of radicalization and deradicalization. As illustrations of such investigations, results will be summarized from a repertory grid study of Salafist Muslims in Tunisia, some of whom had returned from fighting in Syria, and an analysis of the writings of the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. The findings of these investigations are argued to be consistent with the personal construct model of radicalization and deradicalization.Peer reviewe