Re-drawing the thin blue line: Re-configuring the public interface of the Delft Police Station

This dissertation has two departure points: the social phenomena of crime, particularly in Delft, and a concern with the character of institutional buildings, particularly in 'township' areas. These two departure points intersect in an interrogation of the police station as an architectural type, particularly the Delft Police Station. The police are often referred to as the 'thin blue line', suggesting an agency that delicately differentiates between the community and criminal activity. The apartheid era has left this line thickened and its effects are still felt in the buildings that it left behind, despite the shift from a police force to a police service, post-1994. This dissertation hopes to reconfigure this line in both; a physical way, through built form but also a social way, using mixture of programme. To produce a building that encourages interaction with the vibrant community, Delft

Inherent requirements of a job as a defence to unfair discrimination

Equality is a fundamental constitutional value in the Constitution. Formal equality presupposes that all persons are equal bearers of rights and that inequality can be eliminated by extending the same rights to all. Formal equality is blind to social and economic differences between groups and individuals. Substantive equality, on the other hand, is receptive to entrenched, structural inequality, meaning that the equality clause of the Constitution must be read as founded on a substantive concept of equality. An employer can utilise the defence of an inherent requirement of a job in the case of an unfair-discrimination claim since the defence is available in terms of both the Employment Equity Act, in respect of employment discrimination, and the Labour Relations Act in respect of discriminatory dismissals. The defence is narrow in that only essential duties of a particular job will be taken into account to determine inherent requirements of a particular job. Reported judgments where this defence is used are scant. What makes the defence more onerous is that an employer has to show that the particular employee could not be reasonably accommodated, before the inherent-requirement defence will succeed. It is integral to the determination of whether there was unfair discrimination and whether such discrimination was justifiable. An important debate in our discrimination law relates to the question of whether any significance should be attached to the fact that only unfair discrimination is outlawed. Neither of the aforementioned pieces of legislation clearly state that affirmative action or an inherent requirement of a job are the only defences available to employers. Where these two defences are found to be not applicable, may the fairness be decided in terms of a general fairness defence? This question is also addressed in the present treatise. It is submitted that foreign law is a valuable interpretive tool, provided it is used wisely, in that judgments originating from courts and tribunals in the United Kingdom and Canada may assist to provide an understanding of the issues central to employment discrimination law and the parameters of the defence of inherent requirements of the job. Thus, in developing employment discrimination law in South Africa, consideration of foreign jurisprudence may prove informative

Ultra-compact on-chip metaline-based 1.3/1.6 μm wavelength demultiplexer

International audienceIn this article, we report an experimental demonstration of enabling technology exploiting resonant properties of plasmonic nanoparticles, for the realization of wavelength sensitive ultra-minituarized (4×4 µm) optical metadevices. To this end the example of a 1.3/1.6 µm wavelength demultiplexer is considered. Its technological implementation is based on the integration of gold cut wire based metalines on the top of a silicon on insulator waveguide. The plasmonic metalines modify locally the effective index of the Si waveguide and thus allow for the implementation of wavelength dependent optical pathways. The 1.3/1.6µm wavelength separation with extinction ratio between two demultiplexer's channels reaching up to 20dB is experimentally demonstrated. The considered approach, which can be readily adapted to other planar lightwave circuits platforms and nanoresonators of different types of materials, is suited for the implementation of a generic family of wavelength sensitive guided wave optical metadevices. http://dx

Anthropogenic supply of nutrients in a wildlife reserve may compromise conservation success

In nutrient-poor wildlife reserves it has become common-practice to provide supplemental mineral resources for wildlife. Yet, the impacts of anthropogenic mineral supplementation on large herbivore nutrition, behaviour, and subsequent impact on ecosystem processes have received little attention. Here, we examine the contribution of anthropogenic mineral lick provision to wildlife nutrient intake across a community of mammalian herbivores (>10 kg) in the southern Kalahari Desert. Based on predicted daily nutrient intake and a faecal nutrient assessment, many large herbivore species appear deficient in phosphorus (P), sodium (Na), or zinc (Zn). For these nutrients, anthropogenic salt and mineral licks constitute an important source of nutrient intake helping to reduce or overcome requirement deficits. Larger-bodied species disproportionately consumed licks, acquiring more nutritional benefits. A comprehensive assessment of animal body condition indicated that, in general, large herbivores display good health. However, bulk grazers, non-ruminants and females displayed poorer body condition. We discuss how provisioning of anthropogenic mineral licks may inflate large herbivore populations beyond the long-term carrying capacity of the reserve by decoupling wildlife fecundity from nutrient-related feedbacks on population growth. Over time, this could compromise ecosystem integrity through habitat degradation, modified species interactions and trophic cascades. Based on results presented here, it is clear that anthropogenic provisioning of mineral licks should be considered cautiously by wildlife managers aiming to conserve natural processes in landscapes

A model for simulating structure-function relationships in walnut tree growth processes.

An ecophysiological growth process model, called INCA, for simulating the growth and development of a young walnut tree (Juglans regia L.) during three or four years, is presented. This tool, currently under development, aims at integrating architectural and physiological knowledge of the processes involved, in order to give a more rational understanding of the pruning operation. The model describes a simple three-dimensional representation of tree crown, solar radiation interception, photosynthesis, respiration, growth and partitioning of assimilates to leaves, stems, branches and roots. It supports the hypothesis that the tree grows as a collection of semiautonomous, interacting organs that compete for resources, based on daily sink strengths and proximity to sources. The actual growth rate of organs is not predetermined by empirical data, but reflects the pattern of available resources. The major driving variables are solar radiation, temperature, topological, geometrical and physiological factors. Outputs are hourly and daily photosynthate production and respiration, daily dimensional growth, starch storage, biomass production and total number of different types of organ. The user can interact or override any or all of the input variables to examine the effects of such changes on photosynthate production and growth. Within INCA, the tree entities and the surrounding environment are structured in a frame-based representation whereas the processes are coded in a rule-based language. The simulation mechanism is primarily based on the rule chaining capabilities of an inference engine

The actin-based motor protein myosin II regulates MHC class II trafficking and BCR-driven antigen presentation

Antigen (Ag) capture and presentation onto major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules by B lymphocytes is mediated by their surface Ag receptor (B cell receptor [BCR]). Therefore, the transport of vesicles that carry MHC class II and BCR–Ag complexes must be coordinated for them to converge for processing. In this study, we identify the actin-associated motor protein myosin II as being essential for this process. Myosin II is activated upon BCR engagement and associates with MHC class II–invariant chain complexes. Myosin II inhibition or depletion compromises the convergence and concentration of MHC class II and BCR–Ag complexes into lysosomes devoted to Ag processing. Accordingly, the formation of MHC class II–peptides and subsequent CD4 T cell activation are impaired in cells lacking myosin II activity. Therefore, myosin II emerges as a key motor protein in BCR-driven Ag processing and presentation

Properties of Saturn Kilometric Radiation measured within its source region

On 17 October 2008, the Cassini spacecraft crossed the southern sources of Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR), while flying along high-latitude nightside magnetic field lines. In situ measurements allowed us to characterize for the first time the source region of an extra-terrestrial auroral radio emission. Using radio, magnetic field and particle observations, we show that SKR sources are surrounded by a hot tenuous plasma, in a region of upward field-aligned currents. Magnetic field lines supporting radio sources map a continuous, high-latitude and spiral-shaped auroral oval observed on the dawnside, consistent with enhanced auroral activity. Investigating the Cyclotron Maser Instability (CMI) as a mechanism responsible for SKR generation, we find that observed cutoff frequencies are consistent with radio waves amplified perpendicular to the magnetic field by hot (6 to 9 keV) resonant electrons, measured locally

Changes of the Membrane Lipid Organization Characterized by Means of a New Cholesterol-Pyrene Probe

We synthesized 3β-hydroxy-pregn-5-ene-21-(1-methylpyrenyl)-20-methylidene (Py-met-chol), consisting of cholesterol steroid rings connected to a pyrene group via a linker without polar atoms. This compound has interesting spectroscopic properties when probing membranes: 1), The pyrene has hypochromic properties resulting from probe self-association processes in membranes. Using liposomes of various lipid compositions, we determined the association constants of the probe (K): KDOPC ≫ KPOPC ≫ KDMPC > KDMPC/15 mol % Chol > KDMPC/30 mol % Chol. This indicates a better probe solvation in saturated than in unsaturated lipids, and this effect is enhanced as the cholesterol concentration increases. 2), The pyrene fluorophore is characterized by monomer (I1–I5) and excimer (IE) emission bands. In model membranes, I1/I3 and IE/I3 ratios revealed a correlation between the polarity of the lipid core of the membrane and the amount of cholesterol. 3), Using this probe, we monitored the first steps of the signaling pathway of the mouse δ-opioid receptor, a G-protein-coupled receptor. The thickness of the membrane around this receptor is known to change after agonist binding. Fluorescence spectra of living Chinese hamster ovary cells overexpressing mouse δ-opioid receptor specifically revealed the agonist binding. These results indicate that Py-met-chol may be useful for screening ligands of this family of receptors

A Federated Database for Obesity Research:An IMI-SOPHIA Study

Obesity is considered by many as a lifestyle choice rather than a chronic progressive disease. The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) SOPHIA (Stratification of Obesity Phenotypes to Optimize Future Obesity Therapy) project is part of a momentum shift aiming to provide better tools for the stratification of people with obesity according to disease risk and treatment response. One of the challenges to achieving these goals is that many clinical cohorts are siloed, limiting the potential of combined data for biomarker discovery. In SOPHIA, we have addressed this challenge by setting up a federated database building on open-source DataSHIELD technology. The database currently federates 16 cohorts that are accessible via a central gateway. The database is multi-modal, including research studies, clinical trials, and routine health data, and is accessed using the R statistical programming environment where statistical and machine learning analyses can be performed at a distance without any disclosure of patient-level data. We demonstrate the use of the database by providing a proof-of-concept analysis, performing a federated linear model of BMI and systolic blood pressure, pooling all data from 16 studies virtually without any analyst seeing individual patient-level data. This analysis provided similar point estimates compared to a meta-analysis of the 16 individual studies. Our approach provides a benchmark for reproducible, safe federated analyses across multiple study types provided by multiple stakeholders.</p

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000