Passive remote sensing of columnar water vapour content above land surfaces. Part I: Theoretical algorithm development - Part II: Comparison of OVID measurements with radiosonde and DIAL measurements

Various efforts are currently being made to develop remote sensing techniques for high accuracy determination of atmospheric columnar water vapour content above land surfaces. Most of those algorithms are based on radiative transfer calcu lations, however, which have to be verified by spectral airborne or satellite measurements. Initial verification of a new algorithm with the aid of airborne spectral data using the spectrometer OVID (Optical Visible and near Infrared Detector), an airborne water vapour DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar), an airc;raft humicap sensor and radiosonde data is performed dUIing a flight experiment over Southern Germany. This water vapour algorithm is also dedicated to the MERIS (MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) in strument on board ESA's satellite ENVISAT which will be launched 1999. Spatial water vapour gradients of &120 = 0.1 g/cm2 over a distance of 100 km were resolved by applying the OVID measurements. The error estimation of the absolute value of the retrieved water vapour contents poses· some problems due to insufficient additional temporal and spatial radiosonde data. However, the principal feasibility has been prove

The complications of ‘hiring a hubby’: gender relations and the commoditisation of home maintenance in New Zealand

This paper examines the commoditization of traditionally male domestic tasks through interviews with handymen who own franchises in the company ‘Hire a Hubby’ in New Zealand and homeowners who have paid for home repair tasks to be done. Discussions of the commoditization of traditionally female tasks in the home have revealed the emotional conflicts of paying others to care as well as the exploitative and degrading conditions that often arise when work takes place behind closed doors. By examining the working conditions and relationships involved when traditionally male tasks are paid for, this paper raises important questions about the valuing of reproductive labour and the production of gendered identities. The paper argues that while working conditions and rates of pay for ‘hubbies’ are better than those for people undertaking commoditized forms of traditionally female domestic labour, the negotiation of this work is still complex and implicated in gendered relations and identities. Working on the home was described by interviewees as an expression of care for family and a performance of the ‘right’ way to be a ‘Kiwi bloke’ and a father. Paying others to do this labour can imply a failure in a duty of care and in the performance of masculinity

Situationally edited empathy: an effect of socio-economic structure on individual choice

Criminological theory still operates with deficient models of the offender as agent, and of social influences on the agent’s decision-making process. This paper takes one ‘emotion’, empathy, which is theoretically of considerable importance in influencing the choices made by agents; particularly those involving criminal or otherwise harmful action. Using a framework not of rational action, but of ‘rationalised action’, the paper considers some of the effects on individual psychology of social, economic, political and cultural structure. It is suggested that the climate-setting effects of these structures promote normative definitions of social situations which allow unempathic, harmful action to be rationalised through the situational editing of empathy. The ‘crime is normal’ argument can therefore be extended to include the recognition that the uncompassionate state of mind of the criminal actor is a reflection of the self-interested values which govern non-criminal action in wider society

Musical organics: a heterarchical approach to digital organology

Gaining a comprehensive understanding of new musical technologies is fraught with difficulties. The digital materials from which they are formed are of such diverse origins and nature, that they do not match traditional organological classifications. This article traces the history of musical instrument classifications relevant to the understanding of new instruments, and proposes an alternative approach to the centuries-old tree-structure of downwards divisions. The proposed musical organics is a multi-dimensional, heterarchical, and organic approach to the analysis and classification of both traditional and new musical instruments that suits the rhizomatic nature of their material design and technical origins. Outlines of a hypothetical organological informatics retrieval system are also presented

The small molecule curcumin analog FLLL32 induces apoptosis in melanoma cells via STAT3 inhibition and retains the cellular response to cytokines with anti-tumor activity

Background: We characterized the biologic effects of a novel small molecule STAT3 pathway inhibitor that is derived from the natural product curcumin. We hypothesized this lead compound would specifically inhibit the STAT3 signaling pathway to induce apoptosis in melanoma cells. Results: FLLL32 specifically reduced STAT3 phosphorylation at Tyr705 (pSTAT3) and induced apoptosis at micromolar amounts in human melanoma cell lines and primary melanoma cultures as determined by annexin V/propidium iodide staining and immunoblot analysis. FLLL32 treatment reduced expression of STAT3-target genes, induced caspase-dependent apoptosis, and reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. FLLL32 displayed specificity for STAT3 over other homologous STAT proteins. In contrast to other STAT3 pathway inhibitors (WP1066, JSI-124, Stattic), FLLL32 did not abrogate IFN-γ-induced pSTAT1 or downstream STAT1-mediated gene expression as determined by Real Time PCR. In addition, FLLL32 did not adversely affect the function or viability of immune cells from normal donors. In peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), FLLL32 inhibited IL-6-induced pSTAT3 but did not reduce signaling in response to immunostimulatory cytokines (IFN-γ, IL 2). Treatment of PBMCs or natural killer (NK) cells with FLLL32 also did not decrease viability or granzyme b and IFN-γ production when cultured with K562 targets as compared to vehicle (DMSO). Conclusions: These data suggest that FLLL32 represents a lead compound that could serve as a platform for further optimization to develop improved STAT3 specific inhibitors for melanoma therapy

The employment of migrant nannies in the UK: negotiating social class in an open market for commoditised in-home care

Migrant women are important sources of labour in the commoditised in-home childcare sector in many regions of the UK. Jobs in this sector, which include nannies as well as au pairs, babysitters, housekeepers and mothers' helps, are often low paid and low status with pay and conditions being determined by employers' circumstances and whims. This article draws on primary data and secondary sources to illustrate the ways in which employers compare migrant nannies with British nannies and other childcare workers in terms of the social class and formal education levels of different groups, with the aim of explaining why migrants are perceived as high-quality candidates for what are often low-paid, low-status jobs. I argue that employers negotiate inter-class relations in this gendered form of employment by understanding their relationship with the migrant nannies they have employed in the context of broader global inequalities—these inequalities are then reproduced and reaffirmed in private homes and across UK culture and society

Taxonomy and structure of the Romanian personality lexicon

We identified 1746 personality-relevant trait-adjectives in a Romanian dictionary, of which 412 were classified as descriptors of dispositions by 10 judges. Self-ratings were collected from 515 participants on those 412 adjectives, and the ratings were factored using principal components analysis. Solutions with different numbers of factors were analysed. The two- and three-factor solutions, respectively, confirmed the Big Two and Big Three of personality traits. A five-factor solution reflected the Big Five model with a fifth factor emphasising Rebelliousness versus Conventionality. The five-factor solution was related to the International Personality Item Pool-Big Five scales, and the highest correlations were indeed between the corresponding factors and scales. A six-factor solution was indicative of the six-factor model as expressed in the HEXACO model, yet with a weak Honesty-Humility factor. Additional analysis with self-ratings from 218 participants on marker-scales for the six-factor solution and on the six scales of the HEXACO did not produce a clear one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of scales, confirming indeed that the six-factor model was only partially found

Ligand binding to an Allergenic Lipid Transfer Protein Enhances Conformational Flexibility resulting in an Increase in Susceptibility to Gastroduodenal Proteolysis

Non-specific lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are a family of lipid-binding molecules that are widely distributed across flowering plant species, many of which have been identified as allergens. They are highly resistant to simulated gastroduodenal proteolysis, a property that may play a role in determining their allergenicity and it has been suggested that lipid binding may further increase stability to proteolysis. It is demonstrated that LTPs from wheat and peach bind a range of lipids in a variety of conditions, including those found in the gastroduodenal tract. Both LTPs are initially cleaved during gastroduodenal proteolysis at three major sites between residues 39–40, 56–57 and 79–80, with wheat LTP being more resistant to cleavage than its peach ortholog. The susceptibility of wheat LTP to proteolyic cleavage increases significantly upon lipid binding. This enhanced digestibility is likely to be due to the displacement of Tyr79 and surrounding residues from the internal hydrophobic cavity upon ligand binding to the solvent exposed exterior of the LTP, facilitating proteolysis. Such knowledge contributes to our understanding as to how resistance to digestion can be used in allergenicity risk assessment of novel food proteins, including GMOs

Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics

The atmospheric greenhouse effect, an idea that many authors trace back to the traditional works of Fourier (1824), Tyndall (1861), and Arrhenius (1896), and which is still supported in global climatology, essentially describes a fictitious mechanism, in which a planetary atmosphere acts as a heat pump driven by an environment that is radiatively interacting with but radiatively equilibrated to the atmospheric system. According to the second law of thermodynamics such a planetary machine can never exist. Nevertheless, in almost all texts of global climatology and in a widespread secondary literature it is taken for granted that such mechanism is real and stands on a firm scientific foundation. In this paper the popular conjecture is analyzed and the underlying physical principles are clarified. By showing that (a) there are no common physical laws between the warming phenomenon in glass houses and the fictitious atmospheric greenhouse effects, (b) there are no calculations to determine an average surface temperature of a planet, (c) the frequently mentioned difference of 33 degrees Celsius is a meaningless number calculated wrongly, (d) the formulas of cavity radiation are used inappropriately, (e) the assumption of a radiative balance is unphysical, (f) thermal conductivity and friction must not be set to zero, the atmospheric greenhouse conjecture is falsified.Comment: 115 pages, 32 figures, 13 tables (some typos corrected

Too Masculine, Too Bad Effects of Communion on Leaders’ Promotion of Cooperation

This study challenges researchers and practitioners in the field of leadership to consider communion as a relevant variable for (male) leadership effectiveness. We suggest that communal traits influence the ability of male leaders to engender cooperation and that this effect is stronger in male-dominated contexts. We argue that this is because relevant traits and leadership behaviors that underscore a sense of community are associated with stereotypically feminine roles and identity. In a series of three studies, experimental as well as survey-based, using Spanish, Dutch, and American samples, we examined such gendered construction of male leadership and its effects on cooperation. Among others, results are discussed in terms of how stereotypically masculine constructions of male leadership may create barriers to effective leadership