Portfolio Infrastructure Investments: an Analysis of the European and UK Cases

Infrastructure has been receiving much attention in recent years. Investment banks and fund managers are increasingly promoting the investment characteristics of infrastructure assets and they argue that investing in infrastructure should be ideal for institutional investors such as pension funds. However, the claim lacks empirical support. We suggest that the limited research on infrastructure is mainly due to scant empirical data. The objectives of this paper are to examine the significance of economic infrastructure as an asset class by assessing the investment characteristics and performance of infrastructure indexes in Europe and UK from 2000-2014, to analyse how an infrastructure portfolio should be constructed and to determine whether the private sector should invest in an infrastructure portfolio containing a variety of infrastructure sectors or if the private sector should invest in one specific sector only

Living with infertility: an exploratory study of men’s experience

Research on the infertility realm is mostly dominated by the female experience and on gender differences. Despite the fact that half of the infertility issues are associated with men, research on the male experience remains limited. There has recently been a change since more studies have been carried out, but the gap remains vast. This study attends to the research imbalance and aims to minimise the gap even further. It gives men a voice in the infertility realm by shedding more light on their experience. It captures how men conceptualise their infertility, what it means to become a father and the impact their condition has on their sense of Self. The aims of the study were addressed by exploring the experience of five men with an exclusively male factor infertility. After careful consideration, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was deemed the most suitable methodology and two interviews were carried out with each participant. Following the analysis of the data, four major themes were established. These were the emerging notion of fatherhood, the disempowering impact of infertility, responding to the limitations of infertility and placing infertility in a relational frame. This study makes a significant contribution as it provides a rich exploration of the male experience and makes an important addition to the limited research on male infertility. It also highlights how essential it is to provide this client group with an easier access to psychological interventions. The provision of information in a written format and the availability of online forums are also discussed as possible ways of supporting men with an infertility diagnosis

Identification and characterization of novel enzymes in mitochondrial and cytosolic nucleotide metabolism

Nucleotides need to be synthesized within the cells since there are no carrier proteins for them in the cell membrane and their negatively charged phosphate groups prevent diffusion across the membrane. There are two main pathways for nucleotide synthesis: the de novo pathway and the salvage pathway. Both pathways involve several phosphorylation steps that result in the synthesis of the nucleoside triphosphates. The enzymes that catalyze the conversion of the nucleoside monophosphates to their corresponding diphosphates are called nucleoside monophosphate kinases (NMPKs). A subgroup of NMPKs is the adenylate kinase (AK) family that catalyzes the nucleotide phosphoryl exchange reaction between adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and thus regulates adenine nucleotide ratios in different intracellular compartments. The previously characterized AK5 was shown to be the second domain of a holoenzyme that we characterized in this thesis. The full-length AK5 exists in two similar transcript variants that differ in a 26 amino acid fragment in the N-terminus. AK5 is cytosolic or both cytosolic and nuclear depending on the transcript variant and it was shown to have two separate functional domains with the same AK activity. Both the full-length AK5 and its first domain phosphorylate AMP, deoxyadenosine monophosphate (dAMP), cytidine monophosphate (CMP) and deoxycytidine monophosphate (dCMP) with ATP or guanosine triphosphate (GTP) as phosphate donors. Human AK4 was previously characterized as a mitochondrial enzyme but no enzymatic activity was confirmed. In this thesis, AK4 was further characterized and we were able to detect enzymatic activity. AK4 phosphorylates AMP, dAMP, CMP and dCMP with ATP or GTP as phosphate donors and kinetic studies showed that AMP is the preferred substrate. The mitochondrial import sequence of AK4 was found to be located within the first N-terminal 11 amino acid residues, very close to the ATP-binding site of the enzyme. Import analysis suggested that the mitochondrial import sequence is not cleaved and thus AK4 retains its activity upon entering the mitochondria. In an attempt to complete the picture of the family of human AK isozymes, we characterized the previously identified AK7 and furthermore, we identified and characterized a novel AK which we named AK8. AK8 proved to have two functional domains. AK7, full-length AK8 and the two domains of AK8, all phosphorylate AMP, dAMP, CMP and dCMP with ATP as phosphate donor but also AMP, CMP and dCMP with GTP as phosphate donor. Kinetic studies showed that both enzymes are more efficient in AMP phosphorylation compared with the major cytosolic isoform AK1. Both AK7 and AK8 are located in the cytosol. In our last study, we used previously generated and characterized CEM cells, resistant to the nucleoside analog 9-β-D-arabinofuranosylguanine (araG). By using microarrays, several genes with different biological functions were found to be down- or up-regulated. The main cytosolic AK isoform, AK1 was shown to be up-regulated, a finding that was further investigated both at the gene expression and the protein expression level. The study suggested that increased AK activity might contribute to araG resistance

Κύπρος 1882: Κέντρο υποδοχής προσφύγων μετά την επανάσταση του Άραμπι στην Αίγυπτο

Please note: this article is in Greek. Cyprus 1882: a “safe haven” for refugees after the Arabi revolt in Egypt: Four years after the British takeover of Cyprus, a crisis in Egypt tested the island. This article aims to present the use of Cyprus by the British during the 1882 Arabi revolt and “Egyptian campaign”, as a place of refuge for European and Ottoman refugees from Egypt. This role Cyprus played has been so far neglected in the relevant literature; here it will be shown how the island was used to accommodate refugees. Using material from the British and Cypriot archives and from the Greek and British newspapers of the island (the latter providing information that was not found in any other account) the paper highlights how the British and Cyprus funds were used for the relief of the refugees and the way the people of the island reacted when faced with such a humanitarian crisis

Harbours, harbour works and commerce in Cyprus, 1878-1910

The lack of harbour facilities was always a setback in the financial development of Cyprus. The paper aims to describe the harbour facilities of the island in 1878–1879, and to analyse how the harbour works in Limasol, Larnaca and Kyrenia in 1881, 1882 and 1890 respectively and in Famagusta harbour in 1905, affected the shipping and commercial activity of the coastal towns. At the same time it will outline how much was spent on the harbour works and its authorisation. All of these factors will highlight to what extent the harbour works contributed to the economic development of Cyprus

Characterisation of the anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effects of natriuretic peptides in rodents.

Natriuretic peptides are a family of vasoactive hormones that play important roles in cardiovascular homeostasis. These peptides exert biological effects primarily via activation of guanylate cyclase (GC)-coupled natriuretic peptide receptors (NPR) that generate the intracellular messenger cyclic guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP). Activation of the cytosolic GC by NO is well-established to mediate cGMP-dependent, anti-atherogenic effects however, an analogous cytoprotective role for natriuretic peptides has yet to be fully elucidated. Since many cardiovascular disorders (e.g. atherosclerosis, septic shock) are now accepted as inflammation-based diseases, identification of potential roles for natriuretic peptides in regulating vascular inflammation might assist in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular pathology. The studies described in this thesis investigated the hypothesis that natriuretic peptides (i.e. atrial natriuretic peptide ANP , C-type natriuretic peptide CNP ) affect pro-inflammatory protein expression (i.e. inducible NO synthase, iNOS) and cell proliferation via activation of GC-linked NPR. Herein, it is demonstrated that in NPR-A knockout mice, iNOS expression and NO production in response to intravenous administration of bacterial lipopolysaccharide is significantly reduced compared to wild-type controls this difference is mirrored in the ex vivo functional reactivity of vessels from such animals. However, neither ANP nor CNP were able to alter iNOS expression or NO production in vitro in RAW264.7 murine macrophages or primary rat aortic smooth muscle cells. CNP, but not ANP, transiently enhanced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2. CNP-induced ERK 1/2 phosphorylation was blocked by the selective ERK 1/2 inhibitor PD98059, the Gj-protein inhibitor Pertussis toxin, and the selective NPR-C antagonist M372049. Accordingly, CNP inhibited vascular smooth muscle proliferation in a PD98059- and M372049-reversible manner. These observations suggest that part of the anti-atherogenic profile of CNP is mediated via NPR-C, Gi-dependent ERK 1/2 phosphorylation and inhibition of vascular smooth muscle proliferation. Moreover, my findings identify a potential pro-inflammatory role for ANP/NPR-A-dependent signalling in vivo

Thermal performance of dwellings in Cyprus and approaches for energy conservation

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityEnergy has always been the dominant driving force for the socio-economic development of mankind. Nowadays, the global energy system is highly depended on fossil fuels. A great share of the final energy consumption, over 40%, in the EU-27 is consumed by the existing building stock whereas dwellings account for 66.62% of this. Thus, the need to increase the energy performance of dwellings is an important instrument in the efforts to lessen Europe’s energy dependency. In order to define measures to increase the energy performance of dwellings a deeper understanding of their characteristics should be gained. Unfortunately, in Cyprus there is a gap in knowledge on this aspect. In this thesis the characteristics of the dwellings in Cyprus are defined through a sample of 500 dwellings. The results revealed that more than 80% of dwellings in Cyprus do not have thermal insulation installed on their envelope. From this it is clear that the definition of the optimum thermal insulation material to be applied in dwellings is very important. Thus, the commercially available thermal insulation materials and topologies used in Cyprus were reviewed and defined through a market survey and the typical dwelling was modelled. The effect of the application of thermal insulation to its energy behaviour was simulated using TRNSYS. This resulted in the definition of the optimum thermal insulation materials and topologies to be applied in both new and existing dwellings. Accordingly, the application of advanced commercially available materials such as Phase Change Materials (PCM) to the envelope of the typical dwelling was investigated. The energy savings achieved by the addition of a PCM layer on the envelope of the typical dwelling was found to be 28.6%. The optimum PCM case was also combined with the optimum thermal insulation combination and an energy saving of 68% was predicted. The incorporation of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) to the typical dwelling was also simulated and studied. Specifically, two types of standalone RES systems were initially evaluated; a solely photovoltaic (PV) system and a hybrid PV-Wind system. The results showed that the solely PV system is a much better option due to the very high solar potential of Cyprus in comparison to the poor wind profile of the island. Subsequently, a grid-connected PV system was also evaluated and the results showed that when a RES system is grid-connected the cost of the system is reduced to half of that of the standalone cases. This research has revealed that the optimum topology combinations to be applied in both new and existing dwellings in Cyprus is thermal insulation plaster or thermal insulation bricks (only for new dwellings) on the external walls combined with expanded polystyrene on the roof. These results will provide valuable information that will assist both engineers and architects in the efficient design of dwellings in Cyprus. The investigation of the application of macroencapsulated PCM showed that these materials are not yet an economically viable solution for application in Cyprus The findings also show that a solely PV system is the optimum RES system to be applied in Cyprus especially when it is grid-connected. The findings of this project are useful for individuals, house builders and designers as well as policy makers for the design of energy saving subsidy schemes.Research Promotion Foundation (RPF) of Cypru