Externalities revisited: the use of an environmental equity account

This exploratory paper attempts to restart a debate about the incorporation of environmental externalities into the cost structure of the organisation. A number approaches are considered; regulation together with all that would follow such as audit and policing; pollution permits, which probably can only be used with a sinking lid application; and other charging mechanisms such as making the private sector pay for public sector capital funding. The fourth alternative, the use of an environmental equity account, has not been widely considered in the literature. The paper proposes the use of an environmental equity account (after Boone and Rubenstein, 1997) with the express intent of generating a charge for environmental impact based on the cost of control. That is, the cost of implementing state of the art technology compared to that currently in use within the organisation, is used as a balance which may be either paid as a capital sum or carried as a balance sheet entry upon which dividend payments would have to be made. It is envisaged that both capital sums and dividend payments would go to an agency responsible for environmental remediation activity

The Role of Non-Neuronal Acetylcholine in Urogenital Chlamydial Infection

Chlamydia trachomatiscauses a bacterial sexually transmitted infection, Chlamydia, that is often chronic and casues reproductive complications in women. We hypothesized that Chlamydia infection increases local acetylcholine (ACh) production, which regulates the host’s inflammatory response to the infection. Female mice infected with C. muridarumwere sacrificed at days 3, 9, 15, and 21 post-infection, genital tract tissues harvested, and immunohistochemistry performed to enumerate ACh-producing cells. Infection increased the number of ACh-producing cells in cervical tissue at days 3,15, and 21 post-infection (pi), uterine tissue at day 3 and 9 pi, and ovarian tissue day 3, 15, and 21 pi. These findings suggest that C. trachomatis increases ACh production, which may suppress the host’s immunity and aid in establishing chronic infection

Studies in Medium-Sized-Ring Compounds

Abstract Not Provided

Deformations of calibrated subbundles of Euclidean spaces via twisting by special sections

We extend the "bundle constructions" of calibrated submanifolds, due to Harvey--Lawson in the special Lagrangian case, and to Ionel--Karigiannis--Min-Oo in the cases of exceptional calibrations, by "twisting" the bundles by a special (harmonic, holomorphic, parallel) section of a complementary bundle. The existence of such deformations shows that the moduli space of calibrated deformations of these "calibrated subbundles" includes deformations which destroy the linear structure of the fibre.Comment: 16 pages, no figures. Version 2: Only minor cosmetic and typographical revisions. To appear in "Annals of Global Analysis and Geometry.

Proteinase-activated receptor-2 modulates human macrophage differentiation andeffector function

Proteinase-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) was shown to influence immune regulation; however, its role in human macrophage subset development and function has not been addressed. Here, PAR-2 expression and activation was investigated on granulocyte macrophage (GM)-CSF(M1) and macrophage (M)-CSF(M2) macrophages. In both macrophages, the PAR-2-activating peptide, SLIGKV, increased PAR-2 expression and regulated TNF-α and IL-10 secretion in a manner similar to LPS. In addition, HLA-DR on M1 cells also increased. Monocytes matured to an M1 phenotype in the presence of SLIGKV had reduced cell area, and released less TNF-α after LPS challenge compared with vehicle (P < 0.05, n = 3). Cells matured to an M2 phenotype with SLIGKV also had a reduced cell area and made significantly more TNF-α after LPS exposure compared to vehicle (P < 0.05, n = 3) with reduced IL-10 secretion (P < 0.05, n = 3). Thus, PAR-2 activation on macrophage subsets regulates HLA-DR and PAR-2 surface expression, and drives cytokine production. In contrast, PAR-2 activation during M1 or M2 maturation induces altered cell morphology and skewing of phenotype, as evidenced by cytokine secretion. These data suggest a complex role for PAR-2 in macrophage biology and may have implications for macrophage-driven disease in which proteinase-rich environments can influence the immune process directly

A Slowly Precessing Disk in the Nucleus of M31 as the Feeding Mechanism for a Central Starburst

We present a kinematic study of the nuclear stellar disk in M31 at infrared wavelengths using high spatial resolution integral field spectroscopy. The spatial resolution achieved, FWHM = 0."12 (0.45 pc at the distance of M31), has only previously been equaled in spectroscopic studies by space-based long-slit observations. Using adaptive optics-corrected integral field spectroscopy from the OSIRIS instrument at the W. M. Keck Observatory, we map the line-of-sight kinematics over the entire old stellar eccentric disk orbiting the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at a distance of r<4 pc. The peak velocity dispersion is 381+/-55 km/s , offset by 0.13 +/- 0.03 from the SMBH, consistent with previous high-resolution long-slit observations. There is a lack of near-infrared (NIR) emission at the position of the SMBH and young nuclear cluster, suggesting a spatial separation between the young and old stellar populations within the nucleus. We compare the observed kinematics with dynamical models from Peiris & Tremaine (2003). The best-fit disk orientation to the NIR flux is [$\theta_l$, $\theta_i$, $\theta_a$] = [-33 +/- 4$^{\circ}$, 44 +/- 2$^{\circ}$, -15 +/- 15$^{\circ}$], which is tilted with respect to both the larger-scale galactic disk and the best-fit orientation derived from optical observations. The precession rate of the old disk is $\Omega_P$ = 0.0 +/- 3.9 km/s/pc, lower than the majority of previous observations. This slow precession rate suggests that stellar winds from the disk will collide and shock, driving rapid gas inflows and fueling an episodic central starburst as suggested in Chang et al. (2007).Comment: accepted by Ap

Principal Consumer: President Biden\u27s Approach To Intelligence

United States President Joe Biden has been in government since 1973. Despite the changing nature of international relations since then, his approach to intelligence has remained consistent and stable, including his enthusiasm for national intelligence and uneasiness about militarizing it. This article assesses United States President Joe Biden\u27s approach to intelligence. It evaluates his evolving relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency and the rest of the intelligence community from the early 1970s, when he was elected to Congress, to the early 2020s, when he became the forty-sixth president of the United States. It concludes that, against the ever-changing context of international affairs, from the late Cold War to the global \u27war on terror\u27, Biden\u27s approach to intelligence has remained consistent and stable, showing, on the one hand, enthusiasm for the production of national intelligence, and, on the other, a marked uneasiness about paramilitary covert action and the militarization of intelligence. The discussion that follows speaks to a larger debate, dating to the 1940s and still ongoing, in the executive and legislative branches of government, concerning the purposes and proper use of intelligence. This will interest policy-makers, officials and lawmakers responsible for intelligence and oversight, researchers and practitioners in security and intelligence, and scholars of American foreign relations