2,530 research outputs found

    Unmasking Central Asia's neoliberal judges

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    Despite claims of impartiality, judges in Central Asia often incorporate neoliberal economic and moral values into their judgements on illegal settlements

    Economic dystopia in Kyrgyzstan

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    Hailed as a success story for liberal market reforms, Kyrgyzstan in fact provides an example of how the rentier class have become an integral part of the economy, and how democracy has given way to plutocracy

    The Effects of Acute Lipopolysaccharide Induced Inflammation on Spinal Cord Excitability

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    Peripheral inflammation alters the excitability of dorsal horn interneurons and increases flexor reflex strength (Dubner & Ruda, 1992); however, its effect on the spinal stretch reflex is not well understood. The stretch reflex is a muscle contraction in response to muscle stretch. We hypothesize that the acute inflammation caused by an injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) will cause an increase in spinal cord excitability. To test this hypothesis, we measured Hoffman’s (H) reflex, the electric analog of the stretch reflex in adult mice receiving an injection of LPS (.5mg/kg) or saline (200ÎŒl). Adult male and female mice (C57Bl/6) were anesthetized; then, the sciatic nerve was exposed and stimulated at current strengths from H-wave threshold (T) to 8T (20 x 0.1 ms pulses at 0.1 Hz). Recording electrodes were placed in the foot. We measured the maximum M wave amplitude (Mmax), maximum H wave amplitude (Hmax) and latencies of both waves. We compared the ratio of the maximal H wave over the maximal M wave (Hmax/Mmax), which reports the percentage of motor neurons activated by electrical stimulation of Group Ia muscle sensory neurons. Increased spinal cord excitability would be reflected in a larger Hmax/Mmax. We found that LPS-induced inflammation does not alter the Hmax/Mmax. While we found no evidence of changes in spinal cord excitability, inflammation could be altering Group Ia muscle spindle afferent responses to stretch. Future studies will test whether stretch reflex strength is altered by inflammation

    Unfolding and refolding of cytochrome c driven by the interaction with lipid micelles

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    Binding of native cyt c to L-PG micelles leads to a partially unfolded conformation of cyt c. This micelle-bound state has no stable tertiary structure, but remains as -helical as native cyt c in solution. In contrast, binding of the acid-unfolded cyt c to L-PG micelles induces folding of the polypeptide, resulting in a similar helical state to that originated from the binding of native cyt c to L-PG micelles. Far-ultraviolet (UV) circular dichroism (CD) spectra showed that this common micelle-associated helical state (HL) has a native-like -helix content, but is highly expanded without a tightly packed hydrophobic core, as revealed by tryptophan fluorescence, near-UV, and Soret CD spectroscopy. The kinetics of the interaction of native and acid-unfolded cyt c was investigated by stopped-flow tryptophan fluorescence. Formation of HL from the native state requires the disruption of the tightly packed hydrophobic core in the native protein. This micelle-induced unfolding of cyt c occurs at a rate 0.1 s1, which is remarkably faster in the lipid environment compared with the expected rate of unfolding in solution. Refolding of acid-unfolded cyt c with L-PG micelles involves an early highly helical collapsed state formed during the burst phase (<3 ms), and the observed main kinetic event reports on the opening of this early compact intermediate prior to insertion into the lipid micelle

    Electrical properties of aluminosilicate glazes containing niobium doped titanium dioxide

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    Highly transparent spinel windows by microwave sintering

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    Transparent magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl2O4) ceramic possesses excellent mechanical and optical properties enabling its potential use in many applications, especially those in harsh environments. We have previously demonstrated fabrication of transparent spinel ceramic with very low absorption loss (6ppm/cm) at 1 mm using the hot pressing method. However, microwave sintering offers several potential advantages over conventional densification methods such as uniform heating, shorter sintering time, ïŹner microstructure of the ceramics, and scalability to large sizes. Previous attempts to microwave sinter spinel powder resulted in only opaque or translucent ceramics. In this talk, we report the fabrication of highly transparent spinel ceramics using microwave sintering and highlight the optical, spectral, morphological and mechanical properties

    Homogeneous Cr- and Co-mediated Selective Olefin Oligomerisation Catalysis

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    This thesis investigates use of Cr/phosphanyl methanimine ligand (PCN, Ph(PR2)C=NAr, R = alkyl group) combinations in selective ethylene tri-/tetra-merisation catalysis. Additionally, the use of the previously-reported linear α-olefin (LAO) dimerisation catalyst precursor Cp*Co(C2H4)P(OMe)3 (4.5) is further explored in 1- butene and 1-hexene dimerisation, in attempts to improve its reported low TON and low selectivity. In Chapter 2 a description of the synthesis of variously-substituted PCN ligands 2.1– 2.17 is given. A study of the coordination chemistry of a selection of these PCN ligands to Cr0 revealed that both mono-(Îș1-P) and bi-dentate (Îș2-P,N) [Cr(CO)4/5(PCN)] complexes 2.18–2.19 and 2.22-2.25 were obtained, with the ratio of [Cr(CO)5(Îș1-P- PCN)]:[Cr(CO)4(Îș2-P,N-PCN)] complexes present in the crude reaction mixtures being influenced by the steric bulk of the nitrogen substituent of the PCN ligand and reaction conditions. Cationic CrI-PCN complexes [Cr(CO)4/5(Îș1-P or Îș2-P,N-PCN)] 2.26–2.30 and 2.32 were obtained via one-electron oxidation reactions of the corresponding Cr0-PCN complexes with Ag[Al{OC(CF3)3}4]. The synthesis of CrIII-PCN complexes [CrCl3(THF)(Îș2-P,N-PCN)] 2.34-2.37 was attempted, but proved successful only in two cases, complexes 2.36 and 2.37. Chapter 3 details the ethylene oligomerisation catalysis behaviour of the CrI and CrIII- PCN complexes. In all cases, CrIII/PCN-based ethylene tri-/tetra-merisation systems with high activities and selectivities were obtained, with the 1-octene:1-hexene ratios of these systems being influenced by the electronic properties of the phosphorus donor moiety and imine carbon substituents of the PCN ligands. The CrI-PCN complexes yielded low activity ethylene polymerisation systems; their poor performance is attributed to poisoning from CO liberated during reactions. It was found that using in situ versus preformed CrIII-PCN complexes in ethylene oligomerisation catalysis improved the activities and selectivities towards 1-hexene and 1-octene production. In Chapter 4, the effect of varying different solvents, temperatures, and activation methods in 1-butene/1-hexene dimerisation catalysis mediated by complex 4.5/Brookhart’s acid was assessed. In addition, complexes 4.15 and 4.16 (modified versions of complex 4.5) were synthesised and found to perform worse in 1-butene/1- hexene dimerisation catalysis than complex 4.5 (in terms of activity and selectivity towards desired LAO dimer). Chapters 5 and 6 describe all experimental data and supporting information

    The interaction of the prion protein with lipid membranes and implications for prion conversion

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    Prion diseases are characterised by the conversion of the normal a-helical prion protein (PrPc), to the abnormal P-sheet isoform (PrPSc). Biophysical studies using recombinant prion proteins have helped our understanding of the structural events associated with the transition of PrPc to PrPSc. These studies were performed in an aqueous environment, however PrP in living cells is anchored to cholesterol/sphingomyelin rich raft-domains. Evidence suggests that the lipid environment plays’ a role in the conversion of PrPc to PrPSc. Therefore in this thesis the biophysical properties of PrP in lipid membranes were evaluated. The binding of Syrian hamster prion protein, SHaPrP (90-231) to model lipid membranes was investigated by tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy. Membranes composed of negatively charged lipids, zwitterionic lipids and raft-like membranes containing DPPC, cholesterol and sphingomyelin, were investigated. The results show that PrP has an affinity for negatively charged and gel-phase zwitterionic membranes. Binding of PrP to raft-like membranes was also observed. The interaction of PrP to negatively charged membranes involved both electrostatic and hydrophobic lipid- protein interactions, whereas the binding of PrP to raft-like membranes was predominantly driven by hydrophobic lipid-protein interactions. CD and ATR FTIR were used to investigate the secondary structure of PrP in lipid membranes. The interaction of PrP to negatively charged membranes was accompanied by an increase in P-sheet structure and EM showed extensive aggregation of the protein. In contrast, the binding of PrP to gel-phase zwitterionic membranes and raft-like membranes induced the formation of stable a-helical structure. No evidence of aggregation was detected in the EM images. The ability of PrP to perturb lipid membranes was examined. Evidence for the partial insertion of PrP into negatively charged membranes was obtained and the resulting p-sheet state was capable of disrupting lipid membranes, leading to total release of vesicle contents. The a-helical membrane bound state of PrP did not affect the integrity of the raft-like membranes. These finding support the view that the interaction of PrP with lipid membranes may play a role in PrP conversion

    Selling debt: interrogating the moral claims of the financial elites in Central Asia

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    This article critically examines how banks and microfinance companies morally construed and evaluated their lending practices and income in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Banks occupy a powerful position in a monetary economy, because they do not merely create money ‘out of thin air’, but can charge for it, that is, interest. In doing so, they obtain unearned income and extract wealth. The article examines how banks and microfinance companies used myths, ideals, discourses, norms and emotions to justify and de-politicise their unequal power, unearned income and damaging effects. The study draws on the moral economy perspective and the post-Keynesian theory of money to understand financial institutions’ moral justifications and rationalisations of their position and power. This article contributes to a wider literature on neoliberalism and morality in post- socialist economies
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