Reflections on the sociology of law: A rejection of law as 'socially marginal'

Rejecting the concept of law as subservient to social pathology, the principle aim of this article is to locatc law as a critical matter of social structure - and power - which requires to be considered as a central element in the construction of society and social institutions. As such, this article contends that wider jurisprudential notions such as legal procedure and procedural justice, and juridical power and discretion are cogent, robust normative social concerns (as much as they are legal concerns) that positively require consideration and representation in the ernpifical study of sociological phenomena. Reflecting upon scholarship and research evidence on legal procedure and decision-making, the article attempts to elucidate the inter-relationship between power, 'the social', and the operation of law. It concludes that law is not 'socially marginal' but socially, totally central. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chlorine tolerant, multilayer reverse-somosis membranes with high permeate flux and high salt rejection

A new class of high molecular weight polyethersulfone ionomers is described in which the ionic content can be varied, at will, over a very wide and fully-controllable range. A novel type of coating process enables these materials to be deposited from alcohol-type solvents as cohesive but very thin (50 – 250 nm) films on porous support-membranes, giving high-flux membranes (3.3 – 5.0 L m-2 h-1 bar-1) with very good, though not outstanding salt rejection (typically 92 - 96%). A secondary layer, of formaldehyde-cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol, can be deposited from aqueous solution on the surface of the ionomer membrane, and this layer increases salt rejection to greater than 99% without serious loss of water permeability. The final multi-layer membrane shows excellent chlorine tolerance in reverse-osmosis operation.

Rejection thresholds (RjT) of sweet likers and dislikers

Sweetness is generally a desirable taste, however consumers can be grouped into sweet likers and dislikers according to optimally preferred sucrose concentrations. Understanding the levels of sweetness in products that are acceptable and unacceptable to both consumer groups is important to product development and for influencing dietary habits. The concentrations at which sucrose decreases liking (the rejection threshold; RjT) in liquid and semi-solid matrices were investigated in this study. Thirty six consumers rated their liking of 5 sucrose aqueous solutions; this identified 36% sweet likers (SL) whose liking ratings increased with increasing sucrose and 64% sweet dislikers (SD) whose liking ratings decreased above 6% (w/v) sucrose. We hypothesized that SL and SD would have different RjT for sucrose in products. This was tested by preparing 8 levels of sucrose in orange juice and orange jelly and presenting each against the lowest level in forced choice preference tests. In orange juice, as sucrose increased from 33g/L to 75g/L the proportion of people preferring the sweeter sample increased in both groups. However, at higher sucrose levels, the proportion of consumers preferring the sweet sample decreased. For SD, a RjT was reached at 380 g/L, whereas a significant RjT for SL was not reached. RjT in jelly were not reached as the sweetness in orange jelly was significantly lower than for orange juice (p<0.001). Despite statistically significant differences in rated sweetness between SL and SD (p=0.019), the extent of difference between the two groups was minor. The results implied that sweet liker status was not substantially related to differences in sweetness perception. Self-reported dietary intake of carbohydrate, sugars and sucrose were not significantly affected by sweet liker status. However the failure to find an effect may be due to the small sample size and future studies within a larger, more representative population sample are justifiable from the results of this study.

Microbial perchlorate reduction: A precise laboratory determination of the chlorine isotope fractionation and its possible biochemical basis

Perchlorate-reducing bacteria fractionate chlorine stable isotopes giving a powerful approach to monitor the extent of microbial consumption of perchlorate in contaminated sites undergoing remediation or natural perchlorate containing sites. This study reports the full experimental data and methodology used to re-evaluate the chlorine isotope fractionation of perchlorate reduction in duplicate culture experiments of Azospira suillum strain PS at 37 degrees C (Delta Cl-37(Cr)--ClO4-) previously reported, without a supporting data set by Coleman et al. [Coleman, M.L., Ader, M., Chaudhuri, S., Coates,J.D., 2003. Microbial Isotopic Fractionation of Perchlorate Chlorine. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69, 4997-5000] in a reconnaissance study, with the goal of increasing the accuracy and precision of the isotopic fractionation determination. The method fully described here for the first time, allows the determination of a higher precision Delta Cl-37(Cl)--ClO4- value, either from accumulated chloride content and isotopic composition or from the residual perchlorate content and isotopic composition. The result sets agree perfectly, within error, giving average Delta Cl-37(Cl)--ClO4- = -14.94 +/- 0.15%omicron. Complementary use of chloride and perchlorate data allowed the identification and rejection of poor quality data by applying mass and isotopic balance checks. This precise Delta Cl-37(Cl)--ClO4-, value can serve as a reference point for comparison with future in situ or microcosm studies but we also note its similarity to the theoretical equilibrium isotopic fractionation between a hypothetical chlorine species of redox state +6 and perchlorate at 37 degrees C and suggest that the first electron transfer during perchlorate reduction may occur at isotopic equilibrium between art enzyme-bound chlorine and perchlorate. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A genetic algorithm for the design of a fuzzy controller for active queue management

Active queue management (AQM) policies are those policies of router queue management that allow for the detection of network congestion, the notification of such occurrences to the hosts on the network borders, and the adoption of a suitable control policy. This paper proposes the adoption of a fuzzy proportional integral (FPI) controller as an active queue manager for Internet routers. The analytical design of the proposed FPI controller is carried out in analogy with a proportional integral (PI) controller, which recently has been proposed for AQM. A genetic algorithm is proposed for tuning of the FPI controller parameters with respect to optimal disturbance rejection. In the paper the FPI controller design metodology is described and the results of the comparison with random early detection (RED), tail drop, and PI controller are presented.

High performance blocking filters for the region 1µm to 20µm

A set of filters based on the sequence of semiconductor edges is described which offers continuity of short-wave infrared blocking. The rejection throughout the stop region is greater than 103 for each filter and the transmission better than 70% through one octave with a square cutoff. The cutoff points are located at intervals of about two-thirds of an octave. Filters at 2.6 ,µm, 5.5 µm, and 12 µm which use a low-passing multilayer in combination with a semiconductor absorption edge are described in detail. The design of multilayers for optimum performance is discussed by analogy with the synthesis of electric circuit filters.

A further study of the recovery and purification of surfactin from fermentation broth by membrane filtration

Surfactin is a bacterial lipopeptide produced by Bacillus subtilis and is a powerful surfactant, having also antiviral, antibacterial and antitumor properties. The recovery and purification of surfactin from complex fermentation broths is a major obstacle to its commercialization; therefore, a two-step membrane filtration process was developed using a lab scale tangential flow filtration (TFF) unit with 10 kDa MWCO regenerated cellulose (RC) and polyethersulfone (PES)membranes at three different transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 1.5 bar, 2.0 bar and 2.5 bar. Two modes of filtrations were studied, with and without cleaning of membranes prior to UF-2. In a first step of ultrafiltration (UF-1), surfactin was retained effectively by membranes at above its critical micelle concentration (CMC); subsequently in UF-2, the retentate micelles were disrupted by addition of 50% (v/v) methanol solution to allow recovery of surfactin in the permeate. Main protein contaminants were effectively retained by the membrane in UF-2. Flux of permeates, rejection coefficient (R) of surfactin and proteinwere measured during the filtrations. Overall the three different TMPs applied have no significant effect in the filtrations and PES is the more suitable membrane to selectively separate surfactin from fermentation broth, achieving high recovery and level of purity. In addition this two-step UF process is scalable for larger volume of samples without affecting the original functionality of surfactin, although membranes permeability can be affected due to exposure to methanolic solution used in UF-2.

Feeding responses of carabid beetles to dimethoate-contaminated prey

1 The feeding responses of Pterostichus madidus Fab., P. melanarius Illiger and Nebria brevicollis Fab. (Coleoptera: Carabidae) to dimethoate-contaminated prey were investigated in 'no-choice' and 'choice' feeding tests. 2 In the no-choice tests, starved beetles were presented with aphid prey treated with four concentrations of dimethoate. In the choice tests, treated and untreated prey were presented together and the feeding preferences of the starved beetles observed. 3 No avoidance or rejection behaviour was seen in any of the carabids in either of the tests, i.e. no discrimination of the treated and untreated prey was observed. 4 Sufficient dimethoate was consumed with the aphid prey to cause significant mortality levels in the carabids. 5 The concentrations of dimethoate used in these experiments are comparable to field exposure, so carabids feeding in treated fields and field margins could potentially suffer lethal effects via the indirect exposure route of consuming contaminated prey.

Adaptive approximate Bayesian computation

Sequential techniques can enhance the efficiency of the approximate Bayesian computation algorithm, as in Sisson et al.'s (2007) partial rejection control version. While this method is based upon the theoretical works of Del Moral et al. (2006), the application to approximate Bayesian computation results in a bias in the approximation to the posterior. An alternative version based on genuine importance sampling arguments bypasses this difficulty, in connection with the population Monte Carlo method of Cappe et al. (2004), and it includes an automatic scaling of the forward kernel. When applied to a population genetics example, it compares favourably with two other versions of the approximate algorithm.

The placenta is simply a neuroendocrine parasite

This paper will document the early scientific observations that kindled my neuroendocrinological interest in pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening disease that affects both mother and baby. My interest in this subject started with the placental origin of melanotrophin activity, moving on, through corticotrophin-releasing factor and its binding protein, to a tachykinin modified specifically in the placenta by phosphocholine, a post-translational moiety normally used by parasites to avoid immune surveillance and rejection. This work may finally have led to an understanding of the identity of the elusive placental factor that, whilst attempting to compensate for the poor implantation of the placenta, causes the many symptoms seen in the mother during pre-eclampsia.

Identification of a novel mammalian post-translational modification, phosphocholine, on placental secretory polypeptides

Placental neurokinin B appears to be post-translationally modified by phosphocholine (PC) attached to the aspartyl side chain at residue 4 of the mature peptide. Corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) was found to be expressed by the rat placenta with the main secreted forms being phosphocholinated proCRF+/- one or two polysaccharide moieties. A combination of high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and two-site immunometric analysis suggested that PC was also attached to the placental precursors of adrenocorticotrophin, hemokinin, activin and follistatin. However, the fully processed forms of rat placental activin and CRF were free of PC. Formerly, the parasitic filarial nematodes have used PC as a post-translational modification, attached via the polysaccharicle moiety of certain secretory glycoproteins to attenuate the host immune system allowing parasite survival, but it is the PC group itself which endows the carrier with the biological activity. The fact that treatment of proCRF peptides with phospholipase C but not endoglycosidase destroyed PC immunoreactivity suggested a simpler mode of attachment of PC to placental peptides than that used by nematodes. Thus, it is possible that by analogy the placenta uses its secreted phosphocholinated hormones to modulate the mother's immune system and help protect the placenta from rejection.

Genetic analysis of complex demographic scenarios: Spatially expanding populations of the cane toad, Bufo marinus

Inferring the spatial expansion dynamics of invading species from molecular data is notoriously difficult due to the complexity of the processes involved. For these demographic scenarios, genetic data obtained from highly variable markers may be profitably combined with specific sampling schemes and information from other sources using a Bayesian approach. The geographic range of the introduced toad Bufo marinus is still expanding in eastern and northern Australia, in each case from isolates established around 1960. A large amount of demographic and historical information is available on both expansion areas. In each area, samples were collected along a transect representing populations of different ages and genotyped at 10 microsatellite loci. Five demographic models of expansion, differing in the dispersal pattern for migrants and founders and in the number of founders, were considered. Because the demographic history is complex, we used an approximate Bayesian method, based on a rejection-regression algorithm. to formally test the relative likelihoods of the five models of expansion and to infer demographic parameters. A stepwise migration-foundation model with founder events was statistically better supported than other four models in both expansion areas. Posterior distributions supported different dynamics of expansion in the studied areas. Populations in the eastern expansion area have a lower stable effective population size and have been founded by a smaller number of individuals than those in the northern expansion area. Once demographically stabilized, populations exchange a substantial number of effective migrants per generation in both expansion areas, and such exchanges are larger in northern than in eastern Australia. The effective number of migrants appears to be considerably lower than that of founders in both expansion areas. We found our inferences to be relatively robust to various assumptions on marker. demographic, and historical features. The method presented here is the only robust, model-based method available so far, which allows inferring complex population dynamics over a short time scale. It also provides the basis for investigating the interplay between population dynamics, drift, and selection in invasive species.

Recovery and purification of surfactin from fermentation broth by a two-step ultrafiltration process

Surfactin is a bacterial lipopeptide produced by Bacillus subtilis and it is a powerful surfactant, having also antiviral, antibacterial and antitumor properties. The recovery and purification of surfactin from complex fermentation broths is a major obstacle to its commercialization; therefore, two-step membrane filtration processes were evaluated using centrifugal and stirred cell devices while the mechanisms of separation were investigated by particle size and surface charge measurements. In a first step of ultrafiltration (UF-1), surfactin was retained effectively by membranes at above its critical micelle concentration (CMC); subsequently in UF-2, the retentate micelles were disrupted by addition of 50% (v/v) methanol solution to allow recovery of surfactin in the permeate. Main protein contaminants were effective]), retained by the membrane in UF-2. Ultrafiltration was carried out either using centrifugal devices with 30 and 10 kDa MWCO regenerated cellulose membranes, or a stirred cell device with 10 kDa MWCO polyethersulfone (PES) and regenerated cellulose (RC) membranes. Total rejection of surfactin was consistently observed in UF-1, while in UF-2 PES membranes had the lowest rejection coefficient of 0.08 +/- 0.04. It was found that disruption of surfactin micelles, aggregation of protein contaminants and electrostatic interactions in UF-2 can further improve the selectivity of the membrane based purification technique. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.