Constitutional Review and Democratic Consolidation: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the literature on the prevalence of constitutional review across the world, and particularly in emerging democracies, during the last two decades. Two major questions should be addressed in this regard. First, why has the judiciary been empowered and what factors affect judicial activism? Second, does constitutional review ensure an effective self-enforcing function? In sum, the literature shows that constitutional review can make democracy self-enforcing if there is sufficient competition among political parties or between the legislature and the executive branch of government. In a more sophisticated case, political balance within the court can also ensure the observance of court decisions.

Effect of starch substitution with crude glycerol on growing rabbit and lactating doe performance

The aim of this work was to study the effect of dietary inclusion of 2.5 or 5.0% of glycerol in substitution for starch on performance of lactating does and fattening rabbits. Over four consecutive reproductive cycles, a total of 81 New Zealand ´ Californian rabbit does and 813 young rabbits weaned at 25 (fattening trial 1) or 35 (fattening trial 2) days of age were allocated at random to the experimental treatments. Inclusion of glycerol in the diet up to 5% did not influence total feed consumption of does and suckling rabbits, body weight and bioelectrical impedance of does at parturition or at day 21 of lactation and litter weight at weaning, or reproductive efficiency. Substitution of starch with glycerol did not affect feed intake, weight gain or mortality during fattening. The results of the current study indicate that crude glycerol from the biofuel industry can be used at levels up to 5% in rabbit diets without any detrimental or beneficial effect on performance

A mathematical framework for finite strain elastoplastic consolidation. Part 1: Balance laws, variational formulation, and linearization

A mathematical formulation for finite strain elasto plastic consolidation of fully saturated soil media is presented. Strong and weak forms of the boundary-value problem are derived using both the material and spatial descriptions. The algorithmic treatment of finite strain elastoplasticity for the solid phase is based on multiplicative decomposition and is coupled with the algorithm for fluid flow via the Kirchhoff pore water pressure. Balance laws are written for the soil-water mixture following the motion of the soil matrix alone. It is shown that the motion of the fluid phase only affects the Jacobian of the solid phase motion, and therefore can be characterized completely by the motion of the soil matrix. Furthermore, it is shown from energy balance consideration that the effective, or intergranular, stress is the appropriate measure of stress for describing the constitutive response of the soil skeleton since it absorbs all the strain energy generated in the saturated soil-water mixture. Finally, it is shown that the mathematical model is amenable to consistent linearization, and that explicit expressions for the consistent tangent operators can be derived for use in numerical solutions such as those based on the finite element method.

Elastoplastic consolidation at finite strain. Part 2: finite element implementation and numerical examples

A mathematical model for finite strain elastoplastic consolidation of fully saturated soil media is implemented into a finite element program. The algorithmic treatment of finite strain elastoplasticity for the solid phase is based on multiplicative decomposition and is coupled with the algorithm for fluid flow via the Kirchhoff pore water pressure. A two-field mixed finite element formulation is employed in which the nodal solid displacements and the nodal pore water pressures are coupled via the linear momentum and mass balance equations. The constitutive model for the solid phase is represented by modified Cam—Clay theory formulated in the Kirchhoff principal stress space, and return mapping is carried out in the strain space defined by the invariants of the elastic logarithmic principal stretches. The constitutive model for fluid flow is represented by a generalized Darcy's law formulated with respect to the current configuration. The finite element model is fully amenable to exact linearization. Numerical examples with and without finite deformation effects are presented to demonstrate the impact of geometric nonlinearity on the predicted responses. The paper concludes with an assessment of the performance of the finite element consolidation model with respect to accuracy and numerical stability.

Consolidation of a wsn and minimax method to rapidly neutralise intruders in strategic installations

Due to the sensitive international situation caused by still-recent terrorist attacks, there is a common need to protect the safety of large spaces such as government buildings, airports and power stations. To address this problem, developments in several research fields, such as video and cognitive audio, decision support systems, human interface, computer architecture, communications networks and communications security, should be integrated with the goal of achieving advanced security systems capable of checking all of the specified requirements and spanning the gap that presently exists in the current market. This paper describes the implementation of a decision system for crisis management in infrastructural building security. Specifically, it describes the implementation of a decision system in the management of building intrusions. The positions of the unidentified persons are reported with the help of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The goal is to achieve an intelligent system capable of making the best decision in real time in order to quickly neutralise one or more intruders who threaten strategic installations. It is assumed that the intruders’ behaviour is inferred through sequences of sensors’ activations and their fusion. This article presents a general approach to selecting the optimum operation from the available neutralisation strategies based on a Minimax algorithm. The distances among different scenario elements will be used to measure the risk of the scene, so a path planning technique will be integrated in order to attain a good performance. Different actions to be executed over the elements of the scene such as moving a guard, blocking a door or turning on an alarm will be used to neutralise the crisis. This set of actions executed to stop the crisis is known as the neutralisation strategy. Finally, the system has been tested in simulations of real situations, and the results have been evaluated according to the final state of the intruders. In 86.5% of the cases, the system achieved the capture of the intruders, and in 59.25% of the cases, they were intercepted before they reached their objective.

Consolidation problems

The analysis of deformation in soils is of paramount importance in geotechnical engineering. For a long time the complex behaviour of natural deposits defied the ingenuity of engineers. The time has come that, with the aid of computers, numerical methods will allow the solution of every problem if the material law can be specified with a certain accuracy. Boundary Techniques (B.E.) have recently exploded in a splendid flowering of methods and applications that compare advantegeously with other well-established procedures like the finite element method (F.E.). Its application to soil mechanics problems (Brebbia 1981) has started and will grow in the future. This paper tries to present a simple formulation to a classical problem. In fact, there is already a large amount of application of B.E. to diffusion problems (Rizzo et al, Shaw, Chang et al, Combescure et al, Wrobel et al, Roures et al, Onishi et al) and very recently the first specific application to consolidation problems has been published by Bnishi et al. Here we develop an alternative formulation to that presented in the last reference. Fundamentally the idea is to introduce a finite difference discretization in the time domain in order to use the fundamental solution of a Helmholtz type equation governing the neutral pressure distribution. Although this procedure seems to have been unappreciated in the previous technical literature it is nevertheless effective and straightforward to implement. Indeed for the special problem in study it is perfectly suited, because a step by step interaction between the elastic and flow problems is needed. It allows also the introduction of non-linear elastic properties and time dependent conditions very easily as will be shown and compares well with performances of other approaches.

Toward a consolidation of the CPV-specific-test procedures for inverters

The inverter in a photovoltaic system assures two essential functions. The first is to track the maximum power point of the system IV curve throughout variable environmental conditions. The second is to convert DC power delivered by the PV panels into AC power. Nowadays, in order to qualify inverters, manufacturers and certifying organisms use mainly European and/or CEC efficiency standards. The question arises if these are still representative of CPV system behaviour. We propose to use a set of CPV – specific weighted average and a representative dynamic response to have a better determination of the static and dynamic MPPT efficiencies. Four string-sized commercial inverters used in real CPV plants have been tested.

Overexpression of thioredoxin h leads to enhanced activity of starch debranching enzyme (pullulanase) in barley grain

Biochemically active wheat thioredoxin h has been overexpressed in the endosperm of transgenic barley grain. Two DNA constructs containing the wheat thioredoxin h gene (wtrxh) were used for transformation; each contained wtrxh fused to an endosperm-specific B1-hordein promoter either with or without a signal peptide sequence for targeting to the protein body. Twenty-two stable, independently transformed regenerable lines were obtained by selecting with the herbicide bialaphos to test for the presence of the bar herbicide resistance gene on a cotransformed plasmid; all were positive for this gene. The presence of wtrxh was confirmed in 20 lines by PCR analysis, and the identity and level of expression of wheat thioredoxin h was assessed by immunoblots. Although levels varied among the different transgenic events, wheat thioredoxin h was consistently highly expressed (up to 30-fold) in the transgenic grain. Transgenic lines transformed with the B1-hordein promoter with a signal peptide sequence produced a higher level of wheat thioredoxin h on average than those without a signal sequence. The overexpression of thioredoxin h in the endosperm of germinated grain effected up to a 4-fold increase in the activity of the starch debranching enzyme, pullulanase (limit dextrinase), the enzyme that specifically cleaves α-1,6 linkages in starch. These results raise the question of how thioredoxin h enhances the activity of pullulanase because it was found that the inhibitor had become inactive before the enzyme showed appreciable activity.

Adenosine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphatase: A plastidial phosphodiesterase that prevents starch biosynthesis

A distinct phosphodiesterasic activity (EC 3.1.4) was found in both mono- and dicotyledonous plants that catalyzes the hydrolytic breakdown of ADPglucose (ADPG) to produce equimolar amounts of glucose-1-phosphate and AMP. The enzyme responsible for this activity, referred to as ADPG pyrophosphatase (AGPPase), was purified over 1,100-fold from barley leaves and subjected to biochemical characterization. The calculated Keq′ (modified equilibrium constant) value for the ADPG hydrolytic reaction at pH 7.0 and 25°C is 110, and its standard-state free-energy change value (ΔG′) is −2.9 kcal/mol (1 kcal = 4.18 kJ). Kinetic analyses showed that, although AGPPase can hydrolyze several low-molecular weight phosphodiester bond-containing compounds, ADPG proved to be the best substrate (Km = 0.5 mM). Pi and phosphorylated compounds such as 3-phosphoglycerate, PPi, ATP, ADP, NADP+, and AMP are inhibitors of AGPPase. Subcellular localization studies revealed that AGPPase is localized exclusively in the plastidial compartment of cultured cells of sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.), whereas it occurs both inside and outside the plastid in barley endosperm. In this paper, evidence is presented that shows that AGPPase, whose activity declines concomitantly with the accumulation of starch during development of sink organs, competes with starch synthase (ADPG:1,4-α-d-glucan 4-α-d-glucosyltransferase; EC 2.4.1.21) for ADPG, thus markedly blocking the starch biosynthesis.

In Vitro Biosynthesis of Phosphorylated Starch in Intact Potato Amyloplasts1

Intact amyloplasts from potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) were used to study starch biosynthesis and phosphorylation. Assessed by the degree of intactness and by the level of cytosolic and vacuolar contamination, the best preparations were selected by searching for amyloplasts containing small starch grains. The isolated, small amyloplasts were 80% intact and were free from cytosolic and vacuolar contamination. Biosynthetic studies of the amyloplasts showed that [1-14C]glucose-6-phosphate (Glc-6-P) was an efficient precursor for starch synthesis in a manner highly dependent on amyloplast integrity. Starch biosynthesis from [1-14C]Glc-1-P in small, intact amyloplasts was 5-fold lower and largely independent of amyloplast intactness. When [33P]Glc-6-P was administered to the amyloplasts, radiophosphorylated starch was produced. Isoamylase treatment of the starch followed by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection revealed the separated phosphorylated α-glucans. Acid hydrolysis of the phosphorylated α-glucans and high-performance anion-exchange chromatography analyses showed that the incorporated phosphate was preferentially positioned at C-6 of the Glc moiety. The incorporation of radiolabel from Glc-1-P into starch in preparations of amyloplasts containing large grains was independent of intactness and most likely catalyzed by starch phosphorylase bound to naked starch grains.