Organised Criminals as 'Agents of Obligation': The Case of Ireland

Relying on Brown’s (2005a, b) thesis that contemporary shifts in penal policy are best understood as a reprisal of colonial rationality, so that offenders become ‘non-citizens’ or ‘agents of obligation’, this article argues that this framework finds support in developments in Irish criminal justice policy. Recent legislation aimed at offenders suspected of involvement in ‘organised crime’ is examined through this lens. These offenders have found themselves reconstituted as ‘agents of obligation’ with duties to furnish information about their property and movements, report to the police concerning their location and, importantly, refrain from criminal activity or face extraordinary sanctions. It is therefore argued that this paradigm is a useful heuristic device through which to understand recent developments in Irish criminal justice and elsewhere. In light of the trends observed in Ireland, certain refinements and extensions to Brown’s argument are put forward for consideration.

Fatigue Life Assessment and Static Testing of Structural GFRP Tubes Based on Coupon Tests

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) hollow tubes are used in structural applications, such as utility poles and pipelines. Concrete-filled FRP tubes (CFFTs) are also used as piles and bridge piers. Applications such as poles and marine piles are typically governed by cyclic bending. In this paper, the fatigue behavior of glass-FRP filament-wound tubes is studied using coupons cut from the tubes. Several coupon configurations were first examined in 24 tension and five compression monotonic loading tests. Fatigue tests were then conducted on 81 coupons to examine several parameters; namely, loading frequency as well as maximum-to-ultimate (max ult) and minimum-to-maximum (min max) stress ratios, including tension tension and tension compression, to simulate reversed bending. The study demonstrated the sensitivity of test results and failure mode to coupon configuration. The presence of compression loads reduced fatigue life, while increasing load frequency increased fatigue life. Stiffness degradation behavior was also established. To achieve at least one million cycles, it is recommended to limit (max ult) to 0.25. Models were used to simulate stiffness degradation and fatigue life curve of the tube. Fatigue life predictions of large CFFT beams showed good correlation with experimental results. © 2008 ASCE.

Potassium-doped Ni-MgO-ZrO catalysts for dry reforming of methane to synthesis gas

Ni/K-MgO-ZrO catalysts for dry reforming of methane, with a range of Mg/Zr ratios and each containing about 10 wt% Ni, were prepared via Ni nitrate impregnation on MgO-ZrO supports synthesized by co-precipitation using KCO. It was found that a proportion of the potassium of the precipitant remained in the samples and improved the stability of the catalysts in the reaction. It was also shown that reduction of the catalysts at 1,023 K without calcination in air is necessary for stable and high activity; calcination in air at 1,073 K gives a deterioration of the catalytic properties, leading to rapid deactivation during the reaction. The order of the CH conversions of the reduced catalysts after 14 h on stream was as follows: Ni/K-MgZr ~ Ni/K-Mg ≥ Ni/K-MgZr Ni/K-Zr. A catalyst with 0.95 wt% K on MgO-ZrO with a Mg:Zr mole ratio of 5:2 showed the best resistance to deactivation. Experiments in a microbalance system showed that there was only negligible coke deposition on the surface of this sample. This behaviour was attributed to the presence of Ni nanoparticles with a diameter of less than 10 nm located on a MgO/NiO solid solution shell doped by K ions; this in turn covers a core of tetragonal ZrO and/or a MgO/ZrO solid solution. This conclusion was supported by EDS/TEM, XPS, XRD and H chemisorption measurements. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

The influence of high-temperature sintering on microstructure and mechanical properties of free-standing APS CeO-YO -ZrO coatings

In this study, ceria-yttria co-stabilized zirconia (CYSZ) free-standing coatings, deposited by air plasma spraying (APS), were isothermally annealed at 1315 °C in order to explore the effect of sintering on the microstructure and the mechanical properties (i.e., hardness and Young's modulus). To this aim, coating microstructure, before and after heat treatment, was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, and image analysis was carried out in order to estimate porosity fraction. Moreover, Vickers microindentation and depth-sensing nanoindentation tests were performed in order to study the evolution of hardness and Young's modulus as a function of annealing time. The results showed that thermal aging of CYSZ coatings leads to noticeable microstructural modifications. Indeed, the healing of finer pores, interlamellar, and intralamellar microcracks was observed. In particular, the porosity fraction decreased from ~10 to ~5% after 50 h at 1315 °C. However, the X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that high phase stability was achieved, as no phase decomposition occurred after thermal aging. In turn, both the hardness and Young's modulus increased, in particular, the increase in stiffness (with respect to "as produced" samples) was equal to ~25%, whereas the hardness increased to up to ~60%. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Interpretation of flat FRP coupon test results

The tensile strength obtained from existing testing methods such as ASTM D3039, based on flat coupons, usually has a large scatter for fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. This means that the measured strength may not represent the actual strength of the material, leading to under or over design. This paper develops a new interpretation method which requires fewer tests, saving money and time. Moreover the results are more consistent and more closely represent the actual strength which can lead to a safer and more economical design.

The obligation to provide information where valid consent is not needed

Accounts of consent in medical ethics typically assume that consent plays the same role irrespective of the type of treatment. In this paper I argue that this assumption is false. Because of this, obligations to provide information to patients that stem from the need for consent to be valid will not apply to all types of treatment. This does not mean that there are no reasons to provide such information. The second part of the paper maps out what these reasons are and argues that they are grounded in the obligation of beneficence and a duty to warn, not in considerations of respect for autonomy.