No asylum for “Infiltrators”: the legal predicament of Eritrean and Sudanese nationals in Israel

This article explores the precarious status of Eritrean and Sudanese nationals in Israel. Having crossed the Israeli-Egyptian border without authorisation and not through an official border crossing, Israeli law defines such individuals as ‘infiltrators’, a charged term which dates back to border-crossings into Israel by Palestinian Fedayeen in the 1950s. Eritreans and Sudanese nationals constitute over 90 percent of ‘infiltrators’ in Israel. Their livelihood is curtailed through hostility, sanctions, and detention, while (at the time of writing) Israel refrains from deporting them to their respective countries of origin, recognising that such forced removal could expose them to risks to their lives and/or freedom. Israel was the 10th state to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention, and has acceded to its 1967 Protocol which removed the 1951 Convention’s temporal and geographic restrictions, yet it has not incorporated these treaties into its domestic law not has it enacted primary legislation that sets eligibility criteria for ‘refugee’ status and regulates the treatment of asylum-seekers. Israeli law also fails to accord subsidiary protection status to persons that the state considers to be non-removable, whether or not they satisfy the definition of a ‘refugee’ under the 1951 Convention. Absent legal recognition of ‘refugee’, ‘asylum-seeker’, and ‘beneficiary of subsidiary protection’ statuses, Eritreans and Sudanese nationals are left in legal limbo for an indefinite period qua irregular non-removable persons. This article takes stock of their legal predicament.

Developing temporary manufacturing facilities for residential building: a case of the modern flying factory

The building industry is often berated for its short comings in meeting up with the demand for the provision of new housing. Addressing the need for new housing stock is a challenge that has led to debates among professional bodies, the construction sector, housing industry and government. The introduction of new manufacturing technologies is often offered as a solution, but the challenges of increasing the amount of off-site construction in residential building are well known and well-rehearsed. The modern flying factory (MFF) is a concept that involves the manufacture of specific components or modules in temporary off- or near- site locations using relatively simple and quick to set up and dismantle technologies and processes. The aim is to produce short batches and hence achieve some of the benefits of off-site manufacture on a much smaller scale than in dedicated factory environments. A case study of a modern flying factory being set up to produce pre-assembled utility cupboards for a large residential development in London is presented, involving participant observation and informal interviews with key actors on the design and operationalising of the process. The case reveals that although there are costs, efficiency and health and safety benefits to using MFF approaches, there are also challenges to overcome over the time required to set up and establish the process for relatively short runs, and in evaluating whether the MFF or traditional site based production is most effective for particular aspects of projects.

Can a computerised training paradigm assist people with intellectual disabilities to learn cognitive mediation skills? A randomised experiment

Aims: The aim was to examine whether specific skills required for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could be taught using a computerised training paradigm with people who have intellectual disabilities (IDs). Training aimed to improve: a) ability to link pairs of situations and mediating beliefs to emotions, and b) ability to link pairs of situations and emotions to mediating beliefs. Method: Using a single-blind mixed experimental design, sixty-five participants with IDs were randomised to receive either computerised training or an attention-control condition. Cognitive mediation skills were assessed before and after training. Results: Participants who received training were significantly better at selecting appropriate emotions within situation beliefs pairs, controlling for baseline scores and IQ. Despite significant improvements in the ability of those who received training to correctly select intermediating beliefs for situation-feelings pairings, no between-group differences were observed at post-test. Conclusions: The findings indicated that computerised training led to a significant improvement in some aspects of cognitive mediation for people with IDs, but whether this has a positive effect upon outcome from therapy is yet to be established. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Time-lapse geophysical investigations over known archaeological features using electrical resistivity imaging and earth resistance

Electrical methods of geophysical survey are known to produce results that are hard to predict at different times of the year, and under differing weather conditions. This is a problem which can lead to misinterpretation of archaeological features under investigation. The dynamic relationship between a ‘natural’ soil matrix and an archaeological feature is a complex one, which greatly affects the success of the feature’s detection when using active electrical methods of geophysical survey. This study has monitored the gradual variation of measured resistivity over a selection of study areas. By targeting difficult to find, and often ‘missing’ electrical anomalies of known archaeological features, this study has increased the understanding of both the detection and interpretation capabilities of such geophysical surveys. A 16 month time-lapse study over 4 archaeological features has taken place to investigate the aforementioned detection problem across different soils and environments. In addition to the commonly used Twin-Probe earth resistance survey, electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) and quadrature electro-magnetic induction (EMI) were also utilised to explore the problem. Statistical analyses have provided a novel interpretation, which has yielded new insights into how the detection of archaeological features is influenced by the relationship between the target feature and the surrounding ‘natural’ soils. The study has highlighted both the complexity and previous misconceptions around the predictability of the electrical methods. The analysis has confirmed that each site provides an individual and nuanced situation, the variation clearly relating to the composition of the soils (particularly pore size) and the local weather history. The wide range of reasons behind survey success at each specific study site has been revealed. The outcomes have shown that a simplistic model of seasonality is not universally applicable to the electrical detection of archaeological features. This has led to the development of a method for quantifying survey success, enabling a deeper understanding of the unique way in which each site is affected by the interaction of local environmental and geological conditions.

Time is of the essence: a selective review of the fall and rise of brief therapy research

For compelling reasons of equity and the advance of public health, brief psychotherapy has become the dominant format in both practice and research. One consequence of this is the apparent decline of a distinct stream of brief therapy research. However, much of the agenda formerly identified with that research stream is of increasing importance to the field. Time is indeed of the essence in current psychotherapy research. For example, factors conducive to the time efficiency of brief psychodynamic therapy have been described recently. The important question ‘How much therapy is enough?’ has been addressed by studies inspired by the dose-response analysis of Howard and colleagues. The value of ultra-brief interventions has been examined. These issues are considered in a selective review, drawing in particular on the work of the Sheffield/Leeds psychotherapy of depression research group. This research treats the number of treatment sessions as an independent variable, thereby providing a causal analysis of the dose-response relationship over a range from two to 16 sessions, illuminated by a comparative analysis of change processes in treatments of different durations. Its results enable some specification of the extent and nature of incremental benefit derived from additional sessions in the psychotherapy of depression.

Probabilistic wind power forecasts with an inverse power curve transformation and censored regression

Forecasting wind power is an important part of a successful integration of wind power into the power grid. Forecasts with lead times longer than 6 h are generally made by using statistical methods to post-process forecasts from numerical weather prediction systems. Two major problems that complicate this approach are the non-linear relationship between wind speed and power production and the limited range of power production between zero and nominal power of the turbine. In practice, these problems are often tackled by using non-linear non-parametric regression models. However, such an approach ignores valuable and readily available information: the power curve of the turbine's manufacturer. Much of the non-linearity can be directly accounted for by transforming the observed power production into wind speed via the inverse power curve so that simpler linear regression models can be used. Furthermore, the fact that the transformed power production has a limited range can be taken care of by employing censored regression models. In this study, we evaluate quantile forecasts from a range of methods: (i) using parametric and non-parametric models, (ii) with and without the proposed inverse power curve transformation and (iii) with and without censoring. The results show that with our inverse (power-to-wind) transformation, simpler linear regression models with censoring perform equally or better than non-linear models with or without the frequently used wind-to-power transformation.

Mesh adaptation on the sphere using optimal transport and the numerical solution of a Monge-Ampère type equation

An equation of Monge-Ampère type has, for the first time, been solved numerically on the surface of the sphere in order to generate optimally transported (OT) meshes, equidistributed with respect to a monitor function. Optimal transport generates meshes that keep the same connectivity as the original mesh, making them suitable for r-adaptive simulations, in which the equations of motion can be solved in a moving frame of reference in order to avoid mapping the solution between old and new meshes and to avoid load balancing problems on parallel computers. The semi-implicit solution of the Monge-Ampère type equation involves a new linearisation of the Hessian term, and exponential maps are used to map from old to new meshes on the sphere. The determinant of the Hessian is evaluated as the change in volume between old and new mesh cells, rather than using numerical approximations to the gradients. OT meshes are generated to compare with centroidal Voronoi tesselations on the sphere and are found to have advantages and disadvantages; OT equidistribution is more accurate, the number of iterations to convergence is independent of the mesh size, face skewness is reduced and the connectivity does not change. However anisotropy is higher and the OT meshes are non-orthogonal. It is shown that optimal transport on the sphere leads to meshes that do not tangle. However, tangling can be introduced by numerical errors in calculating the gradient of the mesh potential. Methods for alleviating this problem are explored. Finally, OT meshes are generated using observed precipitation as a monitor function, in order to demonstrate the potential power of the technique.

Atmospheric and oceanic contributions to irreducible forecast uncertainty of Arctic surface climate

Uncertainty of Arctic seasonal to interannual predictions arising from model errors and initial state uncertainty has been widely discussed in the literature, whereas the irreducible forecast uncertainty (IFU) arising from the chaoticity of the climate system has received less attention. However, IFU provides important insights into the mechanisms through which predictability is lost, and hence can inform prioritization of model development and observations deployment. Here, we characterize how internal oceanic and surface atmospheric heat fluxes contribute to IFU of Arctic sea ice and upper ocean heat content in an Earth system model by analyzing a set of idealized ensemble prediction experiments. We find that atmospheric and oceanic heat flux are often equally important for driving unpredictable Arctic-wide changes in sea ice and surface water temperatures, and hence contribute equally to IFU. Atmospheric surface heat flux tends to dominate Arctic-wide changes for lead times of up to a year, whereas oceanic heat flux tends to dominate regionally and on interannual time scales. There is in general a strong negative covariance between surface heat flux and ocean vertical heat flux at depth, and anomalies of lateral ocean heat transport are wind-driven, which suggests that the unpredictable oceanic heat flux variability is mainly forced by the atmosphere. These results are qualitatively robust across different initial states, but substantial variations in the amplitude of IFU exist. We conclude that both atmospheric variability and the initial state of the upper ocean are key ingredients for predictions of Arctic surface climate on seasonal to interannual time scales.

The Léger ruling as another example of the ECJ’s disappointingly reticent approach to the protection of the rights of LGB persons under EU law

In the 1980s, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, many countries introduced lifetime bans on blood donations by men who had sexual relations with men (MSM). These blanket bans have, recently, begun to be challenged and, as a result, many countries have either relaxed them or completely abolished them. The case under examination (Léger ) is another instance of questioning the legality of such a ban. In particular, in this case, the European Court of Justice was called on to rule on whether a measure such as the French lifetime exclusion from blood donation of the MSM population that was at issue before the referring court is contrary to EU law. The Court ruled that although discriminatory on the ground of sexual orientation, such a ban may be justified in certain circumstances, and left it to the national court to make the final decision. This article seeks to analyse the case and to explain why, in the author’s view, the Court can be accused of—once more—not going far enough in the protection of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) rights.

Analysis of total visual and CCD V-broadband observations of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp): 1995-2001

We developed a general method for determination of water production rates from groundbased visual observations and applied it to Comet Hale-Bopp. Our main objective is to extend the method to include total visual magnitude observations obtained with CCD detector and V filter in the analysis of total visual magnitudes. We compare the CCD V-broadband careful observations of Liller [Liller, W. Pre-perihelion CCD photometry of Comet 1995 01 (Hale-Bopp). Planet. Space Sci. 45, 1505-1513, 1997; Liller, W. CCD photometry of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp): 1995-2000. Int. Comet Quart. 23(3), 93-97, 2001] with the total visual magnitude observations from experienced international observers found in the International Comet Quarterly (ICQ) archive. A data set of similar to 400 CCD observations covering about the same 6 years time span of the similar to 12,000 ICQ selected total visual magnitude observations were used in the analysis. A least-square method applied to the water production rates, yields power laws as a function of the heliocentric distances for the pre- and post-perihelion phases. The average dimension of the nucleus as well as its effective active area is determined and compared with values published in the literature. (C) 2009 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Melatonin and the time window for the expression of the alpha 8 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the membrane of chick retinal cells in culture

We have previously shown that melatonin influences the development of alpha 8 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) by measurement of the acetylcholine-induced increase in the extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) in chick retinal cell cultures. Cellular differentiation that takes place between DIV (days in vitro) 4 and DIV 5 yields cells expressing alpha 8 nAChR and results in a significant increase in the ECAR acetylcholine-induced. Blocking melatonin receptors with luzindole for 48 h suppresses the development of functional alpha 8 nAChR. Here we investigated the time window for the effect of melatonin on retinal cell development in culture, and whether this effect was dependent on an increase in the expression of alpha 8 nAChR. First, we confirmed that luzindole was inhibiting the effects of endogenous melatonin, since it increases 2-[(125)I] iodomelatonin (23 pM) binding sites density in a time-dependent manner. Then we observed that acute (15, 60 min, or 12 h) luzindole treatment did not impair acetylcholine-induced increase in the ECAR mediated by activation of alpha 8 nAChR at DIV 5, while chronic treatment (from DIV 3 or DIV 4 till DIV 5, or DIV 3.5 till DIV 4.5) led to a time-dependent reduction of the increase in the acetylcholine-induced ECAR. The binding parameters for [(125)I]-alpha-bungarotoxin (10 nM) sites in membrane were unaffected by melatonin suppression that started at DIV 3. Thus, melatonin surges in the time window that occurs at the final stages of chick retinal cell differentiation in culture is essential for development of the cells expressing alpha 8 nAChR subtype in full functional form. (C) 2010 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hypo- and hyperthyroidism affect NEI concentration in discrete brain areas of adult male rats

To date, there has been only one in vitro study of the relationship between neuropeptide EI (NEI) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis. To investigate the possible relationship between NEI and the HPT axis, we developed a rat model of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism that allows us to determine whether NEI content is altered in selected brain areas after treatment, as well as whether such alterations are related to the time of day. Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, induced in male rats, with 6-propyl-1-thiouracil and L-thyroxine, respectively, were confirmed by determination of triiodothyronine, total thyroxine, and thyrotropin levels. All groups were studied at the morning and the afternoon. In rats with hypothyroidism, NEI concentration, evaluated on postinduction days 7 and 24, was unchanged or slightly elevated on day 7 but was decreased on day 24. In rats with hyperthyroidism, NEI content, which was evaluated after 4 days of L-thyroxine administration, was slightly elevated, principally in the preoptic area in the morning and in the median eminence-arcuate nucleus and pineal gland in the afternoon, the morning and afternoon NEI contents being similar in the controls. These results provide the bases to pursue the study of the interaction between NEI and the HPT axis. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An endogenous regulator of inflammation, resolvin E1, modulates osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption

Background and purpose: The inflammation-resolving lipid mediator resolvin E1 (RvE1) effectively stops inflammation-induced bone loss in vivo in experimental periodontitis. It was of interest to determine whether RvE1 has direct actions on osteoclast (OC) development and bone resorption. Experimental approach: Primary OC cultures derived from mouse bone marrow were treated with RvE1 and analysed for OC differentiation, cell survival and bone substrate resorption. Receptor binding was measured using radiolabelled RvE1. Nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B activation and Akt phosphorylation were determined with western blotting. Lipid mediator production was assessed with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Key results: OC growth and resorption pit formation were markedly decreased in the presence of RvE1. OC differentiation was inhibited by RvE1 as demonstrated by decreased number of multinuclear OC, a delay in the time course of OC development and attenuation of receptor activator of NF-kappa B ligand-induced nuclear translocation of the p50 subunit of NF-kappa B. OC survival and apoptosis were not altered by RvE1. Messenger RNA for both receptors of RvE1, ChemR23 and BLT(1) is expressed in OC cultures. Leukotriene B(4) (LTB(4)) competed with [(3)H] RvE1 binding on OC cell membrane preparations, and the LTB(4) antagonist U75302 prevented RvE1 inhibition of OC growth, indicating that BLT(1) mediates RvE1 actions on OC. Primary OC synthesized the RvE1 precursor 18R-hydroxy-eicosapentaenoic acid and LTB(4). Co-incubation of OC with peripheral blood neutrophils resulted in transcellular RvE1 biosynthesis. Conclusions and implications: These results indicate that RvE1 inhibits OC growth and bone resorption by interfering with OC differentiation. The bone-sparing actions of RvE1 are in addition to inflammation resolution, a direct action in bone remodelling.

Early modulation of inflammation by mesenchymal stem cell after acute kidney injury

Therapy with stem cells has showed to be promising for acute kidney injury (AKI), although how it works is still controversial. Modulation of the inflammatory response is one possible mechanism. Most of published data relies on early time and whether the protection is still maintained after that is not known. Here, we analyzed whether immune modulation continues after 24 h of reperfusion. MSC were obtained from male Wistar rats. After 3-5 passages, cells were screened for CD73, CD90, CD44, CD45, CD29 and CD 31. In addition, MSC were submitted to differentiation in adipocyte and in osteocyte. AKI was induced by bilaterally clamping of renal pedicles for 60 min. Six hours after injury, MSC (2 x 105 cells) were administered intravenously. MSC-treated animals presented the lowest serum creatinine compared to non-treated animals (24 h: 1.3 +/- 0.21 vs. 3.23 +/- 0.89 mg/dl, p<0.05). The improvement in renal function was followed by a lower expression of IL-1b, IL-6 and TNF-alpha and higher expression of IL-4 and IL-10. However, 48 h after reperfusion, this cytokine profile has changed. The decrease in Th1 cytokines was less evident and IL-6 was markedly up regulated. PCNA analysis showed that regeneration occurs faster in kidney tissues of MSC-treated animals than in controls at 24 h. And also ratio of Bcl-2/Bad was higher at treated animals after 24 and 48 h. Our data demonstrated that the immunomodulatory effects of MSC occur at very early time point, changing the inflammation profile toward a Th2 profile. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Time-dependent increases in ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity in aortas from diabetic rats: The role of prostanoids and protein kinase C

Aims: Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity contributes to the regulation of vascular contractility and it has been suggested that vascular Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity may be altered during the progression of diabetes; however the mechanisms involved in the altered Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity changes remain unclear. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity and the mechanism(s) responsible for any alterations on this activity in aortas from 1- and 4-week streptozotocin-pretreated (50 mg kg(-1), i.v.) rats. Main methods: Aortic rings were used to evaluate the relaxation induced by KCl (1-10 mM) in the presence and absence of ouabain (0.1 mmol/L) as an index of ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity. Protein expression of COX-2 and p-PKC-beta II in aortas were also investigated. Key findings: Ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity was unaltered following 1-week of streptozotocin administration, but was increased in the 4-week diabetic aorta (27%). Endothelium removal or nitric oxide synthase inhibition with L-NAME decreased ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity only in control aortas. In denuded aortic rings, indomethacin. NS-398, ridogrel or Go-6976 normalized ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity in 4-week diabetic rats. In addition, COX-2 (51%) and p-PKC-beta II (59%) protein expression were increased in 4-week diabetic aortas compared to controls. Significance: In conclusion, diabetes led to a time-dependent increase in ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-ATPase activity. The main mechanism involved in this activation is the release of TxA(2)/PGH(2) by COX-2 in smooth muscle cells, linked to activation of the PKC pathway. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.