Showing papers by "Brunel University London published in 2000"
TL;DR: The PSIPRED protein structure prediction server allows users to submit a protein sequence, perform a prediction of their choice and receive the results of the prediction both textually via e-mail and graphically via the web.
Abstract: The PSIPRED protein structure prediction server allows users to submit a protein sequence, perform a prediction of their choice and receive the results of the prediction both textually via e-mail and graphically via the web. The user may select one of three prediction methods to apply to their sequence: PSIPRED, a highly accurate secondary structure prediction method; MEMSAT 2, a new version of a widely used transmembrane topology prediction method; or GenTHREADER, a sequence profile based fold recognition method.
3,381 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the current state of understanding of the mechanism for carbon monoxide oxidation is reviewed, and discordant observations reported in the literature are noted and analysed. And a general mechanism involving reaction at the edge of a particle containing both gold atoms and ions, and involving the support, is suggested.
Abstract: Of the many important reactions that are known to be catalysed by gold particles supported on transition metal oxides, the oxidation of carbon monoxide is of outstanding significance: the current state of understanding of its mechanism is reviewed, and discordant observations reported in the literature are noted and analysed. A general mechanism involving reaction at the edge of a particle containing both gold atoms and ions, and involving the support, is suggested, although not all features of it are necessarily always operative. Possible practical uses for gold in catalysing this reaction include pollution control, fuel cells, and gas sensing.
878 citations
01 Sep 2000
TL;DR: There has been considerable interest in the development and applications of active filters because of the increasing concern over power quality, at both distribution and consumer levels, and the need to control reactive power and voltage stability at transmission levels as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: There has been considerable interest in the development and applications of active filters because of the increasing concern over power quality, at both distribution and consumer levels, and the need to control reactive power and voltage stability at transmission levels. The existing approaches are classified and assessed to provide a framework of references for both researchers in this field and for generators, suppliers and consumers of electrical power who are, or may be, concerned about the problems associated with power quality and are considering installing active filters for their particular sets of problems.
668 citations
TL;DR: The authors locates the notion of safety culture within its parent concept of organisational culture, and draws a distinction between functionalist and interpretive perspectives on organizational culture, as well as a contrast between strategic top-down and data-driven bottom-up approaches to human factors.
531 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two meta-analyses of published studies that used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to investigate relationships between mood and athletic achievement (n = 13).
Abstract: The present study comprised two meta-analyses of published studies that used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to investigate relationships between mood and athletic achievement (n = 13) and between mood and performance outcome (n = 16). Results showed that effect sizes (ESs) for the level of achievement metaanalysis were minimal (Weighted Mean ES = .10, SD = .07), a finding consistent with a previous meta-analysis by Rowley, Landers, Kyllo, and Etnier (1995). Larger effects were found for the performance outcome meta-analysis (Weighted Mean ES = .31, SD = .12). Effects were moderate for vigor, confusion, and depression, small for anger and tension, and very small for fatigue. All effects were in the direction predicted by Morgan's (1985) Mental Health Model. Effects were larger in sports of short duration, in sports involving open skills, and where performance was judged using self-referenced criteria. Findings suggest that the POMS has utility in the prediction of performance outcome but not in...
370 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that ligand-dependent differences in the ability of ERα and ERβ to recruit coactivator proteins may contribute to the complex tissue-dependent agonistic/antagonistic responses observed with certain xenoestrogens.
347 citations
10 Dec 2000
TL;DR: An overview of recent research work in system dynamics modelling in supply chain management focuses on inventory decision and policy development, time compression, demand amplification, supply chain design and integration, and international supply network management.
Abstract: The use of system dynamics modeling in supply chain management has only recently re-emerged after a lengthy slack period. Current research on system dynamics modelling in supply chain management focuses on inventory decision and policy development, time compression, demand amplification, supply chain design and integration, and international supply chain management. The paper first gives an overview of recent research work in these areas, followed by a discussion of research issues that have evolved, and presents a taxonomy of research and development in system dynamics modelling in supply chain management.
338 citations
TL;DR: Results indicate that mammalian Ku86 plays a fundamental role at the telomere by preventing telomeric fusions independently of the length of TTAGGG repeats and the integrity of the G‐strand overhang.
Abstract: Ku86 together with Ku70, DNA-PKcs, XRCC4 and DNA ligase IV forms a complex involved in repairing DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) in mammals. Yeast Ku has an essential role at the telomere; in particular, Ku deficiency leads to telomere shortening, loss of telomere clustering, loss of telomeric silencing and deregulation of the telomeric G-overhang. In mammals, Ku proteins associate to telomeric repeats; however, the possible role of Ku in regulating telomere length has not yet been addressed. We have measured telomere length in different cell types from wild-type and Ku86-deficient mice. In contrast to yeast, Ku86 deficiency does not result in telomere shortening or deregulation of the G-strand overhang. Interestingly, Ku86–/– cells show telomeric fusions with long telomeres (>81 kb) at the fusion point. These results indicate that mammalian Ku86 plays a fundamental role at the telomere by preventing telomeric fusions independently of the length of TTAGGG repeats and the integrity of the G-strand overhang.
334 citations
TL;DR: It was established that the concentrations of natural steroid estrogens and xenoestrogens in a treated sewage effluent fluctuated temporally (over 8 months), from between 36 and 308 ng/L and between <0.2 (detection limit) and 10.7 μg/L, respectively.
Abstract: Sewage treatment works (STW) effluents throughout the U.K. have been shown to be estrogenic, inducing vitellogenin (VTG) synthesis in caged and wild fish for considerable distances (up to several kilometers) downstream of the effluent discharge. Thresholds for vitellogenin induction in caged fish in those studies have been derived from short-term exposures, and may not necessarily be representative of thresholds for estrogenic responses in wild fish living in rivers that contain STW effluent. In addition, very little is known about the long-term fluctuations in the concentrations of the estrogenic components of STW effluents. In this paper, it was established that the concentrations of natural steroid estrogens and xenoestrogens (alkylphenolic chemicals) in a treated sewage effluent fluctuated temporally (over 8 months), from between 36 and 308 ng/L and between <0.2 (detection limit) and 10.7 μg/L, respectively. Long-term exposure of maturing adult roach to a graded concentration of this effluent (0, 9.4,...
321 citations
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Waldby as mentioned in this paper explores how advances in medical technologies have changed the way we view and study the human body, and places the VHP within the history of technologies such as the X-ray and CT-scan, which allow us to view the human interior.
Abstract: The Visible Human Project is a critical investigation of the spectacular, three-dimensional recordings of real human bodies - dissected, photographed and converted into visual data files - made by the US National Library of Medicine in Baltimore. Catherine Waldby uses new ideas from cultural studies, science studies and social studies of the computer to situate the Visible Human Project in its historical and cultural context, and to consider the meanings such an object has within a computerised culture. In this fascinating and important book, Catherine Waldby explores how advances in medical technologies have changed the way we view and study the human body, and places the VHP within the history of technologies such as the X-ray and CT-scan, which allow us to view the human interior. Bringing together medical conceptions of the human body with theories of visual culture from Foucault to Donna Haraway, Waldby links the VHP to a range of other biomedical projects, such as the Human Genome Project and cloning, which approach living bodies as data sources. She argues that the VHP is an example of the increasingly blurred distinction between 'living' and 'dead' human bodies, as the bodies it uses are digitally preserved as a resource for living bodies, and considers how computer-based biotechnologies affect both medical and non-medical meanings of the body's life and death, its location and its limits.
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual model is presented which proposes that certain mood dimensions interact to influence behavior, and depression is the most important mood dimension, influencing the intensity of mood responses, the interrelationships among other mood dimensions, and moderating mood and performance relationships for anger and tension.
Abstract: The present paper provides a conceptual basis for the examination of mood in sport. The nature of the mood construct is discussed with reference to related constructs. A conceptual model is presented which proposes that certain mood dimensions interact to influence behavior. Depression is proposed to be the most important mood dimension, influencing the intensity of mood responses, the interrelationships among other mood dimensions, and moderating mood and performance relationships for anger and tension. It is hoped that the conceptual model will help guide applied interventions and will act as a catalyst for future research.
TL;DR: It is concluded that the sub-nuclear organisation of chromosomes in quiescent or senescent mammalian somatic cells is fundamentally different from that in proliferating cells and that the spatial organisation of the genome is plastic.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight some of these recent field-based investigations and new postglacial rebound models, and examine their implications for understanding crustal deformation and seismicity during glaciation and following deglaciation.
TL;DR: The concept of "media templates" was introduced by as discussed by the authors, who argue that templates are a crucial site of media power, acting to provide context for new events, serving as foci for demands for policy change and helping to shape the ways in which we make sense of the world.
Abstract: This article introduces, and attempts to define, the concept of 'media templates'. Drawing on focus groups discussions, content analysis and interviews with media personnel I demonstrate how template events help to shape news narratives and guide thinking not only about the past, but also of the present and the future. The argument is illustrated by examining the position of 'the Cleveland scandal' (and the subsequent 'Orkney crisis') in discussions of child sexual abuse. The discussion explores how templates such as 'Cleveland' are established and maintained by source strategies, social power relations and journalistic/audience reception processes, I also examine how templates operate in relation to existing theories around key events, framing and news icons. The article concludes by outlining the implications of templates for media production practice, media studies theory and audience reception research. Media templates are, I argue, a crucial site of media power, acting to provide context for new events, serving as foci for demands for policy change and helping to shape the ways in which we make sense of the world. The paradigmatic examples and associations which surround any particular issue can come to seem natural and inevitable. It is the task of media theorists, practitioners, policy makers and audiences to question how such accounts and links are constructed, to examine the conditions under which they are produced and reproduced, and to ask how they might be different.
15 Apr 2000-Materials Science and Engineering A-structural Materials Properties Microstructure and Processing
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of mischmetal (a mixture of rare-earth, RE elements) additions on the microstructural development of an in situ Al-15wt.%Mg2Si composite were investigated.
Abstract: In situ Al-Mg2Si composites, as a new class of ultralight materials for aerospace and other advanced engineering applications, are attracting more and more attention of both material scientists and design engineers. It has been demonstrated in our previous work that with proper microstructural control, in situ Al-Mg2Si composites can offer very promising combinations of strength, ductility and fracture toughness. In the present work, the effects of mischmetal (MM, a mixture of rare-earth, RE elements) additions on the microstructural development of an in situ Al-15wt.%Mg2Si composite were investigated. It was found that with increasing MM additions in the composites. the size of primary Mg2Si particles was considerably reduced, and that the pseudo-eutectic Mg2Si was changed from a fibrous morphology to a flake-like morphology, showing a divorced character. A small amount of RE-containing compounds in the form of Al11RE3 were formed as a result of MM additions. It is believed that MM additions have a strong influence on the nucleation process of primary Mg2Si particles and the subsequent formation of the alpha-Al phase and the pseudo-eutectic matrix. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
TL;DR: This paper reports on the first stage in the development of a questionnaire measure for the Subjective Assessment of Speech System Interfaces (SASSI), to produce a valid, reliable and sensitive measure of users' subjective experiences with speech recognition systems.
Abstract: Applications of speech recognition are now widespread, but user-centred evaluation methods are necessary to ensure their success. Objective evaluation techniques are fairly well established, but previous subjective techniques have been unstructured and unproven. This paper reports on the first stage in the development of a questionnaire measure for the Subjective Assessment of Speech System Interfaces (SASSI). The aim of the research programme is to produce a valid, reliable and sensitive measure of users' subjective experiences with speech recognition systems. Such a technique could make an important contribution to theory and practice in the design and evaluation of speech recognition systems according to best human factors practice. A prototype questionnaire was designed, based on established measures for evaluating the usability of other kinds of user interface, and on a review of the research literature into speech system design. This consisted of 50 statements with which respondents rated their level of agreement. The questionnaire was given to users of four different speech applications, and Exploratory Factor Analysis of 214 completed questionnaires was conducted. This suggested the presence of six main factors in users' perceptions of speech systems: System Response Accuracy, Likeability, Cognitive Demand, Annoyance, Habitability and Speed. The six factors have face validity, and a reasonable level of statistical reliability. The findings form a useful theoretical and practical basis for the subjective evaluation of any speech recognition interface. However, further work is recommended, to establish the validity and sensitivity of the approach, before a final tool can be produced which warrants general use.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the critical factors that influence the attitudes of construction workers towards safe behavior on construction sites and study these attitudes by using a research model that links three themes: safety management implementation strategies, attitudes of workers about safety and behavioural factors displayed by construction workers.
Abstract: This paper identifies the critical factors that influence the attitudes of construction workers towards safe behaviour on construction sites. It studies these attitudes by using a research model that links three themes: safety management implementation strategies, attitudes of workers about safety and behavioural factors displayed by construction workers. This model is used to frame the responses of 126 directly employed construction workers in 10 companies. Some 56 variables were identified as having a potential influence upon attitudes to safety. The initial data analysis found that 12 technical factors significantly correlated to the development of strong positive attitudes towards safety management. Second‐order analysis, using factor analysis, isolated five variables that had a major influence on safety attitudes. The five factors were: organizing for safety supervision and equipment management, industry norms and culture, attitudes to risk taking and management behaviour.
TL;DR: The compensation phenomenon in heterogeneous catalysis takes the form of a sympathetic linear correlation between the observed parameters of the Arrhenius equation E app and In A app for a series of related reactions or catalysts.
Abstract: The compensation phenomenon in heterogeneous catalysis takes the form of a sympathetic linear correlation between the observed parameters of the Arrhenius equation E app and In A app for a series of related reactions or catalysts: Exact obedience to this Cremer-Constable relation requires all Arrhenius plots in the set to intersect at the isokinetic temperature (Ti ). When this is established with statistical rigor (which is rare), the term “isokinetic relationship” (IKR) is used, the term “compensation” being reserved for cases in which this has not been done. Early work suggested that Ti equated to that at which the catalysts were prepared, but this observation has not been generally confirmed. Experimental error in the Arrhenius plots and other causes, such as a change in mechanism or the onset of diffusion limitation, can give rise to false “apparent” compensation which is of no real significance. The scope of this review is strictly limited to heterogeneously catalyzed reactions; thermal desorption i...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue the need for service users and their organizations to have support and opportunities to develop their own prior and separate discussions about theory, including social work theory.
Abstract: Summary So far, service users have not been systematically involved in social work theorizing. However, disabled people's movements, mental health service users/survivors and other service users have developed their own knowledges based on direct experience and they have generated their own conceptual frameworks and bodies of theory. There are fundamental problems in social work seeking to interpret service user knowledges. Their development and interpretation require the direct involvement of service users and their organizations in social work theorizing. There are strong practical, philosoph ical and political arguments for involving the knowledges and theories of service users and their organizations in the process of social work theory-building. This paper con siders an inclusive approach to social work theorizing. While highlighting the import ance of service users and their organizations being effectively included in social work theorizing, it also argues the need for them to have support and opportunities to develop their own prior and separate discussions about theory, including social work theory.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on diesel engine combustion and exhaust emissions were identified and investigated experimentally: the reduction in oxygen supply to the engine, participation in the combustion process of carbon dioxide and water vapour present in the EGR, increase in the specific heat capacity of the engine inlet charge, increased INLET charge temperature and reduction in the inLET charge mass flowrate arising from the use of hot EGR.
Abstract: An investigation was conducted with the aim of identifying and quantifying the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on diesel engine combustion and exhaust emissions. Five effects of EGR were identified and investigated experimentally: the reduction in oxygen supply to the engine, participation in the combustion process of carbon dioxide and water vapour present in the EGR, increase in the specific heat capacity of the engine inlet charge, increased inlet charge temperature and reduction in the inlet charge mass flowrate arising from the use of hot EGR. The experimental methodology developed allowed each one of these effects to be investigated and quantified separately. The investigation was carried out on a high-speed, direct injection diesel engine, running at an intermediate speed and load. A limited number of tests were also conducted in an optically accessible diesel engine, which established the effects of EGR on local flame temperature. Finally, tests were conducted with simulated EGR...
TL;DR: The link between motivation profiles among adult sports participants and the consequences of enjoyment, effort, positive and negative affect, attitude toward sport participation, intention to continue sport Participation, satisfaction, and frequency of attendance in sport was examined.
Abstract: The present study examined the link between motivation profiles among adult sports participants and the consequences of enjoyment, effort, positive and negative affect, attitude toward sport participation, intention to continue sport participation, satisfaction, and frequency of attendance in sport. Two samples of participants (n = 590 and n = 555) completed the Sport Motivation Scale and a range of self-report measures to assess the outcome variables. Exploratory cluster analyses applied to Sample I and confirmatory cluster analysis applied to Sample 2 identified two clusters of sport participants. The first comprised participants with high scores on both nonself-determined and self-determined motives. The second comprised participants with high scores on self-determined motives but low scores on nonself-determined motives. Participants in the first cluster scored higher on all outcome variables. The results are discussed with reference to a more in-depth understanding of the motivation dynamics...
TL;DR: Smoking by men and passive and active smoking by women are associated with delayed conception.
TL;DR: The data presented here highlight that an understanding of the metabolism and environmental degradation of chemicals is essential for assessing the potential of chemicals to have endocrine‐modulating effects.
Abstract: Pyrethroids are semisynthetic derivatives of the chrysanthemumic acids that have been developed as insecticides, and they are in widespread use. Considerable information is available regarding the toxicity, metabolism, and environmental degradation of pyrethroids, but almost nothing is known about their interactions with hormone receptors. In this study, seven commercial pyrethroids as well as products of metabolism and environmental degradation of permethrin were tested for steroid activity (both as agonist and as antagonist) in recombinant yeasts expressing the human estrogen and human androgen receptors. Pyrethroid insecticides had steroid receptor–binding activity. Fenpropathrin and permethrin both acted as weak estrogen agonists. Allethrin, bioallethrin, and cypermethrin had antiestrogenic activity, with potencies between 1,000-fold (bioallethrin) and 10,000-fold (allethrin) less than the established antiestrogen 4-OH-tamoxifen. Six of the seven pyrethroids tested had antiandrogenic activity (the most active, bioallethrin, was 70-fold less potent than flutamide). These activities, however, are believed to result either from contaminants/degradation products in the parent compounds or from metabolism of the parent compounds into active metabolites by the yeast. Three derivatives of permethrin all interacted with sex steroid hormone receptors. Three-phenoxybenzyl alcohol had both estrogenic and antiandrogenic activity, with potencies more than 100-fold greater than that of the parent compound, permethrin. Three-phenoxybenzoic acid and the cyclopropane acid derivative both had antiestrogenic activity, with approximately 100-fold and 1,000fold lower potencies than 4-OH-tamoxifen, respectively. The data presented here highlight that an understanding of the metabolism and environmental degradation of chemicals is essential for assessing the potential of chemicals to have endocrine-modulating effects.
TL;DR: It is argued that, in mapping the set of evaluation methodologies on to what is termed the investment opportunity space, that there is a limit to what can be achieved by formal rational evaluation methods and that an understanding of these more complex processes and decision making, in IT as elsewhere, needs tools drawn from philosophy and psychology.
Abstract: Although well over 1000 journal articles, conference papers, books, technical notes and theses have been written on the subject of information technology (IT) evaluation, only a relatively small subset of this literature has been concerned with the core issues of what precisely is meant by the term 'value' and with the process of making (specifically) IT investment decisions. All too often, the problem and highly complex issue of value is either simplified, ignored or assumed away. Instead the focus of much of the research to date has been on evaluation methodologies and, within this literature, there are different strands of thought which can be classified as partisan, composite and meta approaches to evaluation. Research shows that a small number of partisan techniques are used by most decision makers with a minority using a single technique and a majority using a mixture of such techniques of whom a substantial minority use a formal composite approach. It is argued that, in mapping the set of evaluatio...
TL;DR: In this article, the microstructure and degree of reticulation of the foamed ceramic were examined and analyzed with the help of a simple geometrical model, which is related geometrically to the volume fraction of porosity and this relationship is tested using microstructural measurements for a range of ceramic foams.
Abstract: This paper describes the preparation of ceramic foams by expansion of a ceramic suspension based on a polyurethane system. The microstructure and degree of reticulation of the foamed ceramic were examined and analysed with the help of a simple geometrical model. Like the porous ceramics prepared by the replica processing method, these foamed ceramics possess open cells in a nearly equiaxed shape but the cell size is much finer. The ratio of the window size to the cell size is a useful parameter for characterising the geometry of the foam and is related to the qualitative concept of degree of reticulation. For a face centred cubic array of cells it is related geometrically to the volume fraction of porosity and this relationship is tested using microstructural measurements for a range of ceramic foams.
TL;DR: The media rarely present positive information on breast feeding, even though this feeding practice is associated with the most health benefits, and health professionals and policy makers should be aware of patterns in media coverage and the cultural background within which women make decisions about infant feeding.
Abstract: Objective: To examine how breast feeding and bottle feeding are represented by the British media.
Design: Content analysis.
Subjects: Television programmes and newspaper articles that made reference to infant feeding during March 1999.
Setting: UK mass media.
Main outcome measures: Visual and verbal references to breast or bottle feeding in newspapers and television programmes.
Results: Overall, 235 references to infant feeding were identified in the television sample and 38 in the newspaper sample. Bottle feeding was shown more often than breast feeding and was presented as less problematic. Bottle feeding was associated with “ordinary” families whereas breast feeding was associated with middle class or celebrity women. The health risks of formula milk and the health benefits of breast feeding were rarely mentioned.
Conclusions: The media rarely present positive information on breast feeding, even though this feeding practice is associated with the most health benefits. Health professionals and policy makers should be aware of patterns in media coverage and the cultural background within which women make decisions about infant feeding.
01 Nov 2000-International Journal of Human-computer Studies \/ International Journal of Man-machine Studies
TL;DR: The meta-analysis synthesizes significant levels and effect sizes, tests the heterogeneity of findings from individual studies included and tests the linear trends over a range of information visualization features with ascending visual-spatial complexity.
Abstract: A meta-analysis is conducted on a set of empirical studies of information visualization. To be included in the meta-analysis, a study must meet a set of selection criteria. The meta-analysis synthesizes significant levels and effect sizes, tests the heterogeneity of findings from individual studies included and tests the linear trends over a range of information visualization features with ascending visual-spatial complexity. Recommendations for future experimental studies of information visualizations are included.
TL;DR: The slippery use of the word "community" in higher education studies and pronouncements makes it desirable that it should be better defined and related to more bounded assumptions about individual academic identity and relationships within academe.
Abstract: The slippery use to which the word ‘community’ is applied in higher education studies and pronouncements makes it desirable that it should be better defined and related to more bounded assumptions about individual academic identity and relationships within academe. There is discussion of the academic communities of the invisible colleges and their modes of internal governance by elites and the communitarian implications of the changing pattern of institutional management. The relationship of academics and their institutions to the wider world of society and the economy is considered. It is concluded that external connections are not best pursued through assumptions of shared community but of acceptance of differentiation and exchange.
TL;DR: In this article, an integrated optimal spot pricing model is presented, which includes the detailed derivation of optimal nodal specific real-time prices for active and reactive powers, and the method to decompose them into different components corresponding to generation, loss, and many selected ancillary services such as spinning reserve, voltage control and security control.
Abstract: In this paper, an integrated optimal spot pricing model is presented first. The proposed model includes the detailed derivation of optimal nodal specific real-time prices for active and reactive powers, and the method to decompose them into different components corresponding to generation, loss, and many selected ancillary services such as spinning reserve, voltage control and security control. The features of the proposed model are discussed in relationship to existing pricing models and classical economic dispatch. The model is then implemented by modifying existing Newton OPF methods through interior point algorithms, which can effectively avoid "go" "no go" gauge (i.e. highly volatile) in the calculation of spot prices. Case studies on 5-bus and IEEE 30-bus systems are reported to illustrate the proposed method.