Suchergebnisse

Ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles (<10 nm) were loaded with cis-diamminetetrachloroplatinum (IV), a cisplatin (II) prodrug, and used as an efficient nanodelivery system in cell models. To gain further insight into their behavior in ovarian cancer cells, the level of cellular incorporation as well as the platination of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) strategies. Quantitative Pt results revealed that after 24 h exposure to 20 µM Pt in the form of the Pt(IV)-loaded nanoparticles, approximately 10% of the incorporated Pt was associated with nuclear DNA. This concentration increased up to 60% when cells were left to stand in drug-free media for 3 h. These results indicated that the intracellular reducing conditions permitted the slow release of cisplatin (II) from the cisplatin (IV)-loaded nanoparticles. Similar results were obtained for the platination of mitochondrial DNA, which reached levels up to 17,400 ± 75 ng Pt/ mg DNA when cells were left in drug-free media for 3 h, proving that this organelle was also a target for the action of the released cisplatin (II). The time-dependent formation of Pt-DNA adducts could be correlated with the time-dependent decrease in cell viability. Such a decrease in cell viability was correlated with the induction of apoptosis as the main route of cell death. The formation of autophagosomes, although observed upon exposure in treated cells, does not seem to have played an important role as a means for cells to overcome nanoparticles' toxicity. Thus, the designed nanosystem demonstrated high cellular penetration and the "in situ" production of the intracellularly active cisplatin (II), which is able to induce cell death, in a sustained manner. ; The financial support through the regional funding from the government of Asturias through the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (PCTI), co-financed by FEDER funds (ref. FCGRUPIN-IDI/2018/000242), and the funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the project RTI2018-094605-B-I00 are gratefully acknowledged. Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen, Germany) is kindly acknowledged for the instrumental support.

The advent of delivering new features faster has led many software projects to change their development processes towards more rapid release models where releases are shipped using release cycles of weeks or days. The adoption of rapid release practices has significantly reduced the amount of stabilization time, the time it takes for a software product's failure rate to reach close to the steady-state, available for new features. This forces organizations to change their development process and tools to release to the public, in a timely manner and with good quality. Rapid releases are claimed to offer a reduced time-to-market and faster user feedback; end-users bene- fit of faster access to functionality improvements and security updates and improve turnaround time for fixing bad bugs. Despite these benefits, previous research has shown that rapid releases often come at the expense of reduced software reliability. Despite the increasing adoption of rapid releases in open-source and commercial soft- ware, the effects of this practice on the software development process are not well understood.The goal of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of how rapid releases impact different parts of the open-source software development process. We present empirical evidence about the short and long-term impact of rapid releases on the bug handling and testing process in open source organizations; and the plan and tools that are needed for successful adoption of rapid releases. This thesis presents an empirical case study of rapid releases in Eclipse and Mozilla Firefox projects. We follow a mixed-methods approach where we analyze software repositories, containing different types of data such as source code, testing data and software issues; and we conduct a survey with Eclipse developers. This help in understanding the evolution and changes of the software development process, the plans and practices that are needed for successful adoption of rapid releases and we identify several future research directions ...

This paper addresses some issues relating to collection-driven exploitation of the archaeological record (artefact hunting) in England and Wales. It looks at who the collectors involved are and why they do it, how they go about finding and searching sites for collectables, and what they do with them. A brief overview of the UK online trade in dug-up antiquities is also given, and the response of British archaeology to the phenomenon. The effects of the introduction of new legislation (the 1996 'Treasure Act') together with a dedicated and centralised recording scheme for finds made by the public are discussed. The relationship between collecting and archaeological research, together with archaeological attitudes towards collectors are also explored, in particular the issue of the degree to which the recording of material voluntarily reported by artefact hunters creates useful archaeological data. It is shown that the manner by which this information has been collected severely limits its use for many archaeological purposes. ; Este artículo aborda algunas cuestiones relacionadas con la explotación del registro arqueológico impulsada por la búsqueda de restos arqueológicos en Inglaterra y Gales. Se examina quiénes son los coleccionistas involucrados y por qué lo hacen, cómo van a encontrar y buscar yacimientos con el fin de recuperar objetos, y qué hacen con ellos. También se ofrece una breve perspectiva general del comercio en línea de antigüedades desenterradas en el Reino Unido y la respuesta de la arqueología británica al fenómeno. Se discuten los efectos de la introducción de una nueva legislación (la "Treasure Act" de 1996) junto con un plan de registro específico y centralizado para los hallazgos hechos por el público. También se explora la relación entre la búsqueda de restos arqueológicos y la investigación arqueológica, junto con las actitudes arqueológicas hacia los coleccionistas, en particular la cuestión del grado en que el registro del material notificado voluntariamente por los cazadores de antigüedades proporciona datos arqueológicos útiles. Se ha demostrado que la forma en que se ha reunido esta información limita severamente su uso para muchos fines arqueológicos.

It is known that people at sea are vulnerable to harsh weather conditions and maritime security threats. Nowadays, case law highlights how maritime security operations that are meant to be a source of security for these people also constitute a source of vulnerability – as such operations may be undertaken in a manner that violates their rights. This issue emanates from the friction between maritime security operations and human rights law linked to the dissonance between international human rights law (IHRL) and the international law of the sea (LOS). Scholars suggest a systemic integration between these two fields of law, alongside other relevant fields of international law, to protect people at sea. The problem is that the existing research does not contemplate the gaps within the law as a stumbling block to protecting people at sea. By utilising the human security framework to guide the doctrinal analysis of IHRL and LOS vis-à-vis maritime security, this thesis finds that people at sea are still rendered vulnerable by gaps in protection resulting from legal uncertainties (including, but not limited to, maritime 'legal black holes'). For example, legal uncertainties cause de jure rightlessness affecting the protection of migrants visible in the Mediterranean Sea and de facto non-enforcement affecting the protection of civilians within the Gulf of Guinea. These issues are genuine conflicts within international law that a traditional conflict avoidance technique cannot remedy. This thesis proposes the novel perspective of human security as a framework relevant to maritime security and international law that can strengthen the protection of people at sea. It argues that the tenet of human security allows it to function as a bridge over the maritime legal black holes, as it unifies traditionally set apart laws (IHRL and LOS), policies, governments, organisations, civil society groups, etc. By examining the potential and limits of the human security approach to deal with identified gaps in protection, this thesis ...

This research paper focuses on Indo-Canadian poet Rupi Kaur and her work. By analysing Kaur's work, this dissertation aims to examine the evolution of poetry as it has been influenced by the digital space in today's society. Literature and poetry have always been shaped by their environment and Instagram poetry is no different. The manner in which Kaur's poetry has developed on social media like Instagram is a question that prompts several areas of inquiry. The relationship between Instapoetry and different aspects of Kaur's work brings to light matters of poetic form. To do so, this paper concentrates on different aspects of Kaur's work by taking into account her poetry in print form, digital activism, oral performances and her political and social engagement as a Canadian woman of color.The first part of this dissertation concerns the evolution that has occurred from the distribution to the reception of digital poetry. Indeed, digital poetry has to cope with new challenges brought by digitization. As the creation, distribution and reception of art are simplified thanks to social networks, anyone with Internet access can create poetry and publish it on digital platforms. In doing so, one positive outcome is that art is no longer limited to a supposed literary elite, as it might have been in the past with poetry in print. However, what is more problematic is the amateurism that it appears to generate. For some critics and scholars, the vulgarisation of poetry on the digital space can be seen as a threat to literary tradition. Indeed, digital poetry is questioning the very definition of art. This article illustrates how digital poetry breaks the rules previously established by academics and refuses to the canonical rules of poetry. Nonetheless, it is important to mention that this refusal of supposed literary rules is not unique to digital poetry because many other traditions and literary movements before the 21st century and even before the 20 th century refused them. ; Ce mémoire se concentre sur la poésie ...

COVID-19 governmental management has given place to the use of extraordinary powers under the state of emergency. So far, political science studies have addressed this issue by focusing on responses to the pandemic by different political regimes. Nevertheless, the pandemic effects on the type of regime have not been studied with the same level of interest. This investigation intends to describe how the pandemic can impact political regimes by analyzing the Cambodia case. It shows a regime that has deepened its autocratic profile in a progressive and constant manner, even during the pandemic. In this sense, this article has three objectives: to analyze the advantages and limitations of the concept of "autocratization"; to explain regime change in Cambodia since the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, and to determine the measure in which the pandemic has served as a pretext to further the autocratization process. ; La gestión gubernamental de la pandemia de COVID-19 ha propiciado la puesta en marcha de poderes extraordinarios bajo estados de emergencia. Hasta el momento, los estudios provenientes de la ciencia política han hecho referencia a esta problemática, haciendo foco en las respuestas a la pandemia según los diferentes regímenes políticos, y señalando cuáles han sido más o menos eficientes. En cambio, el análisis sobre los efectos de la pandemia sobre el tipo de régimen no ha sido un tema de investigación abordado con el mismo interés. Este trabajo se propone describir cómo la pandemia ha impactado en el régimen político, a través del análisis del caso de Camboya. Allí se evidencia un régimen que profundiza su carácter autocrático de forma progresiva y constante, incluso en tiempos de pandemia. El presente trabajo, por lo tanto, tiene tres objetivos: analizar las ventajas y limitaciones del concepto «autocratización»; explicar los cambios de régimen en Camboya desde la Autoridad Provisional de las Naciones Unidas en Camboya, y determinar en qué medida la pandemia ha sido un pretexto para ...

Introduction: The transmission of respiratory infectious diseases such as COVID-19 can significantly decrease by mask-wearing. However, accurate information about the extent and proper use of the facial mask is scarce. This study's main objective was to observe and analyze mask-wearing behavior and the level of COVID-19 protection measures in indoor public areas (PAs) of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Methods: For conducting the observational survey study, targets were indoor PAs, and zip codes were defined as surveying clusters. The number of selected PAs in each zip code was proportional to the population and the total number of PAs in that zip code. The PA pool in a zip code was divided into four groups, followed by random selection without replacement from each group. Results: A total of 191 PAs were surveyed: 50 of them were grocery stores, 56 were convenience stores or pharmacies, 39 were wine and liquor stores, and 46 were other stores. At least one unmasked and one incorrectly masked staff were observed in 26% and 40% of the sampled PAs, respectively. Also, in 29% and 35% of the PAs, at least one unmasked and one incorrectly masked visitor were observed, respectively. The rates varied by PA size and county district. Eighty percent of unmasked staff and 75% of the unmasked visitors were male. The rate of unmasked males varied from 50% to 100% across districts. About 66% of unmasked staff among all Jefferson County districts were young adults. More than one-fourth of all the PAs provided hand sanitizer for visitors' use, and only 2% of the PAs provided masks to their visitors. Conclusion: Messaging about mask use and correct usage may need to particularly target the 19-44-year-old male population, as these individuals were the most prevalent among those unmasked and masked incorrectly. Additionally, businesses' protective measures may depend on their resources to operate in such a manner. Hand sanitizer is easier to offer visitors, while staffing to regularly sanitize carts or funds to provide a sufficient number of wipes, gloves, or masks may present further opportunities for government assistance.

This article examines the particular characteristics of the municipality of San José according to its status as an agricultural colony. At the same time, it considers the demographic and productive changes observed in this jurisdiction during the 1860s. In addition, it analyses the existing tensions between the settlers and certain ranchers in the area. Through records such as correspondence files emanated from the municipality to the provincial government, different types of statistics and regulations, and requests of the settlers; it intends to show that –in that context– the municipality positioned itself as an area of local mediation, acting in a corporate and collegiate manner. It is through this institution that the settlers developed a common space by which they tried to compensate their problems. ; El presente artículo examina las características particulares de la municipalidad de San José según su condición de colonia agrícola. A su vez, considera los cambios demográficos y productivos que se observan en esta jurisdicción durante la década de 1860. Además, analiza las tensiones existentes entre los colonos con ciertos estancieros de la zona. Por medio de la correspondencia emanada desde el municipio hacia el gobierno provincial, los distintos tipos de estadísticas y normativas, y las peticiones de los colonos; pretendemos demostrar que –en dicho contexto– la municipalidad se posicionó como un ámbito de mediación local, actuando en forma corporativa y colegiada. Es a través de esta institución que, los colonos, configuraron un espacio común por el cual intentaron resarcir sus problemas. ; Este artigo examina as particularidades do município de San José segundo sua condição de colônia agrícola. Ao mesmo tempo, considera as mudanças demográficas e produtivas observadas nesta jurisdição durante a década de 1860. Além disso, analisa as tensões existentes entre colonos e alguns fazendeiros na área. Pela correspondência emanada do município para o governo provincial, os diferentes tipos de estatísticas e regulamentos e as solicitações dos colonos; Pretendemos demonstrar que - neste contexto - o município se posicionou como espaço de mediação local, atuando de forma corporativa e colegiada. É por meio dessa instituição que os colonos estabeleceram um espaço comum por meio do qual tentaram resolver seus problemas.

This research paper focuses on Indo-Canadian poet Rupi Kaur and her work. By analysing Kaur's work, this dissertation aims to examine the evolution of poetry as it has been influenced by the digital space in today's society. Literature and poetry have always been shaped by their environment and Instagram poetry is no different. The manner in which Kaur's poetry has developed on social media like Instagram is a question that prompts several areas of inquiry. The relationship between Instapoetry and different aspects of Kaur's work brings to light matters of poetic form. To do so, this paper concentrates on different aspects of Kaur's work by taking into account her poetry in print form, digital activism, oral performances and her political and social engagement as a Canadian woman of color.The first part of this dissertation concerns the evolution that has occurred from the distribution to the reception of digital poetry. Indeed, digital poetry has to cope with new challenges brought by digitization. As the creation, distribution and reception of art are simplified thanks to social networks, anyone with Internet access can create poetry and publish it on digital platforms. In doing so, one positive outcome is that art is no longer limited to a supposed literary elite, as it might have been in the past with poetry in print. However, what is more problematic is the amateurism that it appears to generate. For some critics and scholars, the vulgarisation of poetry on the digital space can be seen as a threat to literary tradition. Indeed, digital poetry is questioning the very definition of art. This article illustrates how digital poetry breaks the rules previously established by academics and refuses to the canonical rules of poetry. Nonetheless, it is important to mention that this refusal of supposed literary rules is not unique to digital poetry because many other traditions and literary movements before the 21st century and even before the 20 th century refused them. ; Ce mémoire se concentre sur la poésie ...

In a human-like form and programmed with artificial intelligence, sex robots are becoming increasingly prevalent, also as a result of the restrictions on social interactions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of their programming, sex robots offer both a physical and psychological dimension for users, thereby raising concerns not usually linked to sex toys. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine whether the international human rights instruments on women's human rights relates to concerns raised by sex robots. The focus is mainly on whether sex robots exacerbate harmful gender stereotypes or can be considered discriminatory against women. Furthermore, it is examined whether a State is obligated to respond to the manufacture, distribution and use of sex robots, even though these activities are carried out by private citizens and entities. By applying a dynamic and teleological approach combined with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties' provisions on treaty interpretation, the relevant treaties, treaty body decisions and soft law are examined to determine whether sex robots are harmful to women and what obligations states have in that regard as a result of private actor activities. Sex robots in their current form portray women in a hypersexualised manner, both with appearance and behaviour. While it is not yet clear whether such portrayal will cause a surge in sexual violence against women, sex robots undoubtedly represent a stereotypical and degrading depiction of women, resulting in adverse effects on women's mental health. According to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and other key human rights treaties, member states have an obligation to modify harmful gender stereotypes and eliminate gender stereotyping and other discriminatory practices towards women. Thus, in relation to sex robots, member states must take appropriate measures, like introducing legislation or policies on sex robots' manufacture, distribution and use. Since restrictive legislation on the use of sex robots may interfere with other fundamental human rights - including the user's right to privacy and health - it is recommended that the measures introduced by states focus on the production of sex robots.

The Garden City has an immense influence on the theory of urbanism, influencing urban planning in numerous Latin American countries, including Mexico. A group of architects and engineers – such as Carlos Contreras, Ignacio Bancalari, José Cuevas Pietrasanta – use the Garden City model to plan a post-revolutionary Mexico fitting with its principles. Inspired by the Garden City Association, they create the National Association for the Planning of the Republic of Mexico, which aims both to promote the model and to put it into practice at a national scale.The government, intergovernmental organization – including UN-Habitat – and numerous think tanks all agree on a set of urban challenges faced by Mexico. This Thesis is based on the hypothesis that the Garden City could constitute a "reservoir of precedence" those implicated in this Urban Reform in Mexico could use as inspiration to push forward the transformation of their cities and territories. Although certain research accentuates the idea of the compact city and increasing the density of the existing urban fabric, this work defends the idea that it is possible to extend the city in a manner that is virtuous. Reflections inherited from the Garden City such as the Neighborhood unit or the more contemporary New urbanism are used to support the claim.More than a century after Howard published his proposals, our cities seem to be confronted by very similar issues. The ideas of Howard have never been effectively practiced at a large scale, despite the great success of the first materialization of the ideas in the English city of Letchworth. In the face of a status quo that has lasted for decades, the author asks if it is it not time to shake up our conception of the city as well as our current practices.The demonstration of such a hypothesis is separated into three parts:First, the research questions the theoretical notions of the model and its dissemination, thus defining the Garden city not only as a model of urban planning, but also as a social project that can ...

Forest degradation, generally defined as a reduction in the delivery of forest ecosystem services, can have long-term impacts on biodiversity, climate, and local livelihoods. The quantification of forest degradation, its dynamics and proximate causes can help prompt early action to mitigate carbon emissions and inform relevant land use policies. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is largely forested with a relatively low deforestation rate, but anthropogenic degradation has been increasing in recent years. We assess the impact of eight independent variables related to land cover, land use, infrastructure, armed conflicts, and accessibility on forest degradation, measured by the Forest Condition (FC) index, a measure of forest degradation based on biomass history and fragmentation that ranges from 0 (completely deforested) to 100 (intact). We employ spatial panel models with fixed effects using regular 25 × 25 km units over five 3-year intervals from 2002 to 2016. The regression results suggest that the presence of swamp ecosystems, low access (defined by high travel time), and forest concessions are associated with lower forest degradation, while built up area, fire frequency, armed conflicts result in greater forest degradation. The impact of neighboring units on FC shows that all variables within the 50 km spatial neighborhood have a greater effect on FC than the on-site spatial determinants, indicating the greater influence of drivers beyond the 25 km² unit. In the case of protected areas, we unexpectedly find that protection in neighboring locations leads to higher forest degradation, suggesting a potential leakage effect, while protected areas in the local vicinity have a positive influence on FC. The Mann-Kendall trend statistic of occurrences of fires and conflicts over the time period and until 2020 show that significant increases in conflicts and fires are spatially divergent. Overall, our results highlight how assessing the proximate causes of forest degradation with spatiotemporal analysis can support targeted interventions and policies to reduce forest degradation but spillover effects of proximal drivers in neighboring areas need to be considered.

Almost ten years have passed since the Arab uprisings of 2011 turned the social-political equilibrium of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region upside down. Despite successful counter-revolutionary policies, protests continue to challenge the status quo. The main difference with the 2011 is that current and ongoing political and social protests are less "visible" as they happen at the "margins" of society. This paper investigates the role of marginality and marginalisation in the cycle of protests and the dynamic of revolution and counter-revolution in the MENA region. The continuous eruption of social contestations in the rural and urban margins of North Africa forces us to reconsider previous academic analyses which understood the so-called "Arab Spring" as a predominantly urban youth movement, principally from a middle-class background. Protests at the margins not only constitute the hidden history of revolts of 2011, they also continue these revolts in a less visible, less concentrated, and less articulated manner. Putting the margins at the centre of analysis allows us to conceive of a cycle of protest not only in diachronic terms, as a temporal ebb and flow of contestation, but also a socio-spatial process of converging and refracting protests – from the margins to the centre and back again. We take a closer look at events in Egypt and Morocco. For the Egyptian case we investigate rural and urban protests against the new Law on Building Violations. Through the lens of marginalisation, we are able to reveal the contours of a socio-spatial hierarchy of protests, which has been shaping social movements in Egypt long before 2011. The second case deals with Morocco and presents a counter-story of the post-2011 democratic transition which has led, to everyone's surprise, to the uprising of the Hirak du Rif and Jerada. This counter-story traces the reconfiguration of power relations in society, thanks to mobilisations that took place often underground and at the margins.

The presidency of the Council of the European Union occurs every six months. It provides all member states, regardless of state size, with the equal opportunity to be in the centre of EU decision-making. The presidency performs a wide range of roles, which include organizer/administrative, agenda setter, broker and political leader. National interests are also an inherent part of the presidency and they can influence the role performance of several of the roles. Such national interests and their impact on the other roles are the subject of this thesis. The roles that the presidency performs are also the focus of this thesis. These subjects are examined using the case study method in the Latvian context. In particular, the focus is on the Latvian presidency that took place from 1 January to 30 June 2015. While the study is based on a single case study, the findings can be applied to other small member state presidencies. Interviews were conducted with individuals who worked closely with the presidency and press releases by the Saeima and Latvian permanent representation were analysed. As a result, it was shown that in the organizational/administrative role, Latvia was able to plan the presidency in a timely manner and it focused on logistics and training of the civil service. In agenda-setting, it was able to push forward their fairly modest agenda and was able to reach agreements between member states regarding the agenda points. Latvia did not take a strong political leadership approach but rather aimed to mediate various positions. Latvia undertook the broker role admirably and they were able to frame their interests as European wide ones as is expected from the presidency. National interests were found to influence the Latvian presidency term in several ways. What helped Latvia in realizing the national interests was agenda-setting because it is the biggest power the presidency has. Holding a successful first-time presidency was a national interest because they started the preparations early and spent a lot of resources on planning. It was found that national interests influenced the role performance for several roles.

Introductioan: The Western Seram Islands have various customary rights that grow and develop in the lives of indigenous peoples and it becomes a rule that is believed by them, so that it becomes a law that binds them in determining their ownership rights to their customary land.Purposes of the Research: This study aims to determine how the position of customary land ownership rights in the national land law system, and what is the legal basis and the way in which customary land ownership rights occur according to customary law.Methods of the Research: This study uses the normative legal research method, which aims to find out how the position of ownership rights over customary land in the national land law system in the areas of Taniwel Timur, Negeri Maloang and Negeri Sohuwe, West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, and to understand what the legal basis and How to Have Land Ownership Rights According to Customary Law in the Taniwel Timur District, Maloang State and Sohuwe State, West Seram Regency, Maluku Province.Results of the Research: In principle, ownership of land rights by a member or group of customary law communities, whether individual or communal / group, has a very binding power de jure and de facto. The principle of ownership in the provision of de jure guarantees in the sense that the customary law community recognizes that if ownership rights are obtained by means of the permission of the head of the association (Kepala Adat or Kepala Soa), to open and manage land for customary law communities it can be said to be a legal act that is legal according to law. adat as long as it does not contradict the prevailing customary law norms, and the principle of ownership in a de facto manner, namely that the principle of ownership has been obtained from generation to generation. This is what the local government must pay attention to in terms of recognition of rights by customary law communities in West Seram District, Maluku Province.