Artificial diet bioassays were carried out to investigate the impact of GNA and Con A upon the development of L. oleracea larvae. GNA, at 2 % of total dietary protein, exerted a significantly detrimental effect upon larval development, growth and consumption, with little effect upon survival. Con A was shown to be the more toxic of the 2 lectins. When tested at concentrations of 2.0 %, 0.2 % and 0.02 %, Con A caused a significant decrease in survival and larval development, and caused greater reductions in larval growth and consumption compared to GNA. The potential for GNA and Con A to exert insecticidal effects via binding to the brush border membrane (BBM) and peritrophic membrane (PM) of L. oleracea larvae was investigated. Con A, which specifically binds a-D-mannopyranoside and a-D- glucopyranoside residues, was shown to bind in vitro to the majority of BBM and PM proteins. In contrast GNA, which exhibits strict specificity for a(l,3) and a(l,6)-linked D-mannose residues, bound to only 5 BBMV and 2 PM proteins. In agreement, higher levels of Con A, compared to GNA, were shown to accumulate in larval gut tissue after feeding the proteins in vivo. Despite this both lectins were shown to have a similar ability to disrupt the digestive capacity of the larval midgut. GNA and Con A stimulated similar short term elevations in BBM enzyme and soluble trypsin activities and a long-term reduction in a-glucosidase activity. Increases in levels of trypsin activity in faecal material collected from lectin-fed larvae suggested that the proteins may act by disrupting mechanisms of enzyme recycling. Aminopeptidase, an abundant and avidly binding BBM protein (120 kDa), was identified as a major Con A binding species in L. oleracea. A 98 kDa GNA-binding BBM protein was purified and amino acid sequence data was obtained from digest polypeptides allowing oligonucleotide primers to be designed. Subsequent attempts to amplify (by PCR and RT-PCR) fragments containing coding sequence corresponding to the 98 kDa protein were unsuccessful. This was attributed to oligonucleotide degeneracy together with the low abundance and relatively large size of the protein. The potential for GNA and Con A to exert systemic effects upon I. oleracea was demonstrated by the detection of both lectins in the haemolymph of larvae exposed to experimental diets. GNA was detected in haemolymph of larvae exposed to experimental diet for just 2 hours. In contrast, no Con A was detectable in haemolymph extracted from larvae fed for 24 hours, although it was present in the haemolymph after 5 days of exposure to the diet. That GNA and Con A may act directly upon organs other than the insect gut was indicated by the detection of lectins in vivo in malpighian tubule and fat body tissue extracts. A significant reduction in haemocyte abundance in haemolymph samples extracted from lectin-fed larvae suggested that both GNA and Con A may also act by disrupting the immune system of L. oleracea.

No description available.

Glucosinolates have been implicated as a mediator of the cancer-protective properties of cruciferous vegetables. Enzymatic hydrolysis of glucosinolates by plant or microbial myrosinase yields a range of metabolites including beneficial isothiocyanates. Little is known about the fate of glucosinolates after their ingestion. Using urinary end-products of metabolism as markers, measurement of the production of isothiocyanates in the digestive tract of monogastric animals has been achieved. Initially, a range of isothiocyanates were administered to rats and their excretion as mercapturic acids was quantified. Relative recovery of different isothiocyanates was found to be consistent and predictable, allowing the use of artificial isothiocyanates as recovery standards in subsequent experiments. Subsequently, the relative influence of plant and bacterial myrosinase on isothiocyanate production was quantified in rats. A proportion of 0.80 (s. e. m. 0.076) of benzyl glucosinolate was hydrolysed to isothiocyanate by plant myrosinase. In the presence of both plant and microbial activity,, the proportion of benzyl isothiocyanate release was significantly decreased (0.50 s. e. m. 0.046, p<0.01) suggesting microbial breakdown of isothiocyanates. The approach, adapted for use with human subjects showed that the proportions of allyl isothiocyanate measured after ingestion of raw and cooked cabbage were 0.37 (s. e. m. 0.045) and 0.53 (s. e. m. 0.134) respectively in healthy male volunteers. A further experiment with rats established that isothiocyanate uptake in the distal digestive tract was significantly less than in the proximal intestine (0.12 s. e. m. 0.017 and 0.48 s. e. m. 0.029 respectively), suggesting a potential underestimation of isothiocyanate release in the distal digestive tract when using urinary markers. Finally, enhancement of bacterial fermentation by addition of inulin to the diet had little influence on isothiocyanate production in the gut. The findings suggested that the formation of the cancer-protective isothiocyanates was significant, in vivo, thereby strengthening the evidence for a beneficial effect of cruciferous vegetables for health. The newly developed method opens up possibilities of concurrently exploring the digestive fate of isothiocyanates and the toxicity of carcinogenic compounds.

The environment is at risk not only from disastrous accidents, but also from the insidious contamination by lesser incidents and from events whose significance is unacknowledged or even unrecognised at the time. Major incidents attract instant public concern and demands for clean up and prevention. Historical and gradual contamination do not often make headlines but may have effects which equally require curative and preventive action. The costs of curative and preventive actions may reach considerable dimensions. These costs have to be provided by parties responsible for or related to the damage. Predominantly it is the role of the civil law to give redress to those who may have suffered as a result of environmental damage. The development of civil liability for environmental pollution has been traditionally marked by the recognition of different liability regimes. However, none of these approaches is in itself sufficient to address the problems of environmental protection; nor do they yet amount into toto to a composite system. Therefore, efforts have been made to increase the effectiveness of each approach. The regulatory system is in the process of reform both in the European Union and in the Member states, through tightening of the standards backed by criminal and civil laws and by improving and monitoring and enforcement of these standards. However, even the establishment of a no-fault regime cannot guarantee the accurate attribution of environmental responsibility, the exhaustive remediation of environmental damage and the compensation of every loss caused by environmental pollution. This thesis will reveal that civil liability is not effective in securing restoration of the damaged environment and compensation of the injured persons. Furthermore, it will give consideration to other conceptions (compensation schemes and compulsory insurance), which try to ensure that environmental restoration and compensation take place.

A wide variety of assessment techniques are presently available to quantify the environmental performance of an organisation. They are predominantly site- or area-specific, making them sensitive to differences in the environmental capacity of an area, and they exclude a number of global impacts. A more generic level-plane assessment tool, which quantifies the environmental burden, may therefore be needed to make a valid comparison between organisations. Furthermore, the generic process data used in these assessment tools, to inform policy decisions on a material or product, does not recognise the potential variation in burden of a sector. This thesis develops a corporate level-plane assessment tool using the techniques available from Life Cycle Assessment. This generic tool, the Total Environmental Potency Index (TEPI), is then compared with the Environment Agency's Integrated Environmental Index (IEI), to assess the significance of site location on compliance based site-specific indices like the IEI. The two indices are compared using realworld emission data from seven industrial collaborators in five sectors. Two of these, paper manufacture and power generation, are used to assess the potential variability among processes within the same sector. The potential use of the indices is also determined by examining the accessibility to the required data at each of the participating companies. The results show that site location significantly affects the IEI and that the TEPI can provide a useful generic impact assessment tool to compare sites from different locations or sectors. The burdens from processes within the same sector were highly variable, suggesting that process-specific data will be important if valid policy decisions are to be made in the future. The TEPI and its categories can provide a standard format for aggregating and presenting the required emission data in a way that protects its commercial sensitivity. Although the accessibility to this data was low to moderate, the potential for deriving emission data using mass balance studies was high, with a large amount of accessible input data available. The implications of these results for the use of internal and external impact assessment techniques within an organisation are discussed. A framework is provided to guide the use of process data and impact assessment techniques in the wide range of assessments made by organisations to manage and report on their environmental performance. Finally, the experiences gained from using the IEI and TEPI are used to make recommendations for their improvement, and further development by research.

Ireland and the United Kingdom are since 1993 in conflict about a Mox plant at Sellafield, on the Irish Sea. This plant is designed to recycle the plutonium which is produced during the reprocessing of nuclear fuel to reclaim the uranium contained in it. Ireland has tried to contest the British decision to build and operate the Mox plant through all the legal means available. An important request of Ireland was to be more and better informed in order to better contribute to the protection of the marine environment of the Irish Sea. Ireland and the United Kingdom are Member of two important treaties addressing the issue of environmental information: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention). Ireland has sought a remedy through the procedures of dispute settlement instituted by those two treaties. The Mox Plant Case is therefore very complex, each of these procedures being conducted within the textual confines of the treaties that govern them.<br /> <br /> In July 2003 the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the OSPAR Convention rejected Ireland&rsquo / s request to have access to more information about the Mox plant. The procedure introduced by Ireland in October 2001 before an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the UNCLOS is still pending. In this context, waiting for the final decision of this Arbitral Tribunal, the ITLOS ordered in December 2001, as a provisional measure, that Ireland and the United Kingdom must cooperate and exchange information. In November 2003, the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the UNCLOS has suspended the proceedings, waiting for a decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Indeed the European Commission, backing up the position of the United Kingdom, initiated proceedings against Ireland before the ECJ in 2003.<br /> <br /> The Mox Plant Case illustrates and addresses several predominant matters in international environmental law. Firstly it illustrates the complexity of a system where several treaties between the same parties regulate the same issues. As a consequence in this case not less than four international jurisdictions have been and are still involved in the matter, leading to procedural difficulties. Secondly the Mox Plant Case illustrates the considerable difference of opinion which exists in the area of international environmental law with respect to the meaning and nature of the notion of &lsquo / access to information&rsquo / , and its relationship to other ancillary and concomitant notions, e. g. &lsquo / collaboration&rsquo / , &lsquo / cooperation&rsquo / , &lsquo / participation&rsquo / , etc., by and amongst states. The meaning of this concept, which is the cause of the dispute, differ depending on the context of treaty within which it is used.<br /> From the analysis of the Mox Plant Case, in the context of the evolution of international law in general, and international environmental law in particular, the point is made on the strong link between the principle of cooperation and the right of access to environmental information, the first one necessarily including the latter to be effective. The other important element is the shift which is now established in international environmental law and governance from a strict application of the principle of state sovereignty, towards a more integrated vision. The interdependent nature of the environment makes necessary an interdependent governance and regulation of the issues related to it.

The two centuries from 1818 to 2004 cover profound social and economic changes in what was, for much of the period, the most powerful country in the world. Britain led the way in moving capital and labour out of agriculture and into newer industries, such as coal-mining, textiles and transportation. The changes were accompanied by deep institutional changes, especially in the franchise. The rate of change is remarkable: within seventy years Britain was almost completely democratic, in contrast to the 'rotten boroughs' and virtual feudalism of the pre- 1832 unreformed Parliaments. The changes are mirrored in the role given to agriculture within society, and in particular the amount and type of economic rent transferred from the consumer and the taxpayer to the farmer. This thesis uses two centuries of data and 'survival analysis' statistical techniques to show that Olson's celebrated theory of collective action can be substantiated in a dynamic context. I show that as the share of farmers in the workforce diminishes, and their relative wealth shrinks, the probability of the Cabinet increasing protection grows. The reverse is also the case, showing that the Cabinet responds positively to pressures from a group whose utility was diminishing.

No description available.

Thesis (MSc(CompSc) -- Bond University, 2001. / "A thesis submitted to Bond University in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Computer Science"-- t.p. Bibliography: leaves 124-125. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-105).