Will Twitter Be Following You in the Courtroom: Why Reporters Should Be Allowed to Broadcast during Courtroom Proceedings

Thanks to micro-blogging and social networking tools, we no longer have to pick up a phone to call our friends and ask them what they are doing. Instead we turn to our laptop, BlackBerry, or iPhone to get instant information available to us through the Internet. Twitter is a key player in the Internet information exchange line-up and has made its way into one of the oldest and most archaic forums: the courtroom. The current law does not properly address whether reporters should be allowed to tweet, but this trend is becoming more prevalent. Twitter needs to be addressed with our current society in mind; a society wanting instant access to information. This note will discuss the history of prohibitions against broadcasting in the court, analyze the reasons why reporters should be allowed to use Twitter and other micro-blogging tools in the courtroom, and propose a solution for how their presence can be accounted for in order to maintain order in the court

Gender Identity in Early Childhood

Background. Some authors indicate that the origin of gender identity in children is between two and three years old. This research report presents evidence against this affirmation based on Cultural–historical Psychology about the acquisition of consciousness through language as a process that begins from early childhood and ends in adolescence. Objective. (1) Characterize concepts about gender identity that have children in early childhood. (2) To compare differences and similarities of the concept of gender identity in children of different ages. Design. The procedure used was the classifying pictures method adapted for this study. We evaluated 32 children from one to five years old about the acquisition of gender identity through a qualitative analysis of data. Results. It was found that children of two and three years old group images by gender stereotypes, while those of four and five are incorporating other criteria such as shape and color. Conclusion. This happens for two reasons: first, the incorporation of the gender culture is a complex process and second, the school promotes a classification system that allows to order the worldbased on criteria other than gender. Keywords: concepts, gender identity, early childhood, cultural–historical psychology, Mexic

Ermakov Systems with Multiplicative Noise

Using the Euler-Maruyama numerical method, we present calculations of the Ermakov-Lewis invariant and the dynamic, geometric, and total phases for several cases of stochastic parametric oscillators, including the simplest case of the stochastic harmonic oscillator. The results are compared with the corresponding numerical noiseless cases to evaluate the effect of the noise. Besides, the noiseless cases are analytic and their analytic solutions are briefly presented. The Ermakov-Lewis invariant is not affected by the multiplicative noise in the three particular examples presented in this work, whereas there is a shift effect in the case of the phasesComment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 22 reference

Persistence of viable but non-culturable bacteria during the production and distribution of drinking water

The direct measurement of in situ respiring bacteria using 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) shows that, especially for Gram-negative bacteria, large numbers of viable but non-culturable (VBNC) bacteria are present in finished water from a conventional water treatment plant, and the regrowth of bacteria along distribution networks can be seen rapidly by using this very sensitive technique. The level of bacterial inactivation with chlorine is much less important than has been previously supposed (based on experiments with non-injured laboratory strains of bacteria and classical culture techniques). Threshold values of VBNC bacteria leaving water treatment plants or regrowing along distribution systems have to be determined for better control of coliform regrowth and health- risks associated with the consumption of drinking water

Advances in Substance Abuse Prevention Practice and Science for Hispanic/Latinos

The problem of substance abuse impacts the Hispanic/Latino youth population. In some cases, subpopulations of the Hispanic/Latino population suffer higher rates of substance use than do other groups. While the science of prevention in the general population and the rigorous study of substances abuse prevention programs have flourished over the past few decades, there continues to be a limited body of knowledge regarding substance abuse prevention that is culturally specific or tailored to Hispanic/Latinos. One promising area is the study of risk and protective factors which finds that acculturation stress, among others, plays a key role in the development of substance use and other behavioral problems among youth. Stress experiences related to discrimination, immigration, parent–child cultural differences all play a role in disrupting normative development and subsequent risk-taking behavior. Culturally focused prevention models such as Familia Adelante show promise in helping reduce acculturation-based risk and increasing individual and family resilience. This chapter will address many of the aforementioned issues and will provide direction for future prevention research for Hispanic/Latinos

Isotropization of Bianchi type models and a new FRW solution in Brans-Dicke theory

Using scaled variables we are able to integrate an equation valid for isotropic and anisotropic Bianchi type I, V, IX models in Brans-Dicke (BD) theory. We analyze known and new solutions for these models in relation with the possibility that anisotropic models asymptotically isotropize, and/or possess inflationary properties. In particular, a new solution of curve ($k\neq0$) Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmologies in Brans-Dicke theory is analyzed.Comment: 15 pages, 4 postscript figures, to appear in Gen. Rel. Grav., special issue dedicated in honour of Prof. H. Dehne

Edge-functionalized and substitutional doped graphene nanoribbons: electronic and spin properties

Graphene nanoribbons are the counterpart of carbon nanotubes in graphene-based nanoelectronics. We investigate the electronic properties of chemically modified ribbons by means of density functional theory. We observe that chemical modifications of zigzag ribbons can break the spin degeneracy. This promotes the onset of a semiconducting-metal transition, or of an half-semiconducting state, with the two spin channels having a different bandgap, or of a spin-polarized half-semiconducting state -where the spins in the valence and conduction bands are oppositely polarized. Edge functionalization of armchair ribbons gives electronic states a few eV away from the Fermi level, and does not significantly affect their bandgap. N and B produce different effects, depending on the position of the substitutional site. In particular, edge substitutions at low density do not significantly alter the bandgap, while bulk substitution promotes the onset of semiconducting-metal transitions. Pyridine-like defects induce a semiconducting-metal transition.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure