Muddying the \u3cem\u3eChevron\u3c/em\u3e Waters: The D.C. Circuit Lacks Doctrinal Clarity in \u3cem\u3eWaterkeeper Alliance v. EPA\u3c/em\u3e

Chevron deference is one of the most contentious and misunderstood doctrines in administrative law. Justice John Paul Stevens’ opinion in the watershed 1984 case Chevron, USA, Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. established a two-step framework for courts to use in evaluating agency rule-making authority. That clear two-step process has undergone rewording and revision over the years that has resulted in a lack of doctrinal clarity. On April 11, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA, a challenge brought by environmentalists to an EPA rule that exempted farmers from reporting certain types of pollution. Purporting to apply Chevron, the D.C. Circuit determined that the EPA did not possess the authority to pass the exemption. This Comment argues that although the D.C. Circuit arrived at the correct result, it did so in a doctrinally confusing manner by not clearly delineating the Chevron two-step test, thereby potentially complicating future Chevron analysis

The Purdue University Get Away Special II (PUGAS II)

The Purdue University Get Away Special Project (PUGAS) is a student-run organization dedicated to preparing payloads for flight on NASA's space shuttle. The first such payload (PUGAS I) flew on Challenger in 1983. The second payload (PUGAS II) should be ready by the end of 1988 and will include three experiments. The first experiment will involve the production of tin metal foam under microgravity conditions. The second experiment will focus on the desorption of water from carbon-epoxy composite materials. The third experiment will use a solid polymeric material to detect radiation in space

Guardian of Memory: Halldór Laxness, Saga Editor

ABSTRACT: During the 1940s the Icelandic novelist Halldór Laxness embarked on a project to oversee the publication of five medieval sagas. The project emerged as a response to certain editorial practices common to the time and, like many of Halldór’s endeavours, invited no small measure of controversy. In fact, Halldór’s publication venture resulted in a legal battle with the Icelandic government, from which he ultimately emerged victorious. An examination of his editorial project and its background demonstrates much about Halldór’s own understanding of the medieval sagas and the wider significance of the saga heritage in the context of modern Icelandic society and culture. Moreover, this project was also intimately connected to Halldór’s own artistic pursuits at the time and in the years that followed, and thus provides important insight into the writer he was and the writer he was yet to become

“The First White Mother in America” Guðríðr Þorbjarnardóttir, Popular History, Firsting, and White Feminism

This article takes Ásmundur Sveinsson’s statue "The First White Mother in America" as a starting point. With reference to this work, its several later casts, and three illustrative examples from recent popular history writing, the article demonstrates how popular representations of the statue's subject, Guðríðr Þorbjarnardóttir, frequently reinforce traditions rooted in racially exclusive historical standards and Indigenous erasure. While Guðríðr’s story offers a valuable counterpoint to male-dominated and often hyper-violent images of “Viking” history, writers and other popular history purveyors depicting her story also run the risk of simultaneously reinforcing settler-colonial and white supremacist ideals regardless of their individual motives

The pesticide adjuvant, Toximul™, alters hepatic metabolism through effects on downstream targets of PPARα

AbstractPrevious studies demonstrated that chronic dermal exposure to the pesticide adjuvant (surfactant), Toximul™ (Tox), has significant detrimental effects on hepatic lipid metabolism. This study demonstrated that young mice dermally exposed to Tox for 12 days have significant increases in expression of peroxisomal acyl-CoA oxidase (mRNA and protein), bifunctional enzyme (mRNA) and thiolase (mRNA), as well as the P450 oxidizing enzymes Cyp4A10 and Cyp4A14 (mRNA and protein). Tox produced a similar pattern of increases in wild type adult female mice but did not induce these responses in PPARα-null mice. These data support the hypothesis that Tox, a heterogeneous blend of nonionic and anionic surfactants, modulates hepatic metabolism at least in part through activation of PPARα. Notably, all three groups of Tox-treated mice had increased relative liver weights due to significant accumulation of lipid. This could be endogenous in nature and/or a component(s) of Tox or a metabolite thereof. The ability of Tox and other hydrocarbon pollutants to induce fatty liver despite being PPARα agonists indicates a novel consequence of exposure to this class of chemicals, and may provide a new understanding of fatty liver in populations with industrial exposure

The role of motivation to eat in the prediction of weight control behaviors in female and male adolescents

Objective: To examine whether motivation to eat variables predict changes in dieting and weight control behaviors in both gender groups over time. \ud Method: Greek adolescents (n=247), aged 14–18 years, completed questionnaires measuring different \ud dimensions of motivation to eat, dieting, healthy and unhealthy weight control behaviors. Dieting and weight \ud control behaviors were measured five months later. \ud Results: Compliance motivation positively predicted changes in dieting in males and a number of unhealthy \ud weight control behaviors in females. Coping motivation negatively predicted meal skipping in both genders \ud and was associated with a lower risk of vomiting in females. Social motivation positively predicted eating less \ud high fat food in males while pleasure motivation was associated with a reduced likelihood of eating more \ud fruits and vegetables in females and a reduced risk of fasting in males. \ud Conclusion: Intervention programs designed to facilitate healthy and circumvent unhealthy weight control \ud practices in adolescents should attend to gender differences in motivational factors shown to predict dieting \ud and weight control behaviors. For females it may be important to minimize compliance motivation whereas \ud for males, programs that foster social motivation to eat might be appropriate

Comparative Analysis of the Flexural Stiffness of Pinniped Vibrissae

Vibrissae are important components of the mammalian tactile sensory system and are used to detect vibrotactile stimuli in the environment. Pinnipeds have the largest and most highly innervated vibrissae among mammals, and the hair shafts function as a biomechanical filter spanning the environmental stimuli and the neural mechanoreceptors deep in the follicle-sinus complex. Therefore, the material properties of these structures are critical in transferring vibrotactile information to the peripheral nervous system. Vibrissae were tested as cantilever beams and their flexural stiffness (EI) was measured to test the hypotheses that the shape of beaded vibrissae reduces EI and that vibrissae are anisotropic. EI was measured at two locations on each vibrissa, 25% and 50% of the overall length, and at two orientations to the point force. EI differed in orientations that were normal to each other, indicating a functional anisotropy. Since vibrissae taper from base to tip, the second moment of area (I) was lower at 50% than 25% of total length. The anterior orientation exhibited greater EI values at both locations compared to the dorsal orientation for all species. Smooth vibrissae were generally stiffer than beaded vibrissae. The profiles of beaded vibrissae are known to decrease the amplitude of vibrations when protruded into a flow field. The lower EI values of beaded vibrissae, along with the reduced vibrations, may function to enhance the sensitivity of mechanoreceptors to detection of small changes in flow from swimming prey by increasing the signal to noise ratio. This study builds upon previous morphological and hydrodynamic analyses of vibrissae and is the first comparative study of the mechanical properties of pinniped vibrissae.The open access fee for this work was funded through the Texas A&M University Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Fund