427 research outputs found

    Our Administrative System of Criminal Justice

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    To commemorate our founding in 1914, the Board of Editors has selected six influential pieces published by the Law Review over the past 100 years and will republish one piece in each issue. The fourth piece selected by the Board is Our Administrative System of Criminal Justice, an article written by Gerard E. Lynch that is among the most cited works in the Law Review’s history. This article illustrates how the practice of plea bargaining blurs the boundaries between adversarial and inquisitorial criminal justice systems. Judge Lynch now sits on the Second Circuit having eventually succeeded the late Judge Joseph M. McLaughlin, who also is honored in the pages of this book for the permanent mark he left on Fordham Law School and the Law Review. We think it is fitting that the Law Review feature two of the many contributions that judges of the Second Circuit have made to legal education and scholarship in this issue

    Electromagnetically induced transparency in inhomogeneously broadened Lambda-transition with multiple excited levels

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    Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) has mainly been modelled for three-level systems. In particular, a considerable interest has been dedicated to the Lambda-configuration, with two ground states and one excited state. However, in the alkali-metal atoms, which are commonly used, hyperfine interaction in the excited state introduces several levels which simultaneously participate in the scattering process. When the Doppler broadening is comparable with the hyperfine splitting in the upper state, the three-level Lambda model does not reproduce the experimental results. Here we theoretically investigate the EIT in a hot vapor of alkali-metal atoms and demonstrate that it can be strongly reduced due to the presence of multiple excited levels. Given this model, we also show that a well-designed optical pumping enables to significantly recover the transparency

    A novel thiazolidine compound induces caspase-9 dependent apoptosis in cancer cells

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    Cataloged from PDF version of article.The forward chemogenomics strategy allowed us to identify a potent cytotoxic thiazolidine compound as an apoptosis-inducing agent. Chemical structures were designed around a thiazolidine ring, a structure already noted for its anticancer properties. Initially, we evaluated these novel compounds on liver, breast, colon and endometrial cancer cell lines. The compound 3 (ALC67) showed the strongest cytotoxic activity (IC50 ∼5 μM). Cell cycle analysis with ALC67 on liver cells revealed SubG1/G1 arrest bearing apoptosis. Furthermore we demonstrated that cytotoxicity of this compound was due to the activation of caspase-9 involved apoptotic pathway, which is death receptor independent. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserve

    The development of a toxicity database using freshwater macroinvertebrates, and its application to the protection of South African water resources

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    There is a growing international trend towards the protection of freshwater resources from pollution by imposing instream guidelines and specified waste-discharge conditions. Current methods for devising freshwater quality guidelines are based on species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) that are used to identify pollutant concentrations, ensuring the protection of a modelled percentage of species (95% protection is a common goal). SSDs are derived from the toxicity test results of as many taxa as possible for each polluting substance. Waste-discharge licences can be for single substances, specified in terms of chemical concentrations, and derived in conjunction with instream guidelines; or for complex mixtures, specified in terms of toxic units. In both cases toxicity test results are the core data used. The emphasis on SSDs calls into question the species constituting the test populations. It is likely that SSDs based in part on the responses of local organisms will achieve superior site-specific ecological protection. Until the early 1990s, there were very few data on the tolerances of South African freshwater organisms. In the intervening decade, the Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality at Rhodes University has developed a toxicity database that, to date, records the responses of 21 South African freshwater taxa to 26 single-substance pollutants or mixtures. This is the most comprehensive database of South African toxicity responses available and has been used in the drawing up of methods and guidelines to protect water resources. This paper aims to make these data available and to describe applications of the data using selected case studies

    Time-resolved laser spectroscopy for the in situ characterization of methacrylate monomer flow within spruce

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    Time-resolved diffuse optical spectroscopy (TRS) was investigated as a nondestructive method to characterize the post-impregnation distribution of methacrylate monomers within spruce (Picea abies\textit{Picea abies}). TRS was also used to monitor the flow of methacrylate monomers in situ, within spruce, during impregnation with both spatial and temporal resolution. The data were compared to fluid flow models developed by Darcy and Bramhall demonstrating that neither of these models were able to accurately describe the experimental results, highlighting the need for development of new models. Nondestructive characterization by TRS did not require staining of the monomer treatment solution, multivariate analysis or complex sample pre-treatment, thus highlighting the facile applicability of this technique.The authors would like to thank Prof. Paul Linden and Dr. Henry Burridge for useful discussion during the preparation of this manuscript and the EPSRC, ERC Starting investigators Grant (ASPiRe, 240629), CUSBO, FP7 Laserlab-Europe (No. 284464) and the Walters Kundert Trust for financial support

    Toward Understanding CB[7]-Based Supramolecular Diels-Alder Catalysis.

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    Cucurbiturils (CBs) are robust and versatile macrocyclic compounds, often used as molecular hosts in complex supramolecular systems. In previous work, remarkable catalytic activity has been observed for asymmetric cycloadditions under very mild conditions. Herein, we investigate the nature of supramolecular catalysis using DFT calculations and QM/MM techniques. We discuss induced conformational changes, electrostatic shielding effects from the highly polar aqueous environment and cooperativity in hydrogen bonding of the substrates in explicit water using QM/MM simulation techniques. Our results show little specificity for the chosen molecules, suggesting an excellent opportunity to expand the scope for catalytic use of these supramolecular macrocyclic containers

    Theory and practice: bulk synthesis of C3B and its H2- and Li-storage capacity.

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    Previous theoretical studies of C3B have suggested that boron-doped graphite is a promising H2- and Li-storage material, with large maximum capacities. These characteristics could lead to exciting applications as a lightweight H2-storage material for automotive engines and as an anode in a new generation of batteries. However, for these applications to be realized a synthetic route to bulk C3B must be developed. Here we show the thermolysis of a single-source precursor (1,3-(BBr2)2C6H4) to produce graphitic C3B, thus allowing the characteristics of this elusive material to be tested for the first time. C3B was found to be compositionally uniform but turbostratically disordered. Contrary to theoretical expectations, the H2- and Li-storage capacities are lower than anticipated, results that can partially be explained by the disordered nature of the material. This work suggests that to model the properties of graphitic materials more realistically, the possibility of disorder must be considered.We thank the ERC (Advance Investigator awards for D.S.W., C.P.G.), the EPSRC (T.C.K., P.D.M., H.G., J.C.), and the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (under grants ENE2011-24-412 and IPT-2011-1553-420000). We thank John Bulmer for Raman spectroscopy and Keith Parmenter for glass blowing. We thank the Schlumberger Gould Research Centre for XPS analysis.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.20141220

    Energy and Electron Transfer Dynamics within a Series of Perylene Diimide/Cyclophane Systems.

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    Artificial photosynthetic systems for solar energy conversion exploit both covalent and supramolecular chemistry to produce favorable arrangements of light-harvesting and redox-active chromophores in space. An understanding of the interplay between key processes for photosynthesis, namely light-harvesting, energy transfer, and photoinduced charge separation and the design of novel, self-assembling components capable of these processes are imperative for the realization of multifunctional integrated systems. We report our investigations on the potential of extended tetracationic cyclophane/perylene diimide systems as components for artificial photosynthetic applications. We show how the selection of appropriate heterocycles, as extending units, allows for tuning of the electron accumulation and photophysical properties of the extended tetracationic cyclophanes. Spectroscopic techniques confirm energy transfer between the extended tetracationic cyclophanes and perylene diimide is ultrafast and quantitative, while the heterocycle specifically influences the energy transfer related parameters and the acceptor excited state.S.T.J.R. thanks the Cambridge Home and European Scholarship Scheme and the Robert Gardiner memorial scholarship. S.T.J.R., A.F. and O.A.S. thank the ERC starting investigator grant ASPiRe (project no. 240629) and the EPSRC (reference no. EP/G060649/1). Femtosecond and nanosecond spectroscopy (R.M.Y.), EPR spectroscopy (M.D.K.) and phosphorescence spectroscopy (Y.W.) were supported as part of the ANSER Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under award no. DE-SC0001059. J.F.S., J.J.H., N.H., N.A.V. and E.D.J. acknowledge the Joint Center of Excellence in Integrated Nano-Systems (JCIN) between KACST and Northwestern University (Project 34-946) for their continued financial support. E.J.D. acknowledges NSF and Ryan fellowships. A.H. and W.M.N. thank the COST Action CM1005 “Supramolecular Chemistry in Water” and the DFG (grant NA-686/5) for financial support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Chemical Society via http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b1032

    Optical imaging of luminescence for in vivo quantification of gene electrotransfer in mouse muscle and knee

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    BACKGROUND: Optical imaging is an attractive non-invasive way to evaluate the expression of a transferred DNA, mainly thanks to its lower cost and ease of realization. In this study optical imaging was evaluated for monitoring and quantification of the mouse knee joint and tibial cranial muscle electrotransfer of a luciferase encoding plasmid. Optical imaging was applied to study the kinetics of luciferase expression in both tissues. RESULTS: The substrate of luciferase (luciferin) was injected either intraperitonealy (i.p.) or in situ into the muscle or the knee joint. Luminescence resulting from the luciferase-luciferin reaction was measured in vivo with a cooled CCD camera and/or in vitro on tissue lysate. Maximal luminescence of the knee joint and muscle after i.p. (2.5 mg) or local injection of luciferin (50 μg in the knee joint, 100 μg in the muscle) were highly correlated. With the local injection procedure adopted, in vivo and in vitro luminescences measured on the same muscles significantly correlated. Luminescence measurements were reproducible and the signal level was proportional to the amount of plasmid injected. In vivo luciferase activity in the electrotransfered knee joint was detected for two weeks. Intramuscular electrotransfer of 0.3 or 3 μg of plasmid led to stable luciferase expression for 62 days, whereas injecting 30 μg of plasmid resulted in a drop of luminescence three weeks after electrotransfer. These decreases were partially associated with the development of an immune response. CONCLUSION: A particular advantage of the i.p. injection of substrate is a widespread distribution at luciferase production sites. We have also highlighted advantages of local injection as a more sensitive detection method with reduced substrate consumption. Besides, this route of injection is relatively free of uncontrolled parameters, such as diffusion to the target organ, crossing of biological barriers and evidencing variations in local enzymatic kinetics, probably related to the reaction medium in the targeted organ. Optical imaging was shown to be a sensitive and relevant technique to quantify variations of luciferase activity in vivo. Further evaluation of the effective amount of luciferase in a given tissue by in vivo optical imaging relies on conditions of the enzymatic reaction and light absorption and presently requires in vitro calibration for each targeted organ
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