12,039 research outputs found
Changes in Draft in Shoal Water
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96581/1/39015087358589.pd
Labor Law-Fair Labor Standards Act-- Coverage of Construction Workers
Respondent construction firm was engaged in building a dam, the sole purpose of which was to enlarge a reservoir that supplied water to the city of Corpus Christi, Texas. Industrial producers of goods for interstate commerce and operators of instrumentalities of interstate commerce consumed nearly half of the water supplied by the city\u27s system. The Secretary of Labor sought an injunction against violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act The district court granted the injunction; the court of appeals reversed, relying primarily upon the new construction doctrine. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, affirmed, four Justices dissenting. Although the new construction rule was not a proper basis upon which to deny coverage, construction workers in this case, nevertheless, were too remotely related to the production goods for interstate commerce to come within the scope of the act. Mitchell v. H. B. Zachry Co., 362 U.S. 310 (1960)
Birth and decay of coherent optical phonons in femtosecond-laser-excited bismuth
The transient reflectivity of bismuth crystal excited by a 45 fs laser pulse in the near-infrared range has been recovered with an accuracy of 10-5, at initial sample temperatures ranging from 50 to 510 K, and at pump fluences from 2 mJ/ cm2 to 21 mJ/ cm2. The coherent phonon excitation and decay processes were imprinted into the time-dependent reflectivity and this allows us to uncover the temporal phonon history preceding the structural transformation of solid Bi. Analysis showed that the first coherent atomic displacement was produced by the polarization force and the electron pressure force during the laser pulse, and that manifests itself by a negative change in the reflectivity. The frequency of the subsequent reflectivity oscillations was chirped, redshifted from the initial value due to the lattice heating. The amplitude decreased gradually while electrons transferred their energy to the lattice. Heating and thermal expansion of the lattice transformed the initially coherent harmonic vibrations of atoms into strongly nonlinear chaotic motion that signifies the onset of disordering of the solid. This process was identified through measurement of the damping rate of the reflectivity oscillations and interpretation of this rate as the decay rate of an optical phonon into two acoustic phonons. The analysis of the reflectivity oscillations provides evidence that the overheated solid experiences only the onset of the solid-liquid phase transition but did not proceed into the liquid phase. General relations between the laser-exerted forces, the atomic motion, and the optical parameters were established. The proposed theory reproduces well the measured transient reflectivity across a wide range of crystal temperatures and laser excitation fluences
Small Atomic displacements Recorded in Bismuth by the Optical Reflectivity of Femtosecond Laser-Pulse Excitations
Subtle atomic motion in a Bi crystal excited by a 35 fs-laser pulse has been recovered from the transient reflectivity of an optical probe measured with an accuracy of 10-5. Analysis shows that a novel effect reported here-an initial negative drop in reflectivity-relates to a delicate coherent displacement of atoms by the polarization force during the pulse. We also show that reflectivity oscillations with a frequency coinciding with that of cold Bi are related to optical phonons excited by the electron temperature gradient through electron-phonon coupling
Bacteria Present in Carotid Arterial Plaques Are Found as Biofilm Deposits Which May Contribute to Enhanced Risk of Plaque Rupture
Atherosclerosis, a disease condition resulting from the buildup of fatty plaque deposits within arterial walls, is the major underlying cause of ischemia (restriction of the blood), leading to obstruction of peripheral arteries, congestive heart failure, heart attack, and stroke in humans. Emerging research indicates that factors including inflammation and infection may play a key role in the progression of atherosclerosis. In the current work, atherosclerotic carotid artery explants from 15 patients were all shown to test positive for the presence of eubacterial 16S rRNA genes. Density gradient gel electrophoresis of 5 of these samples revealed that each contained 10 or more distinct 16S rRNA gene sequences. Direct microscopic observation of transverse sections from 5 diseased carotid arteries analyzed with a eubacterium-specific peptide nucleic acid probe revealed these to have formed biofilm deposits, with from 1 to 6 deposits per thin section of plaque analyzed. A majority, 93%, of deposits was located proximal to the internal elastic lamina and associated with fibrous tissue. In 6 of the 15 plaques analyzed, 16S rRNA genes from Pseudomonas spp. were detected. Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms have been shown in our lab to undergo a dispersion response when challenged with free iron in vitro. Iron is known to be released into the blood by transferrin following interaction with catecholamine hormones, such as norepinephrine. Experiments performed in vitro showed that addition of physiologically relevant levels of norepinephrine induced dispersion of P. aeruginosa biofilms when grown under low iron conditions in the presence but not in the absence of physiological levels of transferrin. IMPORTANCE The association of bacteria with atherosclerosis has been only superficially studied, with little attention focused on the potential of bacteria to form biofilms within arterial plaques. In the current work, we show that bacteria form biofilm deposits within carotid arterial plaques, and we demonstrate that one species we have identified in plaques can be stimulated in vitro to undergo a biofilm dispersion response when challenged with physiologically relevant levels of norepinephrine in the presence of transferrin. Biofilm dispersion is characterized by the release of bacterial enzymes into the surroundings of biofilm micro-colonies, allowing bacteria to escape the biofilm matrix. We believe these enzymes may have the potential to damage surrounding tissues and facilitate plaque rupture if norepinephrine is able to stimulate biofilm dispersion in vivo. This research, therefore, suggests a potential mechanistic link between hormonal state and the potential for heart attack and stroke
Criminal Law - Insane Persons - Influence of Mental Illness on the Parole Return Process
Defendants in the criminal process are divided into rigidly exclusive categories of mental health. The competent to stand trial are first separated from the incompetent. Then the competent are divided on the basis of their mental state at the time of their acts between the sane and the insane. As long as these rigid categories are administered in an adversary trial system, some misdirection of victims of serious mental illness into the penal system is almost inevitable. Even where mental illness might otherwise prevent conviction, those accused of non-capital felonies are not likely to raise the question, and few courts are likely to do so for them. Once such misdirection has taken place at trial, the possible inappropriateness of imprisoning the mentally ill remains largely beyond the reach of legal examination. After conviction there are few occasions which one might call justiciable events when the balanced considerations of criminality and mental illness stand precisely defined for flexible, dispassionate examination. The questions which might be asked are obscured in the vague penumbra of post-conviction due process, and the issues are further blurred by the fact that present prisons and mental hospitals both tend to be thought of as primarily custodial. Hence, mentally ill convicts generally percolate through the penal system and eventually become eligible for parole. At that stage, their mental illnesses may not be recognized or, if recognized, not thought to present an unreasonable risk under a liberal parole policy. Many such convicts are therefore granted parole. Thus the criminal process thrusts upon parole administrators the problem of handling these victims of serious mental illness. This study by a psychiatrist and a law student is based upon the case histories of twelve such parolees with whose mental illness the Michigan parole administration was forced to deal. These case histories are contained in the appendix
Combined experimental and computational investigations of rhodium-catalysed C-H functionalisation of pyrazoles with alkenes
Detailed experimental and computational studies have been carried out on the oxidative coupling of the alkenes C(2)H(3)Y (Y=CO(2)Me (a), Ph (b), C(O)Me (c)) with 3-aryl-5-R-pyrazoles (R=Me (1 a), Ph (1 b), CF(3) (1 c)) using a [Rh(MeCN)(3)Cp*][PF(6)](2)/Cu(OAc)(2)⋅H(2)O catalyst system. In the reaction of methyl acrylate with 1 a, up to five products (2 aa–6 aa) were formed, including the trans monovinyl product, either complexed within a novel Cu(I) dimer (2 aa) or as the free species (3 aa), and a divinyl species (6 aa); both 3 aa and 6 aa underwent cyclisation by an aza-Michael reaction to give fused heterocycles 4 aa and 5 aa, respectively. With styrene, only trans mono- and divinylation products were observed, whereas with methyl vinyl ketone, a stronger Michael acceptor, only cyclised oxidative coupling products were formed. Density functional theory calculations were performed to characterise the different migratory insertion and β-H transfer steps implicated in the reactions of 1 a with methyl acrylate and styrene. The calculations showed a clear kinetic preference for 2,1-insertion and the formation of trans vinyl products, consistent with the experimental results
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