Fiduciary Liability Under the Federal Priority Statutes

Myriad aspects of commercial interaction between the federal government and individuals may be affected by the near-ancient sections 3466 and 3467 of the Revised Statutes which subject a fiduciary of an insolvent estate to personal liability for failure to grant priority to specified governmental claims. In an attempt to guide the practitioner through the maze of contingencies presented by these provisions, the author outlines considerations relevant to an assessment of the applicability and effect of the statutory priorities

The risk of transmission of a viral haemorrhagic fever infection in a United Kingdom laboratory

No abstract available

Effects of Flow Path Factors in the Permeability of Natural and Man-made Granular Soils Using the Kozeny-Carman Equation

The research presented in this paper serves to observe how the flow path factors relate to the void ratio, the effective diameter of a soil particle, and the permeability of a given sample assuming the behavior is consistent across natural and artificial soils. The basis of the comparison is the derived Kozeny-Carman Equation for permeability with focus on the factors Cs and Cl where Cs represents the shape of the flow path and Cl represents the length of the flow path that a single water molecule must travel through a soil sample. Permeameter tests were conducted for six types of material including three natural sands and two man-made samples to compare data. Man-made or unnatural samples included stainless steel pins and ceramic spheres. Four other natural sands were tested at both 50% and 90% relative density to compare data. Natural sands included C33 sand, Quartz sand, Fine Ottawa sand and Coarse Ottawa sand. It was observed that while the permeability of the samples was impacted by the geometry of the flow paths, as shown in the flow path factors CsCl, as well as the void ratios, it appears that the effective diameter Ds has a larger impact on permeability

Identifying a weakness in the UK education system of supporting children with complex social, emotional and behavioural difficulties/ADHD - is government policy preventing effective inclusion for some pupils?

A short attention span, impulsivity, distractibility, and hyperactivity are characteristics that are commonly found in young children and sometimes in adults. These difficulties also meet the American Psychiatric Association diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The British Psychological Society has adopted the term ‘bio-psycho-social’ to reflect the complex and multi-dimensional nature of ADHD. In young people, these symptoms interfere with learning, interpersonal relationships and self-esteem and can lead to social and educational exclusion. The use of drugs in the treatment of ADHD remains controversial and according to the 2005 prescription cost analysis (Cohen, 2006), Ritalin use has risen by 7600 per cent. Unfortunately, since the move away from the medical model following the 1978 Warnock Report on supporting children with special needs, a mindset has been created amongst teachers regarding the identification and assessment of children with certain types of complex needs as being outside of their expertise and this has resulted in teachers placing an over-reliance on external support services and specialists. This thesis proposes an enhancement to the existing over-complicated and bureaucratic system of identification and support for behavioural, social and emotional difficulties (BESD)/ADHD that develops the expertise and the role of the SENCO and thus streamlines identification of individual need and enhances educational support for ADHD sufferers. This research thesis used a case study approach with an interpretive dimension to enable the researcher to enter the working world of doctors and other medical professionals, teachers and classroom support assistants, and children as the ultimate subjects of this enquiry. The purpose of the study was to extend my knowledge of a complex childhood phenomenon and to examine the systems put in place in schools and support services that identify certain SEN and disorders that affect learning. An analysis of the role of teachers and school special needs coordinators was explored along with government policy on inclusion practices. The role of professionals from medicine and education in LEA support services was also examined and reported. A total of eighteen questionnaires were used to target key personnel in LEA support services. This was followed up with interviews at support services and in schools. A total of six medical professionals and a further nine educational professionals were interviewed. Three classroom observations were also conducted at a London comprehensive school. Analysis of the resulting data led to the identification of a series of Figures and a flowchart depicting the ‘story’ of this difficult process, with a proposed enhancement for earlier BSED/ADHD identification and support, and a range of recommendations. Although this was a small-scale research study, the literature and the comments from professionals cited from the national expert SENCO Forum indicate that my findings reflect a much wider picture locally and nationally

Optimisation of growth conditions for ovine airway epithelial cell differentiation at an air-liquid interface

Respiratory tract infections are of significant concern in the agriculture industry. There is a requirement for the development of well-characterised in vitro epithelial cell culture models in order to dissect the diverse molecular interactions occurring at the host-pathogen interface in airway epithelia. We have analysed key factors that influence growth and differentiation of ovine tracheal epithelial cells in an air-liquid interface (ALI) culture system. Cellular differentiation was assessed at 21 days post-ALI, a time-point which we have previously shown to be sufficient for differentiation in standard growth conditions. We identified a dose-dependent response to epidermal growth factor (EGF) in terms of both epithelial thickening and ciliation levels. Maximal ciliation levels were observed with 25 ng ml-1 EGF. We identified a strict requirement for retinoic acid (RA) in epithelial differentiation as RA exclusion resulted in the formation of a stratified squamous epithelium, devoid of cilia. The pore-density of the growth substrate also had an influence on differentiation as high pore-density inserts yielded higher levels of ciliation and more uniform cell layers than low pore-density inserts. Differentiation was also improved by culturing the cells in an atmosphere of sub-ambient oxygen concentration. We compared two submerged growth media and observed differences in the rate of proliferation/expansion, barrier formation and also in terminal differentiation. Taken together, these results indicate important differences between the response of ovine tracheal epithelial cells and other previously described airway epithelial models, to a variety of environmental conditions. These data also indicate that the phenotype of ovine tracheal epithelial cells can be tailored in vitro by precise modulation of growth conditions, thereby yielding a customisable, potential infection model