Prosecutorial Waiver Of Juveniles Into Adult Criminal Court: The Ends of Justice ... Or TheEnd of Justice? State v. Cain.

The State of Florida appealed the decision of an Osceola County circuit court which dismissed the prosecution of a juvenile in adult criminal court

Looked after children and custody: a brief review of the relationship between care status and child incarceration and the implications for service provision

Although there are some important limitations with the data, the available evidence demonstrates conclusively that children who are in the care of the local authority are consistently over-represented among those who come to the attention of the youth justice system. A similar disproportionality is also evident within the children’s custodial estate. While it appears that the relationship is long-standing, it has only recently become the focus of policy attention which has begun to explore some of the reasons for the patterns discernible in the figures (see, for example, Schofield et al, 2012: Laming, 2016). In particular, an independent review of the relationship between the care system and the criminal justice system, led by Lord Laming, commissioned an extensive exploration of the available literature that provides a useful baseline for future research (Staines, 2016). The current review aims to provide a context for research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, that aims to identity the particular pathways of looked after children into, through and leaving custody and to establish in what ways, and to what extent, these might differ from those of children who do not have care experience. It does not accordingly aim to replicate the earlier work identified in the previous paragraph; instead the intention is to draw on previous reviews, and relevant additional material, through a lens that focuses on the existing evidence base as it relates specifically to the likelihood of children being incarcerated, to their subsequent custodial experience and to the provision of effective resettlement once they have been released

Age and size at maturity: sex, environmental variability and developmental thresholds

In most organisms, transitions between different life-history stages occur later and at smaller sizes as growth conditions deteriorate. Day and Rowe recently proposed that this pattern could be explained by the existence of developmental thresholds (minimum sizes or levels of condition below which transitions are unable to proceed). The developmental-threshold model predicts that the reaction norm of age and size at maturity will rotate in an anticlockwise manner from positive to a shallow negative slope if: (i) initial body size or condition is reduced; and/or (ii) some individuals encounter poor growth conditions at increasingly early developmental stages. We tested these predictions by rearing replicated populations of soil mites Sancassania berlesei (Michael) under different growth conditions. High-food environments produced a vertical relationship between age and size at maturity. The slope became increasingly shallow as food was reduced. By contrast, high food in the maternal environment reduced the slope of the reaction norm of age and size at maturity, whereas low food increased it. Overall, the reaction norm of age and size at maturity in S. berlesei was significantly nonlinear and differed for males and females. We describe how growth conditions, mother's environment and sex determine age and size at maturity in S. berlesei

Study of the Effective Torus Exhaust High Vacuum Pumping System Performance in the Inner Tritium Plant Loop of EU-DEMO

The requirement for a reduction of the tritium inventory of the European demonstration fusion reactor (EU-DEMO) has led to the active research and development of a continuously working pumping process termed “KALPUREX.” This process foresees the direct recycling of a large fraction of the unburnt hydrogen isotopologues via superpermeation in metal foil pumps during the burn phase. The remaining exhaust gas mixture is pumped by continuously operating, mercury-driven linear diffusion pumps. Diffusion pumps are kinetic high vacuum pumps whose pumping principle is based on the momentum transfer from a supersonic mercury vapor jet to the pumped gas mixture. Like many high vacuum pumps, they feature species-dependent pumping speeds. In the present work, we develop a simplified hybrid model of the high vacuum pumping train in order to estimate the effective pumping speed of the integrated system. The results of this model and its implications on the further development of the vacuum system are discussed for the burn and dwell phases of EU-DEMO

Bird repellents for pest control baits

Poisonous baits are successfully deployed over large areas of New Zealand to control mammalian pests such as brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) and rats (Rattus spp.). While poison-based control leads to positive ecological and disease control outcomes, non-target native birds, such as robins (Petroica australis) and tomtits (Petroica macrocephala), are sometimes killed after eating bait. In this thesis, I investigated the use of primary and secondary repellents to prevent non-target birds from feeding on baits. Primary repellents invoke instantaneous rejection responses through unpleasant visual, olfactory, taste or irritant cues. Secondary repellents act via an illness-induced learned avoidance and require some ingestion of treated food before learning can occur. I determined the efficacy of several primary repellents (neem oil, agricultural lime and d-pulegone) and a secondary repellent (Avex; an anthraquinone-based product) for deterring a model avian species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), from feeding, prior to testing the efficacy of the repellents with two native birds: robins and tomtits. In Chapter 2, I measured the responses of free-ranging house sparrows to wheat treated with primary and secondary repellents over four day periods. Eight sparrow populations were trained to eat plain wheat from food trays on feed tables and were presented, in choice tests, with plain wheat and wheat coated with low, medium or high concentrations of repellent. Wheat treated with either lime or neem oil was consumed by sparrows at the same rate as plain wheat on all days; this suggested that neither compound was an effective sparrow repellent, so I did not evaluate these repellents further. D-pulegone significantly reduced wheat consumption on Day 1, with birds continuing to eat less d-pulegone-treated wheat than plain wheat throughout the four days. Avex did not reduce wheat consumption on Day 1 of exposure, but sparrows ate progressively less Avex-treated wheat over each of the following days. I combined d-pulegone (the primary repellent) and Avex (the secondary repellent) and compared the efficacy of the combination to the efficacy of Avex alone for preventing feeding. The combination of 2% d-pulegone + 2% Avex reduced wheat consumption significantly more than 2% Avex alone, with the effect lasting over a 10-day test period. The results demonstrated the potential of combined repellents for modifying avian feeding behaviour, and provided evidence for the enhanced efficacy gained by combining primary and secondary repellents. In Chapter 3, I evaluated the efficacy of the combination of d-pulegone + Avex for deterring native robins from feeding on baits. I identified a preferred dough bait, which I used to offer robins repellent-treated (green and surface coated with a combination of 2% d-pulegone + 2% Avex) and "standard" dough (green and coated with cinnamon oil; the bait formulation currently used for pest control operations in New Zealand). Free-ranging robins were presented baits over four consecutive days on an "arena" of cleared leaf litter, on the forest floor within their home territory. Robins pecked at and removed standard dough more frequently than repellent dough, with the frequency of pecking at repellent dough declining over days. These results demonstrated that the combination of 2% d-pulegone + 2% Avex effectively deterred robins from feeding, but that green dye and cinnamon oil may not be effective deterrents. As the combination of d-pulegone + Avex had effectively deterred sparrows (Chapter 2) and robins (Chapter 3), I compared this combination with other combinations of repellents and cues in Chapter 4. I presented sparrows with wheat treated with the secondary repellent Avex, paired with either a novel visual cue (blue colour), cinnamon oil (containing primarily olfactory cues), or d-pulegone (containing olfactory, taste and irritant cues). Avex alone significantly reduced wheat consumption, but cinnamon oil + 2% Avex was no more effective than 2% Avex alone. Blue colour + 2% Avex and 2% d-pulegone + 2% Avex elicited the most effective avoidance responses, reducing food consumption by at least 85%, and substantially more than 2% Avex alone or cinnamon oil + 2% Avex. When I compared the combination of blue colour + 2% Avex to colour alone (blue or green), sparrows initially avoided all three treated wheat types. However, sparrows progressively consumed more green and blue wheat each day, eating significantly more of these "colour only" treatments than blue colour + 2% Avex by Day 5. Colour alone did not provide a long-lasting avoidance response. These data clearly demonstrated that combinations of Avex with additional visual or olfactory/taste cues were effective repellents, but that certain primary cues were more effective than others. In Chapter 5, I evaluated the efficacy of the blue colour + 2% Avex repellent combination for deterring robins from feeding in comparison to standard baits. Robins pecked at and removed standard baits more frequently than repellent baits, with the frequency of pecking at repellent bait declining over the four days. They pecked more frequently at both bait types in the winter than summer, and juvenile robins tended to peck at repellent bait more frequently than adult males or females. The pecking responses of robins towards both bait types were similar in choice and no-choice tests. The combination of blue colour + 2% Avex effectively deterred most robins from feeding and is likely to reduce their propensity to eat baits during pest control operations. I compared the feeding behaviour of free-ranging robins and tomtits towards blue colour + 2% Avex baits and standard baits in Chapter 6. Robins pecked at and removed standard baits more frequently than repellent baits, with the pecking frequency for repellent baits remaining very low. Tomtits never pecked at or removed either bait type and they spent less time on the test area than robins. Using an alternative test method in which baits were thrown to birds, robins investigated > 90% of baits thrown to them by an observer, but pecked at significantly fewer repellent baits. Tomtits ignored over 89% of thrown baits. They investigated more standard baits than repellent baits, but never pecked at either bait type. These results clearly indicated a difference in the feeding behaviour of robins and tomtits with respect to the baits, suggesting that tomtits may be less likely than robins to eat bait in some circumstances. The experiments I conducted in my thesis have demonstrated that combining a secondary repellent with an appropriate primary repellent is a highly effective way of deterring the birds I tested from feeding. Two combinations of repellents (2% d-pulegone + 2% Avex or blue colour + 2% Avex) reduced food consumption more than any single repellent used alone. Not all combinations of cues, however, elicited the same level of repellency and care should be taken to select repellent combinations that effectively deter birds from feeding. I found that a secondary repellent paired with either a novel aversive colour and/or an innately aversive odour or taste reliably repelled birds. For pest control baits in New Zealand, a combination of blue colour and/or d-pulegone + 2% Avex may offer good potential for preventing non-target bird poisoning. Further research with additional avian species and field testing will now be required to demonstrate the value of these repellents for protecting native birds during normal pest control operations. This additional research should be conducted immediately, so that these findings may be implemented to provide greater protection during pest control to valued native wildlife. Keywords: agricultural lime, anthraquinone, Avex, bird repellent, brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), colour, cue, d-pulegone, feeding behavior, house sparrow (Passer domesticus), neem oil, non-target species, North Island robin (Petroica australis), North Island tomtit (Petroica macrocephala), odour, pest control, poison baits

Neutron star-axion star collisions in the light of multimessenger astronomy

Axions are increasingly favoured as a candidate particle for the dark matter in galaxies, since they satisfy the observational requirements for cold dark matter and are theoretically well mo- tivated. Fluctuations in the axion field give rise to stable localised overdensities known as ax- ion stars, which, for the most massive, compact cases, are potential neutron star mimickers. In principle, there are no fundamental arguments against the multi-messenger observations of GW170817/GRB170817A/AT2017gfo arising from the merger of a neutron star with a neutron star mimicker, rather than from a binary neutron star. To constrain this possibility and better un- derstand the astrophysical signatures of a neutron star–axion star (NSAS) merger, we present in this work a detailed example case of a NSAS merger based on full 3D numerical relativity simula- tions, and give an overview of the many potential observables - ranging from gravitational waves, to optical and near-infrared electromagnetic signals, radio flares, fast radio bursts, gamma ray bursts, and neutrino emission. We discuss the individual channels and estimate to which distances current and future observatories might be able to detect such a NSAS merger. Such signals could con- strain the unknown axion mass and its couplings to standard baryonic matter, thus enhancing our understanding of the dark matter sector of the Universe

Intestinal Enterobacteriaceae that Protect Nematodes from the Effects of Benzimidazoles

The objective of this study was to investigate an interaction between nematodes and gut Enterobacteriaceae that use benzimidazoles as a carbon source. By addressing this objective, we identified an anthelmintic resistance-like mechanism for gastrointestinal nematodes. We isolated 30 gut bacteria (family Enterobacteriaceae) that subsist on and putatively catabolize benzimidazole-class anthelmintics. C. elegans was protected from the effects of benzimidazoles when co-incubated with these Enterobacteriaceae that also protect adult ascarids from the effects of albendazole. This bacterial phenotype represents a novel mechanism by which gastrointestinal nematodes are potentially spared from the effects of benzimidazoles, without any apparent fitness cost to the parasite

Somatostatin Receptors Signal through EFA6A-ARF6 to Activate Phospholipase D in Clonal β-Cells

Somatostatin (SS) is a peptide hormone that inhibits insulin secretion in β-cells by activating its Gi/o-coupled receptors. Our previous work indicated that a βγ-dimer of Gi/o coupled to SS receptors can activate phospholipase D1 (PLD1) (Cheng, H., Grodnitzky, J. A., Yibchok-anun, S., Ding, J., and Hsu, W. H. (2005) Mol. Pharmacol. 67, 2162–2172). The aim of the present study was to elucidate the mechanisms underlying SS-induced PLD activation. We demonstrated the presence of ADP-ribosylation factor Arf1 and Arf6 in clonal β-cells, HIT-T15. We also determined that the activation of PLD1 was mediated through Arf6. Overexpression of dominant-negative (dn) Arf6 mutant, Arf6(T27N), and suppression of mRNA levels using siRNA, both abolished SS-induced PLD activation, while overexpression of wild type Arf6 further enhanced this PLD activation. In contrast, overexpression of dn-Arf1 mutant Arf1(T31N) or dn-Arf5 mutant Arf5(T31N) failed to reduce SS-induced PLD activation. These findings suggested that Arf6, but not Arf1 or Arf5, mediates the effect of SS. We further determined the involvement of the Arf6 guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) EFA6A, a GEF previously thought to be found predominantly in the brain, in the activation of PLD1 in HIT-T15 cells. Using Northern and Western blot analyses, both mRNA and protein of EFA6A were found in these cells. Overexpression of dn-EFA6A mutant, EFA6A(E242K), and suppression of mRNA levels using siRNA, both abolished SS-induced PLD activation, whereas overexpression of dn-EFA6B mutant, EFA6B(E651K), failed to reduce SS-induced PLD activation. In addition, overexpression of dn-ARNO mutant, ARNO(E156K), another GEF of Arf6, had no effect on SS-induced activation of PLD. Taken together, these results suggest that SS signals through EFA6A to activate Arf6-PLD cascade

Increasing Incidence, but Lack of Seasonality, of Elevated TSH Levels, on Newborn Screening, in the North of England

Previous studies of congenital hypothyroidism have suggested an increasing incidence and seasonal variation in incidence, which may suggest nongenetic factors involved in aetiology. This study describes the incidence of elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) values in newborns, a surrogate for congenital hypothyroidism, measured as part of the screening programme for congenital hypothyroidism, over an eleven-year period (1994–2005), and assesses whether seasonal variation exists. All infants born in the Northern Region of England are screened by measuring levels of circulating TSH using a blood spot assay. Data on all 213 cases born from 1994 to 2005 inclusive were available. Annual incidence increased significantly from 37 per 100,000 in 1994 to a peak of 92.8 per 100,000 in 2003. There was no evidence of seasonal variation in incidence. The reasons for the increasing incidence are unclear, but do not appear to involve increasing exposure to seasonally varying factors or changes in measurements methods