Climbing the Mountain of Conflict: Margaret Thatcher\u27s Falklands Crisis

Early in her Prime Ministership, Margaret Thatcher fought an unlikely diversionary war far from home for the ownership of the Falkland Islands. The Islands lie off of Argentina’s coast about 8,000 miles from London, but have been subject to Britain’s rule since 1836. In April 1982, hoping to distract from domestic political and economic turmoil, Argentina’s military dictatorship ordered a surprise invasion of the Islands. Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister, responded in full force. By early May, a British fleet reached the Islands. By June, despite American efforts to stop a war between its allies, Britain launched an assault on the Islands and took them back by force. Thatcher’s victory propelled her to immense popularity in late-1982 and 1983, and the Argentine dictatorship’s defeat gave life to a people’s revolt that quickly ended the regime and decades of military leadership. This thesis examines Thatcher’s leadership in April 1982, before Britain launched its retaliatory invasion of the Islands. It seeks to answer how Thatcher managed to make the war possible and popular in three key arenas: with her own cabinet and government, with the United States and the United Nations, and ultimately with the British public. This study operates on the idea that the war served as an intentional diversion for Thatcher, who had struggled domestically as Prime Minister up until the Falklands Crisis. Utilizing newly released archival documents from the Thatcher government, this study shows the Prime Minister never had any interest in avoiding war, undermining any potential for peace as it emerged

In Honor of Walter O. Weyrauch: Substantive Due Process Limits on Punitive Damages Awards: Morals Without Technique ?

In a series of cases decided over the last two decades, the Supreme Court has used the Due Process Clause to establish a procedural and substantive framework for awarding punitive damages. Initially, the substantive aspects of this framework were sufficiently clear and flexible that they required little change in the system and probably generated a helpful level of debate and uniformity as to some basic requirements for awards. However, in BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, the Court adopted an approach characterized by a lack of clarity and consistency, an inadequate basis in theory and policy, and ad hoc decisions. The harmful results of this approach are evident in the Court’s recent decision, Philip Morris USA v. Williams, which requires states to instruct juries in terms of a distinction that the four dissenting judges refer to as elusive, unclear, and confusing. Even if one accepts the view that there should be, at some point, substantive due process limits on the amount of punitive damages, decisions like Williams are likely to make the process less fair and reliable. Therefore, the Court should abandon its current approach, which is both unnecessary and likely to do more harm than good, and should, instead, be more deferential to the state courts and legislatures, and be more concerned with developing a coherent framework

In Honor of Walter O. Weyrauch: Substantive Due Process Limits on Punitive Damages Awards: Morals Without Technique ?

In a series of cases decided over the last two decades, the Supreme Court has used the Due Process Clause to establish a procedural and substantive framework for awarding punitive damages. Initially, the substantive aspects of this framework were sufficiently clear and flexible that they required little change in the system and probably generated a helpful level of debate and uniformity as to some basic requirements for awards. However, in BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, the Court adopted an approach characterized by a lack of clarity and consistency, an inadequate basis in theory and policy, and ad hoc decisions. The harmful results of this approach are evident in the Court’s recent decision, Philip Morris USA v. Williams, which requires states to instruct juries in terms of a distinction that the four dissenting judges refer to as elusive, unclear, and confusing. Even if one accepts the view that there should be, at some point, substantive due process limits on the amount of punitive damages, decisions like Williams are likely to make the process less fair and reliable. Therefore, the Court should abandon its current approach, which is both unnecessary and likely to do more harm than good, and should, instead, be more deferential to the state courts and legislatures, and be more concerned with developing a coherent framework

Dentistry for Nigerians with special needs: an overview

There are approximately 25 million residents with disabilities in Nigeria. Social inclusion of individuals with disabilities is difficult since societal views of these persons are in terms of charity and welfare rather than functioning members of a community. While there are no national studies of the dental needs of individuals with disabilities in Nigeria, there are reports of local studies of patients with disabilities which indicate a greater incidence of management difficulties as well as the need for improved oral hygiene and restorative services. Nevertheless, a study of practitioner involvement in the care of individuals with disabilities reported limited preparation of dental students to provide service for this population. Some organizations, such as the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Special Smiles and the Smile Train, have set up programmes, both educational and service, to address some of their oral health issues. It is recommended that there is a need to identify the availability of current dental service centers for individuals with disabilities, establish a national organization to stimulate an awareness of the varied needs of individuals with disabilities and real programs in schools to prepare dental students to care for individuals with disabilities. Examples of dental education accreditation standards in other countries are used as models for the improvement in the preparation of dental students to provide services for individuals with special needs

Rituximab monitoring and redosing in pediatric neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To study rituximab in pediatric neuromyelitis optica (NMO)/NMO spectrum disorders (NMOSD) and the relationship between rituximab, B cell repopulation, and relapses in order to improve rituximab monitoring and redosing. METHODS: Multicenter retrospective study of 16 children with NMO/NMOSD receiving 652 rituximab courses. According to CD19 counts, events during rituximab were categorized as "repopulation," "depletion," or "depletion failure" relapses (repopulation threshold CD19 6510 7 10(6) cells/L). RESULTS: The 16 patients (14 girls; mean age 9.6 years, range 1.8-15.3) had a mean of 6.1 events (range 1-11) during a mean follow-up of 6.1 years (range 1.6-13.6) and received a total of 76 rituximab courses (mean 4.7, range 2-9) in 42.6-year cohort treatment. Before rituximab, 62.5% had received azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil, or cyclophosphamide. Mean time from rituximab to last documented B cell depletion and first repopulation was 4.5 and 6.8 months, respectively, with large interpatient variability. Earliest repopulations occurred with the lowest doses. Significant reduction between pre- and post-rituximab annualized relapse rate (ARR) was observed (p = 0.003). During rituximab, 6 patients were relapse-free, although 21 relapses occurred in 10 patients, including 13 "repopulation," 3 "depletion," and 4 "depletion failure" relapses. Of the 13 "repopulation" relapses, 4 had CD19 10-50 7 10(6) cells/L, 10 had inadequate monitoring ( 641 CD19 in the 4 months before relapses), and 5 had delayed redosing after repopulation detection. CONCLUSION: Rituximab is effective in relapse prevention, but B cell repopulation creates a risk of relapse. Redosing before B cell repopulation could reduce the relapse risk further. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class IV evidence that rituximab significantly reduces ARR in pediatric NMO/NMOSD. This study also demonstrates a relationship between B cell repopulation and relapses

The MODE family of on-orbit experiments: The Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE)

A flight experiment entitled the Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE), proposed by the Space Engineering Research Center (SERC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is described. This is the second in a family of flight experiments being developed at MIT. The first is the Middeck 0-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE) which investigates the nonlinear behavior of contained fluids and truss structures in zero gravity. The objective of the MACE program is to investigate and validate the modeling of the dynamics of an actively controlled flexible, articulating, multibody platform free floating in zero gravity. A rationale and experimental approach for the program are presented. The rationale shows that on-orbit testing, coupled with ground testing and a strong analytical program, is necessary in order to fully understand both how flexibility of the platform affects the pointing problem, as well as how gravity perturbs this structural flexibility causing deviations between 1- and 0-gravity behavior. The experimental approach captures the essential physics of multibody platforms, by identifying the appropriate attributes, tests, and performance metrics of the test article and defines the tests required to successfully validate the analytical framework