Counter Revolution in the Federal Courts of Appeal - The Aftermath of Vermont Yankee

In recent years, there has been growing judicial concern about the fairness of action by administrative agencies and the ability of courts to effectively review this action. This concern stems from the increased use of informal procedures by agencies promulgating rules or orders, to accomplish the congressional objectives set out in their substantive statutes. In response, certain federal courts of appeal have begun to impose upon these agencies more procedural safeguards than are required by either the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) or substantive statutes. These judicially imposed safeguards are more commonly known as hybrid procedures

Forty Years of Environmental Justice: Where is the Justice?

Environmental Justice (or“EJ”) has been recognized as a concept since at least 1982. After decades of incremental and ineffective efforts by the federal government, it has become clear that EJ must evolve beyond the concept stage if it is to be an effective vehicle for social and legal change. At its heart, EJ is a function of social inequities and environmental harms, and the disproportionate correlation between those components can no longer be ignored by state and federal actors. The way forward must be paved with practical legal solutions and affirmative application of regulatory authority. This article examines the history of EJ primarily through the lens of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House, and evaluates the progress made in terms of regulations and permitting. The article also examines recent administrative and judicial decisions addressing EJ claims and, in conclusion, provides recommendations for ways in which EJ issues can be better presented and addressed

Channel Temperature Determination for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on SiC and Sapphire

Numerical simulation results (with emphasis on channel temperature) for a single gate AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) with either a sapphire or SiC substrate are presented. The static I-V characteristics, with concomitant channel temperatures (T(sub ch)) are calculated using the software package ATLAS, from Silvaco, Inc. An in-depth study of analytical (and previous numerical) methods for the determination of T(sub ch) in both single and multiple gate devices is also included. We develop a method for calculating T(sub ch) for the single gate device with the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of all material layers included. We also present a new method for determining the temperature on each gate in a multi-gate array. These models are compared with experimental results, and show good agreement. We demonstrate that one may obtain the channel temperature within an accuracy of +/-10 C in some cases. Comparisons between different approaches are given to show the limits, sensitivities, and needed approximations, for reasonable agreement with measurements

Serotonin mediated changes in corticotropin releasing factor mRNA expression and feeding behavior isolated to the hypothalamic paraventricular nuclei

Fenfluramine reduces hunger and promotes body weight loss by increasing central serotonin (5-HT) signaling. More recently, neuropeptides have been linked to the regulation of feeding behavior, metabolism and body weight. To examine possible interactions between 5-HT and neuropeptides in appetite control, fenfluramine (200 nmol/0.5 μl/side) was administered directly into the hypothalamic paraventricular nuclei (PVN) of male rats. Bilateral fenfluramine produced significant hypophagia and increased expression of PVN corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) mRNA and neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNA in the arcuate nucleus within the first hour after drug administration. Fenfluramine\u27s effects on feeding behavior and mRNA expression were blocked by PVN injections of a 5-HT1–2 receptor antagonist, metergoline (15 nmol/0.5 μl/side). These data suggest that 5-HT neurons targeting hypothalamic paraventricular CRF neurons may participate in an appetite control circuit for reducing food intake

Metabolism And The Rise Of Fungus Cultivation By Ants

Most ant colonies are comprised of workers that cooperate to harvest resources and feed developing larvae. Around 50 million years ago (MYA), ants of the attine lineage adopted an alternative strategy, harvesting resources used as compost to produce fungal gardens. While fungus cultivation is considered a major breakthrough in ant evolution, the associated ecological consequences remain poorly understood. Here, we compare the energetics of attine colony-farms and ancestral hunter-gatherer colonies using metabolic scaling principles within a phylogenetic context. We find two major energetic transitions. First, the earliest lower-attine farmers transitioned to lower mass-specific metabolic rates while shifting significant fractions of biomass from ant tissue to fungus gardens. Second, a transition 20 MYA to specialized cultivars in the higher-attine clade was associated with increased colony metabolism (without changes in garden fungal content) and with metabolic scaling nearly identical to hypometry observed in hunter-gatherer ants, although only the hunter-gatherer slope was distinguishable from isometry. Based on these evolutionary transitions, we propose that shifting living-tissue storage from ants to fungal mutualists provided energetic storage advantages contributing to attine diversification and outline critical assumptions that, when tested, will help link metabolism, farming efficiency, and colony fitness.Integrative Biolog

Surfacing implicit leadership theories in a professional sport context - A comparison of four research techniques in two Bundesliga handball clubs

Surfacing implicit leadership theories in a professional sport context - A comparison of four research techniques in two Bundesliga handball club

Earthquake Mechanism and Displacement Fields Close to Fault Zones

The Sixth Geodesy/Solid Earth and Ocean Physics (GEOP) Research Conference was held on February 4–5, 1974, at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, California. It was attended by about 100 persons. James N. Brune, program chairman, opened the conference and delivered the introductory address, a somewhat extended version of which is printed elsewhere in this issue. Brune's paper and the following summaries of the sessions constitute a report of the conference