Letter from the Editor

The Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest is proud to present the spring issue of Volume XVI. The issue examines issues affecting children\u27s rights and education. The articles reveal our legal system\u27s struggle to balance choice, constitutional freedoms, and the mental and physical health of our children

Letter from the Editor

The Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest is proud to present the winter issue of Volume XVI. The issue examines two areas of the law: the impact of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ( RLUIPA ) and controversial issues on the outer edges of evidence law. Overall, the issue analyzes the difficulty that occurs when these laws meet practical realities

Letter from the Editor

The Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest is proud to present the winter issue of Volume XVI. The issue examines two areas of the law: the impact of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ( RLUIPA ) and controversial issues on the outer edges of evidence law. Overall, the issue analyzes the difficulty that occurs when these laws meet practical realities

Letter from the Editor

The Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest is proud to present the spring issue of Volume XVI. The issue examines issues affecting children\u27s rights and education. The articles reveal our legal system\u27s struggle to balance choice, constitutional freedoms, and the mental and physical health of our children

Negotiating Justice: Courts as local civil authority during the conflict in South Sudan

South Sudan’s courts have continued to function despite the extreme pressures of civil war, atrocities, and economic crisis. They constitute a resilient form of civil authority and an instrument to deal with everyday criminality. The courts also hold the potential to prevent violence and improve protection, not least because both men and women turn to the courts to resolve all manner of disputes, from minor arguments within families to violent disputes and abuses, including by local authorities. People also publicly show compliance during court proceedings, despite uncertainty over when and how judgements will be implemented. However, all are not equal under the law in South Sudan. Instead justice reproduces social and economic inequalities, and is subject to local improvisations. Court decisions are sometimes complicit in human rights violations, especially of women and youth. And military, political and economic elites have opportunities to circumvent or manipulate the system

Characterising the Exposure of Prison Staff to Second-Hand Tobacco Smoke

Acknowledgements This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme (project number 15/55/44). We are grateful to all the staff at the Scottish Prison Service and in HMP Kilmarnock and HMP Addiewell who assisted with this study. We are also extremely grateful to David Walker, Ruaraidh Dobson and Mrs Flora Buthlay for their help with data collection and retrieval of instruments from prisons, and to Dr Steve Turner for helpful comments on an earlier draft. KH, HS, GL, ED gratefully acknowledge core funding from UK MRC and Chief Scientist Office (MC_UU_12017/12; SPHSU12; MC/PC/13027 partnership grant) for their work within prison settings. We acknowledge the contribution of our co-investigators in the TIPs research team to the overall design of the TIPs study (Professor Linda Bauld, Dr Kathleen Boyd, Dr Philip Conaglen, Dr Peter Craig, Douglas Eadie, Professor Alastair Leyland, Professor Jill Pell).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Immobilization of anode-attached microbes in a microbial fuel cell

Current-generating (exoelectrogenic) bacteria in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) may not be culturable using standard in vitro agar-plating techniques, making isolation of new microbes a challenge. More in vivo like conditions are needed where bacteria can be grown and directly isolated on an electrode. While colonies can be developed from single cells on an electrode, the cells must be immobilized after being placed on the surface. Here we present a proof-of-concept immobilization approach that allows exoelectrogenic activity of cells on an electrode based on applying a layer of latex to hold bacteria on surfaces. The effectiveness of this procedure to immobilize particles was first demonstrated using fluorescent microspheres as bacterial analogs. The latex coating was then shown to not substantially affect the exoelectrogenic activity of well-developed anode biofilms in two different systems. A single layer of airbrushed coating did not reduce the voltage produced by a biofilm in a microbial fuel cell (MFC), and more easily applied dip-and-blot coating reduced voltage by only 11% in a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). This latex immobilization procedure will enable future testing of single cells for exoelectrogenic activity on electrodes in BESs

The Jaw Adductor Resultant and Estimated Bite Force in Primates

We reconstructed the jaw adductor resultant in 34 primate species using new data on muscle physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA) and data on skull landmarks. Based on predictions by Greaves, the resultant should (1) cross the jaw at 30% of its length, (2) lie directly posterior to the last molar, and (3) incline more anteriorly in primates that need not resist large anteriorly-directed forces. We found that the resultant lies significantly posterior to its predicted location, is significantly posterior to the last molar, and is significantly more anteriorly inclined in folivores than in frugivores. Perhaps primates emphasize avoiding temporomandibular joint distraction and/or wide gapes at the expense of bite force. Our exploration of trends in the data revealed that estimated bite force varies with body mass (but not diet) and is significantly greater in strepsirrhines than in anthropoids. This might be related to greater contribution from the balancing-side jaw adductors in anthropoids

Kinematics and Kinetics of Squat and Deadlift Exercises with Varying Stance Widths

The primary motion of squat and deadlift exercise involves flexion and extension of the hips, knees, and ankles, but each exercise can be performed with variations in stance width. These variations may result in differing kinematics and ground reaction forces (GRF), which may in turn affect joint loading. PURPOSE: The purpose of this investigation was to compare ankle, knee, and hip kinematics and kinetics of normal squat (NS), wide-stance squat (WS), normal deadlift (ND), and sumo deadlift (SD). We hypothesized that hip joint kinematics and work at each joint would differ between exercise variations. METHODS: Six subjects (3 m/3 f; 70.0 plus or minus 13.7 kg; 168 plus or minus 9.9 cm) performed each lift in normal gravity on the ground-based version of the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) used on the International Space Station. The ARED provided resistance with a combination vacuum tube/flywheel mechanism designed to replicate the gravitational and inertial forces of free weights. Subjects completed each lift with their 10-repetition maximum load. Kinematic data were collected at 250 Hz by a 12-camera motion-capture system (Smart-D, BTS Bioengineering, Milan, Italy), and GRF data were collected at 1000 Hz with independent force platforms for each leg (Model 9261, Kistler Instruments AG, Winterhur, Switzerland). All data were captured simultaneously on a single workstation. The right leg of a single lift for each motion was analyzed. Modeling software (OpenSim 2.2.0, Simbios, Palo Alto, CA) determined joint kinematics and net positive and negative work at each lower extremity joint. Total work was found as the sum of work across all joints and was normalized by system mass. Effect sizes and their 95% confidence intervals were computed between conditions. RESULTS: Peak GRF were similar for each lift. There were no differences between conditions in hip flexion range of motion (ROM). For hip adduction ROM, there were no differences between the NS, WS, and SD. However, hip adduction ROM was greater during the NS and SD than during the ND. Hip rotation ROM was greater during the WS than during the NS and SD, and was greater during the SD than during the ND. For knee and ankle flexion ROM, the ND, WS, and SD were not different, but ROM was greater during the NS than the ND and greater during the WS than the SD. Total eccentric work was greater during the WS than the SD. Otherwise, there were no differences in eccentric or concentric work between conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Although squat and deadlift exercises consist of similar motions, there are kinematic differences between them that depend on stance width. Total eccentric and concentric work are similar for different lifts, but differing kinematics may require activation of different musculature for each variation. With respect to each condition, in the ND the ROM of each joint tended to be less, and the WS tended to trade knee motion for hip motion. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Knowledge of differences in kinematics and kinetics between different squat and deadlift variations is important for coaches and rehabilitation personnel to understand when prescribing exercise. Our results suggest that each variation of the squat and deadlift should be considered a separate exercise that may induce different long-term training effects