Using Criminal Punishment to Serve Both Victim and Social Needs

In recent decades, the criminal-justice pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme. Criminal law is often described as covering disputes between the offender and the state. Victims are not direct parties to criminal proceedings, they have no formal right to either initiate or terminate a criminal action, and they have no control over the punishment meted out to offenders. In this state-centric system, victim needs have been left unsatisfied, giving rise to a politically powerful victims\u27 rights movement that has had success in giving victims rights of access to prosecutors and rights to be heard in the courtroom. Here, O\u27Hara and Robbins propose changing the manner in which control rights over criminal sanctions are distributed

What is the best medical therapy for new-onset type 2 diabetes?

Sulfonylureas, metformin, thiazolidinediones, and non-sulfonylurea secretagogues differ little in their ability to decrease glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels when used as initial monotherapy for diabetes mellitus type 2 (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, based on systematic reviews); α-glucosidase inhibitors may also be as effective (SOR: B, based on systematic reviews with inconsistent results). Metformin is generally indicated in obese patients because it improves all-cause mortality and diabetes related outcomes (SOR: B, based on a single high-quality randomized controlled trial [RCT]). Insulin is generally not recommended as an initial agent (SOR: C, expert opinion)

Mercury removal in wastewater by iron oxide nanoparticles

Mercury is one of the persistent pollutants in wastewater; it is becoming a severe environmental and public health problem, this is why nowadays its removal is an obligation. Iron oxide nanoparticles are receiving much attention due to their properties, such as: great biocompatibility, ease of separation, high relation of surface-area to volume, surface modifiability, reusability, excellent magnetic properties and relative low cost. In this experiment, Fe3O4 and γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized using iron salts and NaOH as precipitation agents, and Aloe Vera as stabilizing agent; then these nanoparticles were characterized by three different measurements: first, using a Zetasizer Nano ZS for their size estimation, secondly UV-visible spectroscopy which showed the existence of resonance of plasmon at λmax∼360 nm, and lastly by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to determine nanoparticles form. The results of this characterization showed that the obtained Iron oxides nanoparticles have a narrow size distribution (∼100nm). Mercury removal of 70% approximately was confirmed by atomic absorption spectroscopy measurements

Black hole polarization and new entropy bounds

Zaslavskii has suggested how to tighten Bekenstein's bound on entropy when the object is electrically charged. Recently Hod has provided a second tighter version of the bound applicable when the object is rotating. Here we derive Zaslavskii's optimized bound by considering the accretion of an ordinary charged object by a black hole. The force originating from the polarization of the black hole by a nearby charge is central to the derivation of the bound from the generalized second law. We also conjecture an entropy bound for charged rotating objects, a synthesis of Zaslavskii's and Hod's. On the basis of the no hair principle for black holes, we show that this last bound cannot be tightened further in a generic way by knowledge of ``global'' conserved charges, e.g., baryon number, which may be borne by the object.Comment: 21 pages, RevTex, Regularization of potential made clearer. Error in energy of the particle corrected with no consequence for final conclusions. New references adde

Are common, harmful, heritable mental disorders common relative to other such non-mental disorders, and does their frequency require a special explanation?

Keller & Miller's (K&M's) conclusion appears to be correct; namely, that common, harmful, heritable mental disorders are largely maintained at present frequencies by mutation-selection balance at many different loci. However, their “paradox” is questionable.Oliver Mayo and Carolyn Leac

Optimized Model Simulation of a Capacitated Vehicle Routing problem based on Firefly Algorithm

This paper presents an optimized solution to a capacitated vehicle routing (CVRP) model using firefly algorithm (FFA). The main objective of a CVRP is to obtain the minimum possible total travelled distance across a search space. The conventional model is a formal description involving mathematical equations formulated to simplify a more complex structure of logistic problems. These logistic problems are generalized as the vehicle routing problem (VRP). When the capacity of the vehicle is considered, the resulting formulation is termed the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). In a practical scenario, the complexity of CVRP increases when the number of pickup or drop-off points increase making it difficult to solve using exact methods. Thus, this paper employed the intelligent behavior of FFA for solving the CVRP model. Two instances of solid waste management and supply chain problems is used to evaluate the performance of the FFA approach. In comparison with particle swarm optimization and few other ascribed metaheuristic techniques for CVRP, results showed that this approach is very efficient in solving a CVRP model

Astrocytes actively support long-range molecular clock synchronization of segregated neuronal populations

In mammals, the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus is the master circadian pacemaker that synchronizes the clocks in the central nervous system and periphery, thus orchestrating rhythms throughout the body. However, little is known about how so many cellular clocks within and across brain circuits can be effectively synchronized. In this work, we investigated the implication of two possible pathways: (i) astrocytes-mediated synchronization and (ii) neuronal paracrine factors-mediated synchronization. By taking advantage of a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic device developed in our laboratory, here we report that both pathways are involved. We found the paracrine factors-mediated synchronization of molecular clocks is diffusion-limited and, in our device, effective only in case of a short distance between neuronal populations. Interestingly, interconnecting astrocytes define an active signaling channel that can synchronize molecular clocks of neuronal populations also at longer distances. At mechanism level, we found that astrocytes-mediated synchronization involves both GABA and glutamate, while neuronal paracrine factors-mediated synchronization occurs through GABA signaling. These findings identify a previously unknown role of astrocytes as active cells that might distribute long-range signals to synchronize the brain clocks, thus further strengthening the importance of reciprocal interactions between glial and neuronal cells in the context of circadian circuitry

Antonio Gramsci’s impact on critical pedagogy

This paper provides an account of Antonio Gramsci’s impact on the area of critical pedagogy. It indicates the Gramscian influence on the thinking of major exponents of the field. It foregrounds Gramsci's ideas and then indicates how they have been taken up by a selection of critical pedagogy exponents who were chosen on the strength of their identification and engagement with Gramsci's ideas, some of them even having written entire essays on Gramsci. The essay concludes with a discussion concerning an aspect of Gramsci's concerns, the question of powerful knowledge, which, in the present author's view, provides a formidable challenge to critical pedagogues.peer-reviewe

The Importance of User in ISD. Do We Really Teach?

In 1999, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) defined the framework that regulates all degrees, including Computer Engineering (CE), within the environment of the European Union. Each country, in turn, regulated each of these studies on the basis of that common framework.In the case of Computer Engineering, among the specific competencies the profession entails, there are concrete references to the effective incorporation of user and need for IT (Information Technology) professionals to learn how to manage and work in multidisciplinary environments. However, these competencies are difficult to teach to students. This paper presents a critical view of the way we are teaching future developers of information systems to work with user. Besides, it analyses the consequences that it may bring to future professionals. The paper also offers some considerations and intends to motivate a future discussion on this topic