The Role of the U.S. Government in the Law Enforcement Response to Protests

Policing protests requires law enforcement to accomplish two primary goals that are sometimes in tension with one another: protecting the constitutional right of free speech and assembly and preserving public safety. Law enforcement agencies are expected to apply proportional and impartial strategies and tactics to accomplish both imperatives. The law enforcement response to protests is primarily a local function in the United States, but the federal government plays two key roles in shaping that response, one direct and one indirect. The principal direct role involves federal law enforcement agencies responding to protests on federal property, in and around federal buildings, and when called on to provide mutual aid or other forms of assistance in communities. The principal indirect role involves training state and local police on how to handle protests and other crowd events. Several crowd policing events in the past two years have revealed related deficiencies in the manner by which federal agencies fulfill these two roles. To remedy deficiencies in its response to protests and similar crowd events, the federal government should conduct a comprehensive review of the relevant training and policies of every federal agency that engages in crowd control, crowd management, or the response to civil disturbances. That review should focus on the extent to which the training and policies are consistent with current research evidence and best practices. The federal government should also work with researchers to begin testing and evaluating changes to training, policies, and operations. This will involve carrying out honest after-action reviews that seek to identify which approaches worked well and which ones require further adjustments. In following these steps, the federal government can take a leadership role in adopting, testing, refining, and modeling evidence-based practices for handling crowd events in the most judicious and effective manner.

Bis(2-{[2,8-bis­(trifluoro­meth­yl)quinolin-4-yl](hydr­oxy)meth­yl}piperidin-1-ium) tetra­chloridodiphenyl­stannate(IV)

In the title salt, (C17H17F6N2O)2[Sn(C6H5)2Cl4], the complete anion is generated by crystallograaphic inversion symmetry, giving a trans-SnC2Cl4 octa­hedral coordination geometry for the metal atom. In the cation, the quinoline residue is almost normal to the other atoms, so that the ion has an L-shaped conformation [the C—C—C—C torsion angle linking the fused-ring systems is 100.9 (7)°]; the six-membered piperidin-1-ium ring has a chair conformation. An intra­molecular N—H⋯O inter­action occurs. In the crystal, N—H⋯Cl and O—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds link the components into a supra­molecular chain propagating along the a axis. C—H⋯Cl inter­actions are also present

2-{[2,8-Bis(trifluoro­meth­yl)quinolin-4-yl](hy­droxy)meth­yl}piperidin-1-ium 3-amino-5-nitro­benzoate sesquihydrate

The asymmetric unit of the title salt solvate, C17H17F6N2O+·C7H5N2O4 −·1.5H2O, comprises a piperidin-1-ium cation, a 3-amino-5-nitro­benzoate anion, and three fractionally occupied [i.e. 0.414 (3), 0.627 (6) and 0.459 (5)] disordered water mol­ecules of solvation. The cation has an L shape with a C—C—C—C torsion angle of −102.9 (3)° for the atoms linking the quinolinyl group to the rest of the cation. In the anion, the carboxyl­ate and nitro groups are essentially coplanar with the benzene ring [O—C—C—C torsion angle = 179.7 (2)° and O—N—C—C torsion angle = −3.9 (3)°]. In the crystal, extensive O—H⋯O, O—H⋯F and N—H⋯·O hydrogen bonding leads to the formation of a layer in the ab plane

Benzyl 2-{[2,8-bis­(trifluoro­meth­yl)quinolin-4-yl](hy­droxy)meth­yl}piperidine-1-carboxyl­ate

The title mol­ecule, C25H22F6N2O3, adopts an open conformation whereby the quinoline and carboxyl­ate ester groups are orientated in opposite directions but to the same side of the piperidine ring so that the mol­ecule has an approximate U-shape. The piperidine ring adopts a distorted boat conformation. In the crystal, inversion dimers linked by pairs of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds generate R 2 2(14) loops

tert-Butyl 2-{[2,8-bis­(trifluoro­meth­yl)quinolin-4-yl](hy­droxy)meth­yl}piperidine-1-carboxyl­ate

The title mol­ecule, C22H24F6N2O3, adopts a folded conformation whereby the carboxyl­ate residue lies over the quinolinyl residue, with the dihedral angle between the carbamate and quinoline planes being 41.64 (7)°. Helical supra­molecular C(7) chains sustained by O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds propagating along the a-axis direction feature in the crystal packing. The F atoms of one of the CF3 groups are disordered over two orientations; the major component has a site occupancy of 0.824 (7)

Physical principles for scalable neural recording

Simultaneously measuring the activities of all neurons in a mammalian brain at millisecond resolution is a challenge beyond the limits of existing techniques in neuroscience. Entirely new approaches may be required, motivating an analysis of the fundamental physical constraints on the problem. We outline the physical principles governing brain activity mapping using optical, electrical, magnetic resonance, and molecular modalities of neural recording. Focusing on the mouse brain, we analyze the scalability of each method, concentrating on the limitations imposed by spatiotemporal resolution, energy dissipation, and volume displacement. Based on this analysis, all existing approaches require orders of magnitude improvement in key parameters. Electrical recording is limited by the low multiplexing capacity of electrodes and their lack of intrinsic spatial resolution, optical methods are constrained by the scattering of visible light in brain tissue, magnetic resonance is hindered by the diffusion and relaxation timescales of water protons, and the implementation of molecular recording is complicated by the stochastic kinetics of enzymes. Understanding the physical limits of brain activity mapping may provide insight into opportunities for novel solutions. For example, unconventional methods for delivering electrodes may enable unprecedented numbers of recording sites, embedded optical devices could allow optical detectors to be placed within a few scattering lengths of the measured neurons, and new classes of molecularly engineered sensors might obviate cumbersome hardware architectures. We also study the physics of powering and communicating with microscale devices embedded in brain tissue and find that, while radio-frequency electromagnetic data transmission suffers from a severe power–bandwidth tradeoff, communication via infrared light or ultrasound may allow high data rates due to the possibility of spatial multiplexing. The use of embedded local recording and wireless data transmission would only be viable, however, given major improvements to the power efficiency of microelectronic devices

An Analysis of the Legal, Social, and Political Issues Raised by Asbestos Litigation

This Special Project examines the most important issues of the asbestos problem and advocates a congressional solution (1) to relieve the courts of the thousands of present and potential asbestos cases, (2) to protect future claimants\u27 rights to adequate compensation, and (3) to provide for equitable participation by all responsible parties, which, in addition to asbestos manufacturers,include the federal government, insurance companies, and the tobacco industry. The first six parts of the Special Project examine the various issues of asbestos litigation: theories of liability in products liability suits against asbestos manufacturers, causation,defenses, statutory limitations on actions, collateral estoppel, and punitive damages. The Special Project then discusses in parts VIII,IX, and X the methods used by asbestos manufacturers to attempt to spread their liability through asserting insurer liability, the exclusive remedy of workers\u27 compensation, and indemnity and contribution from the United States. Finally, the Special Project evaluates and analyzes recent developments in the asbestos litigation area, including proposals for federal legislative compensation programs and business alternatives available to asbestos manufacturers facing enormous asbestos-related liabilities... This Special Project critically has examined the most important issues concerning the asbestos problem. It has considered the complex legal, legislative, and social questions that society must confront in order to resolve this predicament. Only swift action by Congress in the form of a fair and comprehensive compensation scheme for victims of asbestos-related disabilities will initiate a solution to this difficult and pervasive problem

Heavy Quarks and Heavy Quarkonia as Tests of Thermalization

We present here a brief summary of new results on heavy quarks and heavy quarkonia from the PHENIX experiment as presented at the "Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization" Workshop in Vienna, Austria in August 2005, directly following the International Quark Matter Conference in Hungary.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization Workshop (Vienna August 2005) Proceeding