Lack of Transparency in the Premarket Approval Process for Aquadvantage Salmon

After a lengthy premarket approval process, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just deemed AquAdvantage Salmon, a fast-growing, genetically engineered salmon, safe for human consumption. AquAdvantage Salmon is the first genetically engineered animal designed for human consumption to go to market in the United States. Because there have been no significant changes to the statutory or regulatory framework governing agricultural biotechnology since it was established in the 1980s, the FDA reviews applications of genetically engineered animals under the New Animal Drug Application (NADA) provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). The FDA’s treatment of genetically engineered food as a new animal drug has been criticized due to potential environmental and human health risks, and because of a lack of transparency throughout the regulatory process. After providing an overview of the premarket approval process, this Issue Brief argues that even under the NADA provisions, the FDA’s premarket approval risk assessment should be more transparent. In particular, the justification for trade secret status of relevant biotechnology is undermined, if not extinguished, by the need for public consideration of the biotechnology’s safety and effectiveness after a certain time in the approval process. Furthermore, the comment period prior to advisory committee meetings should be lengthened to allow for greater scientific input on safety and effectiveness, and an independent body should be created to communicate with the public about food safety

Velocity contrast across the San Andreas fault in central California: Small-scale variations from P-wave nodal plane distortion

Systematic variations in P-wave radiation patterns, evident in a data set of 400 central California earthquakes, have been analyzed for variations in velocity contrast across the San Andreas fault zone. Vertical strike-slip faulting characterizes the region, with radiation patterns well constrained by the dense local seismographic station network. A discontinuity in crustal velocity occurs across the San Andreas fault. The distribution of systematically inconsistent first motions indicates that first arrivals observed along the fault plane within the northeastern block have followed refracted paths through the higher velocity crustal rocks to the southwest, retaining P-wave polarities characteristic of the quadrant of origin, and thus appearing reversed. A simple geometrical interpretation, with P waves refracted at the fault plane near the focus, yields the velocity contrast across the fault zone; the distribution of hypocenters allows its mapping in time and space. The velocity contrast so determined ranges up to 15 per cent, for a depth range of 1 to 10 km. The observed pattern of contrast values is coherent, with the greatest contrast related apparently in space, and possibly in time, to the larger earthquakes occurring on the fault. We suggest the phenomenon reflects changes in stress state at the fault and, by virtue of its ease of measurement, offers a new and valuable technique in earthquake studies

Place and meaning of ‘physical education’ to practitioners and children at three preschool contexts in Scotland

This thesis investigates the place and meaning of ‘physical education’ to practitioners and children at three preschool settings in a city in Scotland. The thesis examines the discourses of physical education at the preschools, and interrogates the ways in which the participants engaged with these discourses in order to construct their subjectivities. Preschool physical education has been largely unexplored by researchers and this study thus gives insight into how practitioners and children engage with, take up and resist particular discourses. The study contributes to physical education and early childhood education research by connecting separate bodies of sociocultural, and more specifically poststructural, research related to both fields. A poststructural, Foucaultian theoretical framework underpins the thesis. It features discourse analysis and particularly draws on Foucault’s work around techniques of power and the ‘technologies of the self’. The first step in the discourse analysis involved examining potential sources of discourses the practitioners were likely to draw on. This entailed analysing the physical education sections of the curricular documentation used at the settings (Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence), and analysing texts related to preschool physical education continued professional development (CPD) that some of the practitioners participated in. Analysis indicated that physical activity and health discourses are prevalent throughout the curricular documentation. Discourses related to motor skill development and play also prevail. Motor skill development and physical activity discourses are prevalent in the documentation related to CPD. The second step in the discourse analysis involved analysing language patterns in the participants’ talk. Fourteen practitioners and 70 children participated in the study. Research methods employed were observations, interviews with adults, a group drawing and discussion activity with children, and interviews with children. Discourses related to motor skill development, play, physical activity and health, along with a related pedagogical discourse concerning ‘structure and freedom’, appeared to underpin ‘physical education’ at the three contexts, in different ways. For instance, the settings differed in the extent to which motor skill development underpinned physical education, with pedagogies often being more adult-led where this discourse was stronger. This thesis highlights that preschool practitioners and children engage in multiple, complex ways with a range of physical education discourses that currently have currency in Scotland

Painless Portal Partnerships: Collaboration and Its Challenges for Small Organizations

This article addresses challenges inherent in collaborative archival projects involving both large institutions and small historical societies. It identifies these unique problems and outlines potential solutions to overcome these issues. Examples are drawn from the Portal to American Jewish History project and contextualized within the professional literature on ethnic or community archives and archival collaboration. This project collected metadata from a wide range of Jewish history archives and aggregated the records in a single searchable website

Datasets and Benchmarking: Generating Critical Comparative Statistics for Administrators and Faculty Using IPEDS and ACRL Data

This presentation addresses how librarians can use a freely available governmental web tools and datasets to compare their library\u27s collection spending to that of comparable institutions. While examples are drawn from CUNY, the technique is applicable for any inaction of higher education

National data sets and calculating percentile ranks: A guide for benchmarking library collection spending

National data sets can be used by a librarian to compare library collection (materials) spending to that of similar schools, even if the librarian has little or no experience in statistics or database management tools. Percentile rank is a simple descriptive statistic that provides a way to present data with maximum impact on faculty and administrators who make funding decisions. Librarians must combine knowledge of their local circumstances with a basic understanding of the structure of the datasets. The article will focus on step-by-step methodologies, illustrated as they were used at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. While the examples used were budgetary, similar methodologies can be used to compare library services between various institutions

‘No pain, no gain’: former elite female gymnasts’ engagements with pain and injury discourses

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health on 11/05/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com//10.1080/2159676X.2017.1323778.This paper investigates former elite female gymnasts’ views and experiences of pain and injury. The purpose of the study was to examine how participants engaged with pain and injury discourses and interrogate the ways in which certain knowledge and practices had become dominant. A Foucaultian theoretical framework underpinned the study, making use of Foucault’s work on discourses, power and resistance. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with seven former elite gymnasts. By analysing the participants’ talk through poststructural discourse analysis, three themes were identified. Firstly, participants’ persistence through pain and injury was due to the desire to compete. Secondly, participants differentiated between ‘good pain’ and ‘bad pain’. Thirdly, participants had a higher tolerance for pain than for injury. This research raises questions about the dominance of a ‘no pain, no gain’ discourse, and the ways in which gymnasts may develop an uncritical acceptance of particular ‘truths’ surrounding pain and injury

Creation of a trajectory framework that is sustainable for a continuous exploration of Mars and its moons​

As humanity looks to the Cislunar region in recent space flight operations, the question remains: where will technology advance next? Mars is of particular interest with both the public and private sector aiming to get humans on the planet in the coming decades. Investigating stable trajectories in the Mars-Phobos-Deimos system for telecommunications and observation is the next step in developing future mission plans. Innovations in orbital mechanics must be considered, neither the Two Body Problem (2BP) nor the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem (CR3BP) are sufficient to effectively model satellite motion. Instead, in similar fashion to the patched-conics solution of transfers between the influence of celestial bodies, a patched CR3BP-2BP-CR3BP method of propagating the orbits is proposed. To begin, assumptions about Deimos and Phobos will be made—co-planar orbits and spherical symmetry to name a few. Once the problem has been successfully modeled, each assumption will be undone methodically to increase modeling accuracy. Impulsive maneuvers will be considered, as well as low, continuous thrust maneuvers. The aim of this project is to develop a robust, sustainable trajectory framework that can be used in future missions

‘Just stretch it out and try to dance’: Young Irish dancers’ views and experiences of pain and injury

Dancers frequently experience pain and injury due to the physical demands of performance. Previous research primarily focuses on professional dancers over the age of 18 years, and Irish dance has been largely unexplored, with research from a sociological perspective particularly lacking. To address these gaps, the purpose of this study was to explore the influence of the culture of Irish dance on young female dancers’ views and experiences of pain and injury. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with eight girls (aged 11-16 years) from an Irish dance academy in the North West of England. We analysed the data by engaging in thematic analysis, and drew on Bourdieu’s concepts (habitus and capital, in particular) to explain our findings. Key themes within the data were: the values of Irish dance; trust and teamwork; and strength and weakness. The findings show that Irish dancers make sacrifices to achieve success, and the culture of Irish dance encourages them to dance through pain and injury in order to appear strong. While dancers recognise the potential consequences of injury and believe it is beneficial to take time away from training to recover, they are often encouraged (and encourage each other) to persevere through pain and injury. The findings suggest that there are some potentially harmful consequences of the Irish dance culture, as pain and injury are normalised. We suggest that coaches (and parents/guardians) should encourage young dancers to engage with self-care, and ensure they are not risking their future health and wellbeing by dancing through pain and injury