The Durham Statement Two Years Later: Open Access in the Law School Journal Environment

The Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship, drafted by a group of academic law library directors, was promulgated in February 2009. It calls for two things: (1) open access publication of law school–published journals; and (2) an end to print publication of law journals, coupled with a commitment to keeping the electronic versions available in “stable, open, digital formats.” The two years since the Statement was issued have seen increased publication of law journals in openly available electronic formats, but little movement toward all-electronic publication. This article discusses the issues raised by the Durham Statement, the current state of law journal publishing, and directions forward

INSIGHTS INTO GROUNDWATER FLOW PATHS IN AN INTENSIVELY MANAGED CRITICAL ZONE IN NEBRASKA

Glacier Creek, a groundwater-fed stream located in Glacier Creek Preserve (GCP) near Omaha, Nebraska, flows through restored tallgrass prairie and agricultural land (corn-soy rotation) draining a 4 km2 area. The 1 km wide watershed developed on Peoria Loess that overlies Sangamon age glacial till; Glacier Creek itself flows through the glacial till. Previous work concerning land use impacts on solute fluxes indicated a distinct distribution and flux of solutes through restored prairie and agricultural land. Inputs into the subsurface on agricultural land are slow and more concentrated but are diluted by precipitation along shallow flow paths to the north fork of Glacier Creek. In contrast, subsurface flow paths through the restored prairie are more rapid and deeper, leading to less concentrated water in the south fork of Glacier Creek. However, little is known about the subsurface stratigraphy and hydrogeology of the groundwater that provides year-round flow into Glacier Creek. Here we present the initial interpretation of a series of sediment cores and aquifer tests from the ridgetop, midslope, and foot slope topographic positions of agriculture and restored prairie. Sediment cores from the southern, restored prairie portion of GCP show loess overlying glacial till (identified by the appearance of gravel-sized rock fragments). The stratigraphy of the northern, agricultural portion of GCP is much more complex: while loess does overlie glacial till, there are also a series of sandy outwash deposits that cannot be correlated across the landscape. Under both land uses, the local groundwater table lies within the glacial till as referenced by water depth measurements in monitoring wells and gleyed sediments present in cores. Slug tests conducted in ridgetop and foot slope wells indicate that the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the sediments underlying the agricultural land range from two-fold to an order of magnitude greater than those underlying restored prairie, consistent with the presence of sandy layers that conduct water at a quicker rate. Furthermore, the higher flow rates explain why the north fork of Glacier Creek (draining agriculture) produces more water despite being a smaller portion of the watershed. Given these new findings, we modify our conceptual model of subsurface flow at GCP

The Influence of Student Enrollment in Pre-College Engineering Courses on Their Interest in Engineering Careers

Pre-college student enrollment in engineering courses increases every year in the United States, yet little is known about the relationship between taking these courses and subsequent science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career interest. Through multinomial logistic regressions, and while controlling for student background variables and prior STEM career interest, this study addresses two research questions: (1) Does completing a pre-college engineering course increase the likelihood of an engineering career interest at the end of high school? (2) Does completing a pre-college engineering course have a different influence on career interest in engineering than on career interest in other STEM fields (namely science, technology, and mathematics)? The study uses data from the Outreach Programs and Science Career Intentions survey (N 5 15,847), a large U.S. sample of college students enrolled in mandatory English courses. Our analysis reveals that the relationship between completing a pre-college engineering course and interest in a STEM career appears to be field-specific. Students completing a pre-college engineering course were two times more likely to want to pursue an engineering career than those without such a course, after controlling for a host of other relevant variables. By contrast, taking a pre-college engineering course was not associated with heightened interest in other science, technology, or mathematics careers. These findings suggest that high schools should offer engineering courses as an effective way to foster students’ career interest in engineering. This effect appears to apply similarly to all students, independent of gender, race/ethnicity, and other background variables

Dangerous diagnostics? Regulatory reform in the genomic era

Molecular diagnostics are expanding rapidly yet many have not been externally evaluated. Kelly Holloway and colleagues identify failings in the regulatory system and report on recent efforts at refor

Hope for resurrecting a functionally extinct parrot or squandered social capital? Landholder attitudes towards the Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) in Victoria, Australia

In early 2010, after 27 years of recovery effort, the orange-bellied parrot (OBP; Neophema chrysogaster) was expected to be extinct in the wild within a few years. Shortly before the imminent wild extinction became evident, we surveyed landholders (114 responses of 783 surveys delivered) in part of the main non-breeding area, according to three classes of modelled habitat suitability (\u27high\u27, \u27medium\u27, and \u27low\u27). Predictions of the habitat models appear to correlate with landholder perceptions of the presence of OBP habitat on private land, thus the models appear a tractable way to identify key stakeholders worthy of priority consultation in relation to habitat works. Landholders were sympathetic to wetlands and birds, including OBPs (89.4% were aware of OBPs). Most indicated that they would be upset if the OBP went extinct and agreed that critical habitat should be protected; 80.7% were prepared to consider changes to the way they managed their land to benefit the species, and sought more information on how they could do so (64.0%). This study suggests that the habitat model usefully identified key stakeholders and the OBP enjoyed high awareness, concern, and engagement among many stakeholders, shortly before the species was considered functionally extinct. The maintenance of landholder support is likely to be critical if future attempts are made to reintroduce the species to the wild

Health Canada needs to act on laboratory-developed diagnostics

An international exposé of flawed regulations for medical implants prompted Canada’s health minister to announce sweeping changes to the regulation of medical devices.1 Yet an important subset of medical devices remains outside the purview of this regulatory overhaul: laboratory-developed tests

Best-Fit Ellipsoids of Atom-Probe Tomographic Data to Study Coalescence of Gamma Prime (L1_2) Precipitates in Ni-Al-Cr

An algorithm is presented to fit precipitates in atom probe tomographic data sets as equivalent ellipsoids. Unlike previous techniques, which measure only the radius of gyration, these ellipsoids retain the moments of inertia and principle axes of the original precipitate, preserving crystallographic orientational information. The algorithm is applied to study interconnected gamma prime precipitates (L1_2) in the Gamma-matrix (FCC) of a Ni-Al-Cr alloy. The precipitates are found to coagulate along -type directions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Scripta Materialia, added information about local magnification effect

A Qualitative Study of Workplace Stress and Coping in Secondary Teachers in Ireland

Teacher stress has received scant attention in Ireland. This study examines teachers’ perceptions of their daily stresses and how they attempt to cope with such situations. Interviews were conducted with fifteen secondary teachers from a variety of school types in eastern Ireland. The teachers showed great concern for their students, with some being prepared to ignore school guidelines in order to deal with their pupils’ needs. Several particularly stressful factors were identified, including the maintenance of boundaries (especially when dealing with students with personal problems), dealing with disruptive student behaviour, and the heavy workload. These stresses closely mirrored those described in international literature. Levels of stress and methods of dealing with stress varied widely among the sample, with primary support coming from their colleagues. One strong finding was the lack of suitable training and preparation felt by the participants, particularly in methods of dealing with sensitive and stressful situations in pupils, and in appropriate means of reaction to student misbehaviour. It is recommended that teacher-training courses include explicit training in dealing with such situations

Initial Characterization of the FlgE Hook High Molecular Weight Complex of Borrelia burgdorferi

The spirochete periplasmic flagellum has many unique attributes. One unusual characteristic is the flagellar hook. This structure serves as a universal joint coupling rotation of the membrane-bound motor to the flagellar filament. The hook is comprised of about 120 FlgE monomers, and in most bacteria these structures readily dissociate to monomers (∼ 50 kDa) when treated with heat and detergent. However, in spirochetes the FlgE monomers form a large mass of over 250 kDa [referred to as a high molecular weight complex (HMWC)] that is stable to these and other denaturing conditions. In this communication, we examined specific aspects with respect to the formation and structure of this complex. We found that the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi synthesized the HMWC throughout the in vitro growth cycle, and also in vivo when implanted in dialysis membrane chambers in rats. The HMWC was stable to formic acid, which supports the concept that the stability of the HMWC is dependent on covalent cross-linking of individual FlgE subunits. Mass spectrometry analysis of the HMWC from both wild type periplasmic flagella and polyhooks from a newly constructed ΔfliK mutant indicated that other proteins besides FlgE were not covalently joined to the complex, and that FlgE was the sole component of the complex. In addition, mass spectrometry analysis also indicated that the HMWC was composed of a polymer of the FlgE protein with both the N- and C-terminal regions remaining intact. These initial studies set the stage for a detailed characterization of the HMWC. Covalent cross-linking of FlgE with the accompanying formation of the HMWC we propose strengthens the hook structure for optimal spirochete motility