Note and Comment

Notes on recent cases and letters to the Law Review

Note and Comment

New Trials for Technical Errors - A witness called to testify is presumed to be of good character. Hence no proof of it is necessary. But out of abundant caution this presumption is fortified by evidence. The witness is thus shown to be in fact exactly what the law presumes him to be. Result-the case is reversed for the commission of this grave and prejudicial error.-Lockett v. State (Ark. 1918), 207 S. W. 55

Cosmic-ray Monte Carlo predictions for forward particle production in p-p, p-Pb, and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC

We present and compare the predictions of various cosmic-ray Monte Carlo models for the energy (dE/deta) and particle (dN/deta) flows in p-p, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s) = 14, 8.8, and 5.5 TeV respectively, in the range covered by forward LHC detectors like CASTOR or TOTEM (5.2<|eta|<6.6) and ZDC or LHCf (|eta|>8.1 for neutrals).Comment: 5 pages, 5 figs. Poster proceedings Quark-Matter'08, Jaipur. To appear in Indian J. of Phy

The purpose of United Nations Security Council practice: Contesting competence claims in the normative context created by the Responsibility to Protect.

Practice theory provides important insight into the workings of the Security Council. The contribution is currently limited however by the conjecture that practice theory operates on ‘a different analytical plane’ to norm / normative theory (Adler-Nissen and Pouliot 2014). Building on existing critiques (Duval and Chowdhury 2011; Schindler and Wille 2015) we argue that analyzing practices separately from normative positions risks misappropriating competence and reifying practice that is not fit for purpose. This risk is realized in Adler-Nissen and Pouliot’s (2014) practice based account Libya crisis. By returning the normative context created by the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to the analytical foreground, and by drawing on a pragmatic conception of 'ethical competence' (Frost 2009), we find that pre-reflexive practices uncritically accepted as markers of competence – e.g. ‘penholding’ – can contribute to the Council’s failure to act collectively in the face of mass atrocity. Drawing on extensive interview material we offer an alternative account of the Libya intervention, finding that the practices of the permanent three (France, UK and US) did not cultivate the kind of collective consciousness that is required to implement R2P. This is further illustrated by an account of the Security Council’s failure in Syria, where the P3’s insistence on regime change instrumentalized the Council at the expense of R2P-appropriate practice. This changed when elected members became ‘penholders’. Practice theory can facilitate learning processes that help the Council meet its responsibilities, but only through an approach that combines its insights with those of norm / normative theory

Lynx X-Ray Observatory: An Overview

Lynx, one of the four strategic mission concepts under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, provides leaps in capability over previous and planned x-ray missions and provides synergistic observations in the 2030s to a multitude of space- and ground-based observatories across all wavelengths. Lynx provides orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity, on-axis subarcsecond imaging with arcsecond angular resolution over a large field of view, and high-resolution spectroscopy for point-like and extended sources in the 0.2- to 10-keV range. The Lynx architecture enables a broad range of unique and compelling science to be carried out mainly through a General Observer Program. This program is envisioned to include detecting the very first seed black holes, revealing the high-energy drivers of galaxy formation and evolution, and characterizing the mechanisms that govern stellar evolution and stellar ecosystems. The Lynx optics and science instruments are carefully designed to optimize the science capability and, when combined, form an exciting architecture that utilizes relatively mature technologies for a cost that is compatible with the projected NASA Astrophysics budget

Distinct Patterns of IFITM-Mediated Restriction of Filoviruses, SARS Coronavirus, and Influenza A Virus

Interferon-inducible transmembrane proteins 1, 2, and 3 (IFITM1, 2, and 3) are recently identified viral restriction factors that inhibit infection mediated by the influenza A virus (IAV) hemagglutinin (HA) protein. Here we show that IFITM proteins restricted infection mediated by the entry glycoproteins (GP1,2) of Marburg and Ebola filoviruses (MARV, EBOV). Consistent with these observations, interferon-β specifically restricted filovirus and IAV entry processes. IFITM proteins also inhibited replication of infectious MARV and EBOV. We observed distinct patterns of IFITM-mediated restriction: compared with IAV, the entry processes of MARV and EBOV were less restricted by IFITM3, but more restricted by IFITM1. Moreover, murine Ifitm5 and 6 did not restrict IAV, but efficiently inhibited filovirus entry. We further demonstrate that replication of infectious SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and entry mediated by the SARS-CoV spike (S) protein are restricted by IFITM proteins. The profile of IFITM-mediated restriction of SARS-CoV was more similar to that of filoviruses than to IAV. Trypsin treatment of receptor-associated SARS-CoV pseudovirions, which bypasses their dependence on lysosomal cathepsin L, also bypassed IFITM-mediated restriction. However, IFITM proteins did not reduce cellular cathepsin activity or limit access of virions to acidic intracellular compartments. Our data indicate that IFITM-mediated restriction is localized to a late stage in the endocytic pathway. They further show that IFITM proteins differentially restrict the entry of a broad range of enveloped viruses, and modulate cellular tropism independently of viral receptor expression

Cosmic Rays from the Knee to the Highest Energies

This review summarizes recent developments in the understanding of high-energy cosmic rays. It focuses on galactic and presumably extragalactic particles in the energy range from the knee (10^15 eV) up to the highest energies observed (>10^20 eV). Emphasis is put on observational results, their interpretation, and the global picture of cosmic rays that has emerged during the last decade.Comment: Invited review, submitted to Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physic

Personal endotoxin exposure in a panel study of school children with asthma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endotoxin exposure has been associated with asthma exacerbations and increased asthma prevalence. However, there is little data regarding personal exposure to endotoxin in children at risk, or the relation of personal endotoxin exposure to residential or ambient airborne endotoxin. The relation between personal endotoxin and personal air pollution exposures is also unknown.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We characterized personal endotoxin exposures in 45 school children with asthma ages 9-18 years using 376 repeated measurements from a PM_2.5active personal exposure monitor. We also assayed endotoxin in PM_2.5samples collected from ambient regional sites (N = 97 days) and from a subset of 12 indoor and outdoor subject home sites (N = 109 and 111 days, respectively) in Riverside and Whittier, California. Endotoxin was measured using the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate kinetic chromogenic assay. At the same time, we measured personal, home and ambient exposure to PM_2.5mass, elemental carbon (EC), and organic carbon (OC). To assess exposure relations we used both rank correlations and mixed linear regression models, adjusted for personal temperature and relative humidity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found small positive correlations of personal endotoxin with personal PM_2.5EC and OC, but not personal PM_2.5mass or stationary site air pollutant measurements. Outdoor home, indoor home and ambient endotoxin were moderately to strongly correlated with each other. However, in mixed models, personal endotoxin was not associated with indoor home or outdoor home endotoxin, but was associated with ambient endotoxin. Dog and cat ownership were significantly associated with increased personal but not indoor endotoxin.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Daily fixed site measurements of endotoxin in the home environment may not predict daily personal exposure, although a larger sample size may be needed to assess this. This conclusion is relevant to short-term exposures involved in the acute exacerbation of asthma.</p

What's in a copy?

ABSTRACTI will answer the question “What’s in a copy?” by considering three sets of related issues: the importance of copies in academia; in cultural life; and in the economic world. In academia the current capability of making copies is challenging pedagogical practices and the trust of its members, plagiarism being the most immediate problem. The notion of authorship is also undergoing changes provoked by a proliferation of authors and new possibilities opened up by cyberspace. In cultural life, imitation and mimesis have long been fundamental engines of socialization. Our enhanced capacity of copying problematizes, with new intensity, the relationships between homogeneity and heterogeneity, between the genuine and the spurious. In the economic world, the digital era is threatening some of the fundamental tenets of capitalism, especially of its variant called the “knowledge society”, regarding the control of intellectual property rights. The gap between normativity and social practices is widening. The many dilemmas and tensions identified in the text are understood as symptoms of two major characteristics of the current times: hyperfetishism and hyperanimism. ________________________________________________________________________________ RESUMOResponderei à pergunta “O que existe em uma cópia?” considerando três conjuntos de questões relacionadas: a importância das cópias na academia, na vida cultural, no mundo econômico. Na academia a presente capacidade de fazer cópias está desafiando práticas pedagógicas e a confiança dos seus membros, o plágio sendo o problema mais imediato. A noção de autoria também está sofrendo mudanças provocadas por uma proliferação de autores e novas possibilidades abertas pelo ciberespaço. Na vida cultural, a imitação e a mimese de há muito são importantes motores de socialização. A nossa capacidade ampliada de fazer cópias problematiza, com nova intensidade, as relações entre homogeneidade e heterogeneidade, entre o genuíno e o espúrio. No mundo econômico, a era digital ameaça algumas das premissas fundamentais do capitalismo, especialmente da sua variante “sociedade do conhecimento”, no tocante aos direitos de propriedade intelectual. Cresce a distância entre normatividade e práticas sociais. Os muitos dilemas e tensões identificados no texto são compreendidos como sintomas de duas grandes características do presente: o hiperfetichismo e o hiperanimismo