Wilkinson v Downton After Rhodes and its Future Viability in New Zealand

This article analyses the tort in Wilkinson v Downton, commonly referred to as intentional infliction of emotional distress, in light of the United Kingdom Supreme Court's decision in Rhodes v OPO. After considering the three base elements of the Rhodes Court's newly reformulated tort, and giving a brief introduction to the New Zealand equivalent, the article suggests the law in this area is in need of further clarification and reform. The Rhodes formulation, while useful, does not go far enough in securing a viable future for the tort in light of the developments in negligence and privacy. The article justifies the tort's independence and suggests reforms to its elements in this respect. In particular, it concludes that the conduct element ought to be based on a "reasonable target" test, and the consequence element ought to be modified to allow recovery for damage amounting to severe emotional distress outside the range of ordinary human experience

Forcing contact inhibition of locomotion

Contact inhibition of locomotion drives a variety of biological phenomenon, from cell dispersion to collective cell migration and cancer invasion. New imaging techniques have allowed contact inhibition of locomotion to be visualised in vivo for the first time, helping to elucidate some of the molecules and forces involved in this phenomenon

Data assurance in opaque computations

The chess endgame is increasingly being seen through the lens of, and therefore effectively defined by, a data ‘model’ of itself. It is vital that such models are clearly faithful to the reality they purport to represent. This paper examines that issue and systems engineering responses to it, using the chess endgame as the exemplar scenario. A structured survey has been carried out of the intrinsic challenges and complexity of creating endgame data by reviewing the past pattern of errors during work in progress, surfacing in publications and occurring after the data was generated. Specific measures are proposed to counter observed classes of error-risk, including a preliminary survey of techniques for using state-of-the-art verification tools to generate EGTs that are correct by construction. The approach may be applied generically beyond the game domain

SNAP: An evaluation of how families in a low socioecnomic bracket decide what to eat.

The purpose of this research paper is to look at the major factors that influence how SNAP recipients make decisions about food purchases. The secondary purpose of this paper is to touch upon whether or not SNAP recipients suffer disproportionally from food insecurity and obesity-related chronic diseases. Three sets of interviews helped to inform this study: interviews with employees at the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), interviews with researchers who have studied SNAP recipients extensively as part of their work, and interviews with nonprofit coordinators that work with SNAP recipients after they are approved for their benefits. Additional data was collected via a survey of SNAP recipients at food pantries in the city of Boston. Results from the study show that there were four major themes that influence the food purchasing behavior of SNAP recipients. These themes include the cost of healthy foods, transportation and access to food stores, inadequate support services from the DTA, and finally SNAP recipients focus on surviving first and eating healthy second. Results also showed that while recipients suffer from some food insecurity it appears that they do not suffer at the same level they did before they received assistance. The results also showed that over half of SNAP recipients and their families did suffer from obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Through these findings, I recommend how Massachusetts can take both legislative and funding steps to mitigate factors that stand in the way of healthy food choices for SNAP recipients and decrease both the food insecurity that comes with them, as well as obesity and other chronic diseases associated with these factors. These recommendations include an incentive pilot in Essex County that provides double the amount SNAP recipients spend on targeted fruits and vegetables, the DTA hiring more caseworkers to be able to provide a better experience for their clients, a DTA communication plan, and the passage of An Act to Expand Access to Healthy Foods. Taken together, these recommendations will help to mitigate the level of food insecurity that SNAP recipients suffer from due to cost, access, support, and survival needs

Michael Abercrombie: contact inhibition of locomotion and more

Michael Abercrombie is regarded as one of the principal pioneers of cell biology. Although Abercrombie began his career as an experimental embryologist, working on the avian organizer with C. H. Waddington, questions on how cells in culture migrate and interact dominated his career. Whilst studying the social behaviour of chick heart embryonic fibroblasts, Abercrombie identified a phenomenon whereby colliding cells collapse their protrusions towards the cell-cell contact upon a collision, preventing their continued migration. The cells then form protrusions away from the contact and, space permitting, migrate away from each other. This behaviour is now referred to as ‘contact inhibition of locomotion’ and has been identified within embryology as the driving force behind the directional migration of the neural crest and the dispersion patterning of haemocytes and Cajal-Retzius neurons. Furthermore, its loss between collisions of cancer cells and healthy cells is associated with metastasis. In this review we begin with an overview of Abercrombie’s life and highlight some of his key publications. We then discuss Abercrombie’s discovery of contact inhibition of locomotion, the roles which cell-cell adhesions, cell-matrix adhesions and the cytoskeleton play in facilitating this phenomenon, and the importance of contact inhibition of locomotion within the living organism

Why 'Competition' is Failing to Protect Consumers

In August 2006 the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) found that the state's four largest telephone companies "no longer possess market power" based on "the demonstrated presence of competitors" throughout their service territories. As a result, the CPUC has proceeded to dismantle almost all aspects of telecommunications regulation in California. Most significantly, the CPUC granted the state's dominant incumbent local exchange carriers (AT&T, Verizon, SureWest, and Citizens/Frontier) "broad pricing freedoms concerning almost all telecommunications services, new telecommunications products bundles of services, promotion and contracts." However, instead of price competition, California consumers have experienced an ongoing stream of rate increases following the CPUC's decision to lift price caps, with the most recent increases for basic service likely to cost consumers over $100 million per year. "Pricing freedom" for telephone companies has turned into a travesty for consumers and the "competition" identified by the CPUC has turned out to be a myth. The CPUC's decision to remove the price cap framework that had previously protected consumers from market power was driven by the conclusion that "competition" would protect consumers. The CPUC relied heavily on their conclusion that wireless mobility services are a close substitute for wireline telephone service. California has one of the lowest rates of wireless-only households in the nation with many factors contributing to the wireless only use including presence of individuals with health problems or disabilities in the household. Many California consumers face a market with only one real alternative to their local telephone company - the cable company - this "choice" is not sufficient to provide consumer protection. Economists refer to this market structure as a duopoly. The performance of the duopoly in California's residential telephone service market -- an ongoing string of rate increases -- indicates another market failure. Observed pricing behavior on the part of local telephone companies and their cable rivals does not reveal evidence of price competition. Rather, pricing reflects the actions of firms that recognize that consumers have little choice, resulting in dramatic rate increases for many California consumers. The elimination of price caps is failing to protect California consumers. Market forces are failing to deliver the benefits of competition that the telephone companies promised the CPUC - lower prices and increased choices. It is time to reestablish an effective regulatory framework that will protect consumers and ensure that high-quality telecommunications services are available to all Californians at reasonable rates

Alien Registration- Roycroft, Hazel B. (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/31415/thumbnail.jp

Valued tradition? Armed policing in the UK

The traditional social “contract” in the UK mainland between the public and the police involves the ideal of an unarmed police service. In recent years while the public have accepted the more visible role of specialist armed officers on security duties in airports and strategic positions, the majority of officers remain unarmed. Following 7/7 in London and the Derrick Bird case in Cumbria there have been media calls for more police officers to be armed on a routine basis .This would fundamentally change the social contract and the relationship with the British public. The principle of policing by consent and the idea of the citizen in uniform are the fundamental tenets of British policing .Historically the only forces in the UK which are routinely armed are the Police Service of Northern Ireland in Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Defence Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. In contrast all major police forces in Europe, as well as the US, Canada and Australia routinely carry firearms, the exceptions apart from Britain, are the Irish Republic, and New Zealand. In Norway officers carry arms in their cars but not on their person. Every time unarmed police officers are killed, as with the tragic case of Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone killed in the line of duty in Manchester in 2013, the question of arming the British Police is raised.So does the current balance protect the public and safeguard officers or does it fail to satisfy either. Is the current balance between unarmed and armed police in the UK suitable for the 21st Century? There appears to be competing agendas for the Police to contend with. These have been illustrated by recent controversy in Scotland about a standing authority which allowed a small number of officers to carry guns while on routine patrol .Politicians and community leaders attacked the nationwide roll-out of officers with a standing authority to carry guns on routine patrols since the formation of Scotland’s single police force. The Forces armed police monitoring group recommended keeping the standing authority in place after it was given intelligence on serious organised crime groups in 2014.The Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) in its review of the authority (2014) said the operational need for the authority is justified by national intelligence and threat levels

Molecular basis of contact inhibition of locomotion

Contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL) is a complex process, whereby cells undergoing a collision with another cell cease their migration towards the colliding cell. CIL has been identified in numerous cells during development including embryonic fibroblasts, neural crest cells and haemocytes and is the driving force behind a range of phenomenon including collective cell migration and dispersion. The loss of normal CIL behaviour towards healthy tissue has long been implicated in the invasion of cancer cells. CIL is a multi-step process that is driven by the tight coordination of molecular machinery. In this review, we shall breakdown CIL into distinct steps and highlight the key molecular mechanisms and components that are involved in driving each step of this process

Fast wavelength switching lasers using two-section slotted Fabry-Pérot structures

Fast wavelength switching of a two-section slotted Fabry–PÉrot laser structure is presented. The slot design enables operation at five discrete wavelength channels spaced by 10 nm by tuning one section of the device. These wavelengths operate with sidemode suppression ratio in excess of 35 dB, and switching times between these channels of approximately 1 ns are demonstrated