A General Correlation of Temperature Profiles Downstream of a Heated-Air Jet Directed Perpendicularly to an Air Stream

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the temperature profile downstream of a heated-air jet directed perpendicularly to an air stream. The profiles were determined at several positions downstream of the jet as functions of jet density, jet velocity, freestream density, free-stream velocity, jet temperature, and orifice flow coefficient. A method is presented which yields a good approximation of the temperature profile in terms of dimensionless parameters of the flow and geometric conditions

“You Just Need to Do It!”: When Texts Encouraging Suicide Do Not Warrant Free Speech Protection

Is it constitutional to hold an individual criminally liable for another’s suicide when words alone drive the conviction? After a Massachusetts court convicted Michelle Carter of involuntary manslaughter following the suicide of her boyfriend Conrad Roy in 2014, the answer seemed to be “yes.” Although Carter’s conviction—which focused on the content of her text messages—was a first-of-its-kind, that was not the case for long. Just five years later, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts brought similar charges against Inyoung You for causing the suicide of her boyfriend, Alexander Urtula, also via text. Although the facts in the two cases are not identical, they both raise the question of whether the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects this type of speech. The United States is built upon a foundation that safeguards freedom of speech. There are important limits, however, on just how far that protection extends. In 2016, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Commonwealth v. Carter focused on a First Amendment carveout—speech integral to criminal conduct—when convicting Carter of involuntary manslaughter. But as critics have emphasized, that was arguably a stretch of the exception. This Note argues that, although the reasoning of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was not terribly convincing, criminalizing speech that encourages another person’s suicide can be constitutional. Ultimately, Massachusetts’s proposed bill, aptly named Conrad’s Law, which criminalizes this type of speech and conduct, could both eliminate future First Amendment questions and protect those struggling with mental illnesses

Let’s Talk About Sex: A Discussion of Sexual Orientation Discrimination Under Title VII

On July 18, 2018, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held, in Bostock v. Clayton County Board of Commissioners, that Title VII does not protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the workplace. To the Eleventh Circuit, sexual orientation discrimination is distinct from sex discrimination, which the statute explicitly prohibits. Many courts continue to follow this traditional rule and agree with the Eleventh Circuit’s decision. The Second and Seventh Circuits, however, have instead followed the guidance of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces Title VII, and held the opposite. The Supreme Court has not directly addressed the question of whether Title VII’s ban on discrimination “because of . . . sex” also protects against sexual orientation discrimination in particular, but that may not be the case for long. This Comment argues, ahead of the Supreme Court’s anticipated decision in the Bostock appeal, that the Supreme Court should follow the guidance of the EEOC and definitively hold that sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace is prohibited by Title VII. By doing so, the Supreme Court will remain faithful to the purpose of Title VII—equality in the workplace—and will follow its own precedent that has laid the groundwork for a more expansive reading of “because of . . . sex.

Penetration of Air Jets Issuing from Circular, Square, and Elliptical Orifices Directed Perpendicularly to an Air Stream

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the penetration of air jets d.irected perpendicularlY to an air stream. Jets Issuing from circular, square, and. elliptical orifices were investigated. and. the jet penetration at a position downstream of the orifice was determined- as a function of jet density, jet velocity, air-stream d.enaity, air-stream velocity, effective jet diameter, and. orifice flow coeffIcient. The jet penetrations were determined for nearly constant values of air-stream density at three tunnel-air velocities arid for a large range of Jet velocities and. densities. The results were correlated in terms of dimensionless parameters and the penetrations of the various shapes were compared. Greater penetration was obtained. with the square orifices and the elliptical orifices having an axis ratio of 4:1 at low tunnel-air velocities and low jet pressures than for the other orifices investigated. The square orifices gave the best penetrations at the higher values of tunnel-air velocity and jet total pressure

Pre-implantation mouse embryos cultured In vitro under different oxygen concentrations show altered ultrastructures

Abstract Assisted Reproductive Technologies routinely utilize different culture media and oxygen (O2) concentrations to culture human embryos. Overall, embryos cultured under physiological O2 tension (5%) have improved development compared to embryos cultured under atmospheric O2 conditions (20%). The mechanisms responsible for this remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of physiologic (5%) or atmospheric O2 (20%) tension on the microscopic ultrastructure of pre-implantation mouse embryos using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Embryos flushed out of the uterus after natural mating were used as the control. For use as the control, 2-cells, 4-cells, morulae, and blastocysts were flushed out of the uterus after natural fertilization. In vitro fertilization (IVF) was performed using potassium simplex optimized medium (KSOM) under different O2 tensions (5% and 20%) until the blastocyst stage. After collection, embryos were subjected to the standard preparative for light microscopy (LM) and TEM. We found that culture in vitro under 5% and 20% O2 results in an increase of vacuolated shaped mitochondria, cytoplasmic vacuolization and presence of multi-vesicular bodies at every embryonic stage. In addition, blastocysts generated by IVF under 5% and 20% O2 showed a lower content of heterochromatin, an interruption of the trophectodermal and inner cell mass cell membranes, an increased density of residual bodies, and high levels of glycogen granules in the cytoplasm. In conclusion, this study suggests that in vitro culture, particularly under atmospheric O2 tension, causes stage-specific changes in preimplantation embryo ultrastructure. In addition, atmospheric (20%) O2 is associated with increased alterations in embryonic ultrastructure; these changes may explain the reduced embryonic development of embryos cultured with 20% O2

First-line erlotinib and fixed dose-rate gemcitabine for advanced pancreatic cancer

AIM: To investigate activity, toxicity, and prognostic factors for survival of erlotinib and fixed dose-rate gemcitabine (FDR-Gem) in advanced pancreatic cancer. METHODS: We designed a single-arm prospective, multicentre, open-label phase II study to evaluate the combination of erlotinib (100 mg/d, orally) and weekly FDR-Gem (1000 mg/m2, infused at 10 mg/m2per minute) in a population of previously untreated patients with locally advanced, inoperable, or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Primary endpoint was the rate of progression-free survival at 6 mo (PFS-6); secondary endpoints were overall response rate (ORR), response duration, tolerability, overall survival (OS), and clinical benefit. Treatment was not considered to be of further interest if the PFS-6 was < 20% (p0 = 20%), while a PFS-6 > 40% would be of considerable interest (p1 = 40%); with a 5% rejection error (α = 5%) and a power of 80%, 35 fully evaluable patients with metastatic disease were required to be enrolled in order to complete the study. Analysis of prognostic factors for survival was also carried out. RESULTS: From May 2007 to September 2009, 46 patients were enrolled (male/female: 25/21; median age: 64 years; median baseline carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9): 897 U/mL; locally advanced/metastatic disease: 5/41). PFS-6 and median PFS were 30.4% and 14 wk (95%CI: 10-19), respectively; 1-year and median OS were 20.2% and 26 wk (95%CI: 8-43). Five patients achieved an objective response (ORR: 10.9%, 95%CI: 1.9-19.9); disease control rate was 56.5% (95%CI: 42.2-70.8); clinical benefit rate was 43.5% (95%CI: 29.1-57.8). CA 19-9 serum levels were decreased by > 25% as compared to baseline in 14/23 evaluable patients (63.6%). Treatment was well-tolerated, with skin rash being the most powerful predictor of both longer PFS (P < 0.0001) and OS (P = 0.01) at multivariate analysis (median OS for patients with or without rash: 42 wk vs 15 wk, respectively, Log-rank P = 0.03). Additional predictors of better outcome were: CA 19-9 reduction, female sex (for PFS), and good performance status (for OS). CONCLUSION: Primary study endpoint was not met. However, skin rash strongly predicted erlotinib efficacy, suggesting that a pharmacodynamic-based strategy for patient selection deserves further investigation