Reforming the U. S. health care system: where there's a will, there could be a way

The essay in the 2005 annual report summarizes the themes and consensus-based prescriptions for action that emerged from the Boston Fed's 50th economic conference, Wanting It All: The Challenge of Reforming the U.S. Health Care System, held in June 2005.Health care reform ; Medical care, Cost of

The preservation of quartz grain surface textures following vehicle fire and their use in forensic enquiry

During a terrorist trial, dispute arose as to whether the temperature produced in a car fire was sufficient to destroy quartz grain surface textures. A series of seven sequential experiments showed that the temperature for quartz surface texture modification/destruction and the production of vugs, vesicles and glassy precipitation ('snowdrifting') occurred at 1200 degrees C under normal atmospheric conditions. By adding a number of man-made and natural substances, it was found that only the presence of salts depressed this modification temperature (to 900 degrees C). Experiments to determine the temperature of fire in a car indicated that the maximum temperature produced under natural conditions (810 degrees C) was insufficient to affect the quartz grain Surface textures. These results confirm the use of surface texture analysis of quartz grains recovered from the remains of cars Subjected to fire and their use as a forensic indicator. (C) 2008 Forensic Science Society. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

The language of learning : Maltese teachers’ views on bilingual and multilingual primary classrooms

Recent global migration trends and an increase in worldwide human mobility are currently contributing to unparalleled challenges in the area of literacy and education within multicultural and multilingual societies (Leikin, Schwartz, & Tobin, 2012). Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean, is one country currently seeking ways in which to adapt to the realities of today’s diverse classrooms. This paper details original research into Maltese teachers’ perceptions and practices in multilingual classrooms. Following a brief overview of Malta's language history and educational system, we draw on the experiences of eight bilingual primary school teachers through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Recent demographic changes in Malta necessitate a paradigm shift in education. With Malta’s challenges mirrored at global level, this study makes an important contribution to understanding the issues faced by educators and children, exploring pathways towards an equitable and socially just education for all

An Electrochemical Study of the Kinetics of Crystallisation and Dissolution of Sparingly Soluble Salts

The crystallisation and dissolution of lead sulphate and barium sulphate have been studied by following the change in conductivity which occurs when supersaturated or subsaturated solutions of these salts are inoculated with seed crystals. The dissolution into water of barium sulphate crystals, labelled with 35Sulphur has also been studied by a radiochemical technique

Hot electrons in low-dimensional phonon systems

A simple bulk model of electron-phonon coupling in metals has been surprisingly successful in explaining experiments on metal films that actually involve surface- or other low-dimensional phonons. However, by an exact application of this standard model to a semi-infinite substrate with a free surface, making use of the actual vibrational modes of the substrate, we show that such agreement is fortuitous, and that the model actually predicts a low-temperature crossover from the familiar T^5 temperature dependence to a stronger T^6 log T scaling. Comparison with existing experiments suggests a widespread breakdown of the standard model of electron-phonon thermalization in metals

Adaptive Brain Stimulation for Movement Disorders

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has markedly changed how we treat movement disorders including Parkinson's disease (PD), dystonia, and essential tremor (ET). However, despite its demonstrable clinical benefit, DBS is often limited by side effects and partial efficacy. These limitations may be due in part to the fact that DBS interferes with both pathological and physiological neural activities. DBS could, therefore, be potentially improved were it applied selectively and only at times of enhanced pathological activity. This form of stimulation is known as closed-loop or adaptive DBS (aDBS). An aDBS approach has been shown to be superior to conventional DBS in PD in primates using cortical neuronal spike triggering and in humans employing local field potential biomarkers. Likewise, aDBS studies for essential and Parkinsonian tremor are advancing and show great promise, using both peripheral or central sensing and stimulation. aDBS has not yet been trialed in dystonia and yet exciting and promising biomarkers suggest it could be beneficial here too. In this chapter, we will review the existing literature on aDBS in movement disorders and explore potential biomarkers and stimulation algorithms for applying aDBS in PD, ET, and dystonia

Four-Hundred-and-Ninety-Million-Year Record of Bacteriogenic Iron Oxide Precipitation at Sea-Floor Hydrothermal Vents

Fe oxide deposits are commonly found at hydrothermal vent sites at mid-ocean ridge and back-arc sea floor spreading centers, seamounts associated with these spreading centers, and intra-plate seamounts, and can cover extensive areas of the seafloor. These deposits can be attributed to several abiogenic processes and commonly contain micron-scale filamentous textures. Some filaments are cylindrical casts of Fe oxyhydroxides formed around bacterial cells and are thus unquestionably biogenic. The filaments have distinctive morphologies very like structures formed by neutrophilic Fe oxidizing bacteria. It is becoming increasingly apparent that Fe oxidizing bacteria have a significant role in the formation of Fe oxide deposits at marine hydrothermal vents. The presence of Fe oxide filaments in Fe oxides is thus of great potential as a biomarker for Fe oxidizing bacteria in modern and ancient marine hydrothermal vent deposits. The ancient analogues of modern deep-sea hydrothermal Fe oxide deposits are jaspers. A number of jaspers, ranging in age from the early Ordovician to late Eocene, contain abundant Fe oxide filamentous textures with a wide variety of morphologies. Some of these filaments are like structures formed by modern Fe oxidizing bacteria. Together with new data from the modern TAG site, we show that there is direct evidence for bacteriogenic Fe oxide precipitation at marine hydrothermal vent sites for at least the last 490 Ma of the Phanerozoic

Relational conceptions of paternalism : a way to rebut nanny-state accusations and evaluate public health interventions

This work is funded by NHMRC grant 1023197. Stacy Carter is funded by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship 1032963. Acknowledgements An early version of this work was presented at a workshop on paternalism held on Friday 8 November 2013 at the Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics at Macquarie University. We thank participants in that workshop for their helpful comments. Thanks also to Prof Catriona Mackenzie for her helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript and to Prof Paul Benson for providing us with an early version of his work on stereotype threat.Peer reviewedPostprintPostprin