Beyond the War on Terrorism: Towards the New Intelligence Network

In Terrorism, Freedom, and Security, Philip B. Heymann undertakes a wide-ranging study of how the United States can - and in his view should - respond to the threat of international terrorism. A former Deputy Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice ( DOJ ) and current James Barr Ames Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Heymann draws on his governmental experience and jurisprudential background in developing a series of nuanced approaches to preventing terrorism. Heymann makes clear his own policy and legal preferences. First, as his choice of subtitle suggests, he firmly rejects the widely used metaphor of the United States engaging in a war on terrorism. Heymann views this mental model and the policies it spawns or is said to justify as, at best, incomplete, and, at worst, ineffective in preventing terrorist attacks and harmful to democracy in the United States (pp. 19-36). Second, Heymann advocates the paramount importance of intelligence to identify and disrupt terrorists\u27 plans and to prevent terrorists from attacking their targets (p. 61). Heymann observes that the United States needs both tactical intelligence to stop specific terrorist plans and strategic intelligence to understand the goals, organization, resources, and skills of terrorist organizations (p. 62)

Beyond the War on Terrorism: Towards the New Intelligence Network

In Terrorism, Freedom, and Security, Philip B. Heymann undertakes a wide-ranging study of how the United States can - and in his view should - respond to the threat of international terrorism. A former Deputy Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice ( DOJ ) and current James Barr Ames Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Heymann draws on his governmental experience and jurisprudential background in developing a series of nuanced approaches to preventing terrorism. Heymann makes clear his own policy and legal preferences. First, as his choice of subtitle suggests, he firmly rejects the widely used metaphor of the United States engaging in a war on terrorism. Heymann views this mental model and the policies it spawns or is said to justify as, at best, incomplete, and, at worst, ineffective in preventing terrorist attacks and harmful to democracy in the United States (pp. 19-36). Second, Heymann advocates the paramount importance of intelligence to identify and disrupt terrorists\u27 plans and to prevent terrorists from attacking their targets (p. 61). Heymann observes that the United States needs both tactical intelligence to stop specific terrorist plans and strategic intelligence to understand the goals, organization, resources, and skills of terrorist organizations (p. 62)

Device and Method for Continuously Equalizing the Charge State of Lithium Ion Battery Cells

A method of equalizing charge states of individual cells in a battery includes measuring a previous cell voltage for each cell, measuring a previous shunt current for each cell, calculating, based on the previous cell voltage and the previous shunt current, an adjusted cell voltage for each cell, determining a lowest adjusted cell voltage from among the calculated adjusted cell voltages, and calculating a new shunt current for each cell

Barbiturate and picrotoxin-sensitive chloride efflux in rat cerebral cortical synaptoneurosomes

AbstractThe effects of various barbiturates and picrotoxin in modifying the efflux of chloride (36Cl−) was studied in a novel subcellular preparation from rat cerebral cortex, the ‘synaptoneurosome’. Dilution of synaptoneurosomes pre-loaded with 36Cl− resulted in rapid efflux of 36Cl− that could be measured as early as 10 s following dilution. In the presence of barbiturates such as pentobarbital and hexobarbital there was a significant increase in 36Cl− efflux which was not observed with the pharmacologically-inactive barbiturate, barbital. The effect of barbiturates in enhancing 36Cl− efflux was also stereospecific [(−)-DMBB > (+)-DMBB] and reversed by picrotoxin. By contrast, picrotoxin alone significantly inhibited 36Cl− efflux. These data demonstrate pharmacologically relevant Cl− transport for the first time in a subcellular brain preparation

On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Brief of Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., National Association of Manufacturers, Business Roundtable, and Chemical Manufacturers Association as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent, William Daubert and Joyce Daubert, Individually and as Guardians Ad Litem for Jason Daubert, and Anita De Young, Individually and as Gaurdian Ad Litem for Eric Schuller v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

The Federal Rules of Evidence exclude expert scientific testimony when it has been developed without regard for accepted scientific methods. This case focuses on expert scientific evidence. Such evidence plays a vital and often dispositive role in modern litigation. For scientific evidence to be helpful to the factfinder it must meet some minimal threshold of reliability. To hold otherwise would be to allow a system of adjudication based more on chance than on reason

Soil profile method for soil thermal diffusivity, conductivity and heat flux: Comparison to soil heat flux plates

Diffusive heat flux at the soil surface is commonly determined as a mean value over a time period using heat flux plates buried at some depth (e.g., 5–8 cm) below the surface with a correction to surface flux based on the change in heat storage during the corresponding time period in the soil layer above the plates. The change in heat storage is based on the soil temperature change in the layer over the time period and an estimate of the soil thermal heat capacity that is based on soil water content, bulk density and organic matter content. One- or multiple-layer corrections using some measure of mean soil temperature over the layer depth are common; and in some cases the soil water content has been determined, although rarely. Several problems with the heat flux plate method limit the accuracy of soil heat flux values. An alternative method is presented and this flux gradient method is compared with soil heat flux plate measurements. The method is based on periodic (e.g., half-hourly) water content and temperature sensing at multiple depths within the soil profile and a solution of the Fourier heat flux equation. A Fourier sine series is fit to the temperature at each depth and the temperature at the next depth below is simulated with a sine series solution of the differential heat flux equation using successive approximation of the best fit based on changing the thermal diffusivity value. The best fit thermal diffusivity value is converted to a thermal conductivity value using the soil heat capacity, which is based on the measured water content and bulk density. A statistical analysis of the many data resulting from repeated application of this method is applied to describe the thermal conductivity as a function of water content and bulk density. The soil heat flux between each pair of temperature measurement depths is computed using the thermal conductivity function and measured water contents. The thermal gradient method of heat flux calculation compared well to values determined using heat flux plates and calorimetric correction to the soil surface; and it provided better representation of the surface spatiotemporal variation of heat flux and more accurate heat flux values. The overall method resulted in additional important knowledge including the water content dynamics in the near-surface soil profile and a soil-specific function relating thermal conductivity to soil water content and bulk density