Foreword

The thirteenth volume of the San Diego International Law Journal is composed of articles illustrating the value in looking abroad at the diverse historical experiences of foreign nations to help shed light on solutions to contemporary legal issues. The articles tackle general legal topics such as property rights, patent regulation, and internet censorship, while utilizing an international lens to provide perspective and possible solutions. This issue aims to foster a comparative understanding of national legal structures and demonstrate the benefit in researching, understanding, and applying international and comparative law to modern legal problems

Foreword

This issue of the San Diego International Law Journal is composed of articles that exemplify the value in utilizing an international comparative approach to analyze and compare differing historical experiences. Taking a comprehensive review of the successes and failures of legal structures abroad provides an opportunity to harness and develop new possible solutions to today’s legal problems. By analyzing and understanding differing international prospective on legal issues, we gain a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we may better face the future

LP 400-22, A very low-mass and high-velocity white dwarf

We report the identification of LP 400-22 (WD 2234+222) as a very low-mass and high-velocity white dwarf. The ultraviolet GALEX and optical photometric colors and a spectral line analysis of LP 400-22 show this star to have an effective temperature of 11080+/-140 K and a surface gravity of log g = 6.32+/-0.08. Therefore, this is a helium core white dwarf with a mass of 0.17 M_solar. The tangential velocity of this white dwarf is 414+/-43 km/s, making it one of the fastest moving white dwarfs known. We discuss probable evolutionary scenarios for this remarkable object.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, made minor correction

Banking on Housing; Spending the Home

British mortgagors hold more wealth in their homes than ever before. They are spending more freely from these assets now than they are likely to again. \u27Banking on housing\u27 is concerned with when, where, why and how people choose and use their mortgages to roll equity out of housing and into other things. It is a study of the consumption of housing, the consumption of mortgages, and the use of housing wealth in consumption more broadly

Reversible Inactivation of Rat Premotor Cortex Impairs Temporal Preparation, but not Inhibitory Control, During Simple Reaction-Time Performance

Previous studies by our lab and others have established a role for medial areas of the prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the top–down control of action during simple reaction-time (RT) tasks. However, the neural circuits that allow mPFC to influence activity in the motor system have remained unclear. In the present study, we used a combination of tract-tracing and reversible inactivation methods to examine the role of a motor-related area in the rat frontal cortex, called the rostral forelimb area (RFA), in the top–down control of action. Neural tracing studies involved used electrical microstimulation to identify RFA and injections of biotinylated dextran amines (BDA) to map out connections of RFA with other parts of the frontal cortex. Connections were found between RFA and mPFC, the agranular insular cortex, and the primary motor cortex. Reversible inactivations using muscimol infusions into RFA increased response times and eliminated delay-dependent speeding, but did not increase premature responding. These results are markedly different from what is obtained when muscimol is infused into mPFC, which leads to excessive premature responding and a reduction of RTs to stimuli at short delays (Narayanan et al., 2006). We also tested animals during the RT task after inactivating the agranular insular cortex, which contains neurons that projects to and receives from RFA and mPFC, and found no effects on RT performance. Together, these studies suggest that RFA is a premotor region in the rat frontal cortex that competes with mPFC to control action selection. We suggest that RFA controls the threshold that is used to initiate responding and generates prepotent excitation over responding that is crucial for temporal preparation

The Effects of Lower Body Positive Pressure Treadmill Running on Acute Femoral Cartilage Deformation

Purpose: Examine and compare the acute response of femoral cartilage in healthy individuals after running at full bodyweight (BW) (100%) and 80% BW on a lower body positive pressure treadmill. Methods: Crossover study consisted of 20 total healthy participants (10 males, 10 females). Femoral cartilage width was assessed using ultrasonography before and after the assigned running conditions. The control condition consisted of running at 6mph for 30 minutes at 100% BW, while the experimental condition consisted of running at 6mph for 30 minutes at 80% BW. Each participant ran both BW conditions, exactly one week apart. The order of conditions was randomly assigned to each participant. All running conditions were completed on the same AlterG Via X treadmill. Results: A significant reduction in cartilage width was found in both the right (p=0.001) and left (p=0.016) knees after running at 100% BW. Baseline cartilage measurements were comparative prior to each running condition and between limbs. There were no significant differences between limbs for either running condition. A significant reduction in cartilage width was seen after running at 80% body weight only in the right lateral compartment (p=0.006). Cartilage showed greater deformation after 100% BW than 80% BW in right (p=0.033) and left (p=0.011) knees. Conclusions: Cartilage thickness change proved to be lower after 80% BW running compared to 100% BW, which could have implications for long term cartilage health and future research into anti-gravity running

Distinctive expression patterns of 185/333 genes in the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus: an unexpectedly diverse family of transcripts in response to LPS, β-1,3-glucan, and dsRNA

BACKGROUND: A diverse set of transcripts called 185/333 is strongly expressed in sea urchins responding to immune challenge. Optimal alignments of full-length 185/333 cDNAs requires the insertion of large gaps that define 25 blocks of sequence called elements. The presence or absence of individual elements also defines a specific element pattern for each message. Individual sea urchins were challenged with pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) (lipopolysaccharide, β-1,3-glucan, or double stranded RNA), and changes in the 185/333 message repertoire were followed over time. RESULTS: Each animal expressed a diverse set of 185/333 messages prior to challenge and a 0.96 kb message was the predominant size after challenge. Sequence analysis of the cloned messages indicated that the major element pattern expressed in immunoquiescent sea urchins was either C1 or E2.1. In contrast, most animals responding to lipopolysaccharide, β-1,3-glucan or injury, predominantly expressed messages of the E2 pattern. In addition to the major patterns, extensive element pattern diversity was observed among the different animals before and after challenge. Nucleotide sequence diversity of the transcripts increased in response to β-1,3-glucan, double stranded RNA and injury, whereas diversity decreased in response to LPS. CONCLUSION: These results illustrate that sea urchins appear to be able to differentiate among different PAMPs by inducing the transcription of different sets of 185/333 genes. Furthermore, animals may share a suite of 185/333 genes that are expressed in response to common pathogens, while also maintaining a large number of unique genes within the population

Exploring the use of three level guides in elementary and middle school classrooms

Collaborative classroom research among a group of elementary and middle school teachers provides insight into the effective use of the Three Level Guide. Building lessons around content area materials, teachers employed the Three Level Guide regularly, coming together to share successes and frustrations and to offer suggestions. Their reflective analyses of the use of the Three Level Guide offer insight into its impact on teacher effectiveness as well as its impact on students\u27 academic achievement, critical thinking ability, and academic esteem