Nuclear giant quadrupole resonances in spherical even-even nuclei

The dynamic collective model has been extended to quadrupole giant resonances in spherical nuclei. The splitting of giant dipole and giant quadrupole resonances due to their coupling to surface vibrations has been calculated for Sn isotopes. Agreement with recent γ-absorption measurements of the Livermore group has been found

Patterns of sexual behaviour: the law of evidence: back to the future in Australia and England

A recent Victorian Court of Appeal ruling [in Australia] has sparked concerns that a clamp down on the way child abuse cases are handled could thwart convictions. The Court of Appeal justices ruled only cases that are "remarkably" similar would go before the same jury, making it harder for allegations from multiple complainants to be heard together. There are concerns that this will reduce the number of convictions for sexual offences, especially for those against children. This article explores the approach in England and Wales, and Australia to evidence of a pattern of behaviour, focussing on when it is adduced in cases involving sexual abuse. We first consider the shared common law history of the two jurisdictions before exploring how common law and legislative changes have led to surprisingly different positions in the two countries. We conclude by suggesting a simpler and more rational approach which has started to emerge and could be adopted in both countries, and indeed should be considered in any jurisdiction

Implementing US-style anti-fraud laws in the Australian pharmaceutical and health care industries

This article critically analyses the prospects for introducing United States anti-fraud (or anti-false claims) laws in the Australian health care setting. Australian governments spend billions of dollars each year on medicines and health care. A recent report estimates that the money lost to corporate fraud in Australia is growing at an annual rate of 7%, but that only a third of the losses are currently being detected. In the US, qui tam provisions - the component of anti-fraud or anti-false claims laws involving payments to whistleblowers - have been particularly successful in providing critical evidence allowing public prosecutors to recover damages for fraud and false claims made by corporations in relation to federal and state health care programs. The US continues to strengthen such anti-fraud measures and to successfully apply them to a widening range of areas involving large public investment. Australia still suffers from the absence of any comprehensive scheme that not only allows treble damages recovery for fraud on the public purse, but crucially supports such actions by providing financial encouragement for whistleblowing corporate insiders to expose evidence of fraud. Potential areas of application could include direct and indirect government expenditure on health care service provision, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, defence, carbon emissions compensation and tobacco-related illness. The creation in Australia of an equivalent to US anti-false claims legislation should be a policy priority, particularly in a period of financial stringency

Le rôle des animateurs dans l’exposition de sciences et techniques: entre dispositifs et visiteurs

International audienceÀ partir d’une étude de terrain réalisée au Pavillon des sciences, CCSTI de Franche-Comté, l’auteur analyse les pratiques et les techniques des animateurs en montrant comment celles-ci permettent au public de s’approprier les outils interactifs et plus largement questionnent sur la place respective des manipulations et des dispositifs numériques dans la médiation muséale présentielle en matière de diffusion de la culture scientifique et technique

Effect of Instrument Errors in the Retrieval of Anthropogenic Gas Distribution from Satellite

In this thesis the remote sensing is presented as a method for observing the distribution of trace gases in the Earth's atmosphere. In theoretical basis, the focus is set to the absorption spectroscopy, which makes use of absorption fingerprints of molecules to detect different gases. Four current hyperspectral satellite instruments are described that work on the principle of spectroscopy - GOME, SCIAMACHY, OMI and TROPOMI. In the practical part of the thesis analyses of the effect of the instrumental errors on trace gas retrieval are described as well as their results. Analyses have been done in the framework of TROPOMI development project with TIDE software. TIDE simulates the retrieval of trace gases with TROPOMI and was developed especially for this project

Cavell’s “Moral Perfectionism” or Emerson’s “Moral Sentiment”?

What is properly Emersonian about moral perfectionism? Perhaps the best answer is: not much. Stanley Cavell’s signature concept, which claims close kinship to Emerson’s ethical philosophy, seems upon careful examination to be rather far removed from it. Once we get past the broad, unproblematic appeals to Emerson’s “unattained but attainable self,” and consider the specific content and implications of perfectionism, the differences between the two thinkers become too substantive – and too fraught with serious misunderstandings – to be ignored. It is above all Cavell’s complete disregard for the Emersonian “moral sentiment” that jeopardizes his claim to be a continuator of Emerson’s legacy in ethical philosophy. I would not deny that Cavell’s own work stands as an extrordinary contribution to contemporary ethics. Nor would I dispute his title as the living philosopher who has done more than any other to restore Emerson to his rightful place in the history of American philosophy, as a thinker worthy of the highest consideration. Still less would I discount the boldness and originality of Cavell’s readings of Emerson. What I am contesting, rather, is the propriety of attaching the label “Emersonian” to the notion of perfectionism, especially in view of its strong anti-metaphysical bias. The Emerson canon provides ample grounds for rejecting Cavell’s claim as largely unsubstantiated and in a number of crucial ways inconsistent with the moral sentiment’s firm grounding of ethics in ontology