Regarding Oaths of Office

This discussion starts with an analysis of oaths of office at the Federal level, considering both whether oaths function as barriers to service and whether they are appropriate in symbolic terms. We then turn to the same questions with reference to the oaths of office of the various states. Finally, we consider the purpose behind oaths of office and determine whether any changes should be made to oaths of office at either the Federal or state level

Advancing the Search for Compromise: A Response to Professor Hynes

The contractarian and fiduciary-based positions of the Revised Uniform Partnership Act (RUPA) and the observation that RUPA is internally contradictory and does not consistently adopt either position are discussed. Professor Hynes\u27 discussion of the waivability of fiduciary duties under RUPA is critiqued

The metabolism of the Antartic crytoendolithic microbiota

The carbon metabolism of the cryptoendolithic microbiota in sandstones from the Ross Desert region of Antarctica was studied in situ and in vitro. Organic and inorganic compounds were metabolized by the microbiota, with bicarbonate being metabolized maximally in the light. There was a linear response of photosynthesis to light up to 200 to 300 micromole photons/sq m/s. The community photosynthetic response to temperature was a minimum at -5 C, two optima at +5 and +15 C and a maximum at +35 C. Photosynthetic metabolism occurred maximally in the presence of liquid water, but could occur in an environment of water vapor. Biomass of the cryptoendolithic microbiota was measured as the amount of lipid phosphate present. The in situ biomass ranged from 1.92 to 3.26 g carbon/sq m of rock and 2 orders of magnitude less than epilithic lichen microbiota from Antarctica in a location 7 degrees more north in latitude. With these data, it was possible to calculate primary production and carbon turnover in this simple microbiota. Production values ranged from 0.108 to 4.41 mg carbon/sq m/yr, while carbon turnover values ranged from 576 to 23,520 years. These values are the lowest and longest yet recorded for any ecosystem on Earth. If life did evolve on Mars to the level of prokaryotes or primitive eukaryotes, the possibility that the organisms retreated, to the protection of the inside of the rock so that metabolism could continue during planetary cooling, cannot be overlooked

Ictal Functional Neuroimaging of Childhood Absence Epilepsy

Absence seizures in Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE) are 5 10 second episodes of impaired consciousness that are characterized on electroencephalography (EEG) by frontally-predominant, 3 4 Hz spike and wave discharges (SWD). The aims of this study were to use simultaneous EEG, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and behavioral testing to identify the neural networks involved in absence seizures as well as to examine the timecourse of those ictal fMRI changes. It was hypothesized that absence seizures involve wide-reaching neural networks including the areas traditionally associated with normal attention processing and that absence seizures produce fMRI signal changes not only during the seizure, but before and after it as well. In this study, we recorded 88 absence seizures from a cohort of 42 children with pure CAE. These seizures were recorded as subjects participated in simultaneous EEG-fMRI scanning while engaged in a continuous performance task (CPT) of attentional vigilance or a repetitive tapping task (RTT) requiring repetitive motor activity. Using a novel, voxel-based percent fMRI change analysis combined with a volume of interest analysis, the second-by-second fMRI signal timecourse of the absence seizures were examined across numerous brain regions of interest, from 20 seconds before seizure onset through 40 seconds after seizure onset. EEG frequency analysis revealed seizures with a mean duration of 6.6 seconds and an abrupt onset and ending that were comprised of frontally-predominant, 3 4 Hz SWD. Ictal behavioral testing demonstrated abrupt onset of impairments during periods of SWD. These behavioral impairments were typical of CAE absence seizures in that impairments were greater in the CPT of attentional vigilance (omission error rate, OER = 81%) than in RTT testing (OER = 39 %) (p \u3c 0.003). The ictal fMRI changes we observed varied depending upon the method of fMRI signal analysis used. Using the traditional general liner model, and assuming the standard hemodynamic response (HRF) function, this study replicated results consistent with previous ictal absence fMRI studies showing ictal activations primarily in the thalamus and ictal deactivations in traditional default mode areas. Using a more data-driven, novel voxel-based fMRI percentage change analysis to examine the ictal fMRI timecourse on a second-by-second basis, both ictally as well as pre- and post- ictally, this study, however, demonstrated ictal involvement of diverse brain regions before, during, and after the seizure. Activation was demonstrated up to 16 seconds before seizure onset, starting first in the parietal and orbital-medial frontal cortices and progressing to lateral frontal and lateral temporal cortices followed by the occipital and Rolandic cortices and finally the thalamus. Deactivation followed a similar anatomic progression and lasted up to 17 seconds after the end of SWD. These findings reveal a complex and long-lasting sequence of fMRI changes in CAE absence seizures that are not detectable by conventional HRF modeling and are important in the understanding and eventual treatment of absence seizures associated with CAE

The Lost Opportunity for Ethiopia: The Failure to Move toward Democratic Governance

During the critical five year period leading up to the velvet revolution and the overthrow of Haile Selassie’s regime, there were missed opportunities to bring about peaceful change in Ethiopia’s governance. This paper analyzes the events of this period that led to the rise of the Derg and the revolutionary changes that followed and speculates on when strategic steps could have been taken to avoid the catastrophic events that ensued in 1974

Teaches Homemaking to Women in India

Mrs. Edgar Vestal, \u2732, tells of her work as head of the Home Economics Department at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute in South India. She has spent the past year doing graduate work in consumer economics at Iowa State