Gervaise Blier to M. James Meredith (12 October 1962)

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/2147/thumbnail.jp

Nanorods of Well-Defined Length and Monodisperse Cross-Section Obtained from Electrostatic Complexation of Nanoparticles with a Semiflexible Biopolymer

We show by combining small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) that anionic silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) assemble into well-defined 1D cluster when mixed with a dilute solution of semiflexible chitosan polycation. The nanorods are stable in excess of SiNPs and composed of 10 SiNPs well-ordered into straight single strands with length Lrod \approx 184.0 nm and radius Rrod = 9.2 nm = RSiNPs. We point out that the ratio between the chitosan persistence length and the SiNP radius, which is here equal to 1, can be the determining condition to obtain such original objects

The Challenge to Medical Autonomy and Peer Review Embodied in the Complaints Unit/Health Care Complaints Commission of New South Wales

The exercise of autonomy and self-regulation is seen in the literature as one of the basic criteria of professionalism. Since in modern states Medicine has generally been the occupational grouping which has most completely attained that status, it is seen as the model or archetype of professionalism. This study focuses on just one aspect of medical autonomy, that relating to the right of medical professionals to be accountable only to their fellow professionals as far as the maintenance of practice standards are concerned. In this thesis, the theory underlying this system of "peer review" is examined and then its application during the course of the 20th century is traced in one particular jurisdiction, that of the State of New South Wales in Australia. The reason for the focus on NSW is that in this jurisdiction, medical autonomy existed and was exercised in a particularly pure and powerful form after it was instituted in 1900. However, it was also in NSW that for the first time anywhere in the world, an institutional challenge to medical disciplinary autonomy emerged with the establishment in 1984 of the "Complaints Unit" of the Department for Health. The thesis of this study is that as a result of this development, which within a comparatively short space of time led to the emergence of a system of "co-regulation" of medical discipline, medical disciplinary autonomy and peer review had within a decade, been so severely challenged as to be almost extinct in this State. In the light of theoretical frameworks provided by Weber, Habermas and the American scholar Robert Alford, the study examines the long drawn out struggle to institute medical autonomy in NSW in the 19th century, its entrenchment by subsequent legislation over the next eight decades and the "counter-attack" staged by the emergent forces of consumerism, supported by the forces of the ideology of "Public Interest Law" in the last two decades of the century. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications for definitions of professionalism which might result from the loss by Medicine in NSW, of its right to exclusive control of medical discipline and the consequent disappearance of medical peer review

Opinion publica y alimentos transgenicos. Un analisis sociologico desde la experiencia francesa

Article disponible en ligne sur le site de l'éditeur : http://revintsociologia.revistas.csic.es/index.php/revintsociologia/article/view/228/250En estos últimos años, las empresas y los poderes públicos franceses han realizado grandes inversiones en el campo de la ingeniería genética, de las que se esperaba obtener numerosas consecuencias para la mejora tanto de los aspectos relativos a la productividad agrícola, como de las cualidades organolépticas, nutricionales y sanitarias de los alimentos. Los datos de la encuesta que hemos llevado a cabo muestran que los consumidores franceses, como la mayor parte de sus homólogos europeos, son mucho más escéptícos respecto a este asunto. Hay que decir que los primeros alimentos transgénicos aparecieron en el mercado europeo a mediados de la década de 1990, es decir, cuando la crisis de las vacas locas se encontraba en su punto algido; periodo caracterizado, asimismo, por una gran confusión a causa de las reservas que, respecto a su inocuidad para la salud y el medioambiente, manifestaron, en el ejercicio de su responsabilidad, un gran número de expertos (Joly et al, 2000; Briand-Bouthiaux, 2001). Los datos que hemos recogido a partir de una encuesta intemacional muestran que las dudas parecen extenderse a algunos países en los que los OGM se comercializan desde hace mucho más tiempo, como Estados Unidos. Pero este sentimiento no basta para explicar por sí mismo la distancia que aparece entre los países en los que la estima por la cocina continúa siendo un rasgo dominante de la cultura alimentaria, como Francia, de aquellos otros en los que lo es en mucho menor grado. Tal es el aspecto que se quiere poner de relieve en este trabajo para indicar cómo recibe y "digiere" cada cultura este tipo de innovación

Internet Domain Names and Trademarks: Recent Developments in Domestic and International Disputes

Domain name conflicts have already become a significant legal issue in the United States and are starting to be a similar problem in other nations, especially in the European Community. These disputes can easily turn into costly litigation and/or expensive negotiations over transferring the name from one owner to another, between owners of existing domain names and similar trademarks. While there are a number of pending changes in the domain name assignment procedures, it seems unlikely that the proposals will resolve anything, and in fact, the proposals will probably lead to more litigation

The impact of higher education on students' and young managers' perception of companies and corporate social responsibility: an exploratory analysis

The purpose of this article is to analyse the impact of higher education on students' and young managers' perception of companies and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The research is based on an electronic questionnaire for students and alumni of different institutions of higher education in Nantes (France)