FDA Regulation of Food Labeling

As one strolls down a grocery aisle, shift through the maze of cosmetic counters, or sits in front of the television, one is transported into various fantasies, identities, and scenarios. The power of advertisements and package designs to influence the consumers has grown tremendously over the years. Food and cosmetic manufacturers, cognizant of this power, have invested an enormous amount of their resources into the both advertising and packaging – so much so that a fissure has formed between the “image†and the “actuality†of the product. Manufacturers prey on the consumers becoming more impulsive and vulnerable, and the amplification of the product’s “image†has helped this cause. No agency or body of law is curtailing this growth and use of the power except the Food and Drug Administration. Through its stringent labeling regulations throughout this century, the FDA has limited how far the manufacturers can go with their package designs. By imposing its numerous requirements, the FDA has provided the consumers with an “awareness,†and room to dilute the appeal of the “image.†In this sense, the FDA is going far beyond the realm of its traditional role: a “policeman†who “serves the public interest†by “ensur[ing] that food is safe, pure, and wholesome…[and that] cosmetics are safe….†The FDA, like, the postmodern artist Barbara Kruger, is serving a significant cultural and political role. Please note that to keep this essay at a manageable length, I will discuss only foods and cosmetics to illustrate my theses

Assessment of Municipal Compliance of Central Massachusetts Municipalities with the 2013 MS4 Draft Permit and Development of a Compliance Tool

Stormwater runoff poses a threat to the environment. This project’s goal was to assist four Massachusetts municipalities with compliance with the 2013 New Hampshire (NH) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) draft permit, which regulates municipal stormwater discharges. In collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Central Massachusetts Regional Stormwater Coalition (CMRSWC), we assessed: the subject towns’ compliance with the 2003 MS4 permit; steps they must take to meet the 2013 NH MS4 draft permit requirements; and created a checklist and fact sheet to increase municipalities’ understanding of and ability to comply with the 2013 NH MS4 draft permit. Although we focused on four towns, we hope our work benefits all 30 CMRSWC municipalities

The ciliary GTPase Arl13b regulates cell migration and cell cycle progression

Acknowledgments We acknowledge Prof. Tamara Caspary from Emory University for kindly providing the cell lines, Linda Duncan from the University of Aberdeen Ian Fraser Cytometry Center for help with flow cytometry. MP was funded by the Scottish Universities Life Science Alliance (SULSA) and the University of Aberdeen. Funding This work was supported by grants from British Council China (Sino-UK higher Education for PhD studies) to YD and CM, The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (70190) and The NHS Grampian Endowment Funds (14/09) to BL, and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31528011) to BL and YD.Peer reviewedPostprin

Hot Spine Loops and the Nature of a Late-Phase Solar Flare

The fan-spine magnetic topology is believed to be responsible for many curious features in solar explosive events. A spine field line links distinct flux domains, but direct observation of such feature has been rare. Here we report a unique event observed by the Solar Dynamic Observatory where a set of hot coronal loops (over 10 MK) connected to a quasi-circular chromospheric ribbon at one end and a remote brightening at the other. Magnetic field extrapolation suggests these loops are partly tracer of the evolving spine field line. Continuous slipping- and null-point-type reconnections were likely at work, energizing the loop plasma and transferring magnetic flux within and across the fan quasi-separatrix layer. We argue that the initial reconnection is of the "breakout" type, which then transitioned to a more violent flare reconnection with an eruption from the fan dome. Significant magnetic field changes are expected and indeed ensued. This event also features an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) late phase, i.e. a delayed secondary emission peak in warm EUV lines (about 2-7 MK). We show that this peak comes from the cooling of large post-reconnection loops beside and above the compact fan, a direct product of eruption in such topological settings. The long cooling time of the large arcades contributes to the long delay; additional heating may also be required. Our result demonstrates the critical nature of cross-scale magnetic coupling - topological change in a sub-system may lead to explosions on a much larger scale.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Animations linked from pd

Eco-Centre|Eko Centar - Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 summer global internship

The Eco Center of Blagaj was inaugerated in 2007 with the aim of contributing to nature conservation and increasing environmental awareness. It is a project under the non-profit organization Novi Val. Nine years after it was established, the youth club Novi Val started the project entitled Eco development in rural areas of Bosnia nad Herzegovina and Serbia. Within this project, Novi Val is carrying out activities through several programs: protection of the white vultures, development of cattle farming, protection of the indigenous Tornjak dog species, protection of the Velez Pramenka sheep, preservation of biodiversity, protection of cultural and historical monuments of Blagaj, as well as educational and ecotourism programs

Arts-Based Assessments and Projective Tests: An Interpretation of Self

This research seeks to understand the relationship between arts-based assessments and perception of self through exploration of participants’ interpretations of their own animal drawings. Subjects’ experiences with projective tests, personality assessments and tools, and art assessments were also examined for contextual understanding and comparison. To conduct this mixed methods pilot study, a survey was administered to alumni of the Loyola Marymount University Marital and Family Therapy Department. The findings suggest evidence of self- projection within arts-based assessment interpretation by way of metaphor, and highlight the potential for interpretation bias in therapeutic assessment, both in administration and perception. This pilot study has provided foundational information for future research, and suggests the following to be considered for continued exploration: styles of interpretation, framework of questions, usefulness of assessments, consistency of assessment interpretation, and how demographics plays a role in each of these elements

Correction to: The impact of stochastic physics on the El Niño Southern Oscillation in the EC-Earth coupled model

The article The impact of stochastic physics on the El Nino Southern Oscillation in the EC-Earth coupled model, written by Chunxue Yang, Hannah M. Christensen, Susanna Corti, Jost von Hardenberg and Paolo Davini, was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 07 February 2019 without open access