Teaching Collegiate Ethics in a Nation with Laws that Permit Mutilation of the Unborn

The devaluing of life through abortion has a detrimental effect on the ethical decision-making processes of a nation of people. Encouraging college students to make ethical decisions in a nation with legalized abortion is challenging. Laws that permit women to have a voluntary abortion are in direct conflict with ethical decision-making. The consequences of decades of abortion in the United States are staggering. Approximately one abortion is performed for every five live births. Over 58,000,000 babies have been aborted in the United States since 1973, when the Supreme Court found that women have the “constitutional right” to have an abortion before “fetal” viability. The authors compared the current abortion law to other “black eyes” in the United States’ history including: slavery, the Separate But Equal doctrine, the treatment of Native Americans, and oppressive child labor. This paper then introduces a four-step ethical decision making model and a “toolbox” of questions that students may use when analyzing ethical issues

Online Legal Research: A Practical Guide for Business Students and Professionals

This article is intended to be a guide to business students and professionals in locating and assessing online legal information in the United States, providing a brief summary of primary and secondary sources of law and distinguishing between state and federal law as a backdrop to legal research. Researchers are encouraged to perform an online search with a tailored list of descriptive search terms. When evaluating online search results, a researcher should identify quality information based on its authority, accuracy, timeliness, objectivity, and coverage. If possible, online researchers should prefer government websites that provide timely, relevant information when retrieving online legal information. A researcher may begin an online search using secondary sources of law, but a successful search should conclude with the interpretation of primary sources of law

Four lectures on secant varieties

This paper is based on the first author's lectures at the 2012 University of Regina Workshop "Connections Between Algebra and Geometry". Its aim is to provide an introduction to the theory of higher secant varieties and their applications. Several references and solved exercises are also included.Comment: Lectures notes to appear in PROMS (Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics), Springer/Birkhause

The Fundamental Diagram of Pedestrian Movement Revisited

The empirical relation between density and velocity of pedestrian movement is not completely analyzed, particularly with regard to the `microscopic' causes which determine the relation at medium and high densities. The simplest system for the investigation of this dependency is the normal movement of pedestrians along a line (single-file movement). This article presents experimental results for this system under laboratory conditions and discusses the following observations: The data show a linear relation between the velocity and the inverse of the density, which can be regarded as the required length of one pedestrian to move. Furthermore we compare the results for the single-file movement with literature data for the movement in a plane. This comparison shows an unexpected conformance between the fundamental diagrams, indicating that lateral interference has negligible influence on the velocity-density relation at the density domain $1 m^{-2}<\rho<5 m^{-2}$. In addition we test a procedure for automatic recording of pedestrian flow characteristics. We present preliminary results on measurement range and accuracy of this method.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Engineering egress data considering pedestrians with reduced mobility

To quantify the evacuation process, evacuation practitioners use engineering egressdata describing the occupant movement characteristics. These data are typicallybased to young and fit populations. However, the movement abilities of occupantswho might be involved in evacuations are becoming more variable—with the buildingpopulations of today typically including increasing numbers of individuals: withimpairments or who are otherwise elderly or generally less mobile. Thus, there willbe an increasing proportion of building occupants with reduced ability to egress. Forsafe evacuation, there is therefore a need to provide valid engineering egress dataconsidering pedestrians with disabilities. Gwynne and Boyce recently compiled aseries of data sets related to the evacuation process to support practitioner activitiesin the chapter Engineering Data in the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering.This paper supplements these data sets by providing information on and presentingdata obtained from additional research related to the premovement and horizontalmovement of participants with physical-, cognitive-, or age-related disabilities. Theaim is to provide an overview of currently available data sets related to, and keyfactors affecting the egress performance of, mixed ability populations which could beused to guide fire safety engineering decisions in the context of building design

Molecular biogeography of planktonic and benthic diatoms in the Yangtze River

Background: Diatoms are of great significance to primary productivity in oceans, yet little is known about their biogeographic distribution in oligotrophic rivers. Results: With the help of metabarcoding analysis of 279 samples from the Yangtze River, we provided the first integral biogeographic pattern of planktonic and benthic diatoms over a 6030 km continuum along the world's third largest river. Our study revealed spatial dissimilarity of diatoms under varying landforms, including plateau, mountain, foothill, basin, foothill-mountain, and plain regions, from the river source to the estuary. Environmental drivers of diatom communities were interpreted in terms of photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, channel slope and nutrients, and human interference. Typical benthic diatoms, such as Pinnularia, Paralia, and Aulacoseira, experienced considerable reduction in relative abundance downstream of the Three Gorges Dam and the Xiluodu Dam, two of the world's largest dams. Conclusions: Our study revealed that benthic diatoms are of particular significance in characterizing motile guild in riverine environments, which provides insights into diatom biogeography and biogeochemical cycles in large river ecosystems

Identification and functional characterization of a novel monotreme-specific antibacterial protein expressed during lactation

Monotremes are the only oviparous mammals and exhibit a fascinating combination of reptilian and mammalian characters. They represent a component of synapsidal reproduction by laying shelled eggs which are incubated outside the mother’s body. This is accompanied by a prototherian lactation process, marking them as representatives of early mammals. The only extant monotremes are the platypus, and the short- and long- beaked echidnas, and their distributions are limited to Australia and New Guinea. Apart for a short weaning period, milk is the sole source of nutrition and protection for the hatchlings which are altricial and immunologically naive. The duration of lactation in these mammals is prolonged relative to the gestational length and period of incubation of eggs. Much of the development of monotreme young occurs in the non-sterile ex-utero environment. Therefore the role of milk in the growth, development and disease protection of the young is of significant interest. By sequencing the cDNA of cells harvested from monotreme milk, we have identified a novel monotreme- specific transcript, and the corresponding gene was designated as the EchAMP. The expression profile of this gene in various tissues revealed that it is highly expressed in milk cells. The peptides corresponding to the EchAMP protein have been identified in a sample of echidna milk In silico analysis indicated putative antimicrobial potential for the cognate protein of EchAMP. This was further confirmed by in vitro assays using a host of bacteria. Interestingly, EchAMP did not display any activity against a commensal gut floral species. These results support the hypothesis of enhancement of survival of the young by antimicrobial bioactives of mammary gland origin and thus emphasize the protective, non- nutritional role of milk in mammals.Swathi Bisana, Satish Kumar, Peggy Rismiller, Stewart C. Nicol, Christophe Lefèvre, Kevin R. Nicholas, Julie A. Shar

Dual role of Miro protein clusters in mitochondrial cristae organisation and ER-Mitochondria Contact Sites

Mitochondrial Rho (Miro) GTPases localize to the outer mitochondrial membrane and are essential machinery for the regulated trafficking of mitochondria to defined subcellular locations. However, their sub-mitochondrial localization and relationship with other critical mitochondrial complexes remains poorly understood. Here, using super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, we report that Miro proteins form nanometer-sized clusters along the mitochondrial outer membrane in association with the Mitochondrial Contact Site and Cristae Organizing System (MICOS). Using knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) we show that Miro1 and Miro2 are required for normal mitochondrial cristae architecture and endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria contacts sites (ERMCS). Further, we show that Miro couples MICOS to TRAK motor protein adaptors to ensure the concerted transport of the two mitochondrial membranes and the correct distribution of cristae on the mitochondrial membrane. The Miro nanoscale organization, association with MICOS complex and regulation of ERMCS reveal new levels of control of the Miro GTPases on mitochondrial functionality