6,538 research outputs found

    First Amendment and Private Property: A Sign for Free Speech, The

    Get PDF
    Freedom of speech is one of the best known of all the constitutional rights protected by the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech has received special attention from the courts for at least three reasons: (1) it is essential to the political process that is the foundation of our democracy;3 (2) it is fundamentally important to the discovery of truth in the free marketplace of ideas;4 and (3) it is an end in itself in a free country. In furtherance of a substantial interest, however, the freedom of speech falls subject to the police power of the state. In City of Ladue v. Gilleo, the Court was confronted with the task of balancing two competing interests: (1) the well-established authority of the State to regulate in furtherance of an aesthetic purpose; and (2) the right of a citizen to express her private political viewpoints while on her private property

    PrEP in Practice: a sociological study of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis prescribing

    Full text link
    HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective strategy for preventing new HIV infections. Since 2015, PrEP has been rapidly implemented with gay and bisexual men in Australia. While there is recognition of the importance of optimising the clinical delivery of PrEP, there has been scarce empirical research in Australia documenting how clinicians engage with prescribing PrEP, and minimal international social science research considering how PrEP has (re)shaped clinical practice. In this thesis I explore the role of clinicians in delivering PrEP in Australia. Drawing on the sociology of prescribing, I approach PrEP prescribing as a social practice, and attend to how clinicians anticipate and imagine patients, and how they think and feel about PrEP. This study draws on qualitative methodologies, including findings from semi-structured interviews conducted with clinicians who provide PrEP in New South Wales and Western Australia between 2019 and 2020, and with HIV expert stakeholders across Australia in 2017. Through empirical findings, I consider debates about which types of clinicians are best suited to prescribing PrEP and workforce challenges for providing PrEP in different clinical settings. I analyse clinician imaginaries of PrEP users and broader patient collectives, as well as clinicians’ views on providing PrEP to alleviate different types of ‘HIV anxiety’. I also examine prescribing as an affective clinical practice. I identify recommendations for supporting clinical workforces to improve the implementation of PrEP across Australian communities. This thesis demonstrates how PrEP has transformed HIV prevention for clinicians, requiring them to adapt to new ways of approaching HIV and sexual health. Clinicians develop expertise through routine opportunities to prescribe, and they develop imaginaries about patients and communities through consultations that shape their future interactions with patients. Conversely, a lack of patient demand makes it challenging for general practitioners to develop confidence and competence with PrEP prescribing. Providing PrEP involves the complexity of discussing sex and managing ideas about risk and responsibility, which are persistent challenges for both HIV-experienced and inexperienced clinicians. I argue for the value of sociological perspectives on clinical workforces to support and sustain effective HIV prevention

    From mantle to critical zone : a review of large and giant sized deposits of the rare earth elements

    Get PDF
    MS, AF and FW acknowledge the support of the NERC SoS:RARE consortium grant (NE/M011267/1). D. Kavecsanszki acknowledges the support of a postgraduate fellowship from the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the University of Exeter.The rare earth elements are unusual when defining giant-sized ore deposits, as resources are often quoted as total rare earth oxide, but the importance of a deposit may be related to the grade for individual, or a limited group of, the elements. Taking the total REE resource, only one currently known deposit (Bayan Obo) would class as giant (>1.7×107 tonnes contained metal), but a range of others classify as large (>1.7×106 tonnes). With the exception of unclassified resource estimates from the Olympic Dam IOCG deposit, all of these deposits are related to alkaline igneous activity – either carbonatites or agpaitic nepheline syenites. The total resource in these deposits must relate to the scale of the primary igneous source, but the grade is a complex function of igneous source, magmatic crystallisation, hydrothermal modification and supergene enrichment during weathering. Isotopic data suggest that the sources conducive to the formation of large REE deposits are developed in subcontinental lithospheric mantle, enriched in trace elements either by plume activity, or by previous subduction. The reactivation of such enriched mantle domains in relatively restricted geographical areas may have played a role in the formation of some of the largest deposits (e.g. Bayan Obo). Hydrothermal activity involving fluids from magmatic to meteoric sources may result in the redistribution of the REE and increases in grade, depending on primary mineralogy and the availability of ligands. Weathering and supergene enrichment of carbonatite has played a role in the formation of the highest grade deposits at Mount Weld (Australia) and Tomtor (Russia). For the individual REE with the current highest economic value (Nd and the HREE), the boundaries for the large and giant size classes are 2 orders of magnitude lower, and deposits enriched in these metals (agpaitic systems, ion absorption deposits) may have significant economic impact in the near future.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

    Radiation modeling in the Earth and Mars atmospheres using LRO/CRaTER with the EMMREM Module

    Get PDF
    Abstract We expand upon the efforts of Joyce et al. (2013), who computed the modulation potential at the Moon using measurements from the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft along with data products from the Earth-Moon-Mars Radiation Environment Module (EMMREM). Using the computed modulation potential, we calculate galactic cosmic ray (GCR) dose and dose equivalent rates in the Earth and Mars atmospheres for various altitudes over the course of the LRO mission. While we cannot validate these predictions by directly comparable measurement, we find that our results conform to expectations and are in good agreement with the nearest available measurements and therefore may be used as reasonable estimates for use in efforts in risk assessment in the planning of future space missions as well as in the study of GCRs. PREDICCS (Predictions of radiation from REleASE, EMMREM, and Data Incorporating the CRaTER, COSTEP, and other solar energetic particles measurements) is an online system designed to provide the scientific community with a comprehensive resource on the radiation environments of the inner heliosphere. The data products shown here will be incorporated into PREDICCS in order to further this effort and daily updates will be made available on the PREDICCS website (http://prediccs.sr.unh.edu). Key Points We model GCR dose and dose equivalent rates in Earth and Mars atmospheres Dose rates are in reasonable agreement with nearby measurements Data products will soon be made available on PREDICCS website

    Lensed CMB power spectra from all-sky correlation functions

    Full text link
    Weak lensing of the CMB changes the unlensed temperature anisotropy and polarization power spectra. Accounting for the lensing effect will be crucial to obtain accurate parameter constraints from sensitive CMB observations. Methods for computing the lensed power spectra using a low-order perturbative expansion are not good enough for percent-level accuracy. Non-perturbative flat-sky methods are more accurate, but curvature effects change the spectra at the 0.3-1% level. We describe a new, accurate and fast, full-sky correlation-function method for computing the lensing effect on CMB power spectra to better than 0.1% at l<2500 (within the approximation that the lensing potential is linear and Gaussian). We also discuss the effect of non-linear evolution of the gravitational potential on the lensed power spectra. Our fast numerical code is publicly available.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. Changes to match PRD version including new section on non-linear corrections. CAMB code available at http://camb.info

    Modelling spatial and inter-annual variations of nitrous oxide emissions from UK cropland and grasslands using DailyDayCent

    Get PDF
    This work contributes to the Defra funded projects AC0116: ‘Improving the nitrous oxide inventory’, and AC0114: ‘Data Synthesis, Management and Modelling’. Funding for this work was provided by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) AC0116 and AC0114, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government. Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. This study also contributes to the projects: N-Circle (BB/N013484/1), U-GRASS (NE/M016900/1) and GREENHOUSE (NE/K002589/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

    Does the worsening galactic cosmic radiation environment observed by CRaTER preclude future manned deep space exploration?

    Get PDF
    Abstract The Sun and its solar wind are currently exhibiting extremely low densities and magnetic field strengths, representing states that have never been observed during the space age. The highly abnormal solar activity between cycles 23 and 24 has caused the longest solar minimum in over 80 years and continues into the unusually small solar maximum of cycle 24. As a result of the remarkably weak solar activity, we have also observed the highest fluxes of galactic cosmic rays in the space age and relatively small solar energetic particle events. We use observations from the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine the implications of these highly unusual solar conditions for human space exploration. We show that while these conditions are not a show stopper for long-duration missions (e.g., to the Moon, an asteroid, or Mars), galactic cosmic ray radiation remains a significant and worsening factor that limits mission durations. While solar energetic particle events in cycle 24 present some hazard, the accumulated doses for astronauts behind 10 g/cm2 shielding are well below current dose limits. Galactic cosmic radiation presents a more significant challenge: the time to 3% risk of exposure-induced death (REID) in interplanetary space was less than 400 days for a 30 year old male and less than 300 days for a 30 year old female in the last cycle 23–24 minimum. The time to 3% REID is estimated to be ∼20% lower in the coming cycle 24–25 minimum. If the heliospheric magnetic field continues to weaken over time, as is likely, then allowable mission durations will decrease correspondingly. Thus, we estimate exposures in extreme solar minimum conditions and the corresponding effects on allowable durations

    An Antithrombin-Heparin Complex Increases the Anticoagulant Activity of Fibrin Clots

    Get PDF
    Clotting blood contains fibrin-bound thrombin, which is a major source of procoagulant activity leading to clot extension and further activation of coagulation. When bound to fibrin, thrombin is protected from inhibition by antithrombin (AT) + heparin but is neutralized when AT and heparin are covalently linked (ATH). Here, we report the surprising observation that, rather than yielding an inert complex, thrombin-ATH formation converts clots into anticoagulant surfaces that effectively catalyze inhibition of thrombin in the surrounding environment

    Restoring identity: The use of religion as a mechanism to transition between an identity of sexual offending to a non-offending identity

    Get PDF
    This study examines the unique experience of participants who during their reintegration back into the community, following a conviction for sexual offending, re-engaged with religious and spiritual communities. To explore meaning Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was adopted. Four in-depth interviews of men convicted for sexual crimes were undertaken and analysed. Findings indicate that through religious affiliation participants were: exposed to new prosocial networks; provided opportunities to seek forgiveness; felt a sense of belonging and affiliation; and were psychologically comforted. However, the study also found that the process of identity transition from ‘offender’ to ‘non-offender’ was not seamless or straightforward for those with an innate sexual deviancy towards children, caution is therefore advised

    Predictors of mortality and disability in stroke-associated pneumonia

    Get PDF
    Whilst stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) is common and associated with poor outcomes, less is known about the determinants of these adverse clinical outcomes in SAP. To identify the factors that influence mortality and morbidity in SAP. Data for patients with SAP (n = 854) were extracted from a regional Hospital Stroke Register in Norfolk, UK (2003-2015). SAP was defined as pneumonia occurring within 7 days of admission by the treating clinicians. Mutlivariable regression models were constructed to assess factors influencing survival and the level of disability at discharge using modified Rankin Scale [mRS]. Mean (SD) age was 83.0 (8.7) years and ischaemic stroke occurred in 727 (85.0%). Mortality was 19.0% at 30 days and 44.0% at 6 months. Stroke severity assessment using National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale was not recorded in the data set although Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project was Classification. In the multivariable analyses, 30-day mortality was independently associated with age (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01-1.07, p = 0.01), haemorrhagic stroke (2.27, 1.07-4.78, p = 0.03) and pre-stroke disability (mRS 4-5 v 0-1: 6.45, 3.12-13.35, p < 0.001). 6-month mortality was independently associated with age (< 0.001), pre-stroke disability (p < 0.001) and certain comorbidities, including the following: dementia (6.53, 4.73-9.03, p < 0.001), lung cancer (2.07, 1.14-3.77, p = 0.017) and previous transient ischemic attack (1.94, 1.12-3.36, p = 0.019). Disability defined by mRS at discharge was independently associated with age (1.10, 1.05-1.16, p < 0.001) and plasma C-reactive protein (1.02, 1.01-1.03, p = 0.012). We have identified non-modifiable determinants of poor prognosis in patients with SAP. Further studies are required to identify modifiable factors which may guide areas for intervention to improve the prognosis in SAP in these patients
    corecore