Introduction: The Implication of the Private Securities Reform Act

I\u27ll offer my observations about key activities at both the federal and state levels in the wake of the Reform Act. I\u27ll conclude by offering my opinion about whether, on the current record, the case for preemption has been made

Inside or Outside the Whale: George Orwell\u27s Art and Polemic

This chronological study of the evolution of the works of George Orwell is helpful for the futurist, the citizen awash in groupthink, scholars of standpoint epistemology, of mind and nature, of radical humanism, and others. A former British officer and Spanish revolutionary, he became a Democratic Socialist who believed in intellectual freedom above all and was a champion of the common man. Described as the leading exemplar of the public intellectual, he focused on activism vs passivism (and pacifism), and transforming art and politics into cultural power with mind and nature as the foundation. Like few others, he understood cultural shifts and anxieties, pervasive ideologies, the dangers of ignorance, and the risks of becoming politically malleable. Inhabiting multiple cultures alternately as observer and participant he took a stand against meaninglessness, always in touch with nature. Curiously, he identified with the creative writings of libertine Henry Miller, whom he saw as a new kind of common man inside the whale of joy and sex that made him invulnerable to totalitarianism and the swindles of progress. Miller’s influence is seen in 1984, where sex was a failed revolutionary act. Words had no power as history was altered daily, and daily war on the telescreen fed constant fear, so the characters were swallowed up by the passions of the moment. We need the inspiration of “the crystal spirit” with all his decency and insight as distractions abound in our global sandstorm of words and images, where fact and fiction are often dangerously synonymous, unbeknownst

The Chaman and Paghman active faults, west of Kabul, Afghanistan: active tectonics, geomorphology, and evidence for rupture in the destructive 1505 earthquake

The city of Kabul, Afghanistan, lies within the Kabul Block, which is bounded by the Sarobi, Gardez and Paghman fault, the northern extension of the Chaman fault, accommodating oblique convergence between the Indian and Eurasian plates. In this paper, we describe the geologic structure and tectonic geomorphology of the northeast-striking Paghman fault and a ∼10-km-long portion of the Chaman fault using a combination of field observations and remote sensing data, and assess evidence for rupturing in the 1505 historical earthquake. The Paghman fault is predominantly a left-lateral strike-slip fault with a minor dip-slip component along the eastern margin of the Paghman Mountains. The Chaman and Paghman faults displaces Paleogene to Quaternary units with clear displacement of recent deposits. Continuous left-lateral movement of the both faults have caused stream deflection, capturing, abandonment, and finally, incision of alluvial deposits inside the Kabul Basin. We identify several stages in the alluvial fan development and displacement that were once a continuous unit displaced left-laterally as a single fan but are now incised by beheaded and offset stream channels. An approximately 30-km-long active fault trace is identified with geomorphic evidence of recent faulting and vertical offset ∼0.5–3 m, which we interpret is related to the historical 1505 earthquake in the area along the Chaman and Paghman faults. Our observations indicate significant along-strike variations in faults trace geometry. The seismic event comprises several fault segments separated by discontinuities such as stepovers. The two faults have accumulated enough elastic strain to cause a larger earthquake since the 1505 quake

Singlet exciton fission in solution.

Singlet exciton fission, the spin-conserving process that produces two triplet excited states from one photoexcited singlet state, is a means to circumvent the Shockley-Queisser limit in single-junction solar cells. Although the process through which singlet fission occurs is not well characterized, some local order is thought to be necessary for intermolecular coupling. Here, we report a triplet yield of 200% and triplet formation rates approaching the diffusion limit in solutions of bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl (TIPS)) pentacene. We observe a transient bound excimer intermediate, formed by the collision of one photoexcited and one ground-state TIPS-pentacene molecule. The intermediate breaks up when the two triplets separate to each TIPS-pentacene molecule. This efficient system is a model for future singlet-fission materials and for disordered device components that produce cascades of excited states from sunlight.B.J.W. was supported by a Herchel Smith Research Fellowship. A.J.M. received funding from a Marie Curie Scholarship. D.B. is a FNRS Research Director. Both A.J.M and D.B. acknowledge support from the European Community’s Initial Training Network SUPERIOR (PITN-GA-2009-238177). Further funding for this project came from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and a pump-prime grant from the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability.This is the accepted version of an article originally published in Nature Chemistry 5, 1019–1024 and available online at http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v5/n12/full/nchem.1801.html. Nature Publishing Group's conditions for reuse are detailed at http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/license.html

Stimulation of the tibial nerve: a protocol for a multicentred randomised controlled trial for urinary problems associated with Parkinson’s disease—STARTUP

Introduction Parkinson’s disease is the second most common chronic neurodegenerative condition with bladder dysfunction affecting up to 71%. Symptoms affect quality of life and include urgency, frequency, hesitancy, nocturia and incontinence. Addressing urinary dysfunction is one of the top 10 priority research areas identified by the James Lind Alliance and Parkinson’s UK. Objectives Conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) targeting people with Parkinson’s disease (PwP) who have self-reported problematic lower urinary tract symptoms, investigating the effectiveness of transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) compared with sham TTNS. Implement a standardised training approach and package for the correct application of TTNS. Conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of TTNS compared with sham TTNS. Methods and analysis An RCT of 6 weeks with twice weekly TTNS or sham TTNS. Participants will be recruited in 12 National Health Service neurology/movement disorder services, using a web-based randomisation system, and will be shown how to apply TTNS or sham TTNS. Participants will receive a weekly telephone call from the researchers during the intervention period. The trial has two coprimary outcome measures: International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form and the International Prostate Symptom Score. Secondary outcomes include a 3-day bladder diary, quality of life, acceptability and fidelity and health economic evaluation. Outcomes will be measured at 0, 6 and 12 weeks. A sample size of 208 randomised in equal numbers to the two arms will provide 90% power to detect a clinically important difference of 2.52 points on the Internatioanl Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Short Form (ICIQ-SF) and of 3 points in the International Prostate Symptom Score total score at 12 weeks at 5% significance level, based on an SD of 4.7 in each arm and 20% attrition at 6 weeks. Analysis will be by intention to treat and pre defined in a statistical analysis plan Ethics and dissemination East of Scotland Research Ethics Service (EoSRES), 18/ES00042, obtained on 10 May 2018. The trial will allow us to determine effectiveness, safety, cost and acceptability of TTNS for bladder dysfunction in PWP. Results will be published in open access journals; lay reports will be posted to all participants and presented at conferences. Trial registration number ISRCTN12437878; Pre-results

Wind field and sex constrain the flight speeds of central-place foraging albatrosses

By extracting energy from the highly dynamic wind and wave fields that typify pelagic habitats, albatrosses are able to proceed almost exclusively by gliding flight. Although energetic costs of gliding are low, enabling breeding albatrosses to forage hundreds to thousands of kilometers from their colonies, these and time costs vary with relative wind direction. This causes albatrosses in some areas to route provisioning trips to avoid headwind flight, potentially limiting habitat accessibility during the breeding season. In addition, because female albatrosses have lower wing loadings than males, it has been argued that they are better adapted to flight in light winds, leading to sexual segregation of foraging areas. We used satellite telemetry and immersion logger data to quantify the effects of relative wind speed, sex, breeding stage, and trip stage on the ground speeds (Vg) of four species of Southern Ocean albatrosses breeding at South Georgia. Vg was linearly related to the wind speed component in the direction of flight (Vwf), its effect being greatest on Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans, followed by Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophrys, Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses Phoebatria palpebrata, and Gray-headed Albatrosses T. chrysostoma. Ground speeds at Vwf = 0 were similar to airspeeds predicted by aerodynamic theory and were higher in males than in females. However, we found no evidence that this led to sexual segregation, as males and females experienced comparable wind speeds during foraging trips. Black-browed, Gray-headed, and Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses did not engage in direct, uninterrupted bouts of flight on moonless nights, but Wandering Albatrosses attained comparable Vg night and day, regardless of lunar phase. Relative flight direction was more important in determining Vg than absolute wind speed. When birds were less constrained in the middle stage of foraging trips, all species flew predominantly across the wind. However, in some instances, commuting birds encountered headwinds during outward trips and tail winds on their return, with the result that Vg was 1.0–3.4 m/s faster during return trips. This, we hypothesize, could result from constraints imposed by the location of prey resources relative to the colony at South Georgia or could represent an energy optimization strategy

How much do PCB toxic equivalents account for PHAH toxicity in predatory birds?

Various diffuse polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) exert common toxicity through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Apex predators spatially and temporally integrate diffuse contamination and simultaneous exposure can cause additive toxicity. We investigated the extent to which PCBs, still amongst the most prevalent PHAHs accumulated by predators, accounted for total PHAH toxicity in raptors and fish eating birds from Britain. We analysed egg or liver extracts from six species and compared chemically determined ΣPCB-TEQs concentrations with total AhR-mediated toxicity determined using the chemical-activated luciferase gene expression bioassay (CALUX-TEQ). Dioxin-like PCB profiles in eggs and livers were dominated by congeners 118, 105 and 167. ΣPCB-TEQ and CALUX-TEQ concentrations were positively associated but not in a 1:1 relationship. ΣPCB-TEQ were broadly similar to CALUX-TEQ concentrations in eggs and livers with CALUX-TEQ concentrations >50–80 and 160–320 pg g−1 lipid respectively, but were lower than CALUX-TEQ concentrations in less contaminated samples