Miranda--Some History, Some Observations, and Some Questions

At this writing Miranda v. Arizona\u27 is less than four months old. Although its place in the annals of leading constitutional decisions is assured, its meaning for, and influence upon, the criminal law process in the United States is not at all certain. It will require years of data accumulation and analysis to determine how profound an effect it will have and to evaluate that effect in terms of social impact. It is too soon to know whether the Miranda case has started a new revolution in the administration of criminal justice or has merely ended an old one. Is this the first loud cry of an ascent period of activism by the Supreme Court in the field of criminal law, or is it the chant du cygne of the old active phase? At the present time, only two things are clear. First, the old imaginary lines that sometimes separated confessions, and inculpatory and exculpatory statements have been erased; in their place stands a highly visible requirement that courts make inquiry into the import and effect of the environment in which an accused\u27s statements were made. Second, the right to counsel under the sixth amendment and the privilege against self-incrimination under the fifth amendment are not isolated from each other, but rather are integral and integrated parts of the complex of fundamental rights secured to citizens accused of crime. The scope of this interrelation-ship is no more susceptible of being accurately measured at this time than is the Miranda case capable of being forced into narrow and well-delineated configurations. We must settle for thinner stuff. We can only ask questions and make tenative observations for we are but participant-observers in a new exploration through the jungles of crime and criminal law

Social Interest in Rate Regulation in West Virginia

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to throw some small light upon the hitherto relatively unexplored and uncharted field concerning the desire of the State of West Virginia, through its Supreme Court of Appeals and its Public Service Commission, to act as a guardian of the social interests of the state and its people. This discussion will be limited in its scope to the determination of whether these two bodies have ever considered such social interests when determining the reasonableness of the rates to be charged to patrons by the public utilities in this state

Inconsistency in 9 mm bullets : correlation of jacket thickness to post-impact geometry measured with non-destructive X-ray computed tomography

Fundamental to any ballistic armour standard is the reference projectile to be defeated. Typically, for certification purposes, a consistent and symmetrical bullet geometry is assumed, however variations in bullet jacket dimensions can have far reaching consequences. Traditionally, characteristics and internal dimensions have been analysed by physically sectioning bullets – an approach which is of restricted scope and which precludes subsequent ballistic assessment. The use of a non-destructive X-ray computed tomography (CT) method has been demonstrated and validated Kumar et al., 2011); the authors now apply this technique to correlate bullet impact response with jacket thickness variations. A set of 20 bullets (9 mm DM11) were selected for comparison and an image-based analysis method was employed to map jacket thickness and determine the centre of gravity of each specimen. Both intra- and inter-bullet variations were investigated, with thickness variations of the order of 200 um commonly found along the length of all bullets and angular variations of up to 50 um in some. The bullets were subsequently impacted against a rigid flat plate under controlled conditions (observed on a high-speed video camera) and the resulting deformed projectiles were re-analysed. The results of the experiments demonstrate a marked difference in ballistic performance between bullets from different manufacturers and an asymmetric thinning of the jacket is observed in regions of pre-impact weakness. The conclusions are relevant for future soft armour standards and provide important quantitative data for numerical model correlation and development. The implications of the findings of the work on the reliability and repeatability of the industry standard V50 ballistic test are also discussed

The Effects of Management and Vegetation on Soil Carbon Stocks in Temperate Australian Grazing Systems

The natural spatial variability in soil organic carbon (SOC) found under perennial pasture systems can make it difficult to determine differences between contrasting agricultural management practices. Pasture composition in large, extensively grazed paddocks can give an indication of pasture growth, utilisation and fertility that influence SOC and are a result of management over the longer-term. This paper examines SOC stocks on the central and southern tablelands of NSW, Australia (average rainfall from 615 to 915 mm and average annual temperature from 10.6 to 15.6°C) at three scales (regional, between similar sites and within site) to determine the influence of management, pasture composition, herbage mass and root mass. After allowing for variability due to climate, landscape and soil properties there were no differences in management comparisons, e.g. high v low fertiliser input, introduced v native pastures and rotational grazing v set stocking. The total herbage mass measured at the time of sampling had a significant relationship with SOC between and within sites and the presence of some species was associated with lower SOC. Root mass measured at an intensively monitored site showed a significant relationship with SOC. These results reflect the complexity of grazing/pasture systems, with natural variability explaining most of the variability in SOC stock; and pasture productivity leading to higher root production explaining differences in SOC levels rather than grazing management

Nonlinear microwave absorption in Ba1-xKxBiO3

Nonlinear, field-modulated, direct microwave absorption (FMMA) was observed in copper-free Ba1-xKxBiO3 powder samples. The high-field, low-temperature results were compared to previous measurements of YBa CuO and BiSrCaCuO. The microwave wave determined critical field μ0H* = 0.7 μT and depinning current density J* c ≈ 1 × 107 A/m2 were obtained from the "Portis" model of flux pinning and depinning. These values were lower than the values obtained previously for YBaCuO and BiSrCaCuO as anticipated for a material with larger coherence length and comparable London penetration depth. A previously unobserved asymmetry of the FMMA in the field scan direction was also noted. © 1994