964 research outputs found
Explaining the Original Understanding of Lopez to the Framers: Or, The Framers Spoke Like Us, Didn\u27t They?
An important part of the Court’s rationale in Lopez, and other “new federalism” decisions, is a sense that they are returning to the original meaning of the Constitution. We are aware that there may be differences between the Framers’ intent and the original understanding of the meaning of the Constitution when it was adopted. The discussion here will not enter into the debate over the methods and propriety of originalism, nor is it necessary. What we do here is to focus narrowly on one aspect of Lopez’s connection with the Framing era, which is to consider whether there is semantic continuity between key words of the Lopez holding and words the Framers and Americans of their day would have used; or, in other words, to perform a kind of reverse textualism and see how the Framers would have understood Lopez. After examining the meaning of key words in the Lopez holding and what they meant in the eighteenth century, we conclude not only that neither the Framers nor any American of their day would have understood Lopezto have anything like the meaning intended by the Lopez majority, but because of changed meanings of language the Framers would likely have violently rejected the literal holding of Lopez. We conclude by considering what this repugnancy between the language of Lopez and the language of the Framers means for the originalism of Lopez, its overall intelligibility, and the regulation of commerce
How "commerce among the several states" became "interstate commerce," and why it matters
1 online resource (PDF, pages 329-400
Form and function in hillslope hydrology : Characterization of subsurface flow based on response observations
The phrase form and function was established in architecture and biology and refers to the idea that form and functionality are closely correlated, influence each other, and co-evolve. We suggest transferring this idea to hydrological systems to separate and analyze their two main characteristics: their form, which is equivalent to the spatial structure and static properties, and their function, equivalent to internal responses and hydrological behavior. While this approach is not particularly new to hydrological field research, we want to employ this concept to explicitly pursue the question of what information is most advantageous to understand a hydrological system. We applied this concept to subsurface flow within a hillslope, with a methodological focus on function: we conducted observations during a natural storm event and followed this with a hillslope-scale irrigation experiment. The results are used to infer hydrological processes of the monitored system. Based on these findings, the explanatory power and conclusiveness of the data are discussed. The measurements included basic hydrological monitoring methods, like piezometers, soil moisture, and discharge measurements. These were accompanied by isotope sampling and a novel application of 2-D time-lapse GPR (ground-penetrating radar). The main finding regarding the processes in the hillslope was that preferential flow paths were established quickly, despite unsaturated conditions. These flow paths also caused a detectable signal in the catchment response following a natural rainfall event, showing that these processes are relevant also at the catchment scale. Thus, we conclude that response observations (dynamics and patterns, i.e., indicators of function) were well suited to describing processes at the observational scale. Especially the use of 2-D time-lapse GPR measurements, providing detailed subsurface response patterns, as well as the combination of stream-centered and hillslope-centered approaches, allowed us to link processes and put them in a larger context. Transfer to other scales beyond observational scale and generalizations, however, rely on the knowledge of structures (form) and remain speculative. The complementary approach with a methodological focus on form (i.e., structure exploration) is presented and discussed in the companion paper by Jackisch et al.(2017)
Fermi Large Area Telescope observations of the Vela-X Pulsar Wind Nebula
We report on gamma-ray observations in the off-pulse window of the Vela
pulsar PSR B0833-45, using 11 months of survey data from the Fermi Large Area
Telescope (LAT). This pulsar is located in the 8 degree diameter Vela supernova
remnant, which contains several regions of non-thermal emission detected in the
radio, X-ray and gamma-ray bands. The gamma-ray emission detected by the LAT
lies within one of these regions, the 2*3 degrees area south of the pulsar
known as Vela-X. The LAT flux is signicantly spatially extended with a best-fit
radius of 0.88 +/- 0.12 degrees for an assumed radially symmetric uniform disk.
The 200 MeV to 20 GeV LAT spectrum of this source is well described by a
power-law with a spectral index of 2.41 +/- 0.09 +/- 0.15 and integral flux
above 100 MeV of (4.73 +/- 0.63 +/- 1.32) * 10^{-7} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. The first
errors represent the statistical error on the fit parameters, while the second
ones are the systematic uncertainties. Detailed morphological and spectral
analyses give strong constraints on the energetics and magnetic field of the
pulsar wind nebula (PWN) system and favor a scenario with two distinct electron
populations.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journa
Fermi-LAT Search for Pulsar Wind Nebulae around gamma-ray Pulsars
The high sensitivity of the Fermi-LAT (Large Area Telescope) offers the first
opportunity to study faint and extended GeV sources such as pulsar wind nebulae
(PWNe). After one year of observation the LAT detected and identified three
pulsar wind nebulae: the Crab Nebula, Vela-X and the PWN inside MSH 15-52. In
the meantime, the list of LAT detected pulsars increased steadily. These
pulsars are characterized by high energy loss rates from ~3 \times 10^{33} erg
s to 5 \times 10 erg s and are therefore likely to power a
PWN. This paper summarizes the search for PWNe in the off-pulse windows of 54
LAT-detected pulsars using 16 months of survey observations. Ten sources show
significant emission, seven of these likely being of magnetospheric origin. The
detection of significant emission in the off-pulse interval offers new
constraints on the gamma-ray emitting regions in pulsar magnetospheres. The
three other sources with significant emission are the Crab Nebula, Vela-X and a
new pulsar wind nebula candidate associated with the LAT pulsar PSR J1023-5746,
coincident with the TeV source HESS J1023-575. We further explore the
association between the H.E.S.S. and the Fermi source by modeling its spectral
energy distribution. Flux upper limits derived for the 44 remaining sources are
used to provide new constraints on famous PWNe that have been detected at keV
and/or TeV energies.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal, 42 pages, 17
figure
Service-learning and learning communities: two innovative school projects that are mutually enriched
Resumen: En este artículo se reflexiona sobre las interrelaciones que existen entre dos proyectos educativos de actualidad: el aprendizaje-servicio (ApS) y las comunidades de aprendizaje (CdA). El ApS es una metodología educativa aplicada mundialmente donde en un solo proyecto se conjuga un aprendizaje basado en la experiencia con la realización de un servicio solidario a la comunidad. CdA es un proyecto de transformación de la escuela para conseguir que la sociedad de la información no excluya a ninguna persona, constituyendo una realidad en más de ciento noventa escuelas repartidas entre España e Iberoamérica. Entre ambos es posible mostrar diferencias, sobre todo en lo que se refiere a sus sustratos teóricos e intencionalidades pedagógicas y sociales, pero en las prácticas reales en la enseñanza que se desarrollan en centros educativos hay más que cierta sintonía, particularmente en la relación tan estrecha que cultivan ambos proyectos con la comunidad escolar. Por todo ello, concluimos que el aprendizaje-servicio y las comunidades de aprendizaje pueden presentarse como dos proyectos innovadores y relevantes que pueden enriquecerse mutuamente: pues para ambos es fundamental la aproximación escuela-comunidad-entorno y el voluntariado.Abstract: This article reflects on the interrelationships that exist between two educational projects of today: service-learning (ApS) and learning communities (CdA). The ApS is an educational methodology applied worldwide where a single project combines a learning based on experience with the implementation of a service to the community. CdA is a school transformation project to achieve that the information society does not exclude any person, constituting a reality in more than one hundred and ninety schools in Spain and Latin America. Between the two, it is possible to show differences, especially in what refers to its theoretical substrates, but in actual teaching practice in schools there is some harmony, particularly in the so closely that they cultivate both projects with the school community. Therefore, we conclude that service-learning and learning communities can occur as two innovative and relevant today projects which can be mutually enriching: because for both the approach school-community-environment and volunteering is essential
The Quest for Legitimacy in American Administrative Law
In the United States, administrative law suffers from a perceived lack of legitimacy largely due to a lack of democratic accountability or what some have called a democratic deficit. These misgivings stem, in part, from a deep-seated American distrust of bureaucracy. This Article examines how the quest for legitimacy has led practitioners (and theorists) of administrative law to undertake our interrelated projects: the Accountability Project, the Rationality Project, the Transparency Project, and the Participatory Project, all designed to create a substitute or shadow form of democratic legitimacy.
Through an examination of these projects, I clarify how they try to address the democratic deficit, and whether they effectively do so. Specifically, this article investigates the impact of judicial review, informal rule-making, increased access to information, and public participation as efforts to meet the legitimacy challenge. Moreover it disputes the contention that the pursuit of democratic legitimacy is less consequential for administrative law than the need for bureaucratic rationality, by illustrating that bureaucratic rationality is but one component of a larger scheme intended to serve as a functional substitute for legitimacy. At bottom, because Americans do not share the fondness for the technocratic model displayed by many other legal systems, legitimacy projects have an enduring place in American administrative law
Mutations in Complement Factor H Impair Alternative Pathway Regulation on Mouse Glomerular Endothelial Cells in Vitro
Complement factor H (FH) inhibits complement activation and interacts with glomerular endothelium via its complement control protein domains 19 and 20, which also recognize heparan sulfate (HS). Abnormalities in FH are associated with the renal diseases atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome and dense deposit disease and the ocular disease age-related macular degeneration. Although FH systemically controls complement activation, clinical phenotypes selectively manifest in kidneys and eyes, suggesting the presence of tissue-specific determinants of disease development. Recent results imply the importance of tissue-specifically expressed, sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), like HS, in determining FH binding to and activity on host tissues. Therefore, we investigated which GAGs mediate human FH and recombinant human FH complement control proteins domains 19 and 20 (FH19-20) binding to mouse glomerular endothelial cells (mGEnCs) in ELISA. Furthermore, we evaluated the functional defects of FH19-20 mutants during complement activation by measuring C3b deposition on mGEnCs using flow cytometry. FH and FH19-20 bound dose-dependently to mGEnCs and TNF- treatment increased binding of both proteins, whereas heparinase digestion and competition with heparin/HS inhibited binding. Furthermore, 2-O-, and 6-O-, but not N-desulfation of heparin, significantly increased the inhibitory effect on FH19-20 binding to mGEnCs. Compared with wild type FH19-20, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome-associated mutants were less able to compete with FH in normal human serum during complement activation on mGEnCs, confirming their potential glomerular pathogenicity. In conclusion, our study shows that FH and FH19-20 binding to glomerular endothelial cells is differentially mediated by HS but not other GAGs. Furthermore, we describe a novel, patient serum-independent competition assay for pathogenicity screening of FH19-20 mutants.Peer reviewe
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