36 research outputs found
Opportunity to Build Maine’s Workforce amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textAuthor Laura Fairman argues that state policymakers should reconsider their economic development strategy in light of remote work trends. Implementing a grant-making initiative to attract new residents would add to the tools currently targeted at strengthening and growing Maine’s workforce
The Sequential Separation and Analytical Determination of Uranium, Neptunium, Plutonium, Americium, and Curium in Urine*
No full textThis research is concerned with the development of an analytical method applicable for the routine determination and assay of the body-burden of the alpha-emitting isotopes of the actinide elements from biological sample. The procedure is designed to supplement or replace the procedures currently employed for such determinations by the Bioassay Group of the Argonne Rational Laboratory. All laboratory work was done at the Argonne National Laboratory in cooperation with the Industrial Hygiene and Safety Division of Argonne National Laboratory, Marquette University, and the Associated Midwest Universities organization. The development of the procedure was initiated and supervised by William D. Fairman of Argonne National Laboratory whose cooperation with Dr. John G. Surak of Marquette University allowed the author to extensively pursue the research leading to this report. The experimental work was intended to extend the scope of the analytical procedures of the Bioassay Group to improve the existing techniques used for the individual isolation and assay of the member of the actinide group or the periodic table. Although the actinide elements can be expected to posses similar chemical properties because of their position in the periodic table, the separations can be accomplished because of the distinct chemical differences between the elements when in their various oxidation states. Thus, the sequential separations are achieved by the establishment and maintenance of certain specified oxidation states of the elements at critical points in the procedure. All experimental work was done at the tracer concentrations level, i.e., the radioisotopes were present in amounts of less than 10 gram. The Inorganic Chemistry nomenclature used in this paper is based on the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1957 Report of the Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (ef: International Encyclopedia of Chemical Science , Princeton, New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1964. p. 585 ff.) For example, U02+2 is called dioxouranium (VI) ion instead of the commonly used uranyl ion , Fe (NH2SO3)2 is named iron (II) sulfamate instead of ferrous sulfamate, while hydroxylamine NH20H, remains unchanged
Preparation and modification of thin carbon films
No full textThin carbon films, in the form of pyrolysed photoresist films (PPF), are being increasingly used for electrochemical devices. This research investigates the preparation and subsequent modification of PPF through both the electrochemical reduction of aryl diazonium salts and through the UV attachment of alkenes to the iodinated surface.
The pyrolysis of photoresist films produces PPF that is a smooth (rms < 0.5 nm), amorphous carbon film that can be used for further electrochemical studies. The pyrolysis method was investigated to see the affect of holding the pyrolysis at three different temperatures during the pyrolysis and the corresponding times for which they were held; the effect of gas flow on the PPF was also addressed. It was seen that the gas flow whilst not affecting the roughness of the surfaces, the electrochemical cleanliness towards ferricyanide was affected, whilst different temperatures during the pyrolysis and the length of time they held was also seen to have some affect on both the electrochemical performance as well.
The modification of PPF was carried out with aryl diazonium derivatives of oligo(ethylene glycols) (OEGs). The protein resistance of these modified surfaces were also investigated and compared to the equivalent gold modified surfaces, both the effect of the chain length of the OEG as well as the change in hydrophilicity of the distal end was investigated. For a comparison OEG thiol modified gold surfaces were used. A Fluorescein isothiocyanate labelled protein, bovine serum albumin, was used and two methods employed to study the protein resistance. These methods were the elution of adsorbed protein from surface and the measurement of the protein whilst on the surface using fluorescence microscopy.
The use of iodine plasma to modify the PPF produces a surface similar to that of both hydrosilysed silicon and hydrogenated diamond surfaces. The use of UV light at 514 nm to activate the surface and attach alkenes was employed. UV addition of alkenes to the surface allows patterning as was observed via the modification of the iodinated carbon film with undec-10-enyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanethioate on areas exposed to light and the deprotection of the thiol which was then exposed to gold nano particles and surface patterning was investigated with SEM. This will allow the production of nanoarray sensors in the future
On Misreading John Bingham and the Fourteenth Amendment
No full textNearly fifty years ago, Professor Charles Fairman published his seminal article, Does the Fourteenth Amendment Incorporate the Bill of Rights? According to Fairman, it does not. Fairman\u27s analysis of the congressional debates and other historical data on the Fourteenth Amendment led him to conclude that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Amendment does not make the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. Instead, Fairman argued that the intent of the Amendment\u27s framers is most nearly realized by the use of the Due Process Clause to enforce against the states only those rights “ ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.’ ” Fairman reached this conclusion only by dismissing as unreliable numerous statements by Congressman John Bingham, the principal author of Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment. Bingham had repeatedly stated his belief that the Fourteenth Amendment would enforce the Bill of Rights against the states. Fairman argued that Bingham\u27s position was muddled, inconsistent and idiosyncratic. Scholars came to view Fairman\u27s work as the “classic” interpretation on this subject and, in the forty-four years since its first publication, his analysis has “shaped much of the constitutional field.” Many prominent writers adopted Fairman\u27s interpretation of the incorporation debate, often sharing his assessment of Bingham\u27s abilities. Indeed, Fairman\u27s article has been one of the most cited law review articles written since World War II. Still, Fairman has not been without detractors. William Crosskey was, for many years, the most prominent critic of Fairman\u27s work. Crosskey reviewed the same historical record as Fairman, but drew quite different conclusions. He described Bingham as an able person whose theories were “the common faith” of the Republican Party and argued that the historical evidence reveals that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended the Amendment to enforce the Bill of Rights against the states. Despite Crosskey\u27s analysis and exhaustive research, his critique did little to diminish acceptance of Fairman\u27s work, perhaps because of Crosskey\u27s unconventional ideas in other areas of constitutional law. For instance, Justice Felix Frankfurter, whose 1947 disagreement with Justice Black in Adamson v. California prompted Fairman\u27s original project, never acknowledged Crosskey\u27s criticisms of Fairman. More than a decade after Adamson, Justice Frankfurter remained convinced that Fairman\u27s analysis was correct and described his proof as “conclusive.” As late as 1968, the exchange between Professors Fairman and Crosskey remained “the only full-dress discussion of [the incorporation debate] in legal periodicals” and was “far more comprehensive than any of the United States Supreme Court cases on this point.” A decade later, Raoul Berger published Government by Judiciary. Although much of Berger\u27s book questioned the legitimacy of the Supreme Court\u27s decisions in Brown v. Board of Education and Baker v. Carr, Berger also discussed whether the Fourteenth Amendment should be construed to enforce the Bill of Rights against the states. Relying on Fairman\u27s analysis as well as his own reading of the original sources, Berger concluded that Bingham was a “muddled” thinker whose views should be discounted, and agreed with Fairman that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment did not intend it to enforce the Bill of Rights against the states. Unlike Fairman, however, Berger rejected even selective incorporation, arguing that the Amendment\u27s framers did not intend that any of the first eight amendments should be made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1980, Michael Kent Curtis responded to Berger\u27s analysis in the first round of what was to become an extended exchange between the two. Curtis criticized both Fairman\u27s and Berger\u27s scholarship. He found Bingham\u27s constitutional theory understandable, and, like Crosskey, concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment applied the Bill of Rights against the states. Building on the work of Crosskey, Curtis, and Alfred Avins, this Article seeks to strengthen the argument that the Fourteenth Amendment applies the first eight amendments to the states. In particular, this Article focuses on the ideas and influence of John Bingham, the Amendment\u27s principal author. It identifies several sources, some not previously discussed in the literature on this subject, which demonstrate that Bingham intended the Fourteenth Amendment to enforce the Bill of Rights against the states and that many of his contemporaries shared his belief regarding the Amendment\u27s purpose. This Article also argues that Fairman misread critical sources, relied on information taken out of context, ignored important contemporary materials, and buttressed his argument with a flawed legal theory. As a result, this Article argues, Fairman\u27s portrait of John Bingham is distorted and unfaithful to the historical evidence. Part I of this Article describes the 1947 dispute between Justice Felix Frankfurter and Justice Hugo Black over incorporation and summarizes Fairman\u27s subsequent analysis of the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment with respect to the Bill of Rights. Part II criticizes Fairman\u27s portrait of Bingham as “befuddled” and unreliable, arguing that a comprehensive and fair reading of the historical evidence shows that Bingham consistently espoused a cogent theory about the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that Fairman, not Bingham, was confused about the Amendment\u27s purpose. Part III refutes Fairman\u27s claim that Bingham\u27s views were “singular,” and shows that, contrary to Fairman\u27s assertions, many of Bingham\u27s contemporaries shared his beliefs. Prior to the Civil War, proponents of antislavery constitutionalism supported legal arguments which coincided with elements of Bingham\u27s constitutional theory. Between 1864 and 1871, congressional leaders, jurists, the Ohio Republican Party, the voters of Ohio, and nationally recognized authors of three major legal treatises all endorsed positions consistent with Bingham\u27s constitutional theory. A fourth treatise, cited by Fairman to indicate the “singularity” of Bingham\u27s views, does not, in fact, provide contemporary support for Fairman\u27s argument. Part IV addresses Fairman\u27s most credible argument. Fairman noted that during the period of the Amendment\u27s ratification, jury practices of many states did not comply with the requirements of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Amendments. Fairman argued that had state representatives understood the Fourteenth Amendment to enforce the Bill of Rights against the states, they would not have voted to ratify the Amendment without first discussing the need to change provisions in their own constitutions and statutes that conflicted with the Bill of Rights. Part IV concludes, however, that the conflicts Fairman identified lack the interpretive power he attributed to them because, as Fairman\u27s own examples indicate, many supporters of the Fourteenth Amendment were either unaware of or unconcerned with these conflicts. Part V documents the consistency between Bingham\u27s views and the earliest federal cases interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment. It demonstrates that subsequent decisions such as the Slaughter-House Cases and United States v. Cruikshank repudiate rather than express the intent of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment. Part VI concludes that Bingham\u27s views on the Fourteenth Amendment should be credited and Fairman\u27s scholarship on this subject disregarded. This Part sketches the application of Bingham\u27s views to the current constitutional landscape and notes changes in incorporation doctrine that logically follow. Finally, it outlines the challenge to originalist thinkers to determine how the Supreme Court can properly determine which privileges or immunities, beyond the Bill of Rights, the Fourteenth Amendment protects
cyberir.mit.edu
No full textSee related paper: Choucri, N., Fairman, L., & Agarwal, G. (2021). CyberIR@MIT: Knowledge for science, policy, practice (Working Paper No. 2021-1). MIT Political Science Department. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3936863 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141744This website presents a brief introduction to Cyber-IR@MIT—a dynamic, interactive knowledge and networking system focused on the evolving, diverse, and complex interconnections of cyberspace and international relations. The goal is to highlight key theoretical, substantive, empirical and networking issues.
Cyber-IR@MIT is anchored in a multidimensional ontology. It was initially framed as an experiment during the MIT-Harvard collaboration on Explorations in Cyber International Relations (MIT, 2009-2014) to serve as a forum for quality-controlled content and materials generated throughout the research project.
The vision for Cyber-IR@MIT is shaped by the research for Cyberpolitics in International Relations, a book written by Nazli Choucri and published by MIT Press in 2012. The operational approach to the knowledge system is influenced by the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), developed earlier and focused on challenges of system sustainability. Cyber-IR@MIT gradually evolved into a knowledge-based system of human interactions in cyberspace and international relations, all embedded in the overarching natural system.
The method consists of differentiating among the various facets of human activity in (i) cyberspace, (ii) international relations, and (iii) the intersection of the cyber and “real.” It includes problems created by humans and solution strategies, as well as enabling functions and capabilities, on the one hand, and impediments to behavior and associated barriers, on the other. See https://cyberir.mit.edu for functions.The value of this initiative lies in its conceptual foundations and method of knowledge representation – embedded in an interactive system for knowledge submission, with f search and retrieval functionsThis work, in part, has been supported by the Political Science Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office of Naval Research under Grant No. N00014-09-1-0597, and US Department of Defense.Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Naval Research and US Department of Defense
Protein resistance of surfaces modified with oligo(ethylene glycol) aryl diazonium derivatives
No full textAnti-fouling surfaces are of great importance for reducing background interference in biosensor signals. Oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) moieties are commonly used to confer protein resistance on gold, silicon and carbon surfaces. Herein, we report the modification of surfaces using electrochemical deposition of OEG aryl diazonium salts. Using electrochemical and contact angle measurements, the ligand packing density is found to be loose, which supports the findings of the fluorescent protein labelling that aryl diazonium OEGs confer resistance to nonspecific adsorption of proteins albeit lower than alkane thiol-terminated OEGs. In addition to protein resistance, aryl diazonium attachment chemistry results in stable modification. In common with OEG species on gold electrodes, OEGs with distal hydroxyl moieties do confer superior protein resistance to those with a distal methoxy group. This is especially the case for longer derivatives where superior coiling of the OEG chains is possible. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Comparing the electrochemical performance of pyrolysed photoresist film electrodes to glassy carbon electrodes for sensing applications
No full textLight-induced organic monolayer modification of iodinated carbon electrodes
No full textWe report the modification of carbon electrodes formed from pyrolyzed photoresist films (PPF) via plasma iodination followed by the organic monolayer modification of these surfaces. The iodinated surfaces were characterized using cyclic voltammetry, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to enable the optimization of the iodination while preserving the stability and smoothness of the carbon surface. Subsequently, the C-I surface was further modified with molecules that possess an alkene or alkyne at one end through light activation with low energy (visible range λ 514 nm). The versatility of the modification reaction of the C-I surfaces is shown by reactions with undecylenic acid, 1,8-nonadiyne, and S-undec-10-enyl-2,2,2- trifluoroethanethioate (C11-S-TFA). Modification with 1,8-nonadiyne allows further modification via "click" chemistry with azido-terminated oligo(ethylene oxide) molecules demonstrated briefly to alter the hydrophilicity of the surface after attachment of ethylene oxide moieties. Furthermore, patterning of C11-S-TFA was demonstrated using a simple photolithography technique. Deprotection of the C11-S-TFA gave a free thiol allowed patterning of gold nanoparticles on the surface as verified using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These results demonstrate that plasma iodination to form C-I is a versatile, simple, and modular approach to functionalize the carbon surface. © 2013 American Chemical Society
Positional Effects on Helical Ala-Based Peptides
No full textUnderstanding how the position of the amino acid, alanine, within an alpha-helix, can affect structural stability. --author supplied descriptio
Characterization of Mesoscale Coiled-Coil Peptide-Porphyrin Complexes
No full textWe have successfully designed a coiled-coil peptide that can self-assemble to form mesoscale filaments and serve as a scaffold for porphyrin interaction. --author-supplied descriptio
