The radiocarbon (14C) calibration curve so far contains annually resolved data only for a short period of time. With accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) matching the precision of decay counting, it is now possible to efficiently produce large datasets of annual resolution for calibration purposes using small amounts of wood. The radiocarbon intercomparison on single-year tree-ring samples presented here is the first to investigate specifically possible offsets between AMS laboratories at high precision. The results show that AMS laboratories are capable of measuring samples of Holocene age with an accuracy and precision that is comparable or even goes beyond what is possible with decay counting, even though they require a thousand times less wood. It also shows that not all AMS laboratories always produce results that are consistent with their stated uncertainties. The long-term benefits of studies of this kind are more accurate radiocarbon measurements with, in the future, better quantified uncertainties.

Installation effects on the S-duct intakes of a high power turboprop were investigated by comparing three different nacelle configurations as the channel wing, over-the-wing and conventional tractor wing using computational fluid dynamic methods. The interaction of the propeller, the wing, and the nacelle on the scoop type turboprop intakes were identified in terms of recovery and distortion on the aerodynamic interface planes. An actuator disc model was used to simulate the propeller downstream effects. The channel wing installation of S-ducts showed approximately 2% higher total pressure recovery than the other configurations. The channel wing configuration with a wrap-around S-duct experienced a 2% lower circumferential distortion intensity, whereas over-the-wing had an increase by 3% in comparison to the tractor wing. It was also observed that the S-duct type had a greater influence on the radial distortion intensity than the installation type. The swirl coefficient distribution showed that multiple peaks occurred as opposed to swirl results based on a single sector of the aerodynamic interface plane. The difference between swirl peaks of shaft penetration S-duct was reduced by 14% when installed on channel wing, whereas the peaks of wrap-around experienced 90° phase shift, and their difference showed 10% increase on channel wing.

A 9-year time-series of genotyped human campylobacteriosis cases from the Manawatu region of New Zealand was used to investigate strain-type seasonality. The data were collected from 2005 to 2013 and the samples were multi-locus sequence-typed (MLST). The four most prevalent clonal complexes (CCs), consisting of 1215 isolates, were CC48, CC21, CC45 and CC61. Seasonal decomposition and Poisson regression with autocorrelated errors, were used to display and test for seasonality of the most prevalent CCs. Of the four examined CCs, only CC45 showed a marked seasonal (summer) peak. The association of CC45 with summer peaks has been observed in other temperate countries, but has previously not been identified in New Zealand. This is the first in-depth study over a long time period employing MLST data to examine strain-type-associated seasonal patterns of C. jejuni infection in New Zealand.

SITUATIONS IN WHICH VIOLENCE IS THE RESULT OF THE USE OF massive force in international conflicts is not the primary concern of what follows. It should be kept in mind, however, that war constitutes the outer limit, quantitatively, of political violence. However, internal war, that is organized, large scale armed conflicts between groups within a political system or order, manifesting the breakdown of such an order, is part of our concern. Violence is related to the maintenance of political power, although this sort of violence is more usually spoken of as ‘force.’

In general discussions about opposition in democratic political systems, such as the thoughtful reflections of Robert A. Dahl, the role which federalism may play in providing an opposition with opportunities to oppose is often forgotten. This is curious, but perhaps in part at least the result of the fact that the institutionalization of opposition has gone farthest in Great Britain – a non-federal state. Yet in a sense to be further developed below, federalism may be looked upon as an alternative method for institutionalizing opposition – alternative that is to the British parliamentary system.

It is a Common heritage of English and American liberals to denounce state absolutism, to deny it as regimentation, paternalism, etc. etc. Indeed, Englishmen and Americans have always been inclined to adopt a condescending attitude towards other traditions which seemed to exalt state power. French and German, Russian and Italian tendencies have in turn been pictured as “naturally” inclined toward state “absolutism,” and when anyone in rebuttal mentioned Hobbes or Bentham or Austin, the “exceptional” position of these thinkers has been emphasized. Still, can there be any question that the idea of the state as an ultimate source of authority has been as strong in Great Britain as anywhere? For reasons which will become plainer in the course of the argument, English-writing thinkers have accordingly been in the vanguard of those who sought to construct the “state” as the “highest” of all human communities, thus following out the Aristotelian heritage. In spite of all the titter-tatter about national character, muddling through and the rest, the fact remains that Britain has provided us with the most radical, deep-laid expositions of an “absolute” state. This much admitted, one might add that the limited state also has found eloquent and epoch-making exponents in English-speaking lands. In short, the whole gamut of modern political philosophy has been most thoroughly expounded in English.

The revolutions of 1640 and 1789 were carried forward with a positive enthusiasm for freedom. The drama and the failure of each revolution were dominated by this fact; each revolution provided the stage for long-drawn-out struggles to write a constitution. Each produced a crop of such constitutions; and eventually a dictator emerged to carry out by force the authority that could not be arranged by cooperation. But the lesson of the struggle for constitutional freedom was not lost; the idea of the rights of man was not dead. In England, in France, this impulse produced constitutional systems in the course of the next generation; and these systems remained.

IN A FAMOUS dialogue between the Athenian ambassadors and the Council of the small island of Melos, Thucydides has given the classical statement of the “right” of the stronger. “The brave Milesians soon see that they cannot appeal to the Athenians' sense of justice, because the Athenians recognize no standard but their own political advantage…By making the Athenians justify the right of the stronger through the law of nature, and transform God from the guardian of justice into the pattern of all earthly authority and force, Thucydides gives the realistic policy of Athens the depth and validity of a philosophical doctrine.” The Dutch, in the days of Peter Breughel, used to say: “the big fish devour the little fish” to which Spinoza added “by natural right.” That is the doctrine of the “state,”as inherited from the Greeks. Similar situations still haunt us. Did the Russians by natural right seek to destroy Finnish independence?

The IntCal04 and Marine04 radiocarbon calibration curves have been updated from 12 cal kBP (cal kBP is here defined as thousands of calibrated years before AD 1950), and extended to 50 cal kBP, utilizing newly available data sets that meet the IntCal Working Group criteria for pristine corals and other carbonates and for quantification of uncertainty in both the 14C and calendar timescales as established in 2002. No change was made to the curves from 0–12 cal kBP. The curves were constructed using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) implementation of the random walk model used for IntCal04 and Marine04. The new curves were ratified at the 20th International Radiocarbon Conference in June 2009 and are available in the Supplemental Material at www.radiocarbon.org.

The Supernova Working Group was re-established at the IAU XXV General Assembly in Sydney, 21 July 2003, sponsored by Commissions 28 (Galaxies) and 47 (Cosmology). Here we report on some of its activities since 2005.

An outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) among children caused by infection with sorbitol-fermenting enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H− (SF EHEC O157:H−) occurred in Germany in 2002. This pathogen has caused several outbreaks so far, yet its reservoir and routes of transmission remain unknown. SF EHEC O157:H− is easily missed as most laboratory protocols target the more common sorbitol non-fermenting strains. We performed active case-finding, extensive exploratory interviews and a case-control study. Clinical and environmental samples were screened for SF EHEC O157:H− and the isolates were subtyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. We identified 38 case-patients in 11 federal states. Four case-patients died during the acute phase (case-fatality ratio 11%). The case-control study could not identify a single vehicle or source. Further studies are necessary to identify the pathogen's reservoir(s). Stool samples of patients with HUS should be tested with an adequate microbiological set-up to quickly identify SF EHEC O157:H−.

The radiocarbon calibration curve IntCal04 extends back to 26 cal kyr B P. While several high-resolution records exist beyond this limit, these data sets exhibit discrepancies of up to several millennia. As a result, no calibration curve for the time range 26–50 cal kyr BP can be recommended as yet, but in this paper the IntCal04 working group compares the available data sets and offers a discussion of the information that they hold.

The crystal growth behaviour and crystallography of a variety of metal halides incorporated within single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as determined by high resolution electron microscopy (HRTEM) is described. Simple packed structures, such as the alkali halides, form related structures within SWNTs that are found to be integral atomic layers in terms of their thickness as a function of the encapsulating SWNT diameter. An enhanced HRTEM image restoration technique reveals precise data concerning lattice distortions present in these crystals. More complex structures, such as those derived from 3D complex, layered and chain halides form related crystal structures within SWNTs. In narrow SWNTs (i.e. with diameters less than ca. 1.6 nm), structures consisting of individual 1D polyhedral chains (1D-PHCs) were obtained that were derived from the corresponding bulk halides structures. In the case of infinite 3D network and layered halides, the 1D polyhedral chains form with lower co-ordinations than in the bulk. Molecular halides also intercalate into SWNTs but these do not readily form organised structures within SWNTs.