General License Research Articles

At Least 1 in 20 16S rRNA Sequence Records Currently Held in Public Repositories Is Estimated To Contain Substantial Anomalies

A new method for detecting chimeras and other anomalies within 16S rRNA sequence records is presented. Using this method, we screened 1,399 sequences from 19 phyla, as defined by the Ribosomal Database Project, release 9, update 22, and found 5.0% to harbor substantial errors. Of these, 64.3% were obvious chimeras, 14.3% were unidentified sequencing errors, and 21.4% were highly degenerate. In all, 11 phyla contained obvious chimeras, accounting for 0.8 to 11% of the records for these phyla. Many chimeras (43.1%) were formed from parental sequences belonging to different phyla. While most comprised two fragments, 13.7% were composed of at least three fragments, often from three different sources. A separate analysis of the Bacteroidetes phylum (2,739 sequences) also revealed 5.8% records to be anomalous, of which 65.4% were apparently chimeric. Overall, we conclude that, as a conservative estimate, 1 in every 20 public database records is likely to be corrupt. Our results support concerns recently expressed over the quality of the public repositories. With 16S rRNA sequence data increasingly playing a dominant role in bacterial systematics and environmental biodiversity studies, it is vital that steps be taken to improve screening of sequences prior to submission. To this end, we have implemented our method as a program with a simple-to-use graphic user interface that is capable of running on a range of computer platforms. The program is called Pintail, is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License open source license, and is freely available from our website at http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi/research/biosoft/.

Alcohol-related crashes and alcohol availability in grass-roots communities

This paper employs a unique panel data from 111 small non-metropolitan incorporated cities in California during a 108 month period from January 1981 to December 1989 in order to analyse the effect of alcohol availability on highway safety. Negative binomial regression models are estimated which include alcohol licences per square mile as a measure of alcohol availability. Theoretically, the sign of the alcohol licence density is indeterminate as it reflects a trade-off of its effect on traffic exposure and on the time price alcohol. Among the findings, increases in the density of general alcohol licences for off-site (on-site) alcohol consumption are beneficial (detrimental) to highway safety whereas increasing the density of beer/wine licences have non-uniform effects. Additional findings important to municipal policymakers are that DUI arrests and increasing the price of alcohol reduce alcohol-related crashes.

Open source software development: an overview

Although some challenge the value of open source software development, its popularity cannot be disputed. This overview of open source licensing and development models describes some of the movement's main principles. We also clarify some of the main principles underlying the resulting software. Because so much has already been written about open source software, we only touch on some of its major themes and provide pointers to essential information about the movement and its general licensing structures.

US congressman discloses secret pact between government and computer industry

At a luncheon meeting of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Forum on 28th September, Congressman Curt Weldon (Republican — Pennsylvania) revealed that high-level deal-making on access to encrypted data had taken place between the Pentagon/national security community and IBM and Microsoft. The main subject of the caucus was the hotly debated new US government encryption export and use policy announced by the White House on 16 September 1999. The new policy de-licenses encryption products below either 56 or 64 bits, depending on the type, and calls for a one-time meaningful technical review for crypto in excess of 56 or 64 bits. Technical review periods would be kept to an average of 30 days. One-time reviews would be done for retail products not requiring extensive installation or maintenance support and other custom products that do. After a one-time review, no more export licenses would be required. However, export of cryptographic source code would still require a special license. After receiving a general export license, following the one-time review, vendors would have to provide post-export reports to the government. Individual licenses would still be required for exports to certain government and military agencies. In addition, encryption exports are banned to seven terrorist states (known as the ‘T7’).

Qualification of independent spent fuel storage installation

This paper describes the qualification process of a typical independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). It provides background information regarding the licensing and history of ISFSIs. It discusses the process for obtaining a general ISFSI license. A typical ISFSI with its dry cask storage system (DCSS) is described. A description is presented of a typical confirmatory action taken on a DCSS to assure adequate qualification and full compliance of the system with Federal regulations.

Unwanted radioactive sources in the public domain: a historical perspective.

In the 1920's, reports of radium sources entering the public domain in an uncontrolled manner began to appear in the press and in the literature. Additionally, gold jewelry was made from depleted radon gold seeds which, in some cases, resulted in radiation injuries to the persons wearing the jewelry. Such jewelry was made as early as 1910. For many years, radium was distributed and used largely without regulatory oversight for safety. In the 1950's, increasing concern over the radiation hazards associated with the inadequate use, control, and disposal of radium sources resulted in increased regulatory oversight by the States, with significant assistance from the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1958, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission staff proposed extension of the general license concept to include measuring, gauging, and controlling devices. Since then, more than 1.8 million radioactive devices have been distributed under the general licenses in 10 CFR Part 31.5 and equivalent Agreement State regulations. These devices are typically used with minimal regulatory oversight. In recent years there has been an increasing number of reports of radioactive sources and devices appearing in the public domain as a result of inadequate control and disposal of these items with attendant risk of environmental contamination and radiation exposure. As a result of concerns over these developments there have been calls for increased regulatory oversight of general licensees. It is ironic that the present problems are the result of a program that was established about the time that States were increasing regulatory oversight over radium to address similar problems with radium.

Specific licensing considerations for modified live pseudorabies vaccines in the United States

This chapter discusses the specific licensing considerations for modified live pseudorabies vaccines in the United States. All veterinary biologics licensed in the United States—including pseudorabies vaccines—must be in compliance with the Virus Serum Toxin Act (VSTA) of 1913 as amended by the Food Security Act of 1985. Guidelines to clarify the requirements for licensing these products are found in Veterinary Services Memorandums, Notices, and General Licensing Considerations. The Center for Veterinary Biologics-Laboratory (CVB-L) provides Supplemental Assay Methods (SAM) that are the recommended protocols for conducting some of the tests required by the regulations. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 must also be considered in the licensing of any live product, particularly products produced through biotechnology. NEPA governs the release of organisms into the environment as a result of field testing and/or licensing. The establishment where the vaccine is produced must either have an establishment license or be able to qualify for an establishment license at the time the pseudorabies product license is issued.

Aspects Concerning Retrievability in the Planned Swiss Low- and Intermediate-Level Waste Repository

ABSTRACTSwiss legislation requires the safe final disposal of radioactive wastes. Final disposal is defined by the safety authority guidelines as follows: ‘After a repository has been sealed, no further measures shall be necessary to ensure safety. The repository must be designed in such a way that it can be sealed within a few years.’ The time for repository sealing is not specified.In Switzerland, the Wellenberg site was selected for the LIILW repository after an extensive site evaluation process and, in June 1994, the application for the general licence was submitted to the Swiss Federal Government. In addition to the federal licence, a mining concession has to be granted by the canton in a public referendum. The decisive cantonal vote in June 95 was negative (52%) and led to a temporary set-back in the project.Among the reasons for this negative result was the proposed repository emplacement concept. It was planned to successively backfill the voids between the emplaced disposal containers in the caverns layer by layer. Retrieval of the waste would therefore involve high expenditure and effort. The concept therefore implies closing part of the repository at a very early stage. The outcome of the referendum reflected an unwillingness on the part of the population either to accept this situation or to make a decision today on final disposal. In many discussions, a stepwise implementation of the repository was requested, not only from the point of view of technical feasibility but also to allow political and legal aspects to be taken into consideration. A final decision - particularly regarding closure of the repository - could then be taken in the future, after giving the coming generation an opportunity to think over our proposed solution.To meet this requirement, GNW/Nagra studied modified repository emplacement concepts within the framework of Swiss legislation. In the proposed new project, concrete containers are emplaced in the caverns without any backfill, allowing easy retrieval until the decision is taken to close the facility. This decision may be taken only after completion of container emplacement, allowing for further monitoring of the filled repository caverns. A decision on how to proceed is currently being prepared by a federal working group with representatives from the canton, the safety authorities and GNW/Nagra.Studies have shown that, with an appropriate design, drainage and ventilation system, the required stability of the modified repository cavern can be achieved also under seismic loading and that the requirements of operational safety can be met. The potential long opening times of the repository caverns show some minor effects on certain repository components, such as e.g. slight carbonatisation of the container backfill. Overall, it can nevertheless be demonstrated that the long-term safety is not adversely affected.

Danish Balance of Payments Support

This study is an analysis of Danish Balance of Payments Support (BOP) covering the period 1988-94. This aid instrument has not so far been used as an active tool to further Danish policy conditionalities vis-a-vis the reform process in developing countries. On the contrary, BOP has mainly been used in a residual manner, and Commodity Import Support (CIS) has by far been the dominant modality used. Yet, fundamental changes are underway in parallel with the almost complete disappearance of the demand for traditional Danish import support commodities. Thus, other BOP instruments such as debt relief, credit lines, support to Open General License (OGL) systems and co-financing with the World Bank have been on the rise in recent years. Nonetheless, despite the macroeconomic nature of BOP assistance existing evaluation studies and reviews have focused on microeconomic and administrative issues related to BOP disbursements and proper programme management. Very little can therefore at this stage be concluded about the macroeconomic impact of Danish BOP aid.

Look Back in Amber: The General Licensing Poll in New Zealand, 1919-87

‘For more than a century the sale of liquor has been a very vexed question in Parliament. While the emotion that was attendant upon that subject in years gone by is somewhat less than it used to be, the subject nevertheless still excites the passions, and therefore has to be approached with care.’ Rt. Hon. Geoffrey Palmer (Minister of Justice), 4 May 1989.1

L' « autre » de : une tête quantificationnelle ?

Aafke Hulk : L'« autre » de, une tête quantificationnelle ? In this article we consider the three following constructions, containing each the non-prepositional element de followed by an AP or an NP : (1) de chaud, il y a deux pizzas (2) j'ai pris la tienne, de voiture (3) j'ai beaucoup bu de lait We will show that semantically these constructions involve an intersection or a partition of domains. The NP/AN expresses a « virtual » domain of reference, which is linked to another element in the sentence that represents either the extension of the reference domain or a specimen of its class. We will translate this interpretation in syntactic terms by postulating the hypothesis that de in these constructions is the quantificational head of a functional projection that takes an AP or NP as its internal argument and an empty operator in its specifier position. We will demonstrate that if we adopt such a structure, general licensing principles of generative grammar predict the (partially similar) distribution of these constructions.

Protection and the Own-Funds Window in Tanzania: An Analytical Framework and Estimates of the Effects of Trade Liberalization

A simple partial equilibrium framework is employed to examine the implications of administered protection in Tanzania, against the background of the country's parallel exchange market and the establishment of the own-funds and open general license (OGL) facilities for authorizing imports. Estimates are presented of the range of possible adjustments in the real exchange rate and trade flows following an hypothesized unification of the import licensing system and sufficient liberalization of the OGL facility to eliminate own-funds imports and export smuggling. Copyright 1993 by Oxford University Press.

English tag questions in universal grammar

The objective of this paper is to explain the existence of tag questions in English as a consequences of the principles of Universal Grammar together with the peculiar syntactic properties of English, in the spirit of the Principles and Parameters approach. The tag question must meet all requirements on Tags in general. Crucially, a Tag must contain a pro-IP that is bound by the Sentence. The tag question satisfies this requirement, in that the pronominal subject, the copied Aux and empty VP taken together constitute an instance of pro-IP bound by the Sentence. An important conclusion to be drawn from this binding requirement is that Tags involve long-distance binding of an empty category, not movement. It is shown that the general principles licensing Tags, taken together with the possibility of empty VP in English, yield the form of the English tag question.

Protection and the Own-Funds Window in Tanzania: An Analytical Framework and Estimates of the Effects of Trade Liberalization

This paper presents a simple partial equilibrium framework for considering the economic implications of administered protection in Tanzania, against the background of the country’s parallel exchange market and the establishment of the own-funds and open general license (OGL) facilities for authorizing imports. It also presents estimates of the range of possible adjustment in the real exchange rate and trade flows following from a unification of the highly-fragmented import licensing system, coupled with sufficient liberalization of the OGL facility to eliminate own-funded imports and the incentive to export smuggling.

Protection and the Own-Funds Window in Tanzania: An Analytical Framework and Estimates of the Effects of Trade Liberalization

This paper presents a simple partial equilibrium framework for considering the economic implications of administered protection in Tanzania, against the background of the country’s parallel exchange market and the establishment of the own-funds and open general license (OGL) facilities for authorizing imports. It also presents estimates of the range of possible adjustment in the real exchange rate and trade flows following from a unification of the highly-fragmented import licensing system, coupled with sufficient liberalization of the OGL facility to eliminate own-funded imports and the incentive to export smuggling.

Issues of Openness and Flexibility for Foreign Exchange Systems

This paper surveys briefly the main issues for official management of foreign exchange, including the choice of exchange rate regime and exchange and trade restrictive systems. It concludes by identifying the main forms of arrangements that have demonstrated their merits and practicability for developing countries in recent years, including auction and interbank exchange markets, market-based forward exchange rates, import license auctions, open general import licensing, and liberalized capital controls.

Licensing criteria for nuclear medicine

The use of radioactive materials in medicine is one of the most highly regulated areas the physician has to deal with. There are three basic types of licenses for use of radioactive material defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), chapter 10, part 35. These are the general license, which is mainly applicable to small volume in vitro work; the specific license, which is used in most medical facilities; and the broad license, which is suited for larger research-oriented practices. Licensing requires proof of competence of the user and of adequate provision for protection of public health. Materials used in medicine are grouped for convenience into three diagnostic categories and two therapeutic categories. A sixth group, for sealed implants, is not generally applicable in nuclear medicine. Training and experience of users may be documented in a number of ways, including board certification in nuclear medicine. Therapeutic applications require additional proof of direct personal experience. The radiation safety officer is a pivotal individual in the licensing procedure, being directly responsible for carrying out the highly detailed requirements for protection of personnel and patients. A radiation safety program based on the "as low as reasonably achievable" (ALARA) concept requires personal monitoring, inventory control, detection and control of contamination, and strict adherence to licensing rules. Training of personnel and proper maintenance of equipment and facilities are also vital parts of the licensing process. The requirements of licensing and for renewal are clearly spelled out by the various regulatory agencies and require meticulous record keeping with documentation that all prescribed procedures have been followed and duly recorded.

Contributors

At a luncheon meeting of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee Forum on 28th September, Congressman Curt Weldon (Republican — Pennsylvania) revealed that high-level deal-making on access to encrypted data had taken place between the Pentagon/national security community and IBM and Microsoft. The main subject of the caucus was the hotly debated new US government encryption export and use policy announced by the White House on 16 September 1999. The new policy de-licenses encryption products below either 56 or 64 bits, depending on the type, and calls for a one-time meaningful technical review for crypto in excess of 56 or 64 bits. Technical review periods would be kept to an average of 30 days. One-time reviews would be done for retail products not requiring extensive installation or maintenance support and other custom products that do. After a one-time review, no more export licenses would be required. However, export of cryptographic source code would still require a special license. After receiving a general export license, following the one-time review, vendors would have to provide post-export reports to the government. Individual licenses would still be required for exports to certain government and military agencies. In addition, encryption exports are banned to seven terrorist states (known as the ‘T7’).

The Licensing of Marine Recreational Fishermen

Abstract This study provides an account of certain current marine recreational fishery issues including licensing in the coastal states in 1981. Only four states license their resident marine recreational fishermen on a continuing basis. These general licenses apply to all waters of the state and marine anglers cannot be separated from the general fishing population. This latter factor is important to using license files for data collection. Interviews with state officials disclosed that marine recreational fishery programs suffer from a lack of funding and data collection. Most of the officials acknowledge the advantages of implementing a saltwater fishing license. Alternatives to a saltwater fishing license mentioned by them included financing from state general funds as a source of revenue, and surveys, censuses, and voluntary reporting for data collection. However, most felt that other alternatives were not as equitable or beneficial as a separate saltwater fishing license. State officials also predic...

On-Site Determination of Ash in Coal Utilizing a Portable XRF Analyzer

The x-ray system used was a Columbia Scientific Industries Corporation Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer Minilab 700 with a ten millicurie curium 244 source. This source was chosen instead of the available 30mCi Pu-238 or the 30mCi Cm-244 source because it could be supplied under a general radioactivity materials license. The XRF analyzer could be powered by a variety of power supplies, either AC or DC. All data were evaluated and best curves were selected utilizing the Honeywell Time Sharing System. Programs from the statistical library were used with minor modifications.