Modern day computer graphics are capable of generating highly photorealistic images resulting in challenging legal situations. For example, as a result of a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, computer generated child pornography is protected speech, while pornographic photographs depicting an actual child remains illegal. The ability to distinguish between protected and illegal material assumes th...

Every classical or virtual knot is equivalent to the unknot via a sequence of extended Reidemeister moves and the so-called forbidden moves. The minimum number of forbidden moves necessary to unknot a given knot is an invariant we call the forbidden number. We relate the forbidden number to several known invariants, and calculate bounds for some classes of virtual knots.

This study uses information from the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Health Study (CePAWHS) to analyze health risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes in the Amish population of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A survey was conducted with 288 Amish woman and 2002 women from central PA. This study focuses specifically on how age (≤34 vs. ≥35), conception status (preconceptional, pregnant, interco...

AIM The present study investigates the evolution of illicit drug use among Romanian university students from 1999 to 2011. METHODS The study was performed in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in three phases: in 1999 (T1), in 2003 (T2) and in 2011 (T3). The study was carried out by means of anonymous questionnaires among university students aged 19-24. RESULTS The results show that among girls the life...

For decades, the Swartzentruber sect of Amish have, for religious reasons, rejected state-level mandates for horse-drawn buggies to display the S.M.V. (slow-moving vehicle) emblem. Court cases in several states have suggested: (1) confusion over what the emblem is supposed to accomplish, and (2) questions about the emblem's superiority to alternatives. Synthesizing evidence presented in several...

Using a nationally representative, longitudinal sample of Asian American late adolescents/young adults (ages 18-26), this article investigates the link between peer effects, school climate, on the one hand, and substance use, which includes tobacco, alcohol, and other illicit mood altering substance. The sample (N = 1585) is drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Waves...