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Police use of force is theoretically important because it involves the execution of perhaps the essential func tion of the state and is practically important because it af fects the public's attitudes and behaviors toward the police and government more generally. Because of its importance, much attention has been devoted to understanding how and why it varies. Three different types of explanation have been advanced: those explaining the use of force in terms of individual characteristics of policemen; those explaining it in terms of the characteristics of the situation in which police meet citizens; and those explaining it in terms of the organiza tion in which police work. But studies up to now have not determined which factors have a genuine influence and how important the various factors are. An analysis of Albert J. Reiss's 1966 observational data, using crosstabulations and multiple regression analysis, finds individual and aggregate relationships so weak that theoretical and methodological re- formulations seem imperative. But the results suggest that many factors commonly thought to affect the use of force have little effect. Only the behavior of the offender and the visibility of the encounter to peers and public emerge as significant influences on police use of force.

A micro-epidemic of hantavirus infections occurred in Lower Bavaria, South-East Germany, starting in April 2004. While only three cases were registered from 2001 to 2003, a dramatically increased number of clinically apparent human hantavirus infections (n=38) was observed in 2004, plus seven additional cases by June 2005. To determine the reservoir responsible for the infections, a total of 43 rodents were trapped in Lower Bavaria. Serological and genetic investigations revealed that Puumala virus (PUUV) is dominant in the local population of bank voles. Partial PUUV S segment nucleotide sequences originating from bank voles at four different trapping sites in Lower Bavaria showed a low divergence (up to 3.1%). This is contrasted by a nucleotide sequence divergence of 14-16% to PUUV strains detected in Belgium, France, Slovakia or North-Western Germany. PUUV sequences from bank voles in Lower Bavaria represent a new PUUV subtype which seems to be responsible for the observed increase of human hantavirus infections in 2004-2005.

Polymers are used in a wide range of applications for microelectronics, [1] medical engineering, [2] and structural composite engineering [3][4][5][6] where local polymer behavior due to interactions with free surfaces, substrates, or embedded surfaces has a significant impact on polymer response and function. For example, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) containing very small amounts of functionalized graphenebased sheet (FGS) [3] has shown increased glass transition temperature (T g ) of nearly 30 8C at only 0.05 wt% loading and increased elastic modulus by 33% at 0.01 wt% loading, well above the upper bound of stiffness predicted by traditional composite theory. Remarkable improvements of this magnitude cannot be attributed to a linear property combination of the polymer host and nanoparticles. Thus, interphase -the polymer near nanoparticle-polymer interfaces in which chain mobility and polymer dynamics substantially alter from the neat polymer -plays a critical role in the significant increases in thermodynamic and mechanical properties.Work in the last 15 years has demonstrated in a number of elegant experiments and modeling that T g of polymers can undergo dramatic changes near interfaces, [7][8][9][10] where negative or positive shift of this transition temperature depends upon the nature of the polymer-surface interaction. Thin films on substrates typically show changes in T g for film thicknesses of order 100 nm while for doubly supported thin films the deviation from bulk T g can be sensed up to film thicknesses of 500 nm. [8][9][10] The impact of the surface on the dynamics of the polymer propagates away from the surface significantly due to the macromolecular nature of polymers. Immediately COMMUNICATION [*] L.The mechanical properties of polymers near interfaces are important in a number of different fields. For almost two decades, the local dynamics of thin polymer films have been studied in great detail. However, development of an understanding of local mechanical properties has been hindered by the necessary proximity of stiff substrates: mechanical measurements are confounded by interaction with the substrate, convoluting polymer, and substrate properties. In this paper, local elastic properties of thin polymer films near interfaces are directly probed for the first time via nanoindentation experiments on thin films coupled with finite element modeling. A comprehensive set of experimental and numerical modeling results are presented for poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) revealing separately the effects of substrate and interphase polymer. Results indicate the attractive surface significantly affects the properties up to hundreds of nanometers. This new, direct approach to measure local mechanical properties provides new fundamental understanding of interfacial and small-scale behaviors in polymers and soft matter for application advances in nanocomposites, microelectronics, and biopolymers. 400 wileyonlinelibrary.com ß

Highly endemic and outbreak regions for human hantavirus infections are located in the southern, southeastern, and western parts of Germany. The dominant hantavirus is the bank vole transmitted Puumala virus (PUUV). In the eastern part of Germany, previous investigations revealed Tula virus (TULV) and Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV) infections in the respective rodent reservoirs. Here, we describe a seroprevalence study in forestry workers from Brandenburg, eastern Germany, using IgG ELISA and immunoblot tests based on recombinant TULV, DOBV, and PUUV antigens. Out of the 563 sera tested, 499 from male and 64 from female workers, we found 41 out of the 499 (8.2%) sera from men (mean age 47 years) and 10 out of 64 (15.6%) from the women (mean age 48 years) anti-hantavirus-positive. The majority of the 51 seropositive samples reacted exclusively in the TULV (n=22) and DOBV tests (n=17). Focus reduction neutralization assay investigations on selected sera confirmed the presence of TULV- and DOBV-specific antibodies in the forestry workers. These investigations demonstrated a potential health threat for forestry workers and also the average population in non-endemic geographical regions where TULV and DOBV are circulating in the corresponding reservoir hosts. The infections in this region might be frequently overlooked due to their unspecific and mild symptoms.