NLRB - FEPC?

One potential agency in the attack on racial discrimination in employment is the National Labor Relations Board. The President has indicated that substantial reliance will be placed on that agency for the vindication of Negro rights in areas of employment not covered by Executive Order 10925. Less than a year. ago the board\u27s approach in this area was cautious and its proper role ill-defined and speculative.\u27 Within the past year, however, the NLRB has moved rapidly by sharpening four, possibly five, anti-bias remedies. Three have roots in early NLRB decisions. The fourth is new. The fifth, resurrection of which has only been hinted at so far,is also derived from early Board decisions. The first three of these remedies are (a) the decertification of unions which discriminate against Negroes, (b) the setting aside of representation elections where an employer or a union makes exacerbated appeals to racial bias, and (c) the removal of discriminatory collective bargaining contracts as bars to representation petitions by stranger unions.\u27 The fourth consists of the Board\u27s preventing a union, when acting in its statutory representative capacity, from taking action against any employee upon considerations or classifications which are irrelevant, invidious, or unfair. Similarly, employer participation in such action may be remedied.\u27 The fifth remedy would make it an unfair labor practice for an employer or a union to make such exacerbated appeals to racial bias in a representation campaign as would be grounds for setting aside a representation election. Whether these remedies will be effective cannot be foretold. It is important for now, however, to inquire whether the NLRB\u27s assumption of responsibility in this area is justified. This paper is an attempt to explore that question

Properties Of Bound Estimators On Treatment Effect Heterogeneity For Binary Outcomes

Variability in individual causal effects, treatment effect heterogeneity (TEH), is important to the interpretation of clinical trial results, regardless of the marginal treatment effect. Unfortunately, it is usually ignored. In the setting of two-arm randomized studies with binary outcomes, there are estimators for bounds on the probability of control success and treatment failure for an individual, or the treatment risk. Here, those bounds were refined and the sampling properties were assessed using simulations of correlated multinomial data via the Dirichlet multinomial. Results indicated low bias and mean squared error. Moderate to high intraclass correlation (ICC) and large numbers of clusters allow narrower confidence interval widths for the treatment risk

Evaluation of the ALMA Prototype Antennas

The ALMA North American and European prototype antennas have been evaluated by a variety of measurement systems to quantify the major performance specifications. Nearfield holography was used to set the reflector surfaces to 17 microns RMS. Pointing and fast switching performance was determined with an optical telescope and by millimeter wavelength radiometry, yielding 2 arcsec absolute and 0.6 arcsec offset pointing accuracies. Path length stability was measured to be less than or approximately equal to 20 microns over 10 minute time periods using optical measurement devices. Dynamical performance was studied with a set of accelerometers, providing data on wind induced tracking errors and structural deformation. Considering all measurements made during this evaluation, both prototype antennas meet the major ALMA antenna performance specifications.Comment: 83 pages, 36 figures, AASTex format, to appear in PASP September 2006 issu

Statistical significance of the sterile-neutrino hypothesis in the context of reactor and gallium data

We evaluate the statistical significance of the 3+1 sterile-neutrino hypothesis using $\nu_e$ and $\bar\nu_e$ disappearance data from reactor, solar and gallium radioactive source experiments. Concerning the latter, we investigate the implications of the recent BEST results. For reactor data we focus on relative measurements independent of flux predictions. For the problem at hand, the usual $\chi^2$-approximation to hypothesis testing based on Wilks' theorem has been shown in the literature to be inaccurate. We therefore present results based on Monte Carlo simulations, and find that this typically reduces the significance by roughly $1\,\sigma$ with respect to the na\"ive expectation. We find no significant indication in favor of sterile-neutrino oscillations from reactor data. On the other hand, gallium data (dominated by the BEST result) show more than $5\,\sigma$ of evidence supporting the sterile-neutrino hypothesis, favoring oscillation parameters in agreement with constraints from reactor data. This explanation is, however, in significant tension ($\sim 3\,\sigma$) with solar neutrino experiments. In order to assess the robustness of the signal for gallium experiments we present a discussion of the impact of cross-section uncertainties on the results.Comment: 37 pages plus references, 9 figures. v2: Minor changes, references added. Matches version accepted for publication in JHE

F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012

https://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/reports/2012/rwjf40131

Bone Properties by Nanoindentation in Mild and Severe \u3cem\u3eOsteogenesis Imperfecta\u3c/em\u3e

Background Osteogenesis imperfecta is a heterogeneous genetic disorder characterized by bone fragility. Previous research suggests that impaired collagen network and abnormal mineralization affect bone tissue properties, however, little data is yet available to describe bone material properties in individuals with this disorder. Bone material properties have not been characterized in individuals with the most common form of osteogenesis imperfecta, type I. Methods Bone tissue elastic modulus and hardness were measured by nanoindentation in eleven osteotomy specimens that were harvested from children with osteogenesis imperfecta during routine surgeries. These properties were compared between osteogenesis imperfecta types I (mild, n = 6) and III (severe, n = 5), as well as between interstitial and osteonal microstructural regions using linear mixed model analysis. Findings Disease severity type had a small but statistically significant effect on modulus (7%, P = 0.02) and hardness (8%, P \u3c 0.01). Individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta type I had higher modulus and hardness than did those with type III. Overall, mean modulus and hardness values were 13% greater in interstitial lamellar bone regions than in osteonal regions (P \u3c 0.001). Interpretation The current study presents the first dataset describing bone material properties in individuals with the most common form of osteogenesis imperfecta, i.e., type I. Results indicate that intrinsic bone tissue properties are affected by phenotype. Knowledge of the material properties of bones in osteogenesis imperfecta will contribute to the ability to develop models to assist in predicting fracture risk

Beam Tests of Ionization Chambers for the NuMI Neutrino Beam

We have conducted tests at the Fermilab Booster of ionization chambers to be used as monitors of the NuMI neutrino beamline. The chambers were exposed to proton fluxes of up to 10$^{12}$ particles/cm$^2$/1.56$\mu$s. We studied space charge effects which can reduce signal collection from the chambers at large charged particle beam intensities.Comment: submitted to IEEE Trans Nucl. Sc

MR diffusion changes in the perimeter of the lateral ventricles demonstrate periventricular injury in post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus of prematurity

OBJECTIVES: Injury to the preterm lateral ventricular perimeter (LVP), which contains the neural stem cells responsible for brain development, may contribute to the neurological sequelae of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus of prematurity (PHH). This study utilizes diffusion MRI (dMRI) to characterize the microstructural effects of IVH/PHH on the LVP and segmented frontal-occipital horn perimeters (FOHP). STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study of 56 full-term infants, 72 very preterm infants without brain injury (VPT), 17 VPT infants with high-grade IVH without hydrocephalus (HG-IVH), and 13 VPT infants with PHH who underwent dMRI at term equivalent. LVP and FOHP dMRI measures and ventricular size-dMRI correlations were assessed. RESULTS: In the LVP, PHH had consistently lower FA and higher MD and RD than FT and VPT (p\u3c.050). However, while PHH FA was lower, and PHH RD was higher than their respective HG-IVH measures (p\u3c.050), the MD and AD values did not differ. In the FOHP, PHH infants had lower FA and higher RD than FT and VPT (p\u3c.010), and a lower FA than the HG-IVH group (p\u3c.001). While the magnitude of AD in both the LVP and FOHP were consistently less in the PHH group on pairwise comparisons to the other groups, the differences were not significant (p\u3e.050). Ventricular size correlated negatively with FA, and positively with MD and RD (p\u3c.001) in both the LVP and FOHP. In the PHH group, FA was lower in the FOHP than in the LVP, which was contrary to the observed findings in the healthy infants (p\u3c.001). Nevertheless, there were no regional differences in AD, MD, and RD in the PHH group. CONCLUSION: HG-IVH and PHH results in aberrant LVP/FOHP microstructure, with prominent abnormalities among the PHH group, most notably in the FOHP. Larger ventricular size was associated with greater magnitude of abnormality. LVP/FOHP dMRI measures may provide valuable biomarkers for future studies directed at improving the management and neurological outcomes of IVH/PHH