Speech therapy and voice recognition instrument

Characteristics of electronic circuit for examining variations in vocal excitation for diagnostic purposes and in speech recognition for determiniog voice patterns and pitch changes are described. Operation of the circuit is discussed and circuit diagram is provided

The Global Debate on the Death Penalty

The debate over capital punishment in the United States - be it in the courts, in state legislatures, or on nationally televised talk shows - is always fraught with emotion. The themes have changed little over the last two or three hundred years. Does it deter crime? If not, is it necessary to satisfy society\u27s desire for retribution against those who commit unspeakably violent crimes? Is it worth the cost? Are murderers capable of redemption? Should states take the lives of their own citizens? Are current methods of execution humane? Is there too great a risk of executing the innocent? We are not alone in this debate. Others around the world - judges, legislators, and ordinary citizens - have struggled to reconcile calls for retribution with evidence that the death penalty does not deter crime. Yet, while the United States has thus far rejected appeals to abolish the death penalty or adopt a moratorium, other nations have - increasingly and seemingly inexorably - decided to do away with capital punishment

Domestic and International Developments Relating to the Death Penalty: Introduction and Remarks

In recent years, international law has played an increasingly prominent role in the development of death penalty jurisprudence in both domestic and international tribunals. In the United States, the citation of foreign jurisprudence by the Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons and Atkins v. Virginia has generated an intense debate within the Court, Congress, and the media. In the Caribbean, decisions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights have resulted in commutations of numerous death sentences. While abolitionists have celebrated these developments, the death penalty remains a popular sanction, and human rights advocates in the Caribbean have been particularly frustrated by antiquated laws that have effectively impeded important death penalty reforms. These developments are discussed below and in accompanying papers. In litigation challenging the application of the death penalty in the United States, assiduous defense attorneys have been citing international human rights norms for decades. Foreign governments have also played a prominent role in promoting the acceptance of international norms that support restrictions on the application of the death penalty. These efforts led directly to landmark decisions regarding the execution of juvenile offenders and the execution of foreign nationals whose consular rights had been violated

Teaching Climate Literacy Using Geospatial Tools

Antarctica is the world’s coldest, driest and windiest continent. It is a harsh environment that few people will ever see but it is a very important part of our Earth system. Over the past 34 million years the climate in Antarctica has deteriorated from one that supported lush vegetation to the conditions observed today. By studying this trend and the associated changes to ice and vegetation we can gain critical insight into climate changes taking place today. This thesis presents three pieces of curricula that will help students and the general public understand some of the research currently underway in Antarctica while introducing them to geospatial tools that can be used to study climate and other large spatial and temporal events. The first paper guides students through an investigation of changing palynological distributions over time. In the activities described, students will use these data to infer climatic change on different geologic time scales and in different locales. Students will use published data-sets to trace changes in plant assembly over the past 34 million years on the Antarctic Peninsula as well as to understand the demise of the North American Ice Sheet during the last 20,000 years. The activity also introduces the use of GeoMapApp mapping software for the preparation of geo-spatial imagery and data processing. In the second paper, I outline a forensics activity that is based on actual cases where pollen has been used to solve crimes. This paper outlines a method to geo-locate a crime scene by combining Google Earth and data from NOAA’s paleo-climate website. Here the focus is on spatial, rather than temporal, changes in climate and flora. Finally, I present an activity that uses GeoMapApp and multi-beam sonar data from the Ross Sea to find and map megascale glacial lineations which can then be used to infer paleo-ice stream locations and grounding zone wedges that were laid down during the last glacial maximum

The Limits of International Law: Efforts to Enforce Rulings of the International Court of Justice in U.S. Death Penalty Cases

Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the United States has executed twenty-eight foreign nationals from fifteen different countries. Most of those foreign nationals were never informed of their rights to consular notification and access under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a treaty the United States ratified in 1969. Violations of Article 36 in capital cases have caused consternation in foreign capitals and endless litigation in domestic courts and international tribunals. Mexico, which has the largest number of foreign nationals on death row, established the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program in 2000 to assist its nationals facing the death penalty and to ensure that Vienna Convention claims were aggressively litigated. Several foreign governments have filed briefs in state and federal courts describing the nature of the assistance they could have provided if their nationals had been promptly notified of their consular rights. In dozens of cases, appellate lawyers have argued that consular assistance could have made the difference between life and death. Yet, even in the wake of favorable judgments from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, the Inter American Court on Human Rights, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), national courts have persistently refused to grant any measure of relief to condemned foreign nationals, even in cases in which the violation was undisputed. As of September 2011, domestic courts have overturned death sentences on the basis of Article 36 violations in only two cases

Assumptions In Forrester\u27s Urban Dynamics Model And Their Implications

Forrester\u27s Urban Dynamics model is examined in terms of 1) his assumptions about complex dynamic systems, 2) the a priori bias revealed using a normalized model, 3) equilibrium changes when the model is modified to fit urban data, and 4) policy predictions of such a modified model. Copyright © 1972 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc

Applying student development theories to intramural sports programming

The purpose of this paper is to examine student development as it is currently related to participation in intramural sports. Intramural sports are defined and a brief history discussed. Next, applying student development theories to intramurals will be examined as well as implications for student affairs administrators. Finally, recommendations will be made for administrators to increase the student development potential of intramural sports programs