The Constitutionality of Appropriations Transfer Authority under the Nondelegation Doctrine

Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution provides the Legislative Branch with the power of the purse by granting it the exclusive authority to designate how federal dollars may be spent via appropriations laws. Congress often includes transfer authority, which provides Executive Branch recipients of appropriations the ability to shift funds from one budget account to another. Allowing an agency to transfer funds from one non-specific appropriation to another is arguably an unconstitutional abdication of the Legislative Branch’s exclusive power over the purse strings. Appropriations transfers are unconstitutional under the nondelegation doctrine. Certain attempts to alleviate these nondelegation concerns face further constitutional issues by running afoul of the Supreme Court’s holding in INS v. Chadha. Ultimately, however, there are few parties who could successfully gain standing to challenge the constitutionality of transfer authority, so the likelihood of addressing the constitutionality of transfer authority will require Congress acting on its own to protect its Article I, Section 9 power

Distribution of user-perceived usefulness of four presentation styles of opinion summarization

In this study, four opinion summarization styles were compared under an experimental environment. Thirty four participants sorted thirty two cards into five usefulness categories. Every eight cards belong to one presentation style. It was found that the users spent the shortest time on cards in “not at all useful” category. The time of viewing “extremely useful” cards was also shorter than that of “somewhat useful”, “useful”, and “very useful” cards. This result can be explained with the components of the usefulness categories. Tag clouds and Aspect oriented sentiments needed less time to view. They are the major styles in “not at all useful” and “extremely useful”. Paragraph summaries and Group samples requested more time and they took at least 50% in “somewhat useful”, “useful”, and “very useful”. The findings are consistent with our previous results

Global changes in gene expression associated with phenotypic switching of wild yeast

BACKGROUND: Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from natural settings form structured biofilm colonies that are equipped with intricate protective mechanisms. These wild strains are able to reprogram themselves with a certain frequency during cultivation in plentiful laboratory conditions. The resulting domesticated strains switch off certain protective mechanisms and form smooth colonies that resemble those of common laboratory strains. RESULTS: Here, we show that domestication can be reversed when a domesticated strain is challenged by various adverse conditions; the resulting feral strain restores its ability to form structured biofilm colonies. Phenotypic, microscopic and transcriptomic analyses show that phenotypic transition is a complex process that affects various aspects of feral strain physiology; it leads to a phenotype that resembles the original wild strain in some aspects and the domesticated derivative in others. We specify the genetic determinants that are likely involved in the formation of a structured biofilm colonies. In addition to FLO11, these determinants include genes that affect the cell wall and membrane composition. We also identify changes occurring during phenotypic transitions that affect other properties of phenotypic strain-variants, such as resistance to the impact of environmental stress. Here we document the regulatory role of the histone deacetylase Hda1p in developing such a resistance. CONCLUSIONS: We provide detailed analysis of transcriptomic and phenotypic modulations of three related S. cerevisiae strains that arose by phenotypic switching under diverse environmental conditions. We identify changes specifically related to a strain’s ability to create complex structured colonies; we also show that other changes, such as genome rearrangement(s), are unrelated to this ability. Finally, we identify the importance of histone deacetylase Hda1p in strain resistance to stresses

Assessment of Emergency Medicine Resident Performance in a Pediatric In Situ Simulation Using Multi-Source Feedback.

Introduction Multi-source feedback (MSF) is an evaluation method mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The Queen\u27s Simulation Assessment Tool (QSAT) has been validated as being able to distinguish between resident performances in a simulation setting. The QSAT has also been demonstrated to have excellent MSF agreement when used in an adult simulation performed in a simulation lab. Using the QSAT, this study sought to determine the degree of agreement of MSF in a single pediatric (Peds) simulation case conducted in situ in a Peds emergency department (ED). Methods This Institutional Review Board-approved study was conducted in a four-year emergency medicine residency. A Peds resuscitation case was developed with specific behavioral anchors on the QSAT, which uses a 1-5 scale in each of five categories: Primary Assessment, Diagnostic Actions, Therapeutic Actions, Communication, and Overall Assessment. Data was gathered from six participants for each simulation. The lead resident self-evaluated and received MSF from a junior peer resident, a fixed Peds ED nurse, a random ED nurse, and two faculty (one fixed, the other from a dyad). The agreement was calculated with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Results The simulation was performed on 35 separate days over two academic years. A total of 106 MSF participants were enrolled. Enrollees included three faculty members, 35 team leaders, 34 peers, 33 ED registered nurses (RN), and one Peds RN; 50% of the enrollees were female (n=53). Mean QSAT scores ranged from 20.7 to 23.4. A fair agreement was demonstrated via ICC; there was no statistically significant difference between sources of MSF. Removing self-evaluation led to the highest ICC. ICC for any single or grouped non-faculty source of MSF was poor. Conclusion Using the QSAT, the findings from this single-site cohort suggest that faculty must be included in MSF. Self-evaluation appears to be of limited value in MSF with the QSAT. The degree of MSF agreement as gathered by the QSAT was lower in this cohort than previously reported for adult simulation cases performed in the simulation lab. This may be due to either the pediatric nature of the case, the location of the simulation, or both

fMRI reveals reciprocal inhibition between social and physical cognitive domains

Two lines of evidence indicate that there exists a reciprocal inhibitory relationship between opposed brain networks. First, most attention-demanding cognitive tasks activate a stereotypical set of brain areas, known as the task-positive network and simultaneously deactivate a different set of brain regions, commonly referred to as the task negative or defaultmode network. Second, functional connectivity analyses show that these same opposed networks are anti-correlated in the resting state. Wehypothesize that these reciprocally inhibitory effects reflect two incompatible cognitive modes, each of which may be directed towards understanding the external world. Thus, engaging onemode activates one set of regions and suppresses activity in the other.Wetest this hypothesis by identifying two types of problem-solving task which, on the basis of prior work, have been consistently associated with the task positive and task negative regions: tasks requiring social cognition, i.e., reasoning about the mental states of other persons, and tasks requiring physical cognition, i.e., reasoning about the causal/mechanical properties of inanimate objects. Social and mechanical reasoning tasks were presented to neurologically normal participants during fMRI. Each task type was presented using both text and video clips. Regardless of presentation modality, we observed clear evidence of reciprocal suppression: social tasks deactivated regions associated with mechanical reasoning and mechanical tasks deactivated regions associated with social reasoning. These findings are not explained by self-referential processes, task engagement, mental simulation,mental time travel or external vs. internal attention, all factors previously hypothesized to explain default mode network activity. Analyses of resting state data revealed a close match between the regions our tasks identified as reciprocally inhibitory and regions of maximal anti-correlation in the resting state. These results indicate the reciprocal inhibition is not attributable to constraints inherent in the tasks, but is neural in origin. Hence, there is a physiological constraint on our ability to simultaneously engage two distinct cognitive modes. Furtherwork is needed tomore precisely characterize these opposing cognitive domains

Age- and size-related reference ranges: A case study of spirometry through childhood and adulthood

Age-related reference ranges are useful for assessing growth in children. The LMS method is a popular technique for constructing growth charts that model the age-changing distribution of the measurement in terms of the median, coefficient of variation and skewness. Here the methodology is extended to references that depend on body size as well as age, by exploiting the flexibility of the generalised additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS) technique. GAMLSS offers general linear predictors for each moment parameter and a choice of error distributions, which can handle kurtosis as well as skewness. A key question with such references is the nature of the age-size adjustment, additive or multiplicative, which is explored by comparing the identity link and log link for the median predictor

“It Was Only Harmless Banter!” The development and preliminary validation of the moral disengagement in sexual harassment scale.

Sexual harassment represents aggressive behavior that is often enacted instrumentally, in response to a threatened sense of masculinity and male identity. To date, however, theoretical attention to the social cognitive processes that regulate workplace harassment is scant. This article presents the development and preliminary validation of the Moral Disengagement in Sexual Harassment Scale (MDiSH); a self-report measure of moral disengagement in the context of hostile work environment harassment. Three studies (total N = 797) document the excellent psychometric properties of this new scale. Male U.K. university students (Study 1: N = 322) and U.S. working males (Studies 2 and 3: N = 475) completed the MDiSH and an array of measures for construct validation. The MDiSH exhibited positive correlations with sexual harassment myth acceptance, male gender identification, and hostile sexism. In Study 3, participants were exposed to a fictitious case of hostile work environment harassment. The MDiSH attenuated moral judgment, negative emotions (guilt, shame, and anger), sympathy, and endorsement of prosocial behavioral intentions (support for restitution) associated with the harassment case. Conversely, the MDiSH increased positive affect (happiness) about the harassment and attribution of blame to the female complainant. Implications for practice and future research avenues are discussed

Umenie ako prejav krásy Boha: Krása a symbolika v pojednaniach Tomáša Špidlíka, SJ

This thesis ise focused on art that reflects the beauty of God. The aim of this work is to clarify that art as a human element can express the beauty and transcendental realities of God. We have evolved the presented topic on the basis of publications, articles, lectures and the spirituality of Tomáš Cardinal Špidlík SJ. The work deals with artistic creation as an activity, with the artist as the creator of art and with the image as the result of the activity of the artist. The artist communicates his inspiration through symbolic expression. The created world is an expression of higher facts in the artist's hands. In this work we present iconography and icon as a form of art which expresses the beauty of God. By following iconographic rules it is possible to create art that expresses eternal truths in the language of the present. According to iconographic rules, it is possible to create art that expresses eternal truths in the present language. An example is the practical aplication of the obtained knowledge in the creation of the mosaic God, the donor of every good" in the Church of Our Lady of Karmel in Karolínka (Czech Republic).Diplomová práca sa zameriava na umenie, ktoré je odrazom krásy Boha. Cieľom práce je objasnenie, že umenie ako ľudský prvok môže slúžiť človeku pre vyjadrenie krásy a transcendentných skutočností Boha. Predloženú tému rozvíjame na podklade publikácií, článkov, prednášok ako i spirituality Tomáša kardinála Špidlíka SJ. Práca pojednáva o umeleckej tvorbe ako činnosti, o umelcovi ako tvorcovi umenia a o obraze, ktorý je výsledkom činnosti umelca. Umelec vo svojej tvorbe nadobudnutú inšpiráciu komunikuje prostredníctvom symbolického vyjadrenia. Konkrétne veci v stvorenom svete sú v umelcových rukách prostriedkom pre vyjadrenie vyšších skutočností. V práci predstavujeme ikonografiu a ikonu ako formu umenia, ktorá je prostriedkom na vyjadrenia krásy Boha. Dodržaním ikonografických pravidiel je možné tvoriť umenie, ktoré vyjadruje večné pravdy v jazyku súčasnej doby. Príkladom je praktické využitie nadobudnutých poznatkov pri tvorbe mozaiky s názvom "Bůh, dárce každého dobra" v kostole Panny Márie Karmelskej v meste Karolínka (ČR).Katedra systematické teologie a filosofie (do 2023)Department of Systematic Theology and PhilosophyCatholic Theological FacultyKatolická teologická fakult