An Opinion: Federal Judges Misconstrue Rule 704 (Or Is That an Impermissible Legal Conclusion)

This article addresses the need to formulate a uniform and predictable approach to the admissibility of expert opinion testimony which relates the law to the facts. First, it briefly discusses the history of expert opinion testimony. Second, it discusses, through a case analysis, the difficult, if not impossible task that courts have assumed in attempting to differentiate between two types of expert opinions: (1) those which are, by their nature, factual; and (2) those which require some level of legal analysis-directly relating the law to the facts of the case. Finally, this article suggests an alternative approach which is arguably more consistent with the goals of Article VII of the Federal Rules of Evidence

UA94/6/1 Scrapbook

Photo scrapbook created by twins Anna Jo Cook Pickens and Betty Jo Cook Gibson. They were recruited as cheerleaders by E.A. Diddle in 1944. Items date from 1941 through 1996. Clippings: Is Betrothed - Betty Jo Cook Starting Lineup for the Hilltoppers Cook Twins Praised Highly for Cheering Harmony & Rhythm Cook Twins to Tour with Western Quintet Western Whooper-Uppers McNerney, Jerry. Cook Twins Wow \u27Em Pennington, Penny. Strictly Personal Friday Nighter\u27s Cup Goes to Cook Twins Production Credit Association Annual Stockholders Meeting Set for Saturday Okay, Bring on the Twins, Is Reply for All-Star Game Knott, Larry. Western to Play Ft. Knox at County High Hall, Bob. Famed Cook Twins of Western State on Local Progam Cook Sisters are Highly Praised Shaver, Leon. Kentucky Twins, Anna Jo and Bettie Jo Cook, Entertain Guests at Yanks\u27 Annual Banquet Jo and Jo Famous Cook Twins Will Perform at Jay Cees\u27 Benefit Thursday Cooke - Gibson Seventeen Western Seniors in Who\u27s Who Patton, Blaine. All-Star Letter to the Governor Song, Dance Act Presented by Twins Famous Twins to Entertain Winners in Defeat Baker, Marcia. Cheer Leaders Probable West Starters Stedler, Bob. Sport Comment Lowe, Herman. Coach Diddle Understood Theater Small Fry of the Quad-City Blackhawk

Modeling the α- and β-resorcinol phase boundary via combination of density functional theory and density functional tight-binding

The ability to predict not only what organic crystal structures might occur but also the thermodynamic conditions under which they are the most stable would be extremely useful for discovering and designing new organic materials. The present study takes a step in that direction by predicting the temperature- and pressure-dependent phase boundary between the α and β polymorphs of resorcinol using density functional theory (DFT) and the quasi-harmonic approximation. To circumvent the major computational bottleneck associated with computing a well-converged phonon density of states via the supercell approach, a recently developed approximation is employed, which combines a supercell phonon density of states from dispersion-corrected third-order density functional tight binding [DFTB3-D3(BJ)] with frequency corrections derived from a smaller B86bPBE-XDM functional DFT phonon calculation on the crystallographic unit cell. This mixed DFT/DFTB quasi-harmonic approach predicts the lattice constants and unit cell volumes to within 1%-2% at lower pressures. It predicts the thermodynamic phase boundary in almost perfect agreement with the experiment, although this excellent agreement does reflect fortuitous cancellation of errors between the enthalpy and entropy of transition

CSGM Designer: a platform for designing cross-species intron-spanning genic markers linked with genome information of legumes.

BackgroundGenetic markers are tools that can facilitate molecular breeding, even in species lacking genomic resources. An important class of genetic markers is those based on orthologous genes, because they can guide hypotheses about conserved gene function, a situation that is well documented for a number of agronomic traits. For under-studied species a key bottleneck in gene-based marker development is the need to develop molecular tools (e.g., oligonucleotide primers) that reliably access genes with orthology to the genomes of well-characterized reference species.ResultsHere we report an efficient platform for the design of cross-species gene-derived markers in legumes. The automated platform, named CSGM Designer (URL: http://tgil.donga.ac.kr/CSGMdesigner), facilitates rapid and systematic design of cross-species genic markers. The underlying database is composed of genome data from five legume species whose genomes are substantially characterized. Use of CSGM is enhanced by graphical displays of query results, which we describe as "circular viewer" and "search-within-results" functions. CSGM provides a virtual PCR representation (eHT-PCR) that predicts the specificity of each primer pair simultaneously in multiple genomes. CSGM Designer output was experimentally validated for the amplification of orthologous genes using 16 genotypes representing 12 crop and model legume species, distributed among the galegoid and phaseoloid clades. Successful cross-species amplification was obtained for 85.3% of PCR primer combinations.ConclusionCSGM Designer spans the divide between well-characterized crop and model legume species and their less well-characterized relatives. The outcome is PCR primers that target highly conserved genes for polymorphism discovery, enabling functional inferences and ultimately facilitating trait-associated molecular breeding

Letters as literature: semantic and discursive features of irony in "Letters to Howard"

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2011This thesis examines the literary features of the Letters to Howard, a series of letters to the editor of the Alaskan newspaper, the Tundra Times. Published over the course of several months in 1973, the letters were signed by two semi-fictional characters: an old Eskimo man, Naugga Ciunerput, and a lost VISTA volunteer, Wally Morton, the two lone inhabitants of the imagined Land's End Village, Alaska. Naugga and Wally had a pointed agenda: they were addressing editor Howard Rock and his readership with their concerns regarding the newly-passed Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA. In truth, Naugga and Wally's letters were written by two graduate students, Fred Bigjim (an Inupiaq from Nome studying education) and James Ito-Adler (a law student who had switched to anthropology). The use of irony in these letters is the subject of my analysis here; I focus first on the semantic layers of irony and second on its discursive dimensions. This thesis' ultimate goal is to illuminate the ways in which these letters contest history, frame the nature and distribution of power, and examine the myriad tensions at play between Native peoples' historic, cultural, and political ties to the land.Foreword -- Introduction -- 1. Angles on the historical and political scene surrounding "Letters to Howard" -- Alaska Native Land Claims -- The civil rights political climate of the 1960s -- Implications of the Statehood Act -- Understanding oil -- The essentials of ANCSA -- A brief overview of the development of literacy among Alaska Natives -- The role of published news in Native Alaskan history -- Political critics: Fred Bigjim and James Ito-Adler's literary collaboration -- 2. Assemblies of meaning: the semantics of irony -- Markers and method: considering the recognition and attribution of irony -- Understanding irony's edge in "Letters to Howard" -- Parting thoughts -- 3. Discursive dimensions: the politics of irony -- Plural meaning -- A discursive angle on voice and pacing -- A timely return to irony -- Transideological politics -- History and power, framing issues through story -- Tracing one letter's irony -- And so in the end -- Conclusion -- References

A Meta-Analysis of Studies on Self-Concept Between the Years of 1976 and 1986

This meta-analysis investigated the efficacy of counseling to favorably change self-concept; the effectiveness of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) in measuring self-concept change; and whether the TSCS is consistent with other self-concept instruments in measuring self-concept change when used in the same research study. The meta-analysis inclusion criteria were: one or more psychotherapy or counseling treatments administered to the subjects; comparison of two groups, including an alternate treatment or control condition; investigated self-concept change; pre-post-test measurements of self-concept dependent variable were reported; sample was randomized and/or matched for equivalence; and sufficient information was reported to calculate or reconstruct an effect size

The effects of concrete-representational-abstract sequence of instruction on solving equations using inverse operations with high school students with mild intellectual disability

This study used a multiple probe across participants design to examine the effects of concrete-representational-abstract sequence of instruction on solving equations using inverse operations with high school students with mild intellectual disability. Results demonstrated a functional relation between the Abstract sequence of instruction and students ability to solve equations using inverse operations. Students were also able to maintain the skills learned up to four weeks post-intervention. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research are described

Chlorpromazine for schizophrenia: a Cochrane systematic review of 50 years of randomised controlled trials

BACKGROUND: Chlorpromazine (CPZ) remains one of the most common drugs used for people with schizophrenia worldwide, and a benchmark against which other treatments can be evaluated. Quantitative reviews are rare; this one evaluates the effects of chlorpromazine in the treatment of schizophrenia in comparison with placebo. METHODS: We sought all relevant randomised controlled trials (RCT) comparing chlorpromazine to placebo by electronic and reference searching, and by contacting trial authors and the pharmaceutical industry. Data were extracted from selected trials and, where possible, synthesised and random effects relative risk (RR), the number needed to treat (NNT) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) calculated. RESULTS: Fifty RCTs from 1955–2000 were included with 5276 people randomised to CPZ or placebo. They constitute 2008 person-years spent in trials. Meta-analysis of these trials showed that chlorpromazine promotes a global improvement (n = 1121, 13 RCTs, RR 0.76 CI 0.7 to 0.9, NNT 7 CI 5 to 10), although a considerable placebo response is also seen. People allocated to chlorpromazine tended not to leave trials early in both the short (n = 945, 16 RCTs, RR 0.74 CI 0.5 to 1.1) and medium term (n = 1861, 25 RCTs, RR 0.79 CI 0.6 to 1.1). There were, however, many adverse effects. Chlorpromazine is sedating (n = 1242, 18 RCTs, RR 2.3 CI 1.7 to 3.1, NNH 6 CI 5 to 8), increases a person's chances of experiencing acute movement disorders, Parkinsonism and causes low blood pressure with dizziness and dry mouth. CONCLUSION: It is understandable why the World Health Organization (WHO) have endorsed and included chlorpromazine in their list of essential drugs for use in schizophrenia. Low- and middle-income countries may have more complete evidence upon which to base their practice compared with richer nations using recent innovations

Assessment of data quality in an international multi-centre randomised trial of coronary artery surgery

ART is a multi-centre randomised trial of cardiac surgery which provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the data from a large number of centres from a variety of countries. We attempted to assess data quality, including recruitment rates, timeliness and completeness of the data obtained from the centres in different socio-economic strata