The Inherent Structure of Free Speech Law

To date no one has discovered a set of organizing principles for free speech doctrine, an area of the law that has been criticized as complex, ad hoc, and even incoherent. We provide a framework that distills free speech law down to three judgments: the first about the role of government; the second about the target of government regulation; and the third a constrained cost-benefit analysis. The framework can be summarized by three propositions: first, the Constitution constrains government if it regulates private speech, but not if government speaks, sponsors speech or restricts expression in managing an internal governmental function; second, government regulation is subject to the Free Speech Clause only if it targets communication; and, third, government regulation targeting communication is constitutional if it survives a constrained cost-benefit analysis. We first set forth our general theory and provide examples of its explanatory power. We then argue that our framework finds confirmation in the works of three renowned scholars: Dean Robert Post of Yale Law School on role of government, Professor Jed Rubenfeld of Yale Law School on the target of government regulation and the constraints on balancing, and Judge Richard Posner on cost-benefit analysis. The work of these scholars supports our position in two ways: first, each agrees with part of our framework; and, second, the writings of each are unpersuasive to the extent they are at odds with our rational reconstruction of free speech law

From Four Part Tests to First Principles: Putting Free Speech Jurisprudence into Perspective

(Excerpt) In Part I of this Article, we set out some of the most commonly used tests and doctrines in free speech cases, and discuss how they are applied. These tests include: (1) forum analysis; (2) employee speech; (3) determination of the kind of restriction placed on speech-(a) time, place, or manner, (b) content, (c) viewpoint, or (d) secondary effects; and (4) determination of whether the speech is protected, unprotected, or somehow protected but less so than other speech. For each doctrine and set of tests, we examine the basic determinations that must be made before application and the purposes the doctrines and tests serve. We suggest that all of these tests and doctrines are useful tools to help answer the three basic questions that we believe underlie not only virtually all of free speech jurisprudence, but also the jurisprudence relating to other constitutional rights, and even to tort law. These three basic questions boil down to the following: (1) Assuming that the government has somehow negatively impacted a person\u27s communication, does the government have a constitutional duty to the would-be speaker with respect to its action? (2) If the government has potentially breached a constitutional duty with respect to the plaintiffs speech, has it done so intentionally? and (3) if the government has intentionally targeted the plaintiffs speech, is that restriction justified? Put even more simply, virtually all of the free speech tests and doctrines invented and applied by courts are simply devices to help them determine duty, intention, and justification. After setting out each of the doctrines and its accompanying tests, we show how they can serve as effective shorthand for answers to one or more of these three basic questions, and, as a result, how they have become useful tools in free speech cases. We then explain how major problems arise. The doctrines become counterproductive when the doctrinal categories overwhelm their proper roles as aids to answer the above simple questions. When these doctrines are viewed as independent of and primary to the issues of duty, intention, and justification, rather than as shorthand for the answers to these questions, the doctrines and the cases appear to be incomprehensible and self-contradictory. Finally, we suggest that often judges may fail to properly use the tests as ways to answer the other basic questions because they simply lose track of the role these tests were meant to play. Other times, though, reliance on these doctrines allows judges to present what are inherently normative judgments as nothing more than factual determinations

Fibronectin and Cyclic Strain Improve Cardiac Progenitor Cell Regenerative Potential In Vitro.

Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) have rapidly advanced to clinical trials, yet little is known regarding their interaction with the microenvironment. Signaling cues present in the microenvironment change with development and disease. This work aims to assess the influence of two distinct signaling moieties on CPCs: cyclic biaxial strain and extracellular matrix. We evaluate four endpoints for improving CPC therapy: paracrine signaling, proliferation, connexin43 expression, and alignment. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (about 900 pg/mL) was secreted by CPCs cultured on fibronectin and collagen I. The application of mechanical strain increased vascular endothelial growth factor A secretion 2-4-fold for CPCs cultured on poly-L-lysine, laminin, or a naturally derived cardiac extracellular matrix. CPC proliferation was at least 25% higher on fibronectin than that on other matrices, especially for lower strain magnitudes. At 5% strain, connexin43 expression was highest on fibronectin. With increasing strain magnitude, connexin43 expression decreased by as much as 60% in CPCs cultured on collagen I and a naturally derived cardiac extracellular matrix. Cyclic mechanical strain induced the strongest CPC alignment when cultured on fibronectin or collagen I. This study demonstrates that culturing CPCs on fibronectin with 5% strain magnitude is optimal for their vascular endothelial growth factor A secretion, proliferation, connexin43 expression, and alignment

Ballistic Performance of Porous Ceramic Thermal Protection Systems at 9 km/s

Porous-ceramic, thermal-protection-systems are used heavily in current reentry vehicles like the Orbiter, and they are currently being proposed for the next generation of manned spacecraft, Orion. These materials insulate the structural components and sensitive electronic components of a spacecraft against the intense thermal environments of atmospheric reentry. Furthermore, these materials are also highly exposed to space environmental hazards like meteoroid and orbital debris impacts. This paper discusses recent impact testing up to 9 km/s on ceramic tiles similar to those used on the Orbiter. These tiles have a porous-batting of nominally 8 lb/cubic ft alumina-fiber-enhanced-thermal-barrier (AETB8) insulating material coated with a damage-resistant, toughened-unipiece-fibrous-insulation (TUFI) layer

Ballistic Performance of Porous-Ceramic, Thermal Protection Systems to 9 km/s

Porous-ceramic, thermal protection systems are used heavily in current reentry vehicles like the Orbiter, and they are currently being proposed for the next generation of US manned spacecraft, Orion. These materials insulate the structural components and sensitive components of a spacecraft against the intense thermal environments of atmospheric reentry. These materials are also highly exposed to solid particle space environment hazards. This paper discusses recent impact testing up to 9.65 km/s on ceramic tiles similar to those used on the Orbiter. These tiles are a porous-ceramic insulator of nominally 8 lb/ft(exp 3) alumina-fiber-enhanced-thermal-barrier (AETB8) coated with a damage-resistant, toughened-unipiece-fibrous-insulation/reaction-cured-glass layer (TUFI/RCG)

Declining but Pronounced State-Level Disparities in Prescription Opioid Distribution in the United States

The United States (US) opioid epidemic is a persistent and pervasive public health emergency that claims the lives of over 80,000 Americans per year as of 2021. There have been sustained efforts to reverse this crisis over the past decade, including a number of measures designed to decrease the use of prescription opioids for the treatment of pain. This study analyzed the changes in federal production quotas for prescription opioids and the distribution of prescription opioids for pain and identified state-level differences between 2010 and 2019. Data (in grams) on opioid production quotas and distribution (from manufacturer to hospitals, retail pharmacies, practitioners, and teaching institutions) of 10 prescription opioids (codeine, fentanyl, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, meperidine, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and tapentadol) for 2010 to 2019 were obtained from the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Amounts of each opioid were converted from grams to morphine milligram equivalent (MME), and the per capita distribution by state was calculated using population estimates. Total opioid production quotas increased substantially from 2010 to 2013 before decreasing by 41.5% from 2013 (87.6 MME metric tons) to 2019 (51.3). The peak year for distribution of all 10 prescription opioids was between 2010 and 2013, except for codeine (2015). The largest quantities of opioid distribution were observed in Tennessee (520.70 MME per person) and Delaware (251.45) in 2011 and 2019. There was a 52.0% overall decrease in opioid distribution per capita from 2010 to 2019, with the largest decrease in Florida (−61.6%) and the smallest in Texas (−18.6%). Southern states had the highest per capita distribution for eight of the ten opioids in 2019. The highest to lowest state ratio of total opioid distribution, corrected for population, decreased from 5.25 in 2011 to 2.78 in 2019. The mean 95th/5th ratio was relatively consistent in 2011 (4.78 ± 0.70) relative to 2019 (5.64 ± 0.98). This study found a sustained decline in the distribution of ten prescription opioids during the last five years. Distribution was non-homogeneous at the state level. Analysis of state-level differences revealed a fivefold difference in the 95th:5th percentile ratio between states, which has remained unchanged over the past decade. Production quotas did not correspond with the distribution, particularly in the 2010–2016 period. Future research, focused on identifying factors contributing to the observed regional variability in opioid distribution, could prove valuable to understanding and potentially remediating the pronounced disparities in prescription opioid-related harms in the US

Radio Frequency Tag Satellite: Backscatter Communication in Low Earth Orbit

Wireless sensor communication can evaluate the structural integrity of a system while reducing the danger and cost of installation and maintenance on satellites. This is needed at the International Space Station as well as other satellites. The objective of this mission is to perform a demonstration using backscatter Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tag technology as a method of wireless communication in extremely low earth orbit. While RFID tag communication has been used on earth for many practical applications the technology has yet to be tested in space. A 3U Cubesat was selected as the configuration to house the experiment. This project utilizes an electrical power system, an interface board custom built around a microcontroller, and two radio communication systems to run the RFID experiment to be designed by a Georgia Tech engineering team. The RFID tag will be mounted to a carbon fiber boom that can be extended out one meter to incrementally collect data. This satellite will need to be strong enough to pass a series of vibration and heat tests to be qualified for flight. It will be programmed to maintain its own power, take data, and communicate the data back to earth via the Globalstar Network

Heterotic Strings in Two Dimensions and New Stringy Phase Transitions

We discuss heterotic string theories in two dimensions with gauge groups Spin(24) and Spin(8) x E_8. After compactification the theories exhibit a rich spectrum of states with both winding and momentum. At special points some of these stringy states become massless, leading to new first order phase transitions. For example, the thermal theories exhibit standard thermodynamics below the phase transition, but novel and peculiar behavior above it. In particular, when the radius of the Euclidean circle is smaller than the phase transition point the torus partition function is not given by the thermal trace over the spacetime Hilbert space. The full moduli space of compactified theories is 13 dimensional, when Wilson lines are included; the Spin(24) and Spin(8) x E_8 theories correspond to distinct decompactification limits.Comment: 32 pages; v2: references added, minor change

Stringy NJL and Gross-Neveu models at finite density and temperature

Nonlocal stringy versions of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio and Gross-Neveu models arise in a certain limit of holographic QCD. We analyze the phase structure at finite density and temperature at strong coupling in terms of probe branes in the gravity dual. Comparison with the phase structure of the local field theory models shows qualitative agreement with some aspects, and disagreement with others. Finally, we explain how to construct the Landau potentials for these models by taking the probe branes off-shell.Comment: 32 pages, uses JHEP3.cls; v2, references added, version to be submitted to JHE