Raising Our Standards: Rethinking the Supreme Court’s Abortion Jurisprudence

Part II of this Note explores the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence by discussing MKB Management Corp. v. Stenehjem, which declared a North Dakota statute barring abortions after a fetus has a detectable heartbeat to be unconstitutional. Next, Part III analyzes the relevant history surrounding abortion rights and the rationale behind the precedent relied on in Stenehjem. Part IV examines the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit’s decision to void the statute, along with the Eighth Circuit’s vehement plea for a new abortion standard. Finally, Part V of this Note reveals flaws in the Supreme Court’s current abortion jurisprudence and concludes with an outlook on future challenges to the abortion standard

Evaluation of nonmetallic thermal protection materials for the manned space shuttle. Volume 1, task 1: Assessment of technical risks associated with utilization of nonmetallic thermal protection system

Technical problems of design and flight qualification of the proposed classes of surface insulation materials and leading edge materials were reviewed. A screening test plan, a preliminary design data test plan and a design data test plan were outlined. This program defined the apparent critical differences between the surface insulators and the leading edge materials, structuring specialized screening test plans for each of these two classes of materials. Unique testing techniques were shown to be important in evaluating the structural interaction aspects of the surface insulators and a separate task was defined to validate the test plan. In addition, a compilation was made of available information on proposed material (including metallic TPS), previous shuttle programs, pertinent test procedures, and other national programs of merit. This material was collected and summarized in an informally structured workbook

Sensing Subjective Well-being from Social Media

Subjective Well-being(SWB), which refers to how people experience the quality of their lives, is of great use to public policy-makers as well as economic, sociological research, etc. Traditionally, the measurement of SWB relies on time-consuming and costly self-report questionnaires. Nowadays, people are motivated to share their experiences and feelings on social media, so we propose to sense SWB from the vast user generated data on social media. By utilizing 1785 users' social media data with SWB labels, we train machine learning models that are able to "sense" individual SWB from users' social media. Our model, which attains the state-by-art prediction accuracy, can then be used to identify SWB of large population of social media users in time with very low cost.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figures, 2 tables, 10th International Conference, AMT 2014, Warsaw, Poland, August 11-14, 2014. Proceeding

The gatekeeper: individual differences are key in the chain from perception to behaviour

A basic assumption in mainstream social cognition is that the path from perception to behaviour is often automatic and direct, as supported for example by several experimental studies showing that priming can lead directly to a congruent behaviour without any need of conscious awareness of the process. However, we argue that the priming of a goal or an object activates individual differences in automatic evaluations at the associative level that in turn are the key predictors of action (gatekeeper model). A study (n = 90) on the American stereotype is presented to support the model. The results show that individual differences of the American stereotype as assessed with the IAT predicts a relevant action (essay evaluation) but only under condition of priming. Broader implications for predictive validity of implicit measures are also discussed

Alginate films augmented with chlorhexidine hexametaphosphate particles provide sustained antimicrobial properties for application in wound care

All chronic wounds are colonised by bacteria; for some, colonisation progresses to become infection. Alginate wound dressings are used for highly exuding chronic wounds as they are very absorbent, taking up large quantities of exudate while maintaining a moist wound bed to support healing. Some alginate dressings are doped with antimicrobials, most commonly silver, but evidence regarding the efficacy of these is largely inconclusive. This manuscript describes the development and in vitro assessment of alginate materials doped with chlorhexidine hexametaphosphate (CHX-HMP), a sparingly soluble salt which when exposed to aqueous environments provides sustained release of the common antiseptic chlorhexidine. Comparator materials were a commercial silver alginate dressing material and an alginate doped with chlorhexidine digluconate (CHXdg). CHX-HMP alginates provided a dose-dependent CHX release which was sustained for over 14 days, whereas CHXdg alginates released limited CHX and this ceased within 24 h. CHX-HMP and silver alginates were efficacious against 5 major wound pathogens (MRSA, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K pneumoniae, A. baumannii) in a total viable count (TVC) and an agar diffusion zone of inhibition (ZOI) model. At baseline the silver alginate was more effective than the CHX-HMP alginate in the TVC assay but the CHX-HMP alginate was the more effective in the ZOI assay. After 7 days’ artificial aging the CHX-HMP alginate was more effective than the silver alginate for four of the five bacteria tested in both assays. These materials may ultimately find application in the development of wound dressings for chronic wounds that provide sustained antimicrobial protection

A Prospective Study of Predictors and Consequences of Hooking Up for Sexual Minority Women

Hooking up, which refers to a sexual encounter (ranging from kissing to penetrative sex) between individuals who are not in a committed relationship, is an increasingly normative form of sexual exploration among emerging adults. Past research has focused on hookups within a heteronormative context, and some of this work has examined hookups as a way to cope with distress. Building on this work, we examined the role of hookups as a means for lesbian and bisexual women to cope with minority stress through increasing connection and engagement with the LGBTQ (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer or questioning) community. A nationally recruited sample of 520 lesbian and bisexual women ages 18 to 25 completed questionnaires regarding their hookup behaviors as part of a longitudinal study. Childhood sexual abuse, posttraumatic stress symptoms, alcohol use, minority stress, and involvement and connectedness with the LGBTQ community were also assessed. First, regression analyses were used to examine baseline predictors of hookup behaviors reported at a 12-month follow-up. Findings revealed that alcohol use was associated with a greater likelihood of any subsequent hookups, and individuals reporting more minority stress subsequently hooked up with more partners. Second, hookup behaviors at 12 months were examined as predictors of outcomes at a 24-month follow-up, after controlling for baseline variables. Findings revealed that hookup behaviors were associated with reduced minority stress as well as increased involvement with and connectedness to the LGBTQ community, suggesting hookups may serve a protective function. Overall, findings support the notion that for sexual minority women, hookups may operate as a means of coping and connection

Quality of life and sleep quality of long-term survivors of cytoreductive surgery plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy

Advancements in medical technology coupled with a more thorough comprehension of oncologic diseases has resulted in a burgeoning number of aggressive treatment options available to cancer patients and a gradual loosening of the association between cancer and timely death. With the advent of extended life expectancies, however, the need to investigate the human and overall life impact of cancer diseases and treatments has increased dramatically (Langenhoff et al., 2001). This need to examine considerations of quality of life becomes even more essential in the context of high-risk treatments, such as cytoreductive surgery plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CS+HIPEC), an extensive procedure offered to select candidates with peritoneal carcinomatosis from a variety of primary origins (Levine et al., 2007). A biopsychosocial model of research and clinical care (e.g. Wilson & Cleary, 1995) underscores the many levels and interrelationships of clinical, demographic, and psychosocial variables impacting survivors of such an invasive medical procedure, yet a paucity of methodologically sound psychosocial studies with these long-term CS+HIPEC survivors exists. The purpose of this investigation was to enhance our understanding of the multidimensional quality of life (QOL) and sleep quality of survivors who have lived 12 or more months post-CS+HIPEC. Additionally, the contributions of surgical and biological variables to long-term QOL were examined, as were changes in QOL scores over time in a subset of the sample. This descriptive data acquired enriches our knowledge of CS+HIPEC survivors' quality of survivorship, informs prospective candidates' treatment decision making processes, and enhances the standard of care by serving as a foundation for future psychosocial interventions