Title VI and the Constitution: A Regulatory Model for Defining ‘Discrimination’

In recent years confusion has surrounded the proper interpretation of title V1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in programs receiving federal financial assistance. Some courts have held that the title prohibits only intentional discrimination. Others have held that it proscribes actions having discriminatory effects as well, an interpretation that imposes a great burden on federal grantees. The Supreme Court heightened the confusion when five individual justices in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke questioned the propriety of the Court\u27s earlier adoption of an effects test for title VI. Professor Abernathy argues that this confusion results from a misdirected inquiry on the part of the courts. After a comprehensive review of pertinent legislative history, Professor Abernathy concludes that Congress did not intend title VI to require either an intent or an effects test Instead, Congress accepted a compromise position, delegating the definition of discrimination to the administrative agency responsible for implementing each affected program. As a result of his analysis, Professor Abernathy suggests standards under which agencies should adopt regulatory decisions

When Civil Rights Go Wrong: Agenda and Process in Civil Rights Reform

The aging of the persons leading the civil rights movement is only a metaphor for a more serious aging process that afflicts the movement. It is a sclerotic condition that has kept an old agenda and once-prodding - but now increasingly intolerant - ideas in place, a fixed way of thinking that has become more strident and resistant to change as it has become more complacent with itself. Once the opponent of conformity, some parts of the civil rights community now preach conformity within their communities. I see these not as indices of the venality of the civil rights movement, but as human responses that can be reformed by the contributions of a new generation. This change has already begun to occur, and my goal is to have a new generation build an immunity to sclerosis into the movement ..

Book Review of Disaster by Decree

In Disaster by Decree, and beginning with Brown v. Board of Education, Professor Graglia traces national efforts at school desegregation, constantly pricking the Court\u27s egalitarian balloon with his needle of logic. How can the 1954 Brown decision, he asks, which forbade consideration of race in school assignments, justify current relief decrees that require courts and school boards to consider race? This attack indeed may catch affirmative action proponents at their Achilles\u27 heel, for preferential admissions programs, if not actually spawned by admiration of the courts\u27 desegregation efforts, draw constitutional strength from the courts\u27 own repeated assumption of the power to make race a factor in school admissions

Sovereign Immunity in a Constitutional Government: The Federal Employment Discrimination Cases

Very early in our history we took steps to insure that the.rule of law, as expressed in the Constitution, would prevail over the mortals who run our government. Yet even as the concepts of rule of law and judicial review came into ascendancy, we also harbored the sovereign immunity doctrine as a restraint on judicial power and as an apparent repudiation of the rule of law. The inherent antagonism between the rule of law and the sovereign immunity doctrine has produced much mischief in our courts...this Article will argue that the sovereign immunity doctrine is not anticonstitutional, but rather reflects the Constitution\u27s allocation of power among the three branches of government. Section I is devoted to an intensive consideration of one area of the law-employment discrimination suits against federal officers-where application of the sovereign immunity doctrine has generated considerable confusion and attendant injustice. Sections II and III will develop the separation of powers rationale for sovereign immunity, showing how the immunity principles adopted by the Supreme Court implicitly define the decisionmaking powers of the separate branches

"Virtual Cockpit Window" for a Windowless Aerospacecraft

A software system processes navigational and sensory information in real time to generate a three-dimensional-appearing image of the external environment for viewing by crewmembers of a windowless aerospacecraft. The design of the particular aerospacecraft (the X-38) is such that the addition of a real transparent cockpit window to the airframe would have resulted in unacceptably large increases in weight and cost. When exerting manual control, an aircrew needs to see terrain, obstructions, and other features around the aircraft in order to land safely. The X-38 is capable of automated landing, but even when this capability is utilized, the crew still needs to view the external environment: From the very beginning of the United States space program, crews have expressed profound dislike for windowless vehicles. The wellbeing of an aircrew is considerably promoted by a three-dimensional view of terrain and obstructions. The present software system was developed to satisfy the need for such a view. In conjunction with a computer and display equipment that weigh less than would a real transparent window, this software system thus provides a virtual cockpit window. The key problem in the development of this software system was to create a realistic three-dimensional perspective view that is updated in real time. The problem was solved by building upon a pre-existing commercial program LandForm C3 that combines the speed of flight-simulator software with the power of geographic-information-system software to generate real-time, three-dimensional-appearing displays of terrain and other features of flight environments. In the development of the present software, the pre-existing program was modified to enable it to utilize real-time information on the position and attitude of the aerospacecraft to generate a view of the external world as it would appear to a person looking out through a window in the aerospacecraft. The development included innovations in realistic horizon-limit modeling, three-dimensional stereographic display, and interfaces for utilization of data from inertial-navigation devices, Global Positioning System receivers, and laser rangefinders

Phonon anharmonicity and negative thermal expansion in SnSe

The anharmonic phonon properties of SnSe in the Pnma phase were investigated with a combination of experiments and first-principles simulations. Using inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and nuclear resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (NRIXS), we have measured the phonon dispersions and density of states (DOS) and their temperature dependence, which revealed a strong, inhomogeneous shift and broadening of the spectrum on warming. First-principles simulations were performed to rationalize these measurements, and to explain the previously reported anisotropic thermal expansion, in particular the negative thermal expansion within the Sn-Se bilayers. Including the anisotropic strain dependence of the phonon free energy, in addition to the electronic ground state energy, is essential to reproduce the negative thermal expansion. From the phonon DOS obtained with INS and additional calorimetry measurements, we quantify the harmonic, dilational, and anharmonic components of the phonon entropy, heat capacity, and free energy. The origin of the anharmonic phonon thermodynamics is linked to the electronic structure.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

Recent developments of MCViNE and its applications at SNS

MCViNE is an open source, object-oriented Monte Carlo neutron ray-tracing simulation software package. Its design allows for flexible, hierarchical representations of sophisticated instrument components such as detector systems, and samples with a variety of shapes and scattering kernels. Recently this flexible design has enabled several applications of MCViNE simulations at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Lab, including assisting design of neutron instruments at the second target station and design of novel sample environments, as well as studying effects of instrument resolution and multiple scattering. Here we provide an overview of the recent developments and new features of MCViNE since its initial introduction (Jiao et al 2016 Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 810, 86–99), and some example applications

Stabilization of Polar Nano Regions in Pb-free ferroelectrics

Formation of polar nano regions through solid-solution additions are known to enhance significantly the functional properties of ferroelectric materials. Despite considerable progress in characterizing the microscopic behavior of polar nano regions, understanding their real-space atomic structure and dynamics of formation remains a considerable challenge. Here, using the method of dynamic pair distribution function, we provide direct insights into the role of solid-solution additions towards the stabilization of polar nano regions in the Pb-free ferroelectric of Ba(Zr,Ti)O3. It is shown that for an optimum level of substitution of Ti by larger Zr ions, the dynamics of atomic displacements for ferroelectric polarization are slowed sufficiently, which leads to increased local correlation among dipoles below THz frequencies. The dynamic pair distribution function technique demonstrates unique capability to obtain insights into locally correlated atomic dynamics in disordered materials, including new Pb-free ferroelectrics, which is necessary to understand and control their functional properties

Magnetic excitations in underdoped Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 with x=0.047

The magnetic excitations in the paramagnetic-tetragonal phase of underdoped Ba(Fe0.953Co0.047)2As2, as measured by inelastic neutron scattering, can be well described by a phenomenological model with purely diffusive spin dynamics. At low energies, the spectrum around the magnetic ordering vector Q_AFM consists of a single peak with elliptical shape in momentum space. At high energies, this inelastic peak is split into two peaks across the direction perpendicular to Q_AFM. We use our fittings to argue that such a splitting is not due to incommensurability or propagating spin-wave excitations, but is rather a consequence of the anisotropies in the Landau damping and in the magnetic correlation length, both of which are allowed by the tetragonal symmetry of the system. We also measure the magnetic spectrum deep inside the magnetically-ordered phase, and find that it is remarkably similar to the spectrum of the paramagnetic phase, revealing the strongly overdamped character of the magnetic excitations.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure