Criminal Procedure

When a jury becomes deadlocked and cannot reach a verdict for lack of unanimity, federal district courts often attempt to break the jury\u27s deadlock by giving a supplemental instruction, usually called an Allen charge, which urges the jurors to reconsider their views in order to attain a unanimous verdict. This article reviews the use of this type of supplemental instruction in the Ninth Circuit. Principally the article analyzes the approach previously taken by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in upholding Allen charges. It then evaluates the impact of Lowenfield v. Phelps, the recent Supreme Court case addressing the subject. The article concludes by suggesting how the Ninth Circuit would review an Allen charge on appeal in determining whether the charge should be upheld

An Evaluation of GeoBEST Contingency Beddown Planning Software Using the Technology Acceptance Model

GeoBEST is a software program designed to simplify the contingency beddown planning process through application of geographic information technology. The purpose of this thesis was to thoroughly evaluate GeoBEST using prospective GeoBEST users in a realistic beddown planning scenario. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was applied, which measures a prospective user\u27s perceptions of the technology\u27s usefulness and ease-of-use and predicts their intentions to use the software in the future. The evaluations also included a qualitative evaluation of specific software features. The test group for this thesis was seventy-one Civil Engineering students attending contingency skills training at the Silver Flag training site, Tyndall AFT, FL. The students were given a one-hour interactive demonstration of GeoBEST after which they completed a survey. The students were given the option of using the program for preparation of their assigned beddown plan. The results from the TAM predict that the students were only slightly likely to use GeoBEST for beddown planning in the future. Throughout the course of the research, several features of GeoBEST were identified that limit the program\u27s effectiveness. Some of these were minor irritants, while others were serious design flaws. Recommendations are made for implementation of GeoBEST and creation of training programs

Associations Between Perceptions About Siblings\u27 Development and Emerging Adults\u27 Adulthood Attainment

Siblings shape each other\u27s attitudes and behaviors during childhood and adolescence; however, it is less clear if siblings continue to influence each other in emerging adulthood. This study investigated the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings in domains of adulthood attainment. Participants included 1,750 emerging adults from the United States between the ages of 18 and 29 years. Data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings showed that perceptions of siblings\u27 adulthood attainment were positively related to emerging adults\u27 development in those same domains. Moreover, the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings enhanced these associations; neither birth order nor gender composition moderated these findings. In short, processes of sibling influence continue to be relevant in emerging adulthood

Price, Nutrition, Time, and Other Trade-Offs: A Web-Based Food Value Analysis Application to Compare Foods at Different Levels of Preparation and Processing

Consumers choose to eat different forms of foods based on a wide variety of factors such as price, taste, nutrition, and convenience and, in doing so, make trade-offs among them. A Web-based application for use by nutrition educators was developed to help individuals compare foods prepared from home recipes with those for other forms of food (eg, frozen, canned, dry mix). Foods with a home-recipe form in US Department of Agriculture databases were selected to represent a range of commonly consumed entrées, baked goods, side dishes, fruits, vegetables, desserts, and beverages. Multiple US Department of Agriculture and commercial databases along with other public data sources were used to construct prices, nutrient values, food groups and components, preparation and cooking times, shelf life, and food safety concerns for foods in the database. Per-serving and per-100-g values were constructed for 100 individual foods with a home recipe and 1 or more other forms. The data are available in a Web-based application, located at http://www.foodvalueanalysis.org, allowing comparisons of individual foods or a daily diet constructed from foods in the database. Nutrition educators can use the application to advise individuals in selecting foods to consume to meet dietary guidelines while taking into consideration cost, preparation time, food preparation skills, and individual preferences. For example, the application can be used to evaluate differences in prices of fresh or processed foods, whether home recipe or processed foods are less costly when taking into consideration the value of preparation time, and the differences in nutrients across different forms of foods

SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detected in human breast milk postvaccination

Importance The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has infected over a hundred million people worldwide, with almost 2.5 million deaths at the date of this publication. In the United States, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were first administered to the public starting in December 2020, and no lactating women were included in the initial trials of safety/efficacy. Research on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in lactating women and the potential transmission of passive immunity to the infant through breast milk is needed to guide patients, clinicians and policy makers during the worldwide effort to curb the spread of this virus. Objective To determine whether SARS-CoV-2 specific immunoglobins are found in breast milk post-vaccination, and to characterize the time course and types of immunoglobulins present. Design Prospective cohort study Setting Providence Portland Medical Center, Oregon, USA Participants Six lactating women who planned to receive both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine between December 2020 and January 2021. Breast milk samples were collected pre-vaccination and at 11 additional timepoints, with last sample at 14 days post 2nd dose of vaccine. Exposure Two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s) Levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA and IgG immunoglobulins in breast milk. Results In this cohort of 6 lactating women who received 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, we observed significantly elevated levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG and IgA antibodies in breast milk beginning at Day 7 after the initial vaccine dose, with an IgG-dominant response. Conclusions and Relevance We are the first to show that maternal vaccination results in SARS-CoV-2 specific immunoglobulins in breast milk that may be protective for infants. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This work was supported by generous grants from Nancy Lematta (BAF) and the Chiles Foundation (BAF)

Polyphosphate Storage during Sporulation in the Gram-Negative Bacterium Acetonema longum

Using electron cryotomography, we show that the Gram-negative sporulating bacterium Acetonema longum synthesizes high-density storage granules at the leading edges of engulfing membranes. The granules appear in the prespore and increase in size and number as engulfment proceeds. Typically, a cluster of 8 to 12 storage granules closely associates with the inner spore membrane and ultimately accounts for ∼7% of the total volume in mature spores. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses show that the granules contain high levels of phosphorus, oxygen, and magnesium and therefore are likely composed of polyphosphate (poly-P). Unlike the Gram-positive Bacilli and Clostridia, A. longum spores retain their outer spore membrane upon germination. To explore the possibility that the granules in A. longum may be involved in this unique process, we imaged purified Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus subtilis, and Clostridium sporogenes spores. Even though B. cereus and B. thuringiensis contain the ppk and ppx genes, none of the spores from Gram-positive bacteria had granules. We speculate that poly-P in A. longum may provide either the energy or phosphate metabolites needed for outgrowth while retaining an outer membrane

Fully automated, sequential tilt-series acquisition with Leginon

Electron tomography has become a uniquely powerful tool for investigating the structures of individual cells, viruses, and macromolecules. Data collection is, however, time consuming and requires expensive instruments. To optimize productivity, we have incorporated one of the existing tilt-series acquisition programs, UCSF Tomo, into the well-developed automatic electron microscopy data collection package Leginon to enable fully automatic, sequential tilt-series acquisition. Here we describe how UCSF Tomo was integrated into Leginon, what users must do to set up a data collection session, how the automatic collection proceeds, how archived data about the process can be accessed and used, and how the software has been tested

BK Lyncis: The Oldest Old Nova?... And a Bellwether for Cataclysmic-Variable Evolution

We summarize the results of a 20-year campaign to study the light curves of BK Lyncis, a nova-like star strangely located below the 2-3 hour orbital period gap in the family of cataclysmic variables. Two apparent "superhumps" dominate the nightly light curves - with periods 4.6% longer, and 3.0% shorter, than P_orb. The first appears to be associated with the star's brighter states (V~14), while the second appears to be present throughout and becomes very dominant in the low state (V~15.7). Starting in the year 2005, the star's light curve became indistinguishable from that of a dwarf nova - in particular, that of the ER UMa subclass. Reviewing all the star's oddities, we speculate: (a) BK Lyn is the remnant of the probable nova on 30 December 101, and (b) it has been fading ever since, but has taken ~2000 years for the accretion rate to drop sufficiently to permit dwarf-nova eruptions. If such behavior is common, it can explain other puzzles of CV evolution. One: why the ER UMa class even exists (because all members can be remnants of recent novae). Two: why ER UMa stars and short-period novalikes are rare (because their lifetimes, which are essentially cooling times, are short). Three: why short-period novae all decline to luminosity states far above their true quiescence (because they're just getting started in their postnova cooling). Four: why the orbital periods, accretion rates, and white-dwarf temperatures of short-period CVs are somewhat too large to arise purely from the effects of gravitational radiation (because the unexpectedly long interval of enhanced postnova brightness boosts the mean mass-transfer rate). These are substantial rewards in return for one investment of hypothesis: that the second parameter in CV evolution, besides P_orb, is time since the last classical-nova eruption.Comment: PDF, 46 pages, 4 tables, 10 figures; in preparation; more info at http://cbastro.org