A Bounded Affinity Theory of Religion and the Paranormal

We outline a theory of bounded affinity between religious experiences and beliefs and paranormalism, which emphasizes that religious and paranormal experiences and beliefs share inherent physiological, psychological, and ontological similarities. Despite these parallels, organized religious groups typically delineate a narrow subset of experiences and explanatory frames as acceptable and True, banishing others as either false or demonic. Accordingly, the theory provides a revised definition of the “paranormal” as beliefs and experiences explicitly rejected by science and organized religions. To demonstrate the utility of the theory, we show that, after controlling for levels of conventional religious practice, there is a strong, positive relationship between claiming Christian-based religious experiences and believing in, pursuing, and experiencing the paranormal, particularly among individuals not strongly tethered to organized religion. Bounded affinity theory makes sense of recent non-linear and complex moderation findings in the empirical literature and reiterates the importance of the paranormal for studies of religion

Race, Xenophobia, and Punitiveness Among the American Public

We outline four connections between xenophobia and punitiveness toward criminals in a national sample of Americans. First, among self-identified whites xenophobia is more predictive of punitiveness than specific forms of racial animus. Second, xenophobia and punitiveness are strongly connected among whites, but are only moderately and weakly related among black and Hispanic Americans, respectively. Third, among whites substantial proportions of the variance between sociodemographic, political, and religious predictors of punitiveness are mediated by levels of xenophobia. Finally, xenophobia is the strongest overall predictor of punitiveness among whites. Overall, xenophobia is an essential aspect of understanding public punitiveness, particularly among whites

Are Charter Schools the Second Coming of Enron?: An Examination of the Gatekeepers that Protect Against Dangerous Related-Party Transactions in the Charter School Sectors

INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW OF ENRON A. ENRON AND DEREGULATION B. THE LJM SPES C. ENRON’S COLLAPSE II: ENRON’S GATEKEEPER PROBLEMS A. ARTHUR ANDERSEN B. INDEPENDENT ANALYSTS C. CREDIT RATING AGENCIES D. ENRON’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS E. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (SEC) III: CHARTER SCHOOLS AND RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS A. CHARTER SCHOOL DEREGULATION AND PRIVATE INVESTORS B. EXAMPLES OF ENRON-LIKE RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS 1. IMAGINE SCHOOLS 2. IVY ACADEMIA CHARTER SCHOOL 3. AMERICAN INDIAN MODEL CHARTER SCHOOLS 4. GRAND TRAVERSE ACADEMY 5. PENNSYLVANIA CYBER CHARTER SCHOOL C. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS, AND THE NEED FOR STRONG GATEKEEPING IV: CHARTER SCHOOL GATEKEEPERS A. AUDITORS B. CHARTER SCHOOL GOVERNING BOARDS C. CHARTER SCHOOL AUTHORIZERS D. STATE EDUCATION AGENCIES (SEAS) E. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CONCLUSIO

School Finance, Race, and Reparations

In this article, we explain why and how school finance reform should be a part of a reparations program for Black Americans. This article proceeds in six parts. Part I explains how Black-white school funding disparities occurred during the separate-but-equal era. Part II discusses how these funding disparities have occurred in the aftermath of the Brown decision. Parts III and IV explore why school desegregation and school finance litigation, respectively, have failed to remedy these gaps. Part V lays out a reparations framework that state legislatures could adopt to provide restitution to schools and taxpayers harmed by state policies creating Black-white racial funding disparities. Part VI discusses the role that the federal government could play in a school finance reparations program

The Legal Status of Charter Schools in State Statutory Law

Given the recent increase in charter schools as an alternative to the traditional public education system, this Article explores the legal status and position of charter schools. Charter schools exhibit many characteristics of private schools, particularly in terms of management, but also retain many public school features. Thus, this Article explores areas of the law where charter schools were either classified as public or private in terms of state statutes or regulations, discussing recent and some pending litigation. First, this Article discusses whether charter schools, charter school boards and officials, or educational management organizations which manage charter schools are entitled to governmental immunity, thus classifying them as public entities. Second, this Article examines the interplay between charter schools, their boards, and their management organizations and whether they are subject to public accountability laws, as their public school counterparts are. Third, this Article surveys whether charter schools are subject to state prevailing wage statutes. Fourth, this Article examines whether charter schools are required to follow the same student expulsion requirements as public schools. This Article proceeds to tally the results of this litigation, discussing both whether charter schools are subject to the same laws and regulations as public schools in their districts and whether charter schools and their officials are public entities under the law, and thus subject to the same rules governing the action of public officials. This Article concludes that often times, this distinction is not clear in state statutory requirements as they currently stand, and that legislators should take care in drafting charter school legislation, so that charter schools have a clear set of rules to follow and courts have a clear set of rules to apply in litigation. The status quo is particularly troubling with regard to student disciplinary issues and educational management organizations’ fiduciary obligations, and this Article urges legislators to address these issues

Single Cigarette Sales: State Differences in FDA Advertising and Labeling Violations, 2014, United States

Single cigarettes, which are sold without warning labels and often evade taxes, can serve as a gateway for youth smoking. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gives the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products, including prohibiting the sale of single cigarettes. To enforce these regulations, the FDA conducted over 335 661 inspections between 2010 and September 30, 2014, and allocated over $115 million toward state inspections contracts

An empirically observed pitch-angle diffusion eigenmode in the Earth\u27s electron belt near L* = 5.0

Abstract Using data from NASA\u27s Van Allen Probes, we have identified a synchronized exponential decay of electron flux in the outer zone, near L* = 5.0. Exponential decays strongly indicate the presence of a pure eigenmode of a diffusion operator acting in the synchronized dimension(s). The decay has a time scale of about 4 days with no dependence on pitch angle. While flux at nearby energies and L* is also decaying exponentially, the decay time varies in those dimensions. This suggests the primary decay mechanism is elastic pitch angle scattering, which itself depends on energy and L *. We invert the shape of the observed eigenmode to obtain an approximate shape of the pitch angle diffusion coefficient and show excellent agreement with diffusion by plasmaspheric hiss. Our results suggest that empirically derived eigenmodes provide a powerful diagnostic of the dynamic processes behind exponential decays

Effect of directional pulling on mechanical protein degradation by ATP-dependent proteolytic machines

AAA+ proteases and remodeling machines couple hydrolysis of ATP to mechanical unfolding and translocation of proteins following recognition of sequence tags called degrons. Here, we use single-molecule optical trapping to determine the mechanochemistry of two AAA+ proteases, Escherichia coli ClpXP and ClpAP, as they unfold and translocate substrates containing multiple copies of the titin[superscript I27] domain during degradation initiated from the N terminus. Previous studies characterized degradation of related substrates with C-terminal degrons. We find that ClpXP and ClpAP unfold the wild-type titin I27 domain and a destabilized variant far more rapidly when pulling from the N terminus, whereas translocation speed is reduced only modestly in the N-to-C direction. These measurements establish the role of directionality in mechanical protein degradation, show that degron placement can change whether unfolding or translocation is rate limiting, and establish that one or a few power strokes are sufficient to unfold some protein domains. Keywords:protein degradation; AAA+ proteases; directional unfolding; AAA+ motorsNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM-101988)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant AI-15706

Outcome of periacetabular osteotomy for the management of acetabular dysplasia: experience in an academic centre.

Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is a very effective reconstructive procedure for treatment of acetabular dysplasia. An orthopaedic paediatric surgeon and a reconstructive hip arthroplasty surgeon performed this procedure together in the early phase of their learning curve and then performed it individually. The early clinical and radiographic results of 85 consecutive PAOs performed in this academic orthopaedic unit were reviewed. The mean Merle-d\u27Aubigné score increased from 12.4 preoperatively to 16 at follow-up. Pre-operatively 73 hips were anteverted and 12 were neutral or retroverted. The mean angle of Wiberg improved from 5 degrees to 21 degrees (p \u3c 0.0001) in anteverted hips, and from 9 degrees to 30 degrees in neutral or retroverted hips. The mean angle of Lequesne and de Sèze improved from 6 degrees to 35 degrees (p \u3c 0.0001) in anteverted hips, and in neutral or retroverted hips from 9 degrees to 30 degrees (p \u3c 0.0001). The acetabular index improved from 26 degrees to 8 degrees (p \u3c 0.0001) in anteverted hips, and from 21 degrees to 7 degrees (p \u3c 0.0001) in neutral or retroverted hips. Over the 7 year period the blood loss and operative time improved from 2000 ml to 900 ml and 4 hours to 2 hours respectively. Four hips (four patients) required conversion to total hip replacement. The radiographic correction and improved clinical scores are similar to those in previous studies. This study shows a survival rate of 94% at 58 months following periacetabular osteotomy. The learning curve and the early results of this procedure performed in our academic unit are encouraging