The Charade of US Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties

It is sadly academic to ask whether international human rights law should trump US domestic law. That is because, on the few occasions when the US government has ratified a human rights treaty, it has done so in a way designed to preclude the treaty from having any domestic effect. Washington pretends to join the international human rights system, but it refuses to permit this system to improve the rights of US citizens. This approach reflects an attitude toward international human rights law of fear and arrogance-fear that international standards might constrain the unfettered latitude of the global superpower, and arrogance in the conviction that the United States, with its long and proud history of domestic rights protections, has nothing to learn on this subject from the rest of the world. As other governments increasingly see through this short-sighted view of international human rights law, it weakens America\u27s voice as a principled defender of human rights around the world and diminishes America\u27s moral influence and stature. [CONT

Stem Cell Factor and Kit Expression in Type I Neurofibromatosis

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an inherited disease characterized by the appearance of multiple neurofibromas and an increased incidence of malignant schwannomas, both of which contain hyperproliferative Schwann cells. Our laboratory previously reported that Schwann cells produce stem cell factor (SCF), a multi potential growth factor known to be involved in mast cell migration and growth. Given the fact that mast cell numbers are increased in both neurofibromas and malignant schwannomas, we set out to evaluate a potential role for SCF in the development of NF1 lesions. First we studied the effects of high doses of recombinant SCF on mast cell numbers in vivo, and found that dermal and peritoneal mast cell numbers were decreased. Next, we examined the expression of stem cell factor and its receptor, Kit, in neurofibromas and malignant schwannoma tumors and cell lines. Using an RNase protection assay, we find that each of four human malignant schwannoma cell lines express only the membrane-bound isoform of SCF messenger RNA. In contrast, neurofibroma, vestibular schwannoma, and acoustic neuroma tissues, as well as the majority of human fibroblast sources, all express the soluble form. Low level expression of Kit protein was detected on all four malignant schwannoma cell lines. However, Kit expression by Schwann cells was not indicated by immunohistochemical analyses of neurofibroma and malignant schwannoma sections, although Kit was readily detected on the mast cells within these lesions. We report that bone marrow-derived mouse mast cells appear to be driven toward a connective tissue phenotype when cultured in the presence of conditioned media from Schwann cells of wild type and NF1 +/- knockout mice. This effect was not observed in cultures containing conditioned medium from Schwann cells of NF1 +/- knockouts. In addition, the latter appeared to augment the proliferation of mast cells in response to exogenous cytokines. Together, these results suggest a significant role for stem cell factor and Kit in the lesions of NF1. In addition, functional neurofibromin, the product of the NF1 gene, may be required for proper regulation of SCF isoform expression. The mechanisms by which this expression is regulated remain to be clearly defined

The Mozart Effect: Evidence for the Arousal Hypothesis

This study investigated the effect of music listening for performance on a 25-question portion of the analytical section of the Graduate Record Exam by 72 undergraduate students (M age 21.9 yr.). Five levels of an auditory condition were based on Mozart Piano Sonata No. 3 (K. 2811, Movement I (Allegro); a rhythm excerpt; a melody excerpt; traffic sounds; and silence. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the stimuli. After a 5-min., 43-sec. (length of the first Allegro movement) listening period, participants answered the questions. Analysis indicated participants achieved significantly higher mean scores after all auditory conditions than those in the silent condition. No statistically significant pairwise mean difference appeared between scores for the auditory conditions. Findings were interpreted in terms of an arousal framework, suggesting the higher means in all auditory conditions may reflect immediate exposure to auditory stimuli

Towards a Praxeology of Teaching

Both preservice and seasoned teachers experience a considerable gap between theory and prescriptions for teaching and their day-to-day practice. We concep- tualize this gap in terms of the difference between descriptions of practice and practice itself. Descriptions cannot include the tacit understanding against which specific acts of teaching become meaningful; thus, they are inherently out of syn- chrony with practice. We illustrate how Bourdieu’s notion of habitus (a set of dispositions) accounts for appropriate actions in situations where there is no “time out” for deliberation and how coteaching can support preservice teachers’ development of this habitus. Les étudiants-maîtres comme les enseignants chevronnés ressentent l’écart considérable entre la théorie et les règles de l’enseignement et leur pratique quotidienne. Les auteurs conceptualisent cet écart en termes de différence entre les descriptions de la pratique et la pratique elle-même. Les descriptions ne peuvent inclure la compréhension tacite par rapport à laquelle des activités pré- cises d’enseignement prennent un sens; aussi ces descriptions en elles-mêmes ne concordent pas avec la pratique. Les auteurs illustrent comment la notion d’habitus de Bourdieu (un ensemble de dispositions) explique la pertinence des actions effectuées dans des situations où il n’y a pas de temps pour délibérer et comment le coenseignement peut favoriser de développement de cet habitus chez les stagiaires.

Towards a Praxeology of Teaching

Both preservice and seasoned teachers experience a considerable gap between theory and prescriptions for teaching and their day-to-day practice. We concep- tualize this gap in terms of the difference between descriptions of practice and practice itself. Descriptions cannot include the tacit understanding against which specific acts of teaching become meaningful; thus, they are inherently out of syn- chrony with practice. We illustrate how Bourdieu’s notion of habitus (a set of dispositions) accounts for appropriate actions in situations where there is no “time out” for deliberation and how coteaching can support preservice teachers’ development of this habitus. Les étudiants-maîtres comme les enseignants chevronnés ressentent l’écart considérable entre la théorie et les règles de l’enseignement et leur pratique quotidienne. Les auteurs conceptualisent cet écart en termes de différence entre les descriptions de la pratique et la pratique elle-même. Les descriptions ne peuvent inclure la compréhension tacite par rapport à laquelle des activités pré- cises d’enseignement prennent un sens; aussi ces descriptions en elles-mêmes ne concordent pas avec la pratique. Les auteurs illustrent comment la notion d’habitus de Bourdieu (un ensemble de dispositions) explique la pertinence des actions effectuées dans des situations où il n’y a pas de temps pour délibérer et comment le coenseignement peut favoriser de développement de cet habitus chez les stagiaires.

Empirical Verification of the Fe II Oscillator Strengths in the FUSE Bandpass

We report empirical determinations of atomic oscillator strengths, or f-values, for 11 ground-state transitions of Fe II in the wavelength range 1050 to 1150 Ang. We use ultraviolet absorption line observations of interstellar material towards stars in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds taken with Copernicus, the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on-board the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. We derive absolute oscillator strengths by a combination of the apparent optical depth, component fitting, and curve-of-growth fitting techniques. Our derived oscillator strengths are generally in excellent agreement with recent theoretical calculations by Raassen & Uylings using the orthogonal operator technique. However, we identify three of the eleven transitions studied here whose f-values seem to be incompatible with these calculations, by as much as a factor of two. We suggest revisions to these f-values based upon our analysis.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal. 31 pages, including 8 embedded tables and 10 embedded figures. Also available at http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~howk/Papers