Small Gestures and Unexpected Consequences: Textualist Interpretations of State Antidiscrimination Law After \u3ci\u3eBostock v. Clayton County\u3c/i\u3e

The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Bostock v. Clayton County expanded Title VII’s coverage of victims of sex discrimination in employment by interpreting the statute to also protect LGBTQ+ employees who were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Although Bostock only applies precedentially to Title VII, the long and interwoven history of state antidiscrimination statutes shows that the ruling may reach beyond federal law. This Note examines state court cases that have considered whether to apply Bostock’s reasoning to the interpretation of state antidiscrimination statutes. Furthermore, this Note argues in favor of a path forward in state courts for expanding LGBTQ+ legal protections. The textualist reasoning of Bostock’s opinion—whether perceived or actual—should be highly persuasive to state court jurists, especially those in conservative states, which are more likely to have textualist judges. Adopting Bostock at the state level has the potential to expand crucial legal rights and protections for millions of LGBTQ+ people

Effect of eye movements on the magnitude of functional magnetic resonance imaging responses in extrastriate cortex during visual motion perception

We have studied the effects of pursuit eye movements on the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses in extrastriate visual areas during visual motion perception. Echoplanar imaging of 10–12 image planes through visual cortex was acquired in nine subjects while they viewed sequences of random-dot motion. Images obtained during stimulation periods were compared with baseline images, where subjects viewed a blank field. In a subsidiary experiment, responses to moving dots, viewed under conditions of fixation or pursuit, were compared with those evoked by static dots. Eye movements were recorded with MR-compatible electro-oculographic (EOG) electrodes. Our findings show an enhanced level of activation (as indexed by blood-oxygen level-dependent contrast) during pursuit compared with fixation in two extrastriate areas. The results support earlier findings on a motion-specific area in lateral occipitotemporal cortex (human V5). They also point to a further site of activation in a region approximately 12 mm dorsal of V5. The fMRI response in V5 during pursuit is significantly enhanced. This increased response may represent additional processing demands required for the control of eye movements

Donor genetic determinant of thymopoiesis, rs2204985, and stem cell transplantation outcome in a multipopulation cohort

\ua9 2024 The Author(s)Background: A genetic polymorphism, rs2204985, has been reported to be associated with the diversity of T-cell antigen receptor repertoire and TREC levels, reflecting the function of the thymus. As the thymus function can be assumed to be an important factor regulating the outcome of stem cell transplantation (SCT), it was of great interest that rs2204985 showed a genetic association to disease-free and overall survival in a German SCT donor cohort. Tools to predict the outcome of SCT more accurately would help in risk assessment and patient safety. Objective: To evaluate the general validity of the original genetic association found in the German cohort, we determined genetic associations between rs2204985 and the outcome of SCT in 1,473 SCT donors from four different populations. Study design: Genetic associations between rs2204985 genotype AA versus AG/GG and overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in 1,473 adult, allogeneic SCT from Finland, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Poland were performed using the Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank tests. We adjusted the survival models with covariates using Cox regression. Results: In unrelated SCT donors (N = 425), the OS of genotype AA versus AG/GG had a trend for a similar association (p = 0.049, log-rank test) as previously reported in the German cohort. The trend did not remain significant in the Cox regression analysis with covariates. No other associations were found. Conclusion: Weak support for the genetic association between rs2204985, previously also associated with thymus function, and the outcome of SCT could be found in a cohort from four populations

Magnetism of small V clusters embedded in a Cu fcc matrix: an ab initio study

We present extensive first principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations dedicated to analyze the magnetic and electronic properties of small V$_{n}$ clusters (n=1,2,3,4,5,6) embedded in a Cu fcc matrix. We consider different cluster structures such as: i) a single V impurity, ii) several V$_{2}$ dimers having different interatomic distance and varying local atomic environment, iii) V$_{3}$ and iv) V$_{4}$ clusters for which we assume compact as well as 2- and 1-dimensional atomic configurations and finally, in the case of the v) V$_{5}$ and vi) V$_{6}$ structures we consider a square pyramid and a square bipyramid together with linear arrays, respectively. In all cases, the V atoms are embedded as substitutional impurities in the Cu network. In general, and as in the free standing case, we have found that the V clusters tend to form compact atomic arrays within the cooper matrix. Our calculated non spin-polarized density of states at the V sites shows a complex peaked structure around the Fermi level that strongly changes as a function of both the interatomic distance and local atomic environment, a result that anticipates a non trivial magnetic behavior. In fact, our DFT calculations reveal, in each one of our clusters systems, the existence of different magnetic solutions (ferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, and antiferromagnetic) with very small energy differences among them, a result that could lead to the existence of complex finite-temperature magnetic properties. Finally, we compare our results with recent experimental measurements.Comment: 7 pages and 4 figure

Political opportunity structures, democracy, and civil war

Theories of mobilization suggest that groups are more likely to resort to violence in the presence of political opportunity structures that afford greater prospects for extracting concessions from the government or better opportunities to topple ruling governments. However, existing efforts to consider the possible influences of political opportunity structures on incentives for violence and civil war empirically have almost invariably relied upon measures of democracy to proxy for the hypothesized mechanisms, most notably the argument that the opposing effects of political accommodation and repression will give rise to an inverted U-shaped relationship between democracy and the risk of civil war. The authors detail a number of problems with measures of democracy as proxies for political opportunity structures and develop alternative measures based on the likely risks that political leaders will lose power in irregular challenges and their implications for the incentives for resort to violence. The authors evaluate empirically how the security with which leaders hold office influences the prospects of violent civil conflict. The findings indicate that recent irregular leader entry and transitions indeed increase the risk of conflict onset, while democratic institutions are found to decrease the risk of civil war, after controlling for the new measures of state weakness. </jats:p

3D pic simulations of collisionless shocks at lunar magnetic anomalies and their role in forming lunar swirls

The authors would like to thank the Science and Technology Facilities Council for fundamental physics and computing resources that were provided by funding from STFC’s Scientific Computing Department, and would like to thank the European Research Council (ERC 2010 AdG Grant 267841) and FCT (Portugal) grants SFRH/BD/75558/2010 for support.Investigation of the lunar crustal magnetic anomalies offers a comprehensive long-term data set of observations of small-scale magnetic fields and their interaction with the solar wind. In this paper a review of the observations of lunar mini-magnetospheres is compared quantifiably with theoretical kinetic-scale plasma physics and 3D particle-in-cell simulations. The aim of this paper is to provide a complete picture of all the aspects of the phenomena and to show how the observations from all the different and international missions interrelate. The analysis shows that the simulations are consistent with the formation of miniature (smaller than the ion Larmor orbit) collisionless shocks and miniature magnetospheric cavities, which has not been demonstrated previously. The simulations reproduce the finesse and form of the differential proton patterns that are believed to be responsible for the creation of both the "lunar swirls" and "dark lanes." Using a mature plasma physics code like OSIRIS allows us, for the first time, to make a side-by-side comparison between model and space observations. This is shown for all of the key plasma parameters observed to date by spacecraft, including the spectral imaging data of the lunar swirls. The analysis of miniature magnetic structures offers insight into multi-scale mechanisms and kinetic-scale aspects of planetary magnetospheres.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Qualitative aspects and validation of a screening method for pesticides in vegetables and fruits based on liquid chromatography coupled to full scan high resolution (Orbitrap) mass spectrometry

The analytical capabilities of liquid chromatography with single-stage high-resolution mass spectrometry have been investigated with emphasis on qualitative aspects related to selective detection during screening and to identification. The study involved 21 different vegetable and fruit commodities, a screening database of 556 pesticides for evaluation of false positives, and a test set of 130 pesticides spiked to the commodities at 0.01, 0.05, and 0.20 mg/kg for evaluation of false negatives. The final method involved a QuEChERS-based sample preparation (without dSPE clean up) and full scan acquisition using alternating scan events without/with fragmentation, at a resolving power of 50,000. Analyte detection was based on extraction of the exact mass (±5 ppm) of the major adduct ion at the database retention time ±30 s and the presence of a second diagnostic ion. Various options for the additional ion were investigated and compared (other adduct ions, M + 1 or M + 2 isotopes, fragments). The two-ion approach for selective detection of the pesticides in the full scan data was compared with two alternative approaches based on response thresholds. Using the two-ion approach, the number of false positives out of 11,676 pesticide/commodity combinations targeted was 36 (0.3 %). The percentage of false negatives, assessed for 2,730 pesticide/commodity combinations, was 13 %, 3 %, and 1 % at the 0.01-, 0.05-, and 0.20-mg/kg level, respectively (slightly higher with fully automated detection). Following the SANCO/12495/2011 protocol for validation of screening methods, the screening detection limit was determined for 130 pesticides and found to be 0.01, 0.05, and ≥0.20 mg/kg for 86, 30, and 14 pesticides, respectively. For the detected pesticides in the spiked samples, the ability for unambiguous identification according to EU criteria was evaluated. A proposal for adaption of the criteria was made

The global burden of injury: Incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years and time trends from the global burden of disease study 2013

Background The Global Burden of Diseases (GBD), Injuries, and Risk Factors study used the disabilityadjusted life year (DALY) to quantify the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. This paper provides an overview of injury estimates from the 2013 update of GBD, with detailed information on incidence, mortality, DALYs and rates of change from 1990 to 2013 for 26 causes of injury, globally, by region and by country. Methods Injury mortality was estimated using the extensive GBD mortality database, corrections for illdefined cause of death and the cause of death ensemble modelling tool. Morbidity estimation was based on inpatient and outpatient data sets, 26 cause-of-injury and 47 nature-of-injury categories, and seven follow-up studies with patient-reported long-term outcome measures. Results In 2013, 973 million (uncertainty interval (UI) 942 to 993) people sustained injuries that warranted some type of healthcare and 4.8 million (UI 4.5 to 5.1) people died from injuries. Between 1990 and 2013 the global age-standardised injury DALY rate decreased by 31% (UI 26% to 35%). The rate of decline in DALY rates was significant for 22 cause-of-injury categories, including all the major injuries. Conclusions Injuries continue to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed and developing world. The decline in rates for almost all injuries is so prominent that it warrants a general statement that the world is becoming a safer place to live in. However, the patterns vary widely by cause, age, sex, region and time and there are still large improvements that need to be made

Boronic acids for sensing and other applications - a mini-review of papers published in 2013

Boronic acids are increasingly utilised in diverse areas of research. Including the interactions of boronic acids with diols and strong Lewis bases as fluoride or cyanide anions, which leads to their utility in various sensing applications. The sensing applications can be homogeneous assays or heterogeneous detection. Detection can be at the interface of the sensing material or within the bulk sample. Furthermore, the key interaction of boronic acids with diols allows utilisation in various areas ranging from biological labelling, protein manipulation and modification, separation and the development of therapeutics. All the above uses and applications are covered by this mini-review of papers published during 2013