2,417 research outputs found
Dignity and Discrimination: Employment Civil Rights in the Workplace and in Courts
Employment civil rights and the litigation associated with enforcing them are a complex interplay of public and private employers, regulatory agencies, and federal courts. When an employee loses a job or their position in an employing organization, the financial effects are very real. If the employee makes a claim of discriminatory treatment using the employer’s human resources complaint processes or with the EEOC or state equivalent, they often face workplace retaliation and even termination. Using interviews conducted with parties to employment civil rights lawsuits, this article argues that the regime of employment civil rights in the United States can be conceived as perpetuating dignity takings (and occasionally dignity restorations) because (1) the state sanctions/permits/gives deference to management in ways that allow discrimination and loss of earnings and (2) does it in a way that allows and perpetuates dehumanizing infantilization which demonstrates that plaintiffs face dehumanizing stereotyped treatment in the workplace and in courts
The 2011 Outburst of Recurrent Nova T Pyx: X-ray Observations Expose the White Dwarf Mass and Ejection Dynamics
The recurrent nova T Pyx underwent its sixth historical outburst in 2011, and
became the subject of an intensive multi-wavelength observational campaign. We
analyze data from the Swift and Suzaku satellites to produce a detailed X-ray
light curve augmented by epochs of spectral information. X-ray observations
yield mostly non-detections in the first four months of outburst, but both a
super-soft and hard X-ray component rise rapidly after Day 115. The super-soft
X-ray component, attributable to the photosphere of the nuclear-burning white
dwarf, is relatively cool (~45 eV) and implies that the white dwarf in T Pyx is
significantly below the Chandrasekhar mass (~1 M_sun). The late turn-on time of
the super-soft component yields a large nova ejecta mass (>~10^-5 M_sun),
consistent with estimates at other wavelengths. The hard X-ray component is
well fit by a ~1 keV thermal plasma, and is attributed to shocks internal to
the 2011 nova ejecta. The presence of a strong oxygen line in this thermal
plasma on Day 194 requires a significantly super-solar abundance of oxygen and
implies that the ejecta are polluted by white dwarf material. The X-ray light
curve can be explained by a dual-phase ejection, with a significant delay
between the first and second ejection phases, and the second ejection finally
released two months after outburst. A delayed ejection is consistent with
optical and radio observations of T Pyx, but the physical mechanism producing
such a delay remains a mystery.Comment: Re-submitted to ApJ after revision
The bovine mammary gland expresses multiple functional isoforms of serotonin receptors
Recent studies in dairy cows have demonstrated that serotonergic ligands affect milk yield and composition. Correspondingly, serotonin (5-HT) has been demonstrated to be an important local regulator of lactational homeostasis and involution in mouse and human mammary cells. We determined the mRNA expression of bovine 5-HT receptor (HTR) subtypes in bovine mammary tissue (BMT) and used pharmacological agents to evaluate functional activities of 5-HT receptors. The mRNAs for five receptor isoforms (HTR1B, 2A, 2B, 4, and 7) were identified by conventional real-time (RT)-PCR, RT quantitative PCR, and in situ hybridization in BMT. In addition to luminal mammary epithelial cell expression, HTR4 was expressed in myoepithelium, and HTR1B, 2A, and 2B were expressed in small mammary blood vessels. Serotonin suppressed milk protein mRNA expression (α-lactalbumin and β-casein mRNA) in lactogen-treated primary bovine mammary epithelial cell (BMEC) cultures. To probe the functional activities of individual receptors, caspase-3 activity and expression of α-lactalbumin and β-casein were measured. Both SB22489 (1B antagonist) and ritanserin (2A antagonist) increased caspase-3 activity. Expression of α-lactalbumin and β-casein mRNA levels in BMEC were stimulated by low concentrations of SB224289, ritanserin, or pimozide. These results demonstrate that there are multiple 5-HT receptor isoforms in the bovine mammary gland, and point to profound differences between serotonergic systems of the bovine mammary gland and the human and mouse mammary glands. Whereas human and mouse mammary epithelial cells express predominately the protein for the 5-HT7 receptor, cow mammary epithelium expresses multiple receptors that have overlapping, but not identical, functional activities
The Radio Light Curve of the Gamma-Ray Nova in V407 Cyg: Thermal Emission from the Ionized Symbiotic Envelope, Devoured from Within by the Nova Blast
We present multi-frequency radio observations of the 2010 nova event in the
symbiotic binary V407 Cygni, obtained with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array
and spanning 1-45 GHz and 17-770 days following discovery. This nova---the
first ever detected in gamma rays---shows a radio light curve dominated by the
wind of the Mira giant companion, rather than the nova ejecta themselves. The
radio luminosity grew as the wind became increasingly ionized by the nova
outburst, and faded as the wind was violently heated from within by the nova
shock. This study marks the first time that this physical mechanism has been
shown to dominate the radio light curve of an astrophysical transient. We do
not observe a thermal signature from the nova ejecta or synchrotron emission
from the shock, due to the fact that these components were hidden behind the
absorbing screen of the Mira wind.
We estimate a mass loss rate for the Mira wind of Mdot_w ~ 10^-6 M_sun/yr. We
also present the only radio detection of V407 Cyg before the 2010 nova, gleaned
from unpublished 1993 archival VLA data, which shows that the radio luminosity
of the Mira wind varies by a factor of >~20 even in quiescence. Although V407
Cyg likely hosts a massive accreting white dwarf, making it a candidate
progenitor system for a Type Ia supernova, the dense and radially continuous
circumbinary material surrounding V407 Cyg is inconsistent with observational
constraints on the environments of most Type Ia supernovae.Comment: Resubmitted to ApJ after incorporating referee's comment
Radio studies of novae: a current status report and highlights of new results
Novae, which are the sudden visual brightening triggered by runaway
thermonuclear burning on the surface of an accreting white dwarf, are fairly
common and bright events. Despite their astronomical significance as nearby
laboratories for the study of nuclear burning and accretion phenomena, many
aspects of these common stellar explosions are observationally not
well-constrained and remain poorly understood. Radio observations, modeling and
interpretation can potentially play a crucial role in addressing some of these
puzzling issues. In this review on radio studies of novae, we focus on the
possibility of testing and improving the nova models with radio observations,
and present a current status report on the progress in both the observational
front and theoretical developments. We specifically address the issues of
accurate estimation of ejecta mass, multi-phase and complex ejection phenomena,
and the effect of a dense environment around novae. With highlights of new
observational results, we illustrate how radio observations can shed light on
some of these long-standing puzzles.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. Review article published in the Bulletin of the
Astronomical Society of India (BASI) special issue on nova
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