Seeking Liberty’s Refuge: Analyzing Legislative Purpose Under Casey’s Undue Burden Standard

In the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, the U.S. Supreme Court crafted the “undue burden” standard for evaluating the constitutionality of abortion laws. Under that standard, a state is free to regulate abortion, as long as the regulation does not impose an undue burden on a woman’s right to an abortion. Although the standard is disjunctive, the Casey opinion focuses on the “effect” prong of the test, with little guidance as to what a “purpose” prong inquiry would look like. Subsequent Supreme Court abortion jurisprudence has served only to obscure the issue. Circuit courts, therefore, have taken differing approaches to claims that an abortion law was adopted for an invalid purpose. This Note addresses the divide in how courts evaluate purpose-based challenges under Casey’s undue burden standard. One group of courts— including the Tenth, Fifth, and Eighth Circuits—apply heightened scrutiny to purpose prong challenges, requiring that the state articulate an important governmental interest, which is substantially related to the regulation in question. In contrast, a second group of courts–comprised of the Seventh and Fourth Circuits–apply rational basis review to purpose-based claims, requiring only that the law be rationally related to a legitimate state interest. This Note argues that the application of heightened scrutiny to purpose-based challenges more accurately applies prior Supreme Court abortion precedent, and is more consonant with substantive due process jurisprudence as a whole. It concludes with a discussion of the effect that heightened scrutiny would have on many common abortion laws

The trafficking and targeting of P2X receptors

The functional expression of P2X receptors at the plasma membrane is dependent on their trafficking along secretory and endocytic pathways. There are seven P2X receptor subunits, and these differ in their subcellular distributions because they have very different trafficking properties. Some are retained within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), while others are predominantly at the cell surface or within endosomes and lysosomes. Changes in recruitment of receptors to and from the plasma membrane provides a way of rapidly up- or down-regulating the cellular response to adenosine triphosphate (ATP). An additional layer of regulation is the targeting of these receptors within the membranes of each compartment, which affects their stability, function and the nature of the effector proteins with which they form signaling complexes. The trafficking and targeting of P2X receptors is regulated by their interactions with other proteins and with lipids and we can expect this to vary in a cell-type specific manner and in response to changes in the environment giving rise to differences in receptor activity and function

What was a mortarium used for? Organic residues and cultural change in Iron Age and Roman Britain.

The Romans brought the mortarium to Britain in the first century AD, and there has long been speculation on its actual purpose. Using analysis of the residues trapped in the walls of these ‘kitchen blenders’ and comparing them with Iron Age and Roman cooking pots, the authors show that it wasn't the diet that changed — just the method of preparing certain products: plants were being ground in the mortarium as well as cooked in the pot. As well as plants, the mortars contained animal fats, including dairy products. The question that remains, however, is why these natural products were being mixed together in mortaria. Were they for food, pharmaceuticals or face creams?</jats:p

Dynamics of multi-kinks in the presence of wells and barriers

Sine-Gordon kinks are a much studied integrable system that possesses multi-soliton solutions. Recent studies on sine-Gordon kinks with space-dependent square-well-type potentials have revealed interesting dynamics of a single kink interacting with wells and barriers. In this paper, we study a class of smooth space-dependent potentials and discuss the dynamics of one kink in the presence of different wells. We also present values for the critical velocity for different types of barriers. Furthermore, we study two kinks interacting with various wells and describe interesting trajectories such as double-trapping, kink knock-out and double-escape.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Using colocation to support human memory

The progress of health care in the western world has been marked by an increase in life expectancy. Advances in life expectancy have meant that more people are living with acute health problems, many of which are related to impairment of memory. This paper describes a pair of scenarios that use RFID to assist people who may suffer frommemory defects to extend their capability for independent living. We present our implementation of an RFID glove, describe its operation, and show how it enables the application scenarios

A perspective on cortical layering and layer-spanning neuronal elements

This review article addresses the function of the layers of the cerebral cortex. We develop the perspective that cortical layering needs to be understood in terms of its functional anatomy, i.e., the terminations of synaptic inputs on distinct cellular compartments and their effect on cortical activity. The cortex is a hierarchical structure in which feed forward and feedback pathways have a layer-specific termination pattern. We take the view that the influence of synaptic inputs arriving at different cortical layers can only be understood in terms of their complex interaction with cellular biophysics and the subsequent computation that occurs at the cellular level. We use high-resolution fMRI, which can resolve activity across layers, as a case study for implementing this approach by describing how cognitive events arising from the laminar distribution of inputs can be interpreted by taking into account the properties of neurons that span different layers. This perspective is based on recent advances in measuring subcellular activity in distinct feed-forward and feedback axons and in dendrites as they span across layers

Expectations of Field Supervisors in Kenya: Implications for Community-based Human Service Practicums

Community-based learning (CBL), which provides opportunities for undergraduate students to develop disciplinary and work-related knowledge and skills, is increasingly becoming an integral component of higher education. Similar to other countries, there is a widespread belief among employers in Kenya that there is a mismatch between university programs and labour market demands. In order to enhance the employability of graduates, many departments at a Kenyan university have incorporated work-integrated experiential learning opportunities such as practicums in the educational experience for undergraduate students. The aim of this article is to describe the expectations of field supervisors in host organisations participitating in a community-based human services program at a Kenyan University. Fifteen purposively sampled field supervisors participated in individual face-to-face interviews that included questions about their understanding of the department’s expectations of student learning activities during practicums, knowledge of the academic preparation of students in the program and challenges associated with the supervisory role. Six field supervisors exhibited some level of understanding of the expectations of their role in working with practicum students, while nine field supervisors indicated unclear expectations of the students’ practicum experience. Thematic analysis revealed key themes related to: (1) student abilities, learning goals and their contributions to the host organisations, and (2) the academic program of study and academic support available from the university faculty or staff to field supervisors. The results of our study revealed a lack of clarity around practicum expectations for most of the field supervisors interviewed and insufficient preparation of the community-based organisations to host a practicum student. Several recommendations are identified to clarify the expectations of community partner organisations and the staff providing student supervision to ensure benefits for both students and the host organisation. Results from this study can be used to inform the development or improvement of practicum opportunities focused on producing a skilled workforce

Precision CW laser automatic tracking system investigated

Precision laser tracker capable of tracking a low acceleration target to an accuracy of about 20 microradians rms is being constructed and tested. This laser tracking has the advantage of discriminating against other optical sources and the capability of simultaneously measuring range