Deciding Death: Capital Punishment in America

Laurie JohnsonAmerican comedian Dan Miller once said that “the death penalty is becoming a way of life in this country.” With more than 1,400 executions and over 150 death row exonerations since 1973, it’s hard to disagree with him1. As more and more people are exonerated from death row each year, it is important to once again question the constitutional validity of the death penalty. It is becoming increasingly clearer that the death penalty, especially implemented as a deterrent, is becoming obsolete. Not only is it obsolete, but without an absolute guarantee of guilt, regrettably cruel as well. In this paper, I will argue that the United States government lacks the legitimate authority to execute criminals via capital punishment due to the arbitrary influence of race in capital sentencing. For the purposes of this paper, I will assume that the death penalty is morally permissible and that the Eighth Amendment does not, on its own, rule out capital punishment. The focus of my paper will be that, in light of the Fourteenth Amendment, the state fails to respect the equal status of African-Americans in capital sentencing and that this failure compromises the state’s legitimacy in implementing capital punishment, thereby making capital punishment unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment

Developments in Labour Law from a Comparative Perspective

The “Labour Law Education Society”, established in 2012, is one of the academic networks which were brought to life to study labour law from a comparative perspective. This monograph is a result of research made by LLES Members. In its contents latest issues of labour law are being presented. Hence, the essence of the presented studies would be interesting for those who analyze labour law from a comparative perspective. A dynamic development of labour law, connected with its social, political and economic conditions is a reason to study it from many different views. This monograph attempts to accomplish this objective

Respiratory protein interactions in Dehalobacter sp. strain 8M revealed through genomic and native proteomic analyses

Dehalobacter (Firmicutes) encompass obligate organohalide-respiring bacteria used for bioremediation of groundwater contaminated with halogenated organics. Various aspects of their biochemistry remain unknown, including the identities and interactions of respiratory proteins. Here, we sequenced the genome of Dehalobacter sp. strain 8M and analysed its protein expression. Strain 8M encodes 22 reductive dehalogenase homologous (RdhA) proteins. RdhA D8M_v2_40029 (TmrA) was among the two most abundant proteins during growth with trichloromethane and 1,1,2-trichloroethane. To examine interactions of respiratory proteins, we used blue native gel electrophoresis together with dehalogenation activity tests and mass spectrometry. The highest activities were found in gel slices with the highest abundance of TmrA. Protein distributions across gel lanes provided biochemical evidence that the large and small subunits of the membrane-bound [NiFe] uptake hydrogenase (HupL and HupS) interacted strongly and that HupL/S interacted weakly with RdhA. Moreover, the interaction of RdhB and membrane-bound b-type cytochrome HupC was detected. RdhC proteins, often encoded in rdh operons but without described function, migrated in a protein complex not associated with HupL/S or RdhA. This study provides the first biochemical evidence of respiratory protein interactions in Dehalobacter, discusses implications for the respiratory architecture and advances the molecular comprehension of this unique respiratory chain

Mycoplasma pneumoniae detections before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: results of a global survey, 2017 to 2021

Background Mycoplasma pneumoniae respiratory infections are transmitted by aerosol and droplets in close contact. Aim We investigated global M. pneumoniae incidence after implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) against COVID-19 in March 2020. Methods We surveyed M. pneumoniae detections from laboratories and surveillance systems (national or regional) across the world from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 and compared them with cases from corresponding months between 2017 and 2020. Macrolide-resistant M. pneumoniae (MRMp) data were collected from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2021. Results Thirty-seven sites from 21 countries in Europe, Asia, America and Oceania submitted valid datasets (631,104 tests). Among the 30,617 M. pneumoniae detections, 62.39% were based on direct test methods (predominantly PCR), 34.24% on a combination of PCR and serology (no distinction between methods) and 3.37% on serology alone (only IgM considered). In all countries, M. pneumoniae incidence by direct test methods declined significantly after implementation of NPIs with a mean of 1.69% (SD ± 3.30) compared with 8.61% (SD ± 10.62) in previous years (p < 0.01). Detection rates decreased with direct but not with indirect test methods (serology) (–93.51% vs + 18.08%; p < 0.01). Direct detections remained low worldwide throughout April 2020 to March 2021 despite widely differing lockdown or school closure periods. Seven sites (Europe, Asia and America) reported MRMp detections in one of 22 investigated cases in April 2020 to March 2021 and 176 of 762 (23.10%) in previous years (p = 0.04). Conclusions This comprehensive collection of M. pneumoniae detections worldwide shows correlation between COVID-19 NPIs and significantly reduced detection numbers

Decentralised Hybridised Energy Management Systems (DHEMS) in power grids

The integration of electric batteries along the power supply chain is crucial for the transformation of the energy sector towards a new flexible grid that allows the penetration of renewable power generation while ensuring stability and supply security. Batteries penetration in the grid can be boosted through an efficient management of heterogeneous generation sources, controllable loads and batteries, according to different criteria of stability, efficiency, cost, maintenance and power flow requirements. The Distributed Hybrid Energy Management System (DHEMS) is a management software tool able to solve an optimization problem maximizing renewable energy sources exploitation. The DHEMS has been designed with two control layers. First, the Cloud DHEMS layer accepts external setpoints (from a VPP, DSO or TSO) and dispatchs the total active and reactive power to be exchanged with the grid by a set of distributed plants. Second, the Local DHEMSs are in charge of distributing received set points and commands among the local sets that form each power plant. Different real control and communication tests have been done, in La Plana facility (owned by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy)

Methodology of designing computer ontology of subject discipline by future teachers-engineers

The article deals with the problem of the methodology of designing computer ontology of the subject discipline by the future teachers-engineers in the field of computer technologies. The scheme of ontology of the subject discipline is presented in which the set of concepts of the future computer ontology and the set of relations between them are represented. The main criteria of the choice of systems of computer ontologies for designing computer ontology of the subject discipline: software architecture and tools development; interoperability; intuitive interface are established. The selection of techniques for designing ontologies using computer ontology systems is carried out. The algorithm of designing computer ontology of the subject discipline by the future teachers-engineers in the field of computer technologies is proposed