The Supreme Court Justice from Knoxville: The Politics of the Appointment of Justice Edward Terry Sanford

The articles written on Justice Edward Terry Sanford are limited in scope and contain several inaccuracies. While his early life has been covered, there has not been a great deal of attention paid to the politics of his appointment to the Supreme Court. It has been the purpose of this study to present an analysis of the circumstances surrounding the appointment of Edward Terry Sanford to the United States Supreme Court with an examination of the role played by Sanford\u27s former law partner, James A. Fowler, in influencing the individuals charged with making the appointment. According to criteria spelled out by Blaustein and Mersky, Sanford was typical of the justices who have been appointed to the Supreme Court. The majority of the justices who have gained admittance to this exalted position fit a particular mold. They have, for the most part, come from families of above average financial means, who have been involved in politics or public service and whose economic circumstances have provided cultural and educational advantages available to middle and upper class individuals. Most of the members of the Court have come from religions with high social status--Presbyterian, Episcopal, Congregational, and Unitarian. While the Constitution does not prescribe any particular educational criteria a nominee must meet to gain appointment to the Court, all appointees have by custom been lawyers. Almost seventy-five percent of the appointees were educated in better institutions--with Harvard, Yale and Columbia being those most frequently represented--or have received their legal training through reading law under first-rate lawyers and judges. Sanford, the product of an economically advantaged environment, educated at Harvard, an Episcopalian, and extremely active in community affairs, fit the mold of the successful supreme court appointee. The point to be considered in this study is why Sanford was selected over other equally capable candidates

The crustal structure of the east Africa through earthquake seismology

First arrivals of local and regional earthquakes, recorded at the Kaptagat array station on the western flank of the Gregory Rift Valley in Kenya, have been analysed to determine the crustal structure westward from the Rift axis. Apparent velocities have been interpreted in terms of crustal velocities. Azimuth and epicentral distance of event has provided lateral and vertical control on crustal boundaries. Normal shield crust, underlain by normal Moho is concluded to exist on the western flank of the Rift Valley. From the satisfactory propagation of S(_n) from events originating around the western Rift, normal Moho is considered to exist across the East African Plateau. A massive mantle derived intrusion is concluded to have penetrated the crust to within approximately 8 km of the Rift floor. This intrusion reaches to within about 7 km of the Elgeyo escarpment, the major Rift Valley boundary fault immediately to the east of Kaptagat. In order to aid second arrival analysis, a synthetic seismogram programme based on short wavelength asymptotic theory for reflected and refracted waves has been written. A qualitative analysis of real and synthetic seismograms of events originating to the west of Kaptagat, suggests that the crustal structure is more complex than the simple two- layered model initially produced. It is considered that the structure beneath the Gregory Rift is more equivalent to that beneath ocean Rift Systems than that beneath continental Rifts. However, rather than being a direct extension of the "World Rift System, the Eastern Rift and associated Kenya dome should be considered as a single physical unft

Revolutions, coups, and clashes: Using implicit motivations to predict the severity of intranational political unrest

Research has found that war is likely to break out in times when leaders are high in power motives and low in affiliation, however research has been limited to conflicts between Western countries. We examine 4 revolutionary movements in the Philippines to examine whether this pattern applies to political violence across cultures and conflict types (i.e., within-country vs. between-country). We also explore the role of achievement motives in intranational political unrest. We gathered speeches during 4 times of civil unrest in the Philippines to study implicit motives at various levels of threat. All 4 occurred in the same country, city, and street in the Philippines, with some of the same actors. We scored speeches for power, affiliation, and achievement motives. The highest power and lowest affiliation motives occurred during the most violent conflict. In addition, we found that higher violence was associated with lower achievement motive

Scenes, Spaces, and Memory Traces: What Does the Hippocampus Do?

The hippocampus is one of the most closely scrutinized brain structures in neuroscience. While traditionally associated with memory and spatial cognition, in more recent years it has also been linked with other functions, including aspects of perception and imagining fictitious and future scenes. Efforts continue apace to understand how the hippocampus plays such an apparently wide-ranging role. Here we consider recent developments in the field and in particular studies of patients with bilateral hippocampal damage. We outline some key findings, how they have subsequently been challenged, and consider how to reconcile the disparities that are at the heart of current lively debates in the hippocampal literature

Nebular spectroscopy of SN 2014J: Detection of stable nickel in near infrared spectra

We present near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of the nearby supernova 2014J obtained $\sim$450 d after explosion. We detect the [Ni II] 1.939 $\mu$m line in the spectra indicating the presence of stable $^{58}$Ni in the ejecta. The stable nickel is not centrally concentrated but rather distributed as the iron. The spectra are dominated by forbidden [Fe II] and [Co II] lines. We use lines, in the NIR spectra, arising from the same upper energy levels to place constraints on the extinction from host galaxy dust. We find that that our data are in agreement with the high $A_V$ and low $R_V$ found in earlier studies from data near maximum light. Using a $^{56}$Ni mass prior from near maximum light $\gamma$-ray observations, we find $\sim$0.05 M$_\odot$ of stable nickel to be present in the ejecta. We find that the iron group features are redshifted from the host galaxy rest frame by $\sim$600 km s$^{-1}$.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to A&

Optimising spatial accessibility to inform rationalisation of specialist health services

BACKGROUND: In an era of budget constraints for healthcare services, strategies for provision of services that improve quality whilst saving costs are highly valued. A proposed means to achieve this is consolidation of services into fewer specialist centres, but this may lead to reduced spatial accessibility. We describe a methodology which includes implementing a combinatorial optimisation algorithm to derive combinations of services which optimise spatial accessibility in the context of service rationalisation, and demonstrate its use through the exemplar of tuberculosis clinics in London. METHODS: Our methodology involves (1) identifying the spatial distribution of the patient population using the service; (2) calculating patient travel times to each service location, and (3) using a combinatorial optimisation algorithm to identify subsets of locations that minimise overall travel time. We estimated travel times for tuberculosis patients notified in London between 2010 and 2013 to each of 29 clinics in the city. Travel time estimates were derived from the Transport for London Journey Planner service. We identified the subset of clinics that would provide the shortest overall travel time for each possible number of clinic subsets (1-28). RESULTS: Based on the 29 existing clinic locations, mean estimated travel time to clinics used by 12,061 tuberculosis patients in London was 33 min; and mean time to their nearest clinics was 28 min. Using optimum combinations of clinic locations, and assuming that patients attended their nearest clinics, a mean travel time of less than 45 min could be achieved with three clinics; of 34 min with ten clinics, and of less than 30 min with 18 clinics. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed a methodological approach to optimise spatial accessibility which can be used to inform rationalisation of health services. In urban conurbations, this may enable service reorganisation which increases quality and efficiency without substantially affecting spatial accessibility. This approach could be used to inform planning of service reorganisations, but may not be generalisable to rural areas or smaller urban centres

Simulation of a high-speed demultiplexer based on two-photon absorption in semiconductor devices

In this paper, we present a theoretical model of an all-optical demultiplexer based on two-photon absorption in a specially designed semiconductor micro-cavity for use in an optical time division multiplexed system. We show that it is possible to achieve error-free demultiplexing of a 250 Gbit/s OTDM signal (25 × 10 Gbit/s channels) using a control-to-signal peak pulse power ratios of around 30:1 with a device bandwidth of approximately 30 GHz

The Makapansgat Limeworks grey breccia: hominids, hyaenas, hystricids or hillwash?

Main articleThe question of the origin of the Makapansgat Limeworks grey breccia is here considered from two viewpoints: (a) the accumulation of bones within a catchment area; and (b) the possible concentration of the bones in their final resting place. The potential role of hyaenas and porcupines as bone-accumulating agents is investigated. Nine categories of hyaena damage to bone surfaces could be distinguished on collections of bone taken from a series of recent hyaena breeding dens. All nine categories can be demonstrated in identical form on fossil bones from the grey breccia. It is concluded that carnivores have played a more substantial role as accumulators of the bones in this breccia than has previously been acknowledged. Porcupines are excluded as major contributors to the grey breccia bone assemblage on the basis of the low percentage of porcupine-gnawed bones present compared with recent porcupine accumulations. Furthermore, the pattern of damage observed on porcupine-collected skeletal elements does not resemble that documented for the grey breccia. A 3-dimensional computer plot of the topography of the Limeworks travertine floor shows the presence of two larger and two smaller basins separated from each other by floor "highs". A floor "high" around the grey breccia is demonstrated and may have been a significant factor in bone concentration. Sedimentation within separate basins need -not necessarily have been synchronous or equivalent, and the practice of equating Members from one part of the cavern to another is questioned. Stereographic projections of the dip and strike orientations of the long axes of a number of in situ grey breccia bones in two separate areas indicate orientation patterns and imbrication. The results of the projections suggest that a combination of water current action and gravity may have been responsible for the present configuration of the bones.Non