What They Say at the End: Capital Victims\u27 Families and the Press

Perhaps the most common complaint by American crime victims and their families is that they are ignored-by the police, by the prosecutors, by the courts and by the press. However true that may be for capital cases in general, there is at least one consistent exception: the great majority of newspaper accounts of executions include at least some description of the reactions of the victims\u27 families and of any surviving victims. It seems to have become an item on the checklist, part of the who, what, where, when, why, and how of execution stories. When no family members are available, or they refuse to speak, that fact is usually noted as well

Exonerations in the United States 1989 through 2003

On August 14, 1989, the Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, Illinois, vacated Gary Dotson\u27s 1979 rape conviction and dismissed the charges.1 Mr. Dotson-who had spent ten years in and out of prison and on parole for this conviction-was not the first innocent prisoner to be exonerated and released in America. But his case was a breakthrough nonetheless: he was the first who was cleared by DNA identification technology. It was the beginning of a revolution in the American criminal justice system. Until then, exonerations of falsely convicted defendants were seen as aberrational. Since 1989, these once-rare events have become disturbingly commonplace

Exonerations in the United States 1989 Through 2003

On August 14, 1989, the Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, Illinois, vacated Gary Dotson\u27s 1979 rape conviction and dismissed the charges.1 Mr. Dotson-who had spent ten years in and out of prison and on parole for this conviction-was not the first innocent prisoner to be exonerated and released in America. But his case was a breakthrough nonetheless: he was the first who was cleared by DNA identification technology. It was the beginning of a revolution in the American criminal justice system. Until then, exonerations of falsely convicted defendants were seen as aberrational. Since 1989, these once-rare events have become disturbingly commonplace

A separable domain of the p150 subunit of human Chromatin Assembly Factor-1 promotes protein and chromosome associations with nucleoli

Chromatin Assembly Factor-1 (CAF-1) is a three-subunit protein complex conserved throughout eukaryotes that deposits histones during DNA synthesis. Here, we present a novel role for the human p150 subunit in regulating nucleolar macromolecular interactions. Acute depletion of p150 causes redistribution of multiple nucleolar proteins and reduces nucleolar association with several repetitive element-containing loci. Notably, a point mutation in a SUMO-interacting motif (SIM) within p150 abolishes nucleolar associations, whereas PCNA or HP1 interaction sites within p150 are not required for these interactions. Additionally, acute depletion of SUMO-2 or the SUMO E2 ligase Ubc9 reduces alpha-satellite DNA association with nucleoli. The nucleolar functions of p150 are separable from its interactions with the other subunits of the CAF-1 complex, because an N-terminal fragment of p150 (p150N) that cannot interact with other CAF-1 subunits is sufficient for maintaining nucleolar chromosome and protein associations. Therefore, these data define novel functions for a separable domain of the p150 protein, regulating protein and DNA interactions at the nucleolus

SN 2009bb: a Peculiar Broad-Lined Type Ic Supernova

Ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared photometry and optical spectroscopy of the broad-lined Type Ic supernova (SN) 2009bb are presented, following the flux evolution from -10 to +285 days past B-band maximum. Thanks to the very early discovery, it is possible to place tight constraints on the SN explosion epoch. The expansion velocities measured from near maximum spectra are found to be only slightly smaller than those measured from spectra of the prototype broad-lined SN 1998bw associated with GRB 980425. Fitting an analytical model to the pseudo-bolometric light curve of SN 2009bb suggests that 4.1+-1.9 Msun of material was ejected with 0.22 +-0.06 Msun of it being 56Ni. The resulting kinetic energy is 1.8+-0.7x10^52 erg. This, together with an absolute peak magnitude of MB=-18.36+-0.44, places SN 2009bb on the energetic and luminous end of the broad-lined Type Ic (SN Ic) sequence. Detection of helium in the early time optical spectra accompanied with strong radio emission, and high metallicity of its environment makes SN 2009bb a peculiar object. Similar to the case for GRBs, we find that the bulk explosion parameters of SN 2009bb cannot account for the copious energy coupled to relativistic ejecta, and conclude that another energy reservoir (a central engine) is required to power the radio emission. Nevertheless, the analysis of the SN 2009bb nebular spectrum suggests that the failed GRB detection is not imputable to a large angle between the line-of-sight and the GRB beamed radiation. Therefore, if a GRB was produced during the SN 2009bb explosion, it was below the threshold of the current generation of gamma-ray instruments.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Students’ perceptions of school acoustics and the impact of noise on teaching and learning in secondary schools : findings of a questionnaire survey

This paper will present the design and findings of an online questionnaire survey of 11–16 year olds’ impressions of their school's acoustic environment, and of an experimental study into the effects of typical levels of classroom noise on adolescent's performance on numeracy and cognitive functioning tasks. Analysis of the responses to the questionnaire found that pupils who reported additional learning needs such as hearing impairment, speaking English as an additional language or receiving learning support reported being significantly more affected by poor school acoustics than pupils reporting no additional learning needs. Pupils attending suburban schools featuring cellular classrooms that were not exposed to a nearby noise sources were more positive about their school acoustics than pupils at schools with open plan classroom designs or attending schools that were exposed to external noise sources. The study demonstrates that adolescents are reliable judges of their school's acoustic environment, and have insight into the disruption to teaching and learning caused by poor listening conditions. Furthermore, pupils with additional learning needs are more at risk from the negative effects of poor school acoustics