Sex Differences in Attributions to Positive and Negative Sexual Scenarios in Men and Women With and Without Sexual Problems: Reconsidering Stereotypes

People with sexual problems are more likely to attribute negative sexual experiences to themselves, in contrast to sexually functional individuals who attribute negative sexual experiences to external factors such as the circumstance or partner. We investigated attribution patterns in 820 men and 753 women, some of whom reported an orgasmic problem, to assess differences between the sexes and those with and without an orgasmic difficulty. Specifically, using an Internet-based approach, we compared attribution responses to four sexual scenarios, one representing a positive sexual experience and three representing negative sexual experiences. Women were more likely to attribute positive outcomes to their partner than men. Women were also more likely to attribute negative outcomes to themselves than men, but they more readily blamed their partner and circumstances for negative outcomes than men as well. Those with orgasmic problems were less willing to take credit for positive outcomes and more willing to accept blame for negative outcomes. Interaction effects between sex and orgasmic problems further highlighted differences between men’s and women’s attribution patterns. These results are interpreted in the context of traditional notions that men’s attributions tend to be more self-serving and women’s attributions more self-derogatory

A Call for Constitutionalizing the Affirmative Insanity Defense

This Note sheds light on varied insanity defense formulations which fail to adequately protect the constitutional rights of people deemed legally insane. An emerging trend has arisen whereby states adopt alternative approaches to legal insanity focused solely on the mental state of a criminal offender at the time the offender committed a crime. Rather than operating as an excusal from criminal liability, this alternative approach offers insanity as mitigating evidence to be used at the sentencing phase of trial. The result is that a person deemed not guilty in a state employing the affirmative defense could be deemed guilty in a state employing an alternative defense. Mere inquiry into an offender’s mental state takes no account of the offender’s cognitive capacity to appreciate the moral wrongfulness of the offending conduct. A person who lacks moral blameworthiness in the same way as a child or wild animal is not properly the subject of punishment under American criminal law. The Supreme Court has repeatedly addressed the issue of whether states are constitutionally required to employ an affirmative insanity defense. Most recently, in Kahler v. Kansas, the Court answered this question in the negative. This Note focuses on the inadequacies of alternative insanity defenses and advocates for treating the affirmative insanity defense as a constitutional baseline for due process of the legally insane

U.S. Covert Actions in the Indonesian Genocide: the International Criminal Court

After the Korean War in 1950, the Cold War expanded to Asia transitioning from purely economic aid in Europe from the Marshall Plan, to direct military intervention then to covert military operations under the Eisenhower Administration in Indonesia. The focus of this research is on the United States military intervention through covert military operations from 1950-66 and details the evolution of foreign policy in Indonesia from the economic aid to supplying names of PKI insurgents to be slaughtered. With the general research questions of How did CIA interference through covert military operations in Indonesia highlight a shift in CIA intervention from economic aid from the Marshall Plan to infiltrating regimes and massacring civilians such as Chile during the Cold War? Why is it that the major powers are rarely prosecuted for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide under the International criminal court and rarely face any consquences? From, 1953-1958 the United States intervention in Indonesia took on a new form, of infiltrating the PKI party through the CIA and then began to form “civic action” missions through training opposition troops in 1957, the US trained Suharto assist in turning the Indonesian army to a counter insurgency unit independent off Sukarno led state, through establishing SESKOAD civic action training centers run by the CIA that became the training grounds utilized for the political takeover of General Suharto. In 1962 the United States began covert military operations to Indonesia and drastically increased its MAP to the region, and four months before the coup two large trade deals these weapons and communication systems were used in the communist purge amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and assitance in genocide and these trade deals would also benefit Suharto’s business partners until 1966. Due to the anarchy of the international world system, and the lack of enforcement from the ICC the United States will not be held accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide

Final Archive Project

Student generated description: “An archive project of a coloring book talking about my experience during Covid-19

Monitoring membrane protein structural changes and interactions via deep UV resonance Raman spectroscopy

Membrane proteins perform a variety of functions within our cells. They transport nutrients and waste across the lipid barrier, transmit signals from one part of the body to another, and run our immune system. However, despite their ubiquitous and vital presence in all organisms, relatively little is known about this class of proteins compared to their soluble counterparts. Intramembrane proteolysis is a process involving membrane proteins that occurs in all biological organisms and has garnered particular interest due to its involvement in various disease pathologies, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases. In this work I have set out to use deep UV resonance Raman (DUVRR) spectroscopy to characterize structural and environmental transitions of proteins and applied the results to studies involving intramembrane proteolysis in an effort to better understand the key concepts behind it