Mens Rea in Corpore Reo: An Exploration of the Rapists Charter

The issue of rape has long been at the forefront of the feminist movement. Legal doctrine and legal procedure relevant to rape have been strongly attacked by a variety of critics.\u27 The most obvious recent trend has been a movement from the traditional liberal concern with the protection of the accused from unjustified conviction, to victim-oriented efforts which are designed to ensure that the number of guilty offenders who evade responsibility for rape is reduced as much as possible. 2 The bases of calls for victim orientation have ranged from the view, most eloquently expressed by Susan Brownmiller, that the fact of rape is a pattern of conduct by which all men keep all women in a state of fearful subjection, 3 to the view that present rape laws, suitable amended, will provide as much protection from rape as can reasonably be expecte

The Law Reform Commission of Canada, Barnes and Marlin, and the Value-Consensus Model: More about Ideology

Barnes and Marlin have attacked the original paper written by me about the Law Reform Commission of Canada and the ideology of criminal process reform. The discussion which follows is not limited to being my response to their response: such a discussion would be fruitless and introverted to the point of boredom. Thus, although some of the discussion begins with Barnes and Marlin, it is not intended to end there, for indeed Barnes and Marlin have not really discussed much of the original comment at all. Their paper contains some discussion of the notion of consensus although, it is submitted, their discussion is largely a product of misunderstanding. However, Barnes and Marlin have not discussed any other attribute of the value-consensus model at all, nor have they dealt with the specific examples and criticisms raised in the original paper. Barnes and Marlin do not deal with the quite substantial body of literature, referred to and discussed in the original paper, which has surrounded the debate concerning the ideology of the criminal process and the criminal law, both as it is and as it should be

Recent Developments in Criminal Law in Nova Scotia

Judicial examination of the criminal process in Canada generally, and Nova Scotia in particular continues to grow. The consequent explosion of technical law, which some would regard as an implosion, places the academic writer on the horns of a dilemma when faced with the task of reviewing recent developments in the Nova Scotia criminal process. On the one hand, the writer may compress and omit detail in order to cover adequately developments in such widely disparate areas as murder and power to arrest. On the other hand, coverage may be sacrificed to detailed discussion of the law and its implications in a smaller number of selected areas. We have chosen the latter course. We do not, however, intend to imply that the topics discussed hereunder were selected at random. We have chosen to focus on three areas of recent development which in our view, will significantly affect the future course of criminal law. They are the struggle to develop a rational sentencing policy, the right to counsel in breathalyzer cases, and ignorance of law as a mitigation, if not outright defence, to certain offences. We join, of course, many people in selecting sentencing law. It is a dynamic area of law currently undergoing reexamination all across the country

Does the Sun Shrink with Increasing Magnetic Activity?

We have analyzed the full set of SOHO/MDI f- and p-mode oscillation frequencies from 1996 to date in a search for evidence of solar radius evolution during the rising phase of the current activity cycle. Like Antia et al. (2000), we find that a significant fraction of the f-mode frequency changes scale with frequency; and that if these are interpreted in terms of a radius change, it implies a shrinking sun. Our inferred rate of shrinkage is about 1.5 km/y, which is somewhat smaller than found by Antia et al. We argue that this rate does not refer to the surface, but rather to a layer extending roughly from 4 to 8 Mm beneath the visible surface. The rate of shrinking may be accounted for by an increasing radial component of the rms random magnetic field at a rate that depends on its radial distribution. If it were uniform, the required field would be ~7 kG. However, if it were inwardly increasing, then a 1 kG field at 8 Mm would suffice. To assess contribution to the solar radius change arising above 4Mm, we analyzed the p-mode data. The evolution of the p-mode frequencies may be explained by a magnetic^M field growing with activity. The implications of the near-surface magnetic field changes depend on the anisotropy of the random magnetic field. If the field change is predominantly radial, then we infer an additional shrinking at a rate between 1.1-1.3 km/y at the photosphere. If on the other hand the increase is isotropic, we find a competing expansion at a rate of 2.3 km/y. In any case, variations in the sun's radius in the activity cycle are at the level of 10^{-5} or less, hence have a negligible contribution to the irradiance variations.Comment: 10 pages (ApJ preprint style), 4 figures; accepted for publication in Ap

Properties of Umbral Dots as Measured from the New Solar Telescope Data and MHD Simulations

We studied bright umbral dots (UDs) detected in a moderate size sunspot and compared their statistical properties to recent MHD models. The study is based on high resolution data recorded by the New Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory and 3D MHD simulations of sunspots. Observed UDs, living longer than 150 s, were detected and tracked in a 46 min long data set, using an automatic detection code. Total 1553 (620) UDs were detected in the photospheric (low chromospheric) data. Our main findings are: i) none of the analyzed UDs is precisely circular, ii) the diameter-intensity relationship only holds in bright umbral areas, and iii) UD velocities are inversely related to their lifetime. While nearly all photospheric UDs can be identified in the low chromospheric images, some small closely spaced UDs appear in the low chromosphere as a single cluster. Slow moving and long living UDs seem to exist in both the low chromosphere and photosphere, while fast moving and short living UDs are mainly detected in the photospheric images. Comparison to the 3D MHD simulations showed that both types of UDs display, on average, very similar statistical characteristics. However, i) the average number of observed UDs per unit area is smaller than that of the model UDs, and ii) on average, the diameter of model UDs is slightly larger than that of observed ones.Comment: Accepted by the AP

Are braneworlds born isotropic?

It has recently been suggested that an isotropic singularity may be a generic feature of brane cosmologies, even in the inhomogeneous case. Using the covariant and gauge-invariant approach we present a detailed analysis of linear perturbations of the isotropic model ${\cal F}_b$ which is a past attractor in the phase space of homogeneous Bianchi models on the brane. We find that for matter with an equation of state parameter $\gamma > 1$, the dimensionless variables representing generic anisotropic and inhomogeneous perturbations decay as $t\to 0$, showing that the model ${\cal F}_b$ is asymptotically stable in the past. We conclude that brane universes are born with isotropy naturally built-in, contrary to standard cosmology. The observed large-scale homogeneity and isotropy of the universe can therefore be explained as a consequence of the initial conditions if the brane-world paradigm represents a description of the very early universe.Comment: Changed to match published versio

I am a Candidate for President : A Functional Analysis of Presidential Announcement Speeches, 1960-2004

This study investigates the nature of presidential announcement speeches, messages that introduce the current crop of contenders for the White House to voters and the news media. Announcement speeches are typically voters‘ initial exposure to these politicians as candidates for the White House. Seventy-five presidential announcement speeches from 1960 through 2004 were analyzed with the Functional Theory of Campaign Discourse. Acclaims were over three times as common as attacks; defenses were quite rare. Republicans and winners were more positive than Democrats or losers. These speeches were evenly split between policy and character. Democrats discussed policy more, and character less, than Republicans. Candidates emphasized issues owned by their political party more than candidates from the opposing party

Simulation and flight evaluation of a head-up landing aid for general aviation

A head-up general aviation landing aid called a landing site indicator (LASI) was tested in a fixed-base, visual simulator and in an airplane to determine the effectiveness of the LASI. The display, which had a simplified format and method of implementation, presented to the pilot in his line of sight through the windshield a graphic representation of the airplane's velocity vector. In each testing model (simulation of flight), each of 4 pilots made 20 landing approaches with the LASI and 20 approaches without it. The standard deviations of approach and touchdown parameters were considered an indication of pilot consistency. Use of the LASI improved consistency and also reduced elevator, aileron, and rudder control activity. Pilots' comments indicated that the LASI reduced work load. An appendix is included with a discussion of the simulator effectiveness for visual flight tasks

Flexibility within the middle ears of vertebrates

Introduction and aims: Tympanic middle ears have evolved multiple times independently among vertebrates, and share common features. We review flexibility within tympanic middle ears and consider its physiological and clinical implications. Comparative anatomy: The chain of conducting elements is flexible: even the ‘single ossicle’ ears of most non-mammalian tetrapods are functionally ‘double ossicle’ ears due to mobile articulations between the stapes and extrastapes; there may also be bending within individual elements. Simple models: Simple models suggest that flexibility will generally reduce the transmission of sound energy through the middle ear, although in certain theoretical situations flexibility within or between conducting elements might improve transmission. The most obvious role of middle-ear flexibility is to protect the inner ear from high-amplitude displacements. Clinical implications: Inter-ossicular joint dysfunction is associated with a number of pathologies in humans. We examine attempts to improve prosthesis design by incorporating flexible components