Constitutional Limits on Private Policing and the State’s Allocation of Force

This Note argues that a variety of private police forces, such as university patrols and residential security guards, should. be held to the constitutional limitations found in the Bill of Rights. These private police act as arms of the state by supplying force in response to a public demand for order and security. The state, as sovereign, retains responsibility to allocate force, in the form of either public or private police, in response to public demand. This state responsibility-a facet of its police power-is evidenced throughout English and American history. When this force responds to a public demand for order and security, existing state action doctrine case law places both public and private force tinder constitutional scrutiny

Juror Target Monitoring Errors in Multiple Defendant Trials

When defendants are charged with interrelated crimes it is efficient to join their cases into a single trial; however, a defendant\u27s right to a fair trial may be abrogated by this practice. In multiple defendant trials, jurors may be subject to target monitoring errors - an inability to accurately assign evidence to the correct defendant, much like they are prone to source monitoring errors (i.e., difficulty identifying the specific source of a memory, Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993). This research study tested whether target monitoring errors moderated the influence of joining defendants\u27 on juror decisions by varying number of defendants, charge similarity and judicial admonitions. I predicted a linear trend of charge similarity and judicial admonitions for both evidence memory and perceived evidence strength, with a decrease in accuracy as the number of defendants increased. I also predicted fewer guilty verdicts in a single defendant trial than in multiple defendant trials. Jurors failed the manipulation check assessing jurors\u27 memory for judicial multiple defendant admonitions. Contrary to predictions, increasing number of defendants at trial did not increase guilty verdicts or reduce evidence memory or perceived evidence strength. Charge similarity among defendants had no impact on juror verdict decisions or juror memory and recall. The presence of judicial admonitions did influence guilty verdicts or memory recall accuracy. The only moderation effect to emerge was on admonished jurors falsely knowing information not presented at trial was presented when viewing a similar charge trial. Overall, no hypotheses were supported; however, limitations to this study may explain the null results. The participants\u27 ratings of the co-defendants\u27 guilt may not have been high enough to allow for a spillover effect of criminal inference. Moreover, the judicial admonitions may not have been specific enough to warn participants of potential memory errors. Finally, perhaps the operational definition of trial complexity was not an effective manipulation of complexity within the trial used. Thus, the lack of support for my hypotheses should be interpreted with caution

Effects of ply angle and blocking on open-hole tensile strength of composite laminates:A design and certification perspective

The failure strength of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic laminates under open-hole tension varies considerably with ply angle, ply blocking and loading direction. Here, laminates with various standard-angle and non-standard angle stacking sequences are subjected to both on- and off-axis loading in a comprehensive experimental and progressive damage finite element analysis testing campaign. It is found that interlaminar and intralaminar matrix damage can be beneficial when accumulated sub-critically in ply blocks aligned with loading direction, but can also lead to significant strength decreases owing to edge failure. In such cases, a numerical edge treatment is proposed for more accurate representation of open-hole tensile strength in large structures where holes are positioned away from free edges. The solution suppresses edge failure and results in up to 80% strength increases, challenging the validity of standard open-hole tension testing and current design rules for some applications.</p

Tensile strain mapping in flat germanium membranes

Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to their work.-- et al.Scanning X-ray micro-diffraction has been used as a non-destructive probe of the local crystalline quality of a thin suspended germanium (Ge) membrane. A series of reciprocal space maps were obtained with ~4 μm spatial resolution, from which detailed information on the strain distribution, thickness, and crystalline tilt of the membrane was obtained. We are able to detect a systematic strain variation across the membranes, but show that this is negligible in the context of using the membranes as platforms for further growth. In addition, we show evidence that the interface and surface quality is improved by suspending the Ge.This work was carried out under the RCUK Basic Technology Programme supported by research Grant Nos. EP/F040784/1, EP/J001074/1, EP/L007010/1, by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement NANOFUNCTION No. 257375, by TAPHOR (MAT2012–31392), and by FP7 project MERGING (Grant No. 309150). This research used equipment funded by AWM and ERDF through the Science City Energy Efficiency project.Peer Reviewe

A Role for the Vacuolating Cytotoxin, VacA, in Colonization and Helicobacter pylori-Induced Metaplasia in the Stomach

Carriage of Helicobacter pylori strains producing more active (s1/i1) forms of VacA is strongly associated with gas-tric adenocarcinoma. To our knowledge, we are the first to determine effects of different polymorphic forms of VacA on inflammation and metaplasia in the mouse stomach. Bacteria producing the less active s2/i2 form of VacA colonized mice more efficiently than mutants null for VacA or producing more active forms of it, providing the first evidence of a positive role for the minimally active s2/i2 toxin. Strains producing more active toxin forms induced more severe and extensive metaplasia and in flammation in the mouse stomach than strains producing weakly active (s2/i2) toxin. We also examined the association in humans, controlling for cag PAI status. In human gastric biopsy specimens, the vacA i1 allele was strongly associated with precancerous intestinal metaplasia, with almost complete absence of intestinal metaplasia in subjects infected with i2-type strains, even in a vacA s1, cagA+ background

Parental obligations, care and HIV treatment: How care for others motivates self-care in Zimbabwe

This article examines how parental obligations of care intersect with HIV treatment-seeking behaviours and retention. It draws on qualitative data from eastern Zimbabwe, produced from 65 interviews. Drawing on theories of practice and care ethics, our analysis revealed that norms of parental obligation and care acted as key motivators for ongoing engagement with HIV services and treatment. Parents' attentiveness to the future needs of their children ( caring about), and sense of obligation ( taking care of) and improved ability to care ( caregiving) following treatment initiation, emerged as central to understanding their drive for self-care and engagement with HIV services

Providing a conceptual framework for HIV prevention cascades and assessing feasibility of empirical measurement with data from east Zimbabwe: a case study

BACKGROUND: The HIV treatment cascade illustrates the steps required for successful treatment and is a powerful advocacy and monitoring tool. Similar cascades for people susceptible to infection could improve HIV prevention programming. We aim to show the feasibility of using cascade models to monitor prevention programmes. METHODS: Conceptual prevention cascades are described taking intervention-centric and client-centric perspectives to look at supply, demand, and efficacy of interventions. Data from two rounds of a population-based study in east Zimbabwe are used to derive the values of steps for cascades for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and for partner reduction or condom use driven by HIV testing and counselling (HTC). FINDINGS: In 2009 to 2011 the availability of circumcision services was negligible, but by 2012 to 2013 about a third of the population had access. However, where it was available only 12% of eligible men sought to be circumcised leading to an increase in circumcision prevalence from 3·1% to 6·9%. Of uninfected men, 85·3% did not perceive themselves to be at risk of acquiring HIV. The proportions of men and women tested for HIV increased from 27·5% to 56·6% and from 61·1% to 79·6%, respectively, with 30·4% of men tested self-reporting reduced sexual partner numbers and 12·8% reporting increased condom use. INTERPRETATION: Prevention cascades can be populated to inform HIV prevention programmes. In eastern Zimbabwe programmes need to provide greater access to circumcision services and the design and implementation of associated demand creation activities. Whereas, HTC services need to consider how to increase reductions in partner numbers or increased condom use or should not be considered as contributing to prevention services for the HIV-negative adults. FUNDING: Wellcome Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Mendelian randomization shows a causal effect of low vitamin D on multiple sclerosis risk.

ObjectiveWe sought to estimate the causal effect of low serum 25(OH)D on multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility that is not confounded by environmental or lifestyle factors or subject to reverse causality.MethodsWe conducted mendelian randomization (MR) analyses using an instrumental variable (IV) comprising 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms found to be associated with serum 25(OH)D levels at genome-wide significance. We analyzed the effect of the IV on MS risk and both age at onset and disease severity in 2 separate populations using logistic regression models that controlled for sex, year of birth, smoking, education, genetic ancestry, body mass index at age 18-20 years or in 20s, a weighted genetic risk score for 110 known MS-associated variants, and the presence of one or more HLA-DRB1*15:01 alleles.ResultsFindings from MR analyses using the IV showed increasing levels of 25(OH)D are associated with a decreased risk of MS in both populations. In white, non-Hispanic members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California (1,056 MS cases and 9,015 controls), the odds ratio (OR) was 0.79 (p = 0.04, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64-0.99). In members of a Swedish population from the Epidemiological Investigation of Multiple Sclerosis and Genes and Environment in Multiple Sclerosis MS case-control studies (6,335 cases and 5,762 controls), the OR was 0.86 (p = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.76-0.98). A meta-analysis of the 2 populations gave a combined OR of 0.85 (p = 0.003, 95% CI: 0.76-0.94). No association was observed for age at onset or disease severity.ConclusionsThese results provide strong evidence that low serum 25(OH)D concentration is a cause of MS, independent of established risk factors