Diversity and Discontent: The Relationship Between School Desegregation and Perceptions of Racial Justice

A number of recent studies have explored the consequences of interracial peer effects on the academic and social performance of minority students. This article contributes to that discussion, focusing, however, on perceptions rather than behaviors. The analysis suggests that exposure to white peers is associated with declining perceptions of racial justice among black and Latino high school students. While cautioning against causal interpretations of this finding, the article suggests that the integrationist aims of Brown v. Board of Education will not be satisfied without more thoughtful and vigorous desegregation efforts

Liability and Organizational Choice

Scholars have long maintained that increases in liability encourage firms to contract out risky activities in order to take advantage of so-called judgment-proof strategies. These strategies allow entities to limit their liability through contractual arrangements with nearly insolvent firms. However, the use of judgment-proof firms triggers countervailing effects: it provides opportunities to externalize liability through judgment-proof firms, but the insolvency of these firms introduces distortion in care levels that can generate more liability costs. These costs may outweigh the benefits of externalizing liability, making contracting out suboptimal. A simple model of organizational decision making with judgment-proof firms is developed and applied to the oil industry, where contracting out decreased in response to heightened liability following the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Supermodular Architecture of Inclusion

Achieving and managing workplace diversity can be contentious work for employers. As Susan Sturm\u27s recent article asserts, [e]mployers face legal and political challenges both for failing to diversify their workplaces and for diversity efforts to overcome that failure. \u27 Both employers and employees find themselves in an ambiguous and highly reactive landscape that offers little structure within which to plan diversity initiatives. Sturm\u27s thoughtful article, The Architecture of Inclusion, offers some much needed structure to institutional participants engaged in the practice of making inclusive environments. In this brief comment, we build on Sturm\u27s work, offering a simple suggestion relating to the practical structure of diversity

Membrane permeability of small molecules from unbiased molecular dynamics simulations

Permeation of many small molecules through lipid bilayers can be directly observed in molecular dynamics simulations on the nano- and microsecond timescale. While unbiased simulations provide an unobstructed view of the permeation process, their feasibility for computing permeability coefficients depends on various factors that differ for each permeant. The present work studies three small molecules for which unbiased simulations of permeation are feasible within less than a microsecond, one hydrophobic (oxygen), one hydrophilic (water), and one amphiphilic (ethanol). Permeabilities are computed using two approaches: counting methods and a maximum-likelihood estimation for the inhomogeneous solubility diffusion (ISD) model. Counting methods yield nearly model-free estimates of the permeability for all three permeants. While the ISD-based approach is reasonable for oxygen, it lacks precision for water due to insufficient sampling and results in misleading estimates for ethanol due to invalid model assumptions. It is also demonstrated that simulations using a Langevin thermostat with collision frequencies of 1/ps and 5/ps yield oxygen permeabilities and diffusion constants that are lower than those using Nose-Hoover by statistically significant margins. In contrast, permeabilities from trajectories generated with Nose-Hoover and the microcanonical ensemble do not show statistically significant differences. As molecular simulations become more affordable and accurate, calculation of permeability for an expanding range of molecules will be feasible using unbiased simulations. The present work summarizes theoretical underpinnings, identifies pitfalls, and develops best practices for such simulations

Langevin network model of myosin

Langevin mode theory and the coarse-grained elastic network model (ENM) for proteins are combined to yield the Langevin network model (LNM). Hydrodynamic radii of 6 Å were assigned to each R-carbon on the basis of matching experimental translational and rotational diffusion constants of lysozyme, myoglobin, and hemoglobin with those calculated using a rigid body bead model with hydrodynamic interactions described by the Rotne-Prager tensor. LNM analysis of myosin II indicates that all ENM-like modes are overdamped at water viscosities. The low-frequency LNM modes in the pre-power stroke structure (PDB code: 1VOM) are substantially less mixed than the corresponding modes of the post-power stroke structure (1Q5G). Results from a four-bead model of the myosin "lever arm" indicate that coupling between modes increases as the array departs from linearity and are consistent with the results for 1VOM and 1Q5G. The decay times for all overdamped Langevin modes are shorter than the calculated rotational tumbling times found for lysozyme and myosin

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse Against Men: Voices of Victimization Among Ex-Servicemen of the British Armed Forces

This study presents the personal testimonies of male British ex-Armed Forces personnel who have experienced violence and abuse victimization that was perpetrated by civilian female partners. In this research, we argue that to embark upon any understanding of the domestic lives of military personnel, an appreciation of the linkages to the cultural context of the military institution is necessary. Understanding the influence of the military institution beyond the military domain is crucial. We unveil the nature and character of the violence and abuse and how the servicemen negotiated their relationships. In doing so, we highlight the embodiment of military discipline, skills, and tactics in the home—not ones of violence which may be routinely linked to military masculinities; rather ones of restraint, tolerance, stoicism, and the reduction of a threat to inconsequential individual significance