Eighth Amendment - Andrade v. Attorney General

A large majority of states have enacted recidivist statutes requiring increased punishment for repeat offenders. California\u27s controversial recidivist statute, the Three Strikes and You\u27re Out Law (the Three Strikes Law), was approved by ballot initiative and enacted by the state legislature in 1994. Defendants have challenged the constitutionality of sentences under habitual offender statutes for at least twenty years. In Harmelin v. Helm, the United States Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a first time drug offender convicted of possession of 650 grams of cocaine. Justice Kennedy\u27s concurrence in Harmelin set forth a three-part gross proportionality analysis to be applied to sentences imposed upon non-violent recidivists challenged under the Eighth Amendment\u27s clause prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. In Andrade v. Attorney General,s the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit applied Justice Kennedy\u27s Harmelin analysis to a life sentence without the possibility of parole for fifty years, imposed under the Three Strikes Law on a non-violent recidivist who stole nine videotapes worth under $200 on two separate occasions

Session E-5: Scrumptious Science

Have fun learning ways to explore science concepts through the use of food. Quick, easy kitchen science experiments will be utilized to highlight chemistry and biology concepts in school curricula. A focus on inquiry techniques, the active use of the scientific method, and experimental design will also be included

Bit-Serial Multiplier for FPGA Applications

A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation of a multiplier topology can provide a considerable increase in computation performance and cost benefit as compared to other approaches, particularly for large bit widths ( e.g., for multiplication of large-bit numbers). A lack of sufficient input/output (I/0) ports on the FPGA for a particular bit width can be remedied by implementing large-bit number multiplications in a bit-serial fashion. The bit-serial multi­plier topologies described herein can provide a relatively small footprint as compared to other approaches. An FPGA­-implemented bit-serial multiplier can improve operation of a computing system, for example, by offloading binary multiplication operations from a general-purpose processor

Bit-Serial Multiplier for FPGA Applications

A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation of a multiplier topology can provide a considerable increase in computation performance and cost benefit as compared to other approaches, particularly for large bit widths ( e.g., for multiplication of large-bit numbers). A lack of sufficient input/output (I/O) ports on the FPGA for a particular bit width can be remedied by implementing large-bit number multiplications in a bit-serial fashion. The bit-serial multi­plier topologies described herein can provide a relatively small footprint as compared to other approaches. An FPGA-­implemented bit-serial multiplier can improve operation of a computing system, for example, by offloading binary multiplication operations from a general-purpose processor

Redesigning Jewish Education for the 21st Century: A Lippman Kanfer Institute Working Paper

Discusses limitations of existing models and approaches in Jewish education, presents rationales and design principles for innovation and strategic change, and explores implications for educational policy and practice. Includes profiles of four families

Clinical validity assessment of a breast cancer risk model combining genetic and clinical information

_Background:_ The extent to which common genetic variation can assist in breast cancer (BCa) risk assessment is unclear. We assessed the addition of risk information from a panel of BCa-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on risk stratification offered by the Gail Model.

_Methods:_ We selected 7 validated SNPs from the literature and genotyped them among white women in a nested case-control study within the Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Trial. To model SNP risk, previously published odds ratios were combined multiplicatively. To produce a combined clinical/genetic risk, Gail Model risk estimates were multiplied by combined SNP odds ratios. We assessed classification performance using reclassification tables and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. 

_Results:_ The SNP risk score was well calibrated and nearly independent of Gail risk, and the combined predictor was more predictive than either Gail risk or SNP risk alone. In ROC curve analysis, the combined score had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.594 compared to 0.557 for Gail risk alone. For reclassification with 5-year risk thresholds at 1.5% and 2%, the net reclassification index (NRI) was 0.085 (Z = 4.3, P = 1.0×10^-5^). Focusing on women with Gail 5-year risk of 1.5-2% results in an NRI of 0.195 (Z = 3.8, P = 8.6×10^−5^).

_Conclusions:_ Combining clinical risk factors and validated common genetic risk factors results in improvement in classification of BCa risks in white, postmenopausal women. This may have implications for informing primary prevention and/or screening strategies. Future research should assess the clinical utility of such strategies.
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The search for love and feminine identity in the war literature of Ernest Hemingway and Tim O'Brien

This dissertation examines how Ernest Hemingway and Tim O'Brien challenge the emotionally restrictive nature of our stereotypical expectations of manhood in the context of the war experience. The analysis centers on creating a feminist critical space that affirms the male desire for feminine influence. Though their methods differs, both Hemingway and O'Brien create male characters who seek freedom from the insistence that they perpetually be brave, strong, un-emotive, and otherwise manly, and freedom from the fear that such a failure to perform as expected will not signify that they are less than men. And yet these characters often are at war with themselves, as they struggle with how to endure suffering and loss and still perform as men. Hemingway develops characters who discover that to live and die well, a man must avail himself to the feminine, and be vulnerable to love. O'Brien demonstrates how a failure to listen--both to ourselves and to one another--thwarts love and prevents human closeness. This project uncovers Hemingway and O'Brien's efforts to subvert traditional masculinity by urging the reader to imagine alternative expressions of masculinity and femininity, and to accept male characters whose thoughts and actions defy expectations for masculine performance

Enhancing evidence-based diabetes and chronic disease control among local health departments: A multi-phase dissemination study with a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial component

Examples of Intervention Dissemination Strategies and Description. (DOCX 22 kb