Caperton\u27s Next Generation: Beyond the Bank

The article looks at a panel discussion on judicial responsibility and the U.S. Supreme Court\u27s decision in \u27Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co.\u27 discussed by several law professionals including Jed Shugerman, Debra Lyn Bassett and Dmitry Bam at a 2014 symposium held in the New York University

The Nth Degree: Examining Intra-racial Use of the N-Word in Employment Discriminal Cases

In his book, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy observes that the N-word “is and has long been the most socially consequential racial insult. . . . [but today] when African Americans are speaking to each other, “ni**er,” and especially its more genial cousin, ‘ni**a’ can be an affectionate greeting, a compliment, or a term of respect.” For example, Jay-Z and Kanye West won a Grammy for their hit song, “Ni**as in Paris.” Yet soon after, federal courts in New York and Alabama concluded that intra-racial use of the N-word is sufficient, under certain circumstances, to create a racially hostile work environment. Likewise, some black entertainers like Oprah Winfrey publicly decry the N-word as a tool of racial oppression. As Oprah explained, the N-word “carries such a sense of hatred and degradation” that to her, its use evokes images of “black men who were lynched and that’s the last word they heard.” But if members of the black community cannot reach a consensus on proper use of the N-word, how can courts and juries be expected to determine whether its intra-racial use is sufficient to create a racially hostile work environment, and how should that determination be made? Should the race of the speaker and target of the speech be taken into account in determining the existence of a racially hostile work environment? If our legal system presumes that the N-word is per se racially offensive, regardless of the race and intent of the user, does that restore “power” to a hurtful word that an empowered new generation of black Americans has stripped of its old meaning and refashioned into a term of endearment and solidarity? These questions highlight the continuing confusion and controversy arising from the black community’s attempts to bring new and positive meaning to an old and infamous word. Our Article explores the N-word debate and the questions to which it gives rise in the employment context. We conclude that the federal courts in New York and Alabama correctly determined that intra-racial use of the N-word can create a racially hostile work environment because that holding comports with longstanding legal recognition of intra-racial, same-sex, and third-party associative employment discrimination. Second, it is proper to apply a reasonable person standard, not a reasonable black person standard, to measure the objective severity of the harassment in cases involving intra-racial use of the N-Word in part because the shameful history of the N-Word underscores the extent to which a reasonable person of any race would likely object to the word’s use at the workplace, even where the speaker is black. Third, social science research indicates that black individuals’ implicit anti-black biases may lead to ill-intended use of the N-word against other blacks. Finally, applying the same standard to intra-racial and interracial use of the N-word, regardless of the speaker’s intent, promotes fairness, consistency, and judicial efficiency

Monolithic microwave integrated circuit water vapor radiometer

A proof of concept Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Water Vapor Radiometer (WVR) is under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). WVR's are used to remotely sense water vapor and cloud liquid water in the atmosphere and are valuable for meteorological applications as well as for determination of signal path delays due to water vapor in the atmosphere. The high cost and large size of existing WVR instruments motivate the development of miniature MMIC WVR's, which have great potential for low cost mass production. The miniaturization of WVR components allows large scale deployment of WVR's for Earth environment and meteorological applications. Small WVR's can also result in improved thermal stability, resulting in improved calibration stability. Described here is the design and fabrication of a 31.4 GHz MMIC radiometer as one channel of a thermally stable WVR as a means of assessing MMIC technology feasibility

Angular dependence of the magnetization of isotropic superconductors: which is the vortex direction?

We present studies of the dc magnetization of thin platelike samples of the isotropic type II superconductor PbTl(10%), as a function of the angle between the normal to the sample and the applied magnetic field ${\bf H}$. We determine the magnetization vector ${\bf M}$ by measuring the components both parallel and normal to ${\bf H}$ in a SQUID magnetometer, and we further decompose it in its reversible and irreversible contributions. The behavior of the reversible magnetization is well understood in terms of minimization of the free energy taking into account geometrical effects. In the mixed state at low fields, the dominant effect is the line energy gained by shortening the vortices, thus the flux lines are almost normal to the sample surface. Due to the geometrical constrain, the irreversible magnetization ${\bf M}_{irr}$ remains locked to the sample normal over a wide range of fields and orientations, as already known. We show that in order to undestand the angle and field dependence of the modulus of ${\bf M}_{irr}$, which is a measure of the vortex pinning, and to correctly extract the field dependent critical current density, the knowledge of the modulus and orientation of the induction field ${\bf B}$ is required.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Effect of Brief Biofeedback via a Smartphone App on Stress Recovery: Randomized Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND:Smartphones are often vilified for negatively influencing well-being and contributing to stress. However, these devices may, in fact, be useful in times of stress and, in particular, aid in stress recovery. Mobile apps that deliver evidence-based techniques for stress reduction, such as heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) training, hold promise as convenient, accessible, and effective stress-reducing tools. Numerous mobile health apps that may potentially aid in stress recovery are available, but very few have demonstrated that they can influence health-related physiological stress parameters (eg, salivary biomarkers of stress). The ability to recover swiftly from stress and reduce physiological arousal is particularly important for long-term health, and thus, it is imperative that evidence is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of stress-reducing mobile health apps in this context. OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this research was to investigate the physiological and psychological effects of using a smartphone app for HRVB training following a stressful experience. The efficacy of the gamified Breather component of the Happify mobile health app was examined in an experimental setting. METHODS:In this study, participants (N=140) underwent a laboratory stressor and were randomly assigned to recover in one of three ways: with no phone present, with a phone present, with the HRBV game. Those in the no phone condition had no access to their phone. Those in the phone present condition had their phone but did not use it. Those in the HRVB game condition used the serious game Breather on the Happify app. Stress recovery was assessed via repeated measures of salivary alpha amylase, cortisol, and self-reported acute stress (on a 1-100 scale). RESULTS:Participants in the HRVB game condition had significantly lower levels of salivary alpha amylase during recovery than participants in the other conditions (F2,133=3.78, P=.03). There were no significant differences among the conditions during recovery for salivary cortisol levels or self-reported stress. CONCLUSIONS:These results show that engaging in a brief HRVB training session on a smartphone reduces levels of salivary alpha amylase following a stressful experience, providing preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of Breather in improving physiological stress recovery. Given the known ties between stress recovery and future well-being, this study provides a possible mechanism by which gamified biofeedback apps may lead to better health

Coronal radiation belts

The magnetic field of the solar corona has a large-scale dipole character, which maps into the bipolar field in the solar wind. Using standard representations of the coronal field, we show that high-energy ions can be trapped stably in these large-scale closed fields. The drift shells that describe the conservation of the third adiabatic invariant may have complicated geometries. Particles trapped in these zones would resemble the Van Allen Belts and could have detectable consequences. We discuss potential sources of trapped particles

Enhancing the Performance of the T-Peel Test for Thin and Flexible Adhered Laminates

Symmetrically bonded thin and flexible T-peel specimens, when tested on vertical travel machines, can be subject to significant gravitational loading; with the associated asymmetry and mixed-mode failure during peeling. This can cause erroneously high experimental peel forces to be recorded which leads to uncertainty in estimating interfacial fracture toughness and failure mode. To overcome these issues, a mechanical test fixture has been designed for use with vertical test machines, that supports the unpeeled portion of the test specimen and suppresses parasitic loads due to gravity from affecting the peel test. The mechanism, driven by the test machine cross-head, moves at one-half of the velocity of the cross-head such that the unpeeled portion always lies in the plane of the instantaneous center of motion. Several specimens such as bonded polymeric films, laminates, and commercial tapes were tested with and without the fixture, and the importance of the proposed T-peel procedure has been demonstrated

Tuning the Kondo effect with a mechanically controllable break junction

We study electron transport through C60 molecules in the Kondo regime using a mechanically controllable break junction. By varying the electrode spacing, we are able to change both the width and height of the Kondo resonance, indicating modification of the Kondo temperature and the relative strength of coupling to the two electrodes. The linear conductance as a function of T/T_K agrees with the scaling function expected for the spin-1/2 Kondo problem. We are also able to tune finite-bias Kondo features which appear at the energy of the first C60 intracage vibrational mode.Comment: 4 pages with 4 figure

System Dynamics Modeling for Traumatic Brain Injury: Mini-review of Applications

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a highly complex phenomenon involving a cascade of disruptions across biomechanical, neurochemical, neurological, cognitive, emotional, and social systems. Researchers and clinicians urgently need a rigorous conceptualization of brain injury that encompasses nonlinear and mutually causal relations among the factors involved, as well as sources of individual variation in recovery trajectories. System dynamics, an approach from systems science, has been used for decades in fields such as management and ecology to model nonlinear feedback dynamics in complex systems. In this mini-review, we summarize some recent uses of this approach to better understand acute injury mechanisms, recovery dynamics, and care delivery for TBI. We conclude that diagram-based approaches like causal-loop diagramming have the potential to support the development of a shared paradigm of TBI that incorporates social support aspects of recovery. When developed using adequate data from large-scale studies, simulation modeling presents opportunities for improving individualized treatment and care delivery