Theology and Jurisprudence

Our era is one in which the law plays a far more important role than at any other time in history, for the law has insinuated itself into the control of almost every facet of man\u27s life. If it was true over a century ago, as Chief Justice Marshall said, that the judicial department comes home in its effects to every man\u27s fireside; it passes on his property, his reputation, his life, his all, \u27 it is even more true today as the law has continued to proliferate its influence over an ever-widening range of human conduct. But it is precisely because the law has become such a dominant factor in life that profound questions about its nature have arisen for which the everyday conceptions of law do not provide us with adequate answers. The dramatic events of recent history which have focused attention again upon the question of law, particularly the rise of totalitarianism, reveal not only the decisive effect of the regime of law upon human life and destiny but also the impotence of contemporary legal theory to cope with the lawlessness of law. Even in calmer days, Holmes argued that theory is the most important part of the dogma of the law,\u27 a view grimly corroborated by one of the great legal minds of modern times, Gustav Radbruch, who, looking back upon the debacle of his country wrote that the inherited conception of law, the legal positivism that ruled unchallenged among German legal scholars for decades and taught that law is law --this view was helpless when confronted with lawlessness in a statutory form

Book Reviews

State Taxation of Interstate Commerce By Paul J. Hartman Buffalo: Dennis & Co., 1953. Pp. xi, 323. $7.50 reviewer: James Clarence Evans ================================================ Church, State and Freedom By Leo Pfeffer Boston: The BeaconPress, 1953. Pp. xvi, 605.$10.00 reviewer: Samuel Enoch Stump

Book Reviews

Book Reviews The Oppenheimer Case: The Trial of a Security System By Charles P. Curtis New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955. Pp. xi, 281. $4.00 reviewer: Ingram Bloch ============================= Trial Tactics and Methods By Robert E. Keeton New York: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1954. Pp. xxiv, 438.$6.65 reviewer: J. Raymond Denney ============================= Military Law under the Uniform Code of Military Justice By William B. Aycock and Seymour W. Wurfel Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1955. Pp. xviii, 430. reviewer: James B. Earle ================================= Why Johnny Can\u27t Read By Rudolf Flesch New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955. Pp. ix, 222. ================================== Plain Words: Their ABC By Sir Ernest Gowers New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955. Pp. viii, 298. =================================== Effective Legal Writing By Frank E. Cooper Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1953. Pp. x, 313. reviewer: J. Allen Smith ================================== The Moral Decision: Right and Wrong in the Light of American law By Edmond Cahn Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, Pp. ix, 315. $5.00 reviewer: Samuel Enoch Stump

Recent Cases

Noerr-Pennington Immunity for Joint Efforts to Influence Governmental Action - Intent to Cause Competitive Injury, Evidenced by Repeated, Baseless Opposition Before an Adjudicatory Body, Does Not Result in Loss of Noerr-Pennington Immunity Absent Specific Allegations of Conduct External to or Abusive of the Adjutory Processes Samuel E. Stumpf, Jr. Constitutional Law - First Amendment - Student\u27s Right to Receive Information Precludes Board\u27s Removal of Allegedly Offensive Books from High School Library M. Carolyn Barefield Constitutional Law-Search and Seizure - Federal Courts Are Bound by Federal Wiretapping Statutes and Will Not Exclude Evidence Seized by State Agents in Violation of More Restrictive State Laws Robert S. Reder Securities Regulation-Definition of Security -Promissory Notes With Maturities Exceeding Nine Months Are Presumed to Be Securities Under the 1934 Act Unless Issued in a Context Closely Resembling One of Six Examples of Commercial Transactions Stephen C. Morton Securities Law-Securities Fraud-Proof of Causation in 10b-5 Nondisclosure Cases Involving Trading on Impersonal Markets Randolph C. Cole

Energy expenditure estimation during activities of daily living in middle-aged and older adults using an accelerometer integrated into a hearing aid

BackgroundAccelerometers were traditionally worn on the hip to estimate energy expenditure (EE) during physical activity but are increasingly replaced by products worn on the wrist to enhance wear compliance, despite potential compromises in EE estimation accuracy. In the older population, where the prevalence of hearing loss is higher, a new, integrated option may arise. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the accuracy and precision of EE estimates using an accelerometer integrated into a hearing aid and compare its performance with sensors simultaneously worn on the wrist and hip.MethodsSixty middle-aged to older adults (average age 64.0 ± 8.0 years, 48% female) participated. They performed a 20-min resting energy expenditure measurement (after overnight fast) followed by a standardized breakfast and 13 different activities of daily living, 12 of them were individually selected from a set of 35 activities, ranging from sedentary and low intensity to more dynamic and physically demanding activities. Using indirect calorimetry as a reference for the metabolic equivalent of task (MET), we compared the EE estimations made using a hearing aid integrated device (Audéo) against those of a research device worn on the hip (ZurichMove) and consumer devices positioned on the wrist (Garmin and Fitbit). Class-estimated and class-known models were used to evaluate the accuracy and precision of EE estimates via Bland-Altman analyses.ResultsThe findings reveal a mean bias and 95% limit of agreement for Audéo (class-estimated model) of −0.23 ± 3.33 METs, indicating a slight advantage over wrist-worn consumer devices (Garmin: −0.64 ± 3.53 METs and Fitbit: −0.67 ± 3.40 METs). Class-know models reveal a comparable performance between Audéo (−0.21 ± 2.51 METs) and ZurichMove (−0.13 ± 2.49 METs). Sub-analyses show substantial variability in accuracy for different activities and good accuracy when activities are averaged over a typical day's usage of 10 h (+61 ± 302 kcal).DiscussionThis study shows the potential of hearing aid-integrated accelerometers in accurately estimating EE across a wide range of activities in the target demographic, while also highlighting the necessity for ongoing optimization efforts considering precision limitations observed across both consumer and research devices

The Evolutionary Dynamics of a Rapidly Mutating Virus within and between Hosts: The Case of Hepatitis C Virus

Many pathogens associated with chronic infections evolve so rapidly that strains found late in an infection have little in common with the initial strain. This raises questions at different levels of analysis because rapid within-host evolution affects the course of an infection, but it can also affect the possibility for natural selection to act at the between-host level. We present a nested approach that incorporates within-host evolutionary dynamics of a rapidly mutating virus (hepatitis C virus) targeted by a cellular cross-reactive immune response, into an epidemiological perspective. The viral trait we follow is the replication rate of the strain initiating the infection. We find that, even for rapidly evolving viruses, the replication rate of the initial strain has a strong effect on the fitness of an infection. Moreover, infections caused by slowly replicating viruses have the highest infection fitness (i.e., lead to more secondary infections), but strains with higher replication rates tend to dominate within a host in the long-term. We also study the effect of cross-reactive immunity and viral mutation rate on infection life history traits. For instance, because of the stochastic nature of our approach, we can identify factors affecting the outcome of the infection (acute or chronic infections). Finally, we show that anti-viral treatments modify the value of the optimal initial replication rate and that the timing of the treatment administration can have public health consequences due to within-host evolution. Our results support the idea that natural selection can act on the replication rate of rapidly evolving viruses at the between-host level. It also provides a mechanistic description of within-host constraints, such as cross-reactive immunity, and shows how these constraints affect the infection fitness. This model raises questions that can be tested experimentally and underlines the necessity to consider the evolution of quantitative traits to understand the outcome and the fitness of an infection

Global phylogeography and ancient evolution of the widespread human gut virus crAssphage

Microbiomes are vast communities of microorganisms and viruses that populate all natural ecosystems. Viruses have been considered to be the most variable component of microbiomes, as supported by virome surveys and examples of high genomic mosaicism. However, recent evidence suggests that the human gut virome is remarkably stable compared with that of other environments. Here, we investigate the origin, evolution and epidemiology of crAssphage, a widespread human gut virus. Through a global collaboration, we obtained DNA sequences of crAssphage from more than one-third of the world's countries and showed that the phylogeography of crAssphage is locally clustered within countries, cities and individuals. We also found fully colinear crAssphage-like genomes in both Old-World and New-World primates, suggesting that the association of crAssphage with primates may be millions of years old. Finally, by exploiting a large cohort of more than 1,000 individuals, we tested whether crAssphage is associated with bacterial taxonomic groups of the gut microbiome, diverse human health parameters and a wide range of dietary factors. We identified strong correlations with different clades of bacteria that are related to Bacteroidetes and weak associations with several diet categories, but no significant association with health or disease. We conclude that crAssphage is a benign cosmopolitan virus that may have coevolved with the human lineage and is an integral part of the normal human gut virome

Global phylogeography and ancient evolution of the widespread human gut virus crAssphage

Microbiomes are vast communities of microorganisms and viruses that populate all natural ecosystems. Viruses have been considered to be the most variable component of microbiomes, as supported by virome surveys and examples of high genomic mosaicism. However, recent evidence suggests that the human gut virome is remarkably stable compared with that of other environments. Here, we investigate the origin, evolution and epidemiology of crAssphage, a widespread human gut virus. Through a global collaboration, we obtained DNA sequences of crAssphage from more than one-third of the world’s countries and showed that the phylogeography of crAssphage is locally clustered within countries, cities and individuals. We also found fully colinear crAssphage-like genomes in both Old-World and New-World primates, suggesting that the association of crAssphage with primates may be millions of years old. Finally, by exploiting a large cohort of more than 1,000 individuals, we tested whether crAssphage is associated with bacterial taxonomic groups of the gut microbiome, diverse human health parameters and a wide range of dietary factors. We identified strong correlations with different clades of bacteria that are related to Bacteroidetes and weak associations with several diet categories, but no significant association with health or disease. We conclude that crAssphage is a benign cosmopolitan virus that may have coevolved with the human lineage and is an integral part of the normal human gut virome

Austin\u27s Theory of the Separation of Law and Morals

The lingering influence of the natural law theory in England brought forth a powerful new philosophy of law. The chief features of this new theory were developed by Hobbes and Bentham and found their most compelling formulation in the works of the analytical jurist, John Austin. What concerned these men most was how to deal with the existence of morally bad laws. Sir William Blackstone had said in his Commentaries that the laws of God are superior in obligation to all other laws; that no human laws should be allowed to contradict them; that human laws are of no validity if they contradict God\u27s laws and that all valid laws derive their force from the Divine original. When Austin confronted these ideas, he immediately focused upon the central issue in legal theory, for he remarked that if these ideas of Blackstone\u27s have any meaning at all it must be this, that no human law which conflicts with the Divine law is obligatory or binding; in other words, that no human law which conflicts with the Divine law is a law ... . The problem, as Austin saw it, was to determine how the authority of a legal order is achieved. Where, in other words, do laws derive their character as law

The Moral Element in Supreme Court Decisions

Does the United States Supreme Court decide cases on the basis of moral and ethical value judgments? Such a question may reveal a misunderstanding of the nature of law as well as the nature of the judicial process. Moreover, to expect the Court to roam in the field of morals may indicate a failure to take into account the limitations placed upon the Court both by our federal system and by the division of powers. Indeed, a reading of the Supreme Court decisions for the past twenty years reveals a manful resistance on the part of the judges to intrude their moral and ethical judgments into their decisions; and their resistance is grounded on the double barrier of states\u27 rights and congressional prerogative. Yet, there is a persistent belief that law finds its deepest validation in its conformity with moral and ethical values and principles. As the highest organ of law in our society, the Supreme Court cannot avoid confronting from time to time this moral dimension of law. Wherever the destinies of men are involved a decent respect for their reason and conscience demands rationally articulated decisions in controversies. That the Supreme Court occupies such a strategic role in our society is beyond question. Over a century ago Chief Justice Marshall said that The Judicial Department comes home in its effects to every man\u27s fireside; it passes on his property, his reputation, his life, his all. \u27 Aware of this unique status, the Court has frequently broken the restrictive bounds of technicality, feeling, as Justice Frankfurter once wrote, that there comes a time when even the process of empiric adjudication calls for a more rational disposition than that the immediate case is not different from preceding cases. \u27 Whenever this happens, the moral and ethical convictions of the judges, or of society as understood by the judges, begin to move into the reasoning of the Court