The Sword, the Purse and the Gavel: Institutional Influences on the Behavior of Supreme Court Justices

An inherent contradiction exists between two fundamental principles embedded in American political philosophy: the notion of checks and balances and the idea of an independent judiciary. After all, a truly independent branch of government would be immune to the influences, or checks, of external institutions. This dissertation addresses that juxtaposition through a two part analysis of Supreme Court decision-making. The first part uses multivariate regression to illustrate that justices confirmed under conditions of divided government are more moderate in their voting behavior than justices confirmed under conditions of unified government. Ancillary findings also reveal that justices who receive more votes during their Senate confirmation hearings will be more moderate in their voting behavior and that justices appointed by presidents with higher Gallup Approval Ratings tend to be more extreme in their voting behavior. Overall, the confirmation process appears to offer an avenue through which the executive and legislative branches can check and balance the voting outputs of the Supreme Court. The second part of this dissertation assesses the degree to which justices remain independent from the influences of the political branches once they begin serving on the Court. Time series regression models indicate that Supreme Court justices are likely to vary their voting behavior in civil rights and civil liberties cases based on which party controls the White House at the time a vote is being cast. Evidence also shows that justices are likely to vary their voting behavior in economic cases based on which party is strongest in Congress. Beyond that, findings also suggest that justices exhibit differences in voting behavior while the appointing president is in office, and, surprisingly, that justices seem to grow more liberal in their voting behavior over time. Collectively, this information indicates that there are certain situations (such as case issues or time periods in a justice‘s tenure) in which Supreme Court justices are not entirely independent in their behavior. For those who cherish the ideal of judicial independence, this may be a deleterious development; conversely, for those who deride the expansive role that the Supreme Court may have taken in contemporary society, the implication of a link between democratic processes and voting outputs may be a sanguine pronouncement

Effect of Turning Lane at Busy Signalized At-Grade Intersection under Mixed Traffic in India

Traffic congestion on urban roads has become a serious concern, particularly, at intersections. The performance of an intersection controls the performance of urban roads meeting at that intersection. The paper presents the effect of addition of turning lane in the middle of approach road at busy signalized at-grade intersection, narrowing the width of all lanes to keep total road width the same, in heterogeneous traffic. The traffic at intersection comprises both of vehicles and pedestrians. Their interactions along with signal cycle decide the efficiency of an intersection. A microscopic simulation tool VISSIM, has been used to model the heterogeneous (mixed) traffic under constraints of roadway geometry, vehicle characteristics, driving behaviour and traffic controls. The effect is investigated with different random seeds to obtain reasonable results for analysis. The performance evaluation is done in terms of vehicle throughput, average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle, average speed and emission of Carbon monoxide CO, mono-nitrogen oxides NOx, Volatile organic compounds (VOC) etc. It has been observed that on adding turning lane in the middle, of approach road the average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle and emission per vehicle get considerably reduced, while there is an increase in vehicle throughput and average speed of all the vehicles. The results reported in this paper clearly shows that addition of turning lane in existing intersection can reduce congestion considerably, enhancing performance of intersections and network

Impact of Mental Health on Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) among University Postgraduates

This study intends to explore the impact of mental health on personal growth initiative among university postgraduates. Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) is an active and intentional engagement in growth process and changing and developing as a better person. Mental health is defined as a syndrome of symptoms of both positive feelings and positive functioning in life. The study was conducted on a sample of 960 postgraduates from three state universities of Haryana state in India i.e. Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak and Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa. The data was collected through two research instruments i.e.  Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II by Robitschek et al (2009) and Mental Health Continuum-Short Form by Keyes et al (2009). The response rate of filled in questionnaire was 85% (out of 960, 818 questionnaires were completely filled in). The reliability and validity of the two instruments were established in Indian context. The Cronbach alpha coefficients for PGIS-II and MHC-SF were 0.741 and 0.771 respectively and both the scales were found to have valid factor structure in Indian context.  Findings indicated that overall personal growth initiative and its three domains except ‘using resources’ had significant positive relationship with mental health.  Further mental health found to have significant impact on total PGI through its psychological well-being dimension by explaining 9.7% of variance in overall PGI. Moreover, it was examined that psychological well-being dimension of mental health had significant impact on three dimensions of PGI i.e. ‘readiness for change’, ‘planfulness’ and ‘intentional behaviour’.  Further, it was revealed that 3.2%, 8.1% and 12% variance in  ‘readiness for change’, ‘planfulness’ and ‘intentional behaviour’ was accounted for by psychological well-being dimension of mental health. From the findings, it can be concluded that psychological well-being domain of mental health was the most powerful predictor of total PGI and its three aspects viz. Readiness for Change, Planfulness and Intentional Behaviour. Social and Emotional well-being domains of mental health did not have any significant impact on total PGI as well as its different aspects. Thus, it can be said that psychological well being or fitness inspires an individual to get ready for change in the behviour through appropriate planning and intentional engagement in the self-change process and capitalizes on opportunities for this personal development. The implications of the study were discussed later on. Key Words- Personal growth initiative, Mental health, University postgraduates

Relationship of Personal Growth Initiative with Self-Efficacy among University Postgraduate Students

The purpose of this study is to verify the relationship between Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) and Self-Efficacy. Personal growth initiative is active and intentional engagement in the process of self-change. Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his/her ability to succeed in a particular situation. In the present paper, relationship of personal growth initiative with self-efficacy was found and PGI was predicted on the basis of self-efficacy. Descriptive Survey Method with Ex-Post Facto design was used. Personal Growth Initiative was measures by using PGIS-II by Robitschek et al (2009) and Self-Efficacy was assessed by using Turkish Version of GSES by Yildrim and Ilhan(2010). Both the scales were adapted in Indian condition. The Cronbach Alphas for the PGIS-II and GSES were 0.741 and 0.714 respectively. Results of the study revealed the positive relationship between PGI and Self-Efficacy. It was also investigated that Self-Efficacy has significant impact on total PGI as well as its dimensions. The implications of the study are discussed in this paper later on. Keywords: Personal growth initiative, Self-efficacy and University postgraduate student

Secrecy of WSN Data Over Nakagami m Fading Channels with Selection Combining Diversity

We consider the security of wireless sensor network (WSN) data over Nakagami – m fading channels at the physical layer. A WSN in which the fusion center performs selection diversity has been considered for better quality reception. The links between the WSN node and fusion center are assumed to follow Nakagami-m fading distribution. Closed-form expressions for secrecy outage probability (SOP) are derived, and it is established that SOP analysis also leads to the analysis of the existence of secrecy as a special case of SOP. The analytical expressions have been validated through results from simulations. The analysis is valid for all positive real values of the fading parameter, m. The limits on the signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained to secure the transmitted data against eavesdropping with the required SOP and secrecy rate using the analysis presented in this paper

SUN PROTECTIVE POTENTIAL OF POLYHERBAL SKIN CARE CREAM

Objective: Evaluation of sun protective potential of polyherbal skin care cream Methods: In vitro sun protection factor of polyherbal cream of Centella asiatica, Azadirachta indica, Ocimum sanctum and Hibiscus rosa sinensis was determined by spectrophotometric method using UV visible spectrophotometer. Results: The formulation F4 was found most satisfactory in all parameter evaluated with good sun protection potential, so it could be used as effective sun protective agent. Conclusion: Herbal cosmetics were recognised as a safe, better and effective alternative of synthetic cosmetics that could help to protect and promote skin health naturally without any side effects. The herbal cream F4 was found good sun protection potential against the damaging effects of UV radiations

Optimizing Performance of at-grade Intersection with Bus Rapid Transit Corridor and Heterogeneous Traffic

ABSTRACTBus Rapid Transit (BRT) has emerged as a preferred mode of public transport in various countries all over the world for its cost effectiveness in construction as well as in operation and maintenance. The rapid transit feature of BRT is seen as a solution to many traffic problems in these countries. However, in developing countries like India, the right -of-way for most of the roads is restricted and traffic is heterogeneous in nature. Provision of BRT in existing right -of-way reduces the capacity available for other motorized traffic. As the buses travel with a certain frequency on dedicated bus- ways, the dedicated corridor remains unused for most of the period when other traffic on motorized vehicle (MV) lanes suffers from congestion. The problem gets severe at intersections. However, if buses are operated in mixed traffic it is no more rapid transit. Hence, a solution is required to address this problem and optimize the performance of traffic as a whole. This paper presents the effect if dedicated bus-ways end at a reasonable distance before the stop line at a busy signalized at-grade intersection, and bus lanes (beyond that) are made available to all the motorized vehicular traffic (heterogeneous traffic) at intersection. The performance evaluation is done in terms of average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle, vehicle throughput, average speed in network and emission of Carbon monoxide CO, mono-nitrogen oxides NOx and Volatile organic compounds (VOC). It is observed that availability of bus lanes to other motorized traffic for a reasonable distance before intersection considerably reduces the average queue length, maximum queue length, average delay time per vehicle and emission per vehicle, while there is an increase in vehicle throughput and average speed of all the vehicles in the network. Thus it results in reduction of congestion and performance enhancement of at-grade intersections and network. Results of investigation are relevant in international context. VISSIM, a microscopic simulation tool, is used to model the heterogeneous traffic and public transit lines under constraints of roadway geometry, vehicle characteristics, driving behaviour and traffic controls. The effect is investigated with different random seeds to obtain reasonable results for analysis

Estimation of Population Mean Using Exponential Type Imputation Technique for Missing Observations

Some imputation techniques are suggested for estimating the population mean when the data values are missing completely at random under a simple random sample without replacement scheme. Two classes of point estimators are proposed. The bias and mean squared error expressions of the proposed point estimators are derived up to first order of approximation. It has been shown that the proposed point estimators are more efficient than some existing point estimators due to Lee, Rancourt, and Sarndal (1994) and Singh and Horn (2000). Theoretical findings are supported by an empirical study based on five populations to show the superiority of the constructed estimators and methods of imputation over others