Gender, Affirmative Action, and Recruitment to the Federal Bench

In the analysis which follows, an effort will be made to assess the historical record of the appointment of women to the federal bench. Extended consideration will be given to the Carter administration\u27s judicial recruitment behavior in an effort to assess the thrust and implications of the President\u27s affirmative action concerns. How successful was Carter in appointing women to the federal judiciary and how did the women appointees differ, if at all, from their male colleagues? Do women appointees follow a different path to the bench than males? Did affirmative action dilute the quality of the federal bench as many administration critics claimed or, alternatively, did criteria exist for women appointees which remained at a higher threshold than those employed for male candidates? Examination of these and other questions relies on a uniquely rich and penetrating data source. Finally, attention will be directed to President Reagan\u27s judicial selection behavior as manifested in his recruitment of women jurists during the first three years of his administration

Gender, Affirmative Action, and Recruitment to the Federal Bench

In the analysis which follows, an effort will be made to assess the historical record of the appointment of women to the federal bench. Extended consideration will be given to the Carter administration\u27s judicial recruitment behavior in an effort to assess the thrust and implications of the President\u27s affirmative action concerns. How successful was Carter in appointing women to the federal judiciary and how did the women appointees differ, if at all, from their male colleagues? Do women appointees follow a different path to the bench than males? Did affirmative action dilute the quality of the federal bench as many administration critics claimed or, alternatively, did criteria exist for women appointees which remained at a higher threshold than those employed for male candidates? Examination of these and other questions relies on a uniquely rich and penetrating data source. Finally, attention will be directed to President Reagan\u27s judicial selection behavior as manifested in his recruitment of women jurists during the first three years of his administration

Navier-Stokes Analysis of a High Wing Transport High-Lift Configuration with Externally Blown Flaps

Insights and lessons learned from the aerodynamic analysis of the High Wing Transport (HWT) high-lift configuration are presented. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes CFD simulations using the OVERFLOW flow solver are compared with high Reynolds test data obtained in the NASA Ames 12 Foot Pressure Wind Tunnel (PWT) facility. Computational analysis of the baseline HWT high-lift configuration with and without Externally Blown Flap (EBF) jet effects is highlighted. Several additional aerodynamic investigations, such as nacelle strake effectiveness and wake vortex studies, are presented. Technical capabilities and shortcomings of the computational method are discussed and summarized

Determination of Odor Detection Threshold in the Göttingen Minipig

The aim of the study was to examine the ability of Göttingen minipigs to acquire an olfaction-based operant conditioning task and to determine the detection threshold for ethyl acetate and ethanol. We used an automated olfactometer developed for rodents to train and test 14 pigs. Odor sampling and reliable responding were obtained after three to fifteen 160-trial sessions. Successful transfer of the task from ethyl acetate to ethanol was achieved in 1–4 sessions. Detection threshold for ethyl acetate varied between 10−2% and 10−6% v/v and for ethanol between 0.1% and 5 × 10−6% v/v. The results provide evidence that minipigs can successfully acquire 2-odorant discrimination using a food-rewarded instrumental conditioning paradigm for testing olfactory function. This olfactory discrimination paradigm provides reliable measures of olfactory sensitivity and thereby enables detection of changes in olfaction in a porcine model of Alzheimer's disease currently being developed

Why I tense up when you watch me: inferior parietal cortex mediates an audience’s influence on motor performance

The presence of an evaluative audience can alter skilled motor performance through changes in force output. To investigate how this is mediated within the brain, we emulated real-time social monitoring of participants’ performance of a fine grip task during functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging. We observed an increase in force output during social evaluation that was accompanied by focal reductions in activity within bilateral inferior parietal cortex. Moreover, deactivation of the left inferior parietal cortex predicted both inter- and intra-individual differences in socially-induced change in grip force. Social evaluation also enhanced activation within the posterior superior temporal sulcus, which conveys visual information about others’ actions to the inferior parietal cortex. Interestingly, functional connectivity between these two regions was attenuated by social evaluation. Our data suggest that social evaluation can vary force output through the altered engagement of inferior parietal cortex; a region implicated in sensorimotor integration necessary for object manipulation, and a component of the action-observation network which integrates and facilitates performance of observed actions. Social-evaluative situations may induce high-level representational incoherence between one’s own intentioned action and the perceived intention of others which, by uncoupling the dynamics of sensorimotor facilitation, could ultimately perturbe motor output

Increased ventral striatal volume in college-aged binge drinkers

BACKGROUND Binge drinking is a serious public health issue associated with cognitive, physiological, and anatomical differences from healthy individuals. No studies, however, have reported subcortical grey matter differences in this population. To address this, we compared the grey matter volumes of college-age binge drinkers and healthy controls, focusing on the ventral striatum, hippocampus and amygdala. METHOD T1-weighted images of 19 binge drinkers and 19 healthy volunteers were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry. Structural data were also covaried with Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores. Cluster-extent threshold and small volume corrections were both used to analyze imaging data. RESULTS Binge drinkers had significantly larger ventral striatal grey matter volumes compared to controls. There were no between group differences in hippocampal or amygdalar volume. Ventral striatal, amygdalar, and hippocampal volumes were also negatively related to AUDIT scores across groups. CONCLUSIONS Our findings stand in contrast to the lower ventral striatal volume previously observed in more severe forms of alcohol use disorders, suggesting that college-age binge drinkers may represent a distinct population from those groups. These findings may instead represent early sequelae, compensatory effects of repeated binge and withdrawal, or an endophenotypic risk factor

Closing the Mind's Eye: Incoming Luminance Signals Disrupt Visual Imagery

Mental imagery has been associated with many cognitive functions, both high and low-level. Despite recent scientific advances, the contextual and environmental conditions that most affect the mechanisms of visual imagery remain unclear. It has been previously shown that the greater the level of background luminance the weaker the effect of imagery on subsequent perception. However, in these experiments it was unclear whether the luminance was affecting imagery generation or storage of a memory trace. Here, we report that background luminance can attenuate both mental imagery generation and imagery storage during an unrelated cognitive task. However, imagery generation was more sensitive to the degree of luminance. In addition, we show that these findings were not due to differential dark adaptation. These results suggest that afferent visual signals can interfere with both the formation and priming-memory effects associated with visual imagery. It follows that background luminance may be a valuable tool for investigating imagery and its role in various cognitive and sensory processes

Internet-based medical education: a realist review of what works, for whom and in what circumstances

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Naming Names: The Impact of Supreme Court Opinion Attribution on Citizen Assessment of Policy Outcomes

The manner in which political institutions convey their policy outcomes can have important implications for how the public views institutions\u27 policy decisions. This paper explores whether the way in which the U.S. Supreme Court communicates its policy decrees affects how favorably members of the public assess its decisions. Specifically, we investigate whether attributing a decision to the nation\u27s High Court or to an individual justice influences the public\u27s agreement with the Court\u27s rulings. Using an experimental design, we find that when a Supreme Court outcome is ascribed to the institution as a whole, rather than to a particular justice, people are more apt to agree with the policy decision. We also find that identifying the gender of the opinion author affects public agreement under certain conditions. Our findings have important implications for how public support for institutional policymaking operates, as well as the dynamics of how the Supreme Court manages to accumulate and maintain public goodwill

Water quality monitoring records for estimating tap water arsenic and nitrate: a validation study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tap water may be an important source of exposure to arsenic and nitrate. Obtaining and analyzing samples in the context of large studies of health effects can be expensive. As an alternative, studies might estimate contaminant levels in individual homes by using publicly available water quality monitoring records, either alone or in combination with geographic information systems (GIS).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined the validity of records-based methods in Washington State, where arsenic and nitrate contamination is prevalent but generally observed at modest levels. Laboratory analysis of samples from 107 homes (median 0.6 μg/L arsenic, median 0.4 mg/L nitrate as nitrogen) served as our "gold standard." Using Spearman's rho we compared these measures to estimates obtained using only the homes' street addresses and recent and/or historical measures from publicly monitored water sources within specified distances (radii) ranging from one half mile to 10 miles.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Agreement improved as distance decreased, but the proportion of homes for which we could estimate summary measures also decreased. When including all homes, agreement was 0.05-0.24 for arsenic (8 miles), and 0.31-0.33 for nitrate (6 miles). Focusing on the closest source yielded little improvement. Agreement was greatest among homes with private wells. For homes on a water system, agreement improved considerably if we included only sources serving the relevant system (ρ = 0.29 for arsenic, ρ = 0.60 for nitrate).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Historical water quality databases show some promise for categorizing epidemiologic study participants in terms of relative tap water nitrate levels. Nonetheless, such records-based methods must be used with caution, and their use for arsenic may be limited.</p