A New Look at Sunday Closing Legislation

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that Sunday closing laws do not violate the first amendment, whether or not they contain exemptions for Sabbatarians (those who keep Saturday holy). However, in two cases—Terry Carpenter, Inc. v. Wood and Skag-Way Dep\u27t Stores, Inc. v. City of Omaha—the Supreme Court of Nebraska came to the conclusion that Sunday closing legislation is a tool for religious as well as commercial discrimination, and therefore, on the balance, is not so important to the welfare of the state as the statutes upheld by the United States Supreme Court. The purpose of this comment is to attempt to explain how Nebraska reached this position in light of the interpretations of Sunday closing laws in McGowan, Braunfeld, and Sherbert. I. Introduction II. McGowan and Braunfeld III. Sherbert v. Verner IV. Sunday Closing Laws in Nebraska V. Conclusio

A New Look at Sunday Closing Legislation

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that Sunday closing laws do not violate the first amendment, whether or not they contain exemptions for Sabbatarians (those who keep Saturday holy). However, in two cases—Terry Carpenter, Inc. v. Wood and Skag-Way Dep\u27t Stores, Inc. v. City of Omaha—the Supreme Court of Nebraska came to the conclusion that Sunday closing legislation is a tool for religious as well as commercial discrimination, and therefore, on the balance, is not so important to the welfare of the state as the statutes upheld by the United States Supreme Court. The purpose of this comment is to attempt to explain how Nebraska reached this position in light of the interpretations of Sunday closing laws in McGowan, Braunfeld, and Sherbert. I. Introduction II. McGowan and Braunfeld III. Sherbert v. Verner IV. Sunday Closing Laws in Nebraska V. Conclusio

Reflections of a Recoving Lawyer: How Becoming a Cognitive Psychologist —and (in Particular) Studying Analogical and Causal Reasoning—Changed My Views about the Field of Psychology and Law

known as Law and Psychology), a small number of topics have stimulated the overwhelming majority of research. However, the topics available for psychology and law inquiry are infinite—limited only by the experience and imaginations of the re- searchers. I describe several areas of basic research in cognitive and social psychology that I, my colleagues, and my students, have been involved in during the past dozen years and demonstrate how they can be applied to the law. The major areas include: analogical reasoning—relevant to legal training and the use of precedent in judicial reasoning and legal scholarship; and causal and counterfactual reasoning—relevant to judges\u27 and juries\u27 decisions in most criminal and civil actions. I briefly mention research on hypothesis testing, metacognition, and memory inhibition. Several current hot topics in cognitive and social psychology are also ripe for more interdisciplinary research including: aging, information displays (including virtual re- ality), affective forecasting, implicit attitude formation and use, and stereotyping

Chemistry and Apparent Quality of Surface Water and Ground Water Associated with Coal Basins

Personnel of the Arkansas Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute conducted preliminary investigations on the chemistry and quality of surface and ground water associated with 12 coal-bearing sub-basins in the Arkansas Valley coal field. The coal field is approximately 60 miles long and 33 miles wide but only in 12 areas coal is thick enough and has proper quality to be termed commercial. Both surface and underground sample sites were established in each of the sub-basins with some minor variations in four areas where not all types of sites could be located. Water was collected from 19 surface points and 19 underground points in the established areas. Both field and laboratory analyses were made and elemental contents are reported herein. In the main, the chemistry and water quality suggests that all water is suitable for agricultural and industrial uses. To obtain potable water, treatment must be made to reduce calcium, magnesium, sodium sulfate and iron. The mineral content of the water is due to its contact with coal-bearing zones and, as such, reflects the mineral content of the coal. However, it is recommended that additional studies on the petrography and geochemistry of the coal, overburden and underburden is in order. Also, it is recommended that at least one detailed study be made of one of the coal sub-basins where geologic parameters can be completely established with regard to hydrogeology. This report is an important first step in determining the character and quality of Arkansas coal which must be fully understood to fully utilize this important mineral resource

Is Expert Evidence Really Different?

The problem with expert evidence is not the inappropriateness of the Daubert approach. The narrow focus on Daubert is misplaced. The real problem is with the more deeply entrenched view that expert evidence should be excluded under circumstances in which analogous non-expert evidence would be admitted. Daubert embodies the distinction between expert and non-expert evidence, but it is that very distinction, and not just Daubert, that is the problem. Daubert has indeed transformed modern evidence law, but perhaps it has awakened us to the need for a more profound transformation, one in which the very foundations of treating expert testimony differently are undercut. This is a larger claim than that Daubert itself is a problem, and it is this larger claim we seek to advance here

Applying weighted network measures to microarray distance matrices

In recent work we presented a new approach to the analysis of weighted networks, by providing a straightforward generalization of any network measure defined on unweighted networks. This approach is based on the translation of a weighted network into an ensemble of edges, and is particularly suited to the analysis of fully connected weighted networks. Here we apply our method to several such networks including distance matrices, and show that the clustering coefficient, constructed by using the ensemble approach, provides meaningful insights into the systems studied. In the particular case of two data sets from microarray experiments the clustering coefficient identifies a number of biologically significant genes, outperforming existing identification approaches.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Phys.