Publicly Funded Transportation for Parochial School Students: New Issues

America is one nation under God. Yet, running contrary to this strain is our equally firm commitment to the concept of separation of church and state. This heritage reflects our founding fathers\u27 fear of the dangers presented by church interference with state affairs and of the inhibiting effect state involvement would have on religious freedom. The first amendment to the Federal Constitution was written to afford protection from both of these evils, and the judiciary has staunchly upheld the concepts embodied in it. One manifestation of this had been the reluctance of the United States Supreme Court to permit the use of public funds to support nonpublic education, regardless of the form of such aid. In a landmark decision, Everson v. Board of Education, the Court departed from this position and held that a state could furnish bus transportation to children attending nonpublic schools without violating the first amendment. Despite this approbation, subsequent state legislation of a similar nature has still been subjected to judicial scrutiny. The results have been inconsistent, as the constitutionality of these statutes has been questioned on the basis of potential violations of the Federal Constitution and of the more restrictive provisions of some state constitutions. During the last session of the Nebraska Legislature, such a statute was passed. L.B. 522 requires that under delineated circumstances, the state must furnish bus transportation to children attending nonprofit, nonpublic schools. The constitutionality of this statute may soon be challenged in the Nebraska courts as violating the state and federal constitutions. Such litigation will raise several new issues

Publicly Funded Transportation for Parochial School Students: New Issues

America is one nation under God. Yet, running contrary to this strain is our equally firm commitment to the concept of separation of church and state. This heritage reflects our founding fathers\u27 fear of the dangers presented by church interference with state affairs and of the inhibiting effect state involvement would have on religious freedom. The first amendment to the Federal Constitution was written to afford protection from both of these evils, and the judiciary has staunchly upheld the concepts embodied in it. One manifestation of this had been the reluctance of the United States Supreme Court to permit the use of public funds to support nonpublic education, regardless of the form of such aid. In a landmark decision, Everson v. Board of Education, the Court departed from this position and held that a state could furnish bus transportation to children attending nonpublic schools without violating the first amendment. Despite this approbation, subsequent state legislation of a similar nature has still been subjected to judicial scrutiny. The results have been inconsistent, as the constitutionality of these statutes has been questioned on the basis of potential violations of the Federal Constitution and of the more restrictive provisions of some state constitutions. During the last session of the Nebraska Legislature, such a statute was passed. L.B. 522 requires that under delineated circumstances, the state must furnish bus transportation to children attending nonprofit, nonpublic schools. The constitutionality of this statute may soon be challenged in the Nebraska courts as violating the state and federal constitutions. Such litigation will raise several new issues

Abortion: An Unresolved Issue—Are Parental Consent Statutes Unconstitutional?

In the companion cases of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the United States Supreme Court acknowledged that a woman has the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. This right is fundamental and is encompassed within the constitutional right to privacy. Despite the Court\u27s definitive position, many tangential issues regarding abortion remain unresolved. One such issue which the Court raised but did not decide in Roe concerns the constitutionality of statutes requiring parental consent in addition to the minor\u27s consent before the minor can have an abortion. Of all the decisions handed down by state and federal district courts on this issue, only one, Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, has held that such statutes are constitutional. All others have found them to be unconstitutional. Since certiorari has been granted in Danforth, it is assumed that the Supreme Court will soon speak definitively on whether a parental consent provision in an abortion statute is constitutionally permissible. This Comment analyzes the constitutional question presented by these consent statutes. The analysis requires a multi-tiered approach. Initial focus is on the individual\u27s right to decide to have an abortion, with a concomitant examination of the Roe and Doe decisions and their implications. The next area of consideration is whether a minor enjoys this same constitutional right. If she does have the right to decide to terminate her pregnancy, does the state have an interest in this matter that is sufficiently compelling to justify infringing on this fundamental right? Furthermore, if the state does have such an interest, are such restrictive state statutes necessary to achieve the state\u27s objectives, or can the result be achieved by a less onerous means? This Comment examines the two objectives, which usually are espoused as justifying the consent statutes: preserving parental control over children and thereby solidifying the family unit, and ensuring that the minor\u27s decision is intelligently made. To understand this latter objective better, the Comment discusses the issue of a minor\u27s ability to consent to medical treatment. From the foregoing analysis, the conclusion is that parental consent statutes in the abortion area, as presently drafted, do not pass the constitutional test. The final section of this Comment considers whether a statute can and should be drafted that will satisfy the state\u27s interest and yet not place unconstitutional constraints on a minor seeking an abortion

Scaling and Suppression of Anomalous Heating in Ion Traps

We measure and characterize anomalous motional heating of an atomic ion confined in the lowest quantum levels of a novel rf ion trap that features moveable electrodes. The scaling of heating with electrode proximity is measured, and when the electrodes are cooled from 300 to 150 K, the heating rate is suppressed by an order of magnitude. This provides direct evidence that anomalous motional heating of trapped ions stems from microscopic noisy potentials on the electrodes that are thermally driven. These observations are relevant to decoherence in quantum information processing schemes based on trapped ions and perhaps other charge-based quantum systems

Spacecraft attitude pointing performance during orbit adjust as a function of compensator order

A steady state compensator of specified order is proposed to estimate the required duty cycle needed to balance the distribution torque. The compensator was increased gradually to demonstrate the improvement in pointing accuracy. The basic mathematical model of the flexible spacecraft and sensor used to characterize the performance of the compensator are described

Investigating the implications of CFTR exon skipping using a Cftr exon 9 deleted mouse model

Introduction: Severity and disease progression in people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is typically dependent on their genotype. One potential therapeutic strategy for people with specific mutations is exon skipping with antisense oligonucleotides (AO). CFTR exon 9 is an in-frame exon and hence the exclusion of this exon would excise only 31 amino acids but not alter the reading frame of the remaining mRNA. Splice mutations 1209 + 1 G > C and 1209 + 2 T > G were documented to cause CFTR exon 9 skipping and these variants were reported to manifest as a milder CF disease, therefore exon 9 skipping could be beneficial for people with class I mutations that affect exon 9 such as p.Trp401X. While the impact of exon 9 skipping on gene expression and cellular pathways can be studied in cells in vitro, trace amount of full-length normal or mutated material could confound the evaluation. To overcome this limitation, the impact of CFTR exon 9 skipping on disease phenotype and severity is more effectively evaluated in a small animal model. It was hypothesised that antisense oligonucleotide-mediated skipping this particular exon could result in a “mild mouse CF phenotype”. Methods: Cftr exon 9 deleted mice were generated using homologous recombination. Survival of homozygous (CftrΔ9/Δ9) and heterozygous (CftrΔ9/+) mice was compared to that of other CF mouse models, and lung and intestinal organ histology examined for any pathologies. Primary airway epithelial cells (pAECs) were harvested from CftrΔ9/Δ9 mice and cultured at the Air Liquid Interface for CFTR functional assessment using Ussing Chamber analysis. Results: A CftrΔ9/Δ9 mouse model presented with intestinal obstructions, and at time of weaning (21 days). CftrΔ9/Δ9 mice had a survival rate of 83% that dropped to 38% by day 50. Histological sections of the small intestine from CftrΔ9/Δ9 mice showed more goblet cells and mucus accumulation than samples from the CftrΔ9/+ littermates. Airway epithelial cell cultures established from CftrΔ9/Δ9 mice were not responsive to forskolin stimulation. Summary: The effect of Cftr exon 9 deletion on Cftr function was assessed and it was determined that the encoded Cftr isoform did not result in a milder “mouse CF disease phenotype,” suggesting that Cftr exon 9 is not dispensable, although further investigation in human CF pAECs would be required to confirm this observation

T-junction ion trap array for two-dimensional ion shuttling, storage and manipulation

We demonstrate a two-dimensional 11-zone ion trap array, where individual laser-cooled atomic ions are stored, separated, shuttled, and swapped. The trap geometry consists of two linear rf ion trap sections that are joined at a 90 degree angle to form a T-shaped structure. We shuttle a single ion around the corners of the T-junction and swap the positions of two crystallized ions using voltage sequences designed to accommodate the nontrivial electrical potential near the junction. Full two-dimensional control of multiple ions demonstrated in this system may be crucial for the realization of scalable ion trap quantum computation and the implementation of quantum networks.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figure

Primary Nasal Epithelial Cells as a Surrogate Cell Culture Model for Type-II Alveolar Cells to Study ABCA-3 Deficiency

ATP Binding Cassette Subfamily A Member 3 (ABCA-3) is a lipid transporter protein highly expressed in type-II alveolar (AT-II) cells. Mutations in ABCA3 can result in severe respiratory disease in infants and children. To study ABCA-3 deficiency in vitro, primary AT-II cells would be the cell culture of choice although sample accessibility is limited. Our aim was to investigate the suitability of primary nasal epithelial cells, as a surrogate culture model for AT-II cells, to study ABCA-3 deficiency. Expression of ABCA3, and surfactant protein genes, SFTPB and SFTPC, was detected in primary nasal epithelial cells but at a significantly lower level than in AT-II cells. ABCA-3, SP-B, and SP-C were detected by immunofluorescence microscopy in primary nasal epithelial cells. However, SP-B and SP-C were undetectable in primary nasal epithelial cells using western blotting. Structurally imperfect lamellar bodies were observed in primary nasal epithelial cells using transmission electron microscopy. Functional assessment of the ABCA-3 protein demonstrated that higher concentrations of doxorubicin reduced cell viability in ABCA-3 deficient nasal epithelial cells compared to controls in an assay-dependent manner. Our results indicate that there may be a role for primary nasal epithelial cell cultures to model ABCA-3 deficiency in vitro, although additional cell culture models that more effectively recapitulate the AT-II phenotype may be required