Hypothalamic gene expression during voluntary hypophagia in the Sprague-Dawley rat on withdrawal of the palatable liquid diet, Ensure

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Sex Discrimination: Theories and Defenses under Title VII and Burwell v. Eastern Airlines, Inc.

Following the enactment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 dealing with equal opportunity and employment discrimination, there arose a large body of case-law litigating Title VII issues and a large body of articles dissecting the cases and issues. Within this area, different methods for proving Title VII violations and different types of defenses developed. Almost inevitably, confusion arose concerning the applicability of specific defenses to specific types of Title VII violations. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals attempted to resolve some of this confusion in a sex discrimination case captioned Burwell v. Eastern Airlines, Inc. In Burwell, female flight attendants brought an action under section 703(a) of Title VII claiming that various aspects of Eastern\u27s employment practices were discriminatory on the basis of sex. The two issues that survived for appellate review were Eastern\u27s practice of divesting pregnant female flight attendants of accumulated seniority when they transferred to ground positions, and Eastern\u27s policy requiring female flight attendants to take maternity leave immediately upon learning of their pregnancy. At Eastern, all temporarily disabled flight attendants could transfer to ground positions and continue to accumulate seniority. In practice, though, pregnant flight attendants who transferred to ground positions lost all rights to retain accumulated seniority. Eastern implemented this practice because it did not consider pregnancy a disability within the terms of its general transfer policy. The stewardesses charged that this transfer policy, although facially neutral, discriminatorily impacted upon them. The other relevant policy of Eastern required all female flight attendants to begin an unpaid maternity leave immediately upon knowledge of their pregnancy. All pregnant attendants were required to leave regardless of individual ability to continue working. The stewardesses claimed that this practice also discriminated against females. With respect to the transfer policy and the requirement to take maternity leave before the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, the district court held the plaintiffs had made out a prima facie case of sex discrimination which Eastern could not justify as a business necessity or a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ). The district court did hold, however, that being less than twenty-eight weeks pregnant was a BFOQ for which Eastern could require flight attendants to cease flight duties. Eastern appealed this decision to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Based upon the Supreme Court decision in Nashville Gas Co. v. Satty, a unanimous court affirmed the district court\u27s holding on the transfer policy issue. The circuit court divided on the mandatory maternity leave issue. Following the district court\u27s separation of this issue into the three trimesters of pregnancy, the justices divided as follows: (1) a majority affirmed the district court\u27s invalidation of Eastern\u27s mandatory leave during the first thirteen weeks of pregnancy and three justices dissented; (2) a majority reversed the district court\u27s invalidation of the maternity leave policy during the thirteenth through twenty-eighth weeks of pregnancy, with four dissenters; and (3) a unanimous court affirmed the district court\u27s upholding of the mandatory leave after the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy. In reaching its decision, the circuit court in Burwell noted the confusion about which of two possible defenses-the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) or the business necessity-should apply in a sex discrimination case. Focusing upon the type of theory used to prove the Title VII violation, the circuit court ruled: In sex discrimination cases a clear disparate impact discrimination will be tested by business necessity and a clear disparate treatment discrimination will be tested by a BFOQ. The court then analyzed the issues before it in terms of disparate impact and the business necessity defense. Although the district court had also applied the business necessity defense, the circuit court differed in its application of the defense to the facts. This Comment will discuss the rule propounded in Burwell by analyzing the two theories for establishing Title VII discrimination and their respective defenses. As the discussion will show, this rule is generally adhered to by courts and has been assumed to be true by most commentators. In addition, this Comment takes the position that both the district court and the circuit court in Burwell failed to view Eastern\u27s mandatory maternity leave policy within the terms of the proper legal theory. Instead of viewing the policy as a disparate impact issue, a disparate treatment analysis should have been used. Then, following its own rule, a BFOQ would be the allowable defense in Burwell. Under the BFOQ it is likely the circuit court would not have overturned the district court\u27s holding on this issue. Finally, the district court\u27s and the circuit court\u27s applications of the business necessity defense will be examined. Both courts applied this defense but reached different results. The circuit court\u27s method differed from the district court\u27s method in two ways. The circuit court did not want to substitute a judicial judgment for business judgment in the area of risk management and passenger safety; deference was extended to Eastern\u27s business judgment. In addition, the discriminatory impact upon the flight attendants was characterized as a loss of fifteen weeks of employment. Thus, Eastern\u27s business purpose of enhancing passenger safety was found sufficiently compelling to override this impact discrimination

Mean-field dynamical density functional theory

We examine the out-of-equilibrium dynamical evolution of density profiles of ultrasoft particles under time-varying external confining potentials in three spatial dimensions. The theoretical formalism employed is the dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) of Marini Bettolo Marconi and Tarazona [J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 110}, 8032 (1999)], supplied by an equilibrium excess free energy functional that is essentially exact. We complement our theoretical analysis by carrying out extensive Brownian Dynamics simulations. We find excellent agreement between theory and simulations for the whole time evolution of density profiles, demonstrating thereby the validity of the DDFT when an accurate equilibrium free energy functional is employed.Comment: 8 pagers, 4 figure

Testing Luminescence Dating Methods for Small Samples from Very Young Fluvial Deposits

The impetus behind this study is to understand the sedimentological dynamics of very young fluvial systems in the Amazon River catchment and relate these to land use change and modern analogue studies of tidal rhythmites in the geologic record. Initial quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating feasibility studies have concentrated on spit and bar deposits in the Rio Tapajós. Many of these features have an appearance of freshly deposited pristine sand, and these observations and information from anecdotal evidence and LandSat imagery suggest an apparent decadal stability. The characteristics of OSL from small (~5 cm) sub-samples from ~65 cm by ~2 cm diameter vertical cores are quite remarkable. Signals from medium-sized aliquots (5 mm diameter) exhibit very high specific luminescence sensitivity, have excellent dose recovery and recycling, essentially independent of preheat, and show minimal heat transfer even at the highest preheats. These characteristics enable measurement of very small signals with reasonable precision and, using modified single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) approaches, equivalent doses as low as ~4 mGy can be obtained. Significant recuperation is observed for samples from two of the study sites and, in these instances, either the acceptance threshold was increased or growth curves were forced through the origin; recuperation is considered most likely to be a measurement artefact given the very small size of natural signals. Dose rates calculated from combined inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry/inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-MS/ICP-OES) and high-resolution gamma spectrometry range from ~0.3 to 0.5 mGya−1 , and OSL ages for features so far investigated range from 13 to 34 years to several 100 years. Sampled sands are rich in quartz and yields of 212–250 µm or 250–310 µm grains indicate high-resolution sampling at 1–2 cm intervals is possible. Despite the use of medium-sized aliquots to ensure the recovery of very dim natural OSL signals, these results demonstrate the potential of OSL for studying very young active fluvial processes in these settings

Phase behavior of a fluid with competing attractive and repulsive interactions

Fluids in which the interparticle potential has a hard core, is attractive at moderate separations, and repulsive at greater separations are known to exhibit novel phase behavior, including stable inhomogeneous phases. Here we report a joint simulation and theoretical study of such a fluid, focusing on the relationship between the liquid-vapor transition line and any new phases. The phase diagram is studied as a function of the amplitude of the attraction for a certain fixed amplitude of the long ranged repulsion. We find that the effect of the repulsion is to substitute the liquid-vapor critical point and a portion of the associated liquid-vapor transition line, by two first order transitions. One of these transitions separates the vapor from a fluid of spherical liquidlike clusters; the other separates the liquid from a fluid of spherical voids. At low temperature, the two transition lines intersect one another and a vapor-liquid transition line at a triple point. While most integral equation theories are unable to describe the new phase transitions, the Percus Yevick approximation does succeed in capturing the vapor-cluster transition, as well as aspects of the structure of the cluster fluid, in reasonable agreement with the simulation results.Comment: 15 pages, 20 figure

Asymptotic decay of pair correlations in a Yukawa fluid

We analyse the $r \to \infty$ asymptotic decay of the total correlation function, $h(r)$, for a fluid composed of particles interacting via a (point) Yukawa pair potential. Such a potential provides a simple model for dusty plasmas. The asymptotic decay is determined by the poles of the liquid structure factor in the complex plane. We use the hypernetted-chain closure to the Ornstein-Zernike equation to determine the line in the phase diagram, well-removed from the freezing transition line, where crossover occurs in the ultimate decay of $h(r)$, from monotonic to damped oscillatory. We show: i) crossover takes place via the same mechanism (coalescence of imaginary poles) as in the classical one-component plasma and in other models of Coulomb fluids and ii) leading-order pole contributions provide an accurate description of $h(r)$ at intermediate distances $r$ as well as at long range.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

An evaluation of Skylab (EREP) remote sensing techniques applied to investigations of crustal structure

The author has identified the following significant results. Film positives (70mm) from all six S190A multispectral photographic camera stations for any one scene can be registered and analyzed in a color additive viewer. Using a multispectral viewer, S190A and B films can be projected directly onto published geologic and topographic maps at scales as large as 1:62,500 and 1:24,000 without significant loss of detail. S190A films and prints permit the detection of faults, fractures, and other linear features not visible in any other space imagery. S192 MSS imagery can be useful for rock-type discrimination studies and delineation of linear patterns and arcuate anomalies. Anomalous color reflectances and arcuate color patterns revealed mineralized zones, copper deposits, vegetation, and volcanic rocks in various locations such as Panamint Range (CA), Greenwater (Death Valley), Lava Mountains (CA), northwestern Arizona, and Coso Hot Springs (CA)

Dynamical density functional theory for dense atomic liquids

Starting from Newton's equations of motion, we derive a dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) applicable to atomic liquids. The theory has the feature that it requires as input the Helmholtz free energy functional from equilibrium density functional theory. This means that, given a reliable equilibrium free energy functional, the correct equilibrium fluid density profile is guaranteed. We show that when the isothermal compressibility is small, the DDFT generates the correct value for the speed of sound in a dense liquid. We also interpret the theory as a dynamical equation for a coarse grained fluid density and show that the theory can be used (making further approximations) to derive the standard mode coupling theory that is used to describe the glass transition. The present theory should provide a useful starting point for describing the dynamics of inhomogeneous atomic fluids.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Do depressive symptoms predict cancer incidence?: 17-year follow-up of the Whitehall II study

Objective: To explore the association between depressive symptom history and cancer incidence. Methods: Affective/emotional depressive symptoms were assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) depression sub-scale across phase 1 (1985-1988), phase 2 (1989-1990), and phase 3 (1991-1994) of the Whitehall II prospective cohort study; ‘chronic’= depressive episode at phase 1, 2 and 3; ‘new’= depressive episode at phase 3 only. Cancer Incidence was obtained from the National Health Service Central Register with an average follow-up of 15.6 years (range 0.08–17.4). The study sample consisted of 6983 participants, aged 35–55 years at baseline. Results were adjusted for age, sex, socio-economic position, health behaviours, health status/conditions, medication, and social support. Results: Over a 17.4 year follow-up, chronic depressive symptoms did not increase the risk of cancer incidence compared to those who never experienced symptoms (hazard ratio (HR)=1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.71-1.49). Participants who experienced new depressive symptoms had an increased risk of cancer incidence in the first 9 years of follow-up (HR=1.89, 95% CI: 1.23-2.90) but no increased risk in later years (HR=0.84, 95% CI: 0.52-1.35). Conclusion: Chronic depressive symptoms were not associated with cancer incidence. In contrast, new-onset symptoms were associated with a substantially increased risk, possibly due to reverse causality