Confronting a Monument: The Great Chief Justice in an Age of Historical Reckoning

The year 2018 brought us two new studies of Chief Justice John Marshall. Together, they provide a platform for discussing Marshall and his role in shaping American law. They also provide a platform for discussing the uses of American history in American law and the value of an historian’s truthful, careful, complete, and accurate accounting of American history, particularly in an area as sensitive as American slavery. One of the books reviewed, Without Precedent, by Professor Joel Richard Paul, provides an account of Chief Justice Marshall that is consistent with the standard narrative. That standard narrative has consistently made a series of unsupported and ahistorical claims about Marshall over the course of two centuries. The substantial errors contained in this standard narrative are exposed by another book, Supreme Injustice, by Professor Paul Finkelman, which reveals, in groundbreaking fashion, Chief Justice Marshall’s deep personal and professional commitment to, and investment in, the institution of American slavery. Chief Justice Marshall’s commitment to an institution that has been rejected by our law and by pervasive social norms should give his modern successors, attorneys, judges or students of the law, as well as citizens, substantial pause when relying upon Marshall as a posthumous authority and reference point in debates regarding contemporary legal subjects. Any other conclusion would countenance an unjustified double-standard when assessing American historical figures whose conduct we would condemn if perpetrated by historical figures from foreign nations

Pervasive Infancy: Reassessing the Contract Capacity of Adults in Modern America

This article argues that the law of consumer contracts should permit adults to access the same protections available to children where data about adult performance indicates that the two categories of people are similarly situated within the domain of consumer contracts. In making this claim, this article relies upon a description of capacity articulated by Professor Martha Nussbaum in her important work on the subject. Professor Nussbaum explains that capacity is a function, not only of a person’s innate capabilities, but of a person’s opportunity or ability to deploy those capabilities within environmental limitations. Capacity to contract in a free society has demanded sufficient internal self-control to direct action and make decisions we would expect of a free person vested with a set of important personal rights. Nussbaum’s standard raises the possibility that even people with substantial internal capabilities may not have capacity if the environment in which they are seeking to express their capabilities negates them. This article argues that the law of consumer contracts is one such domain. It therefore argues that this domain should reassign risks between consumers and sellers in the consumer contracting market, where data about adult decision-making in the domain suggests that adults do not have the power to protect their contract rights through reasoned decision-making. It does so as a means of saving the very institution of contract law itself, which is a central mechanism for securing freedom of choice for Americans

Technology Change or Resistance to Changing Institutional Logics: The Rise and Fall of Digital Equipment Corporation

This article uses an institutional lens to analyze organizational failure. It does this through a historical case study of Digital Equipment Corporation, an innovator and market leader of minicomputers who faltered and eventually failed during the period of technological change brought on by the emergence of the personal computer. The failure of Digital Equipment Corporation is interesting because it occurred despite its ability to adapt to changing technological forces. An institutional analysis shows that while Digital Equipment Corporation was able to develop personal computers widely considered technologically superior to its competitors, it resisted broader changes occurring in its institutional context. This study suggests that responding to external forces of change, such as technology, may not be enough. An organization must determine if and how such change might lead to a shift in its institutional context and then develop strategies to address such change

Evil History: Protecting Our Constitution Through an Anti-Originalism Canon of Constitutional Interpretation

This review assesses three recent books on the subject of originalism. Each approaches the question of originalism from a different angle. None of the books confronts the raw challenge to the authority of the framers leveled by Justice Thurgood Marshall in his speech upon the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. Marshall argued that the founding generation was too morally compromised, too bereft of information we now have as a result of the existence and experiences of millions of Americans since the close of the 18th century, and too imperfect in their efforts to design a sustainable government, to justify the devotion to their perspective originalism demands. In the face of this critique, originalism, which is a devotional doctrine, and originalists, its devotees, nevertheless insist that we should obey the founding generation and ignore, among other things, the the reality that a nation putatively based on the principle of human equality was actually a prison house in which millions of Americans had virtually no rights at all. This review demands that advocates for an originalist methodology confront the full brunt of our past, both good and evil, in promoting their interpretative approach. The failure to do so has deep moral, political, sociological and legal ramifications. Law writes the past, not just its own past, but the past for those over whom law seeks to exercise its dominion. To the extent that law writes a past that covers-up, papers-over, ignores or subverts the evil aspects of history, it engages in abuses that we would condemn if perpetrated by other nations as denial. As a methodology, this review rejects originalism as a presumptively justifiable methodology. It goes further. It proposes a canon of constitutional construction that would proscribe the use of originalism in any of its variants unless certain prophylactic historical facts are established or negated by the proponents of any form of originalism. Broadly speaking, this canon would require any party in any litigation or legal dispute seeking to offer or rely upon the perspective of the founding generation in any dispositive fashion to demonstrate that the clause or clauses to be interpreted and the history to be deployed bears no supporting relationship to the evils of our national past and would not further principles underlying those evils. Specifically, such a canon would require proponents of the originalism methodology to demonstrate that, before adopting originalism as a method to resolve a case, such an interpretation would not support or extend original principles that perpetuated the institution of slavery, supported the expulsion and mass extermination of Native Americans as a national policy, buttressed the terrorism of Redemption upon the collapse of Reconstruction, entrenched the political and personal subjugation of women and children, or permitted the use of governmental force to suppress political speech in the forms present during any of the historical periods from which the evidence is drawn. If the proponents of originalism are not able to overcome this burden, the canon would require that they rely upon the many methodological approaches to constitutional interpretation that are not originalism, that have developed over the course of American history, and have been embraced and incorporated into our law as a matter of historical practice

Sensor arrays for detecting microorganisms

A sensor array for detecting a microorganism comprising first and second sensors electrically connected to an electrical measuring apparatus, wherein the sensors comprise a region of nonconducting organic material and a region of conducting material compositionally that is different than the nonconducting organic material and an electrical path through the regions of nonconducting organic material and the conducting material. A system for identifying microorganisms using the sensor array, a computer and a pattern recognition algorithm, such as a neural net are also disclosed

A piloted simulation of helicopter air combat to investigate effects of variations in selected performance and control response characteristics

A piloted simulation study investigating handling qualities and flight characteristics required for helicopter air to air combat is presented. The Helicopter Air Combat system was used to investigate this role for Army rotorcraft. Experimental variables were the maneuver envelope size (load factor and sideslip), directional axis handling qualities, and pitch and roll control-response type. Over 450 simulated, low altitude, one-on-one engagements were conducted. Results from the experiment indicate that a well damped directional response, low sideforce caused by sideslip, and some effective dihedral are all desirable for weapon system performance, good handling qualities, and low pilot workload. An angular rate command system was favored over the attitude type pitch and roll response for most applications, and an enhanced maneuver envelope size over that of current generation aircraft was found to be advantageous. Pilot technique, background, and experience are additional factors which had a significant effect on performance in the air combat tasks investigated. The implication of these results on design requirements for future helicopters is presented

Sensor arrays for detecting analytes in fluids

A sensor array for detecting an analyte in a fluid, comprising at least first and second chemically sensitive resistors electrically connected to an electrical measuring apparatus, wherein each of the chemically sensitive resistors comprises a mixture of nonconductive material and a conductive material. Each resistor provides an electrical path through the mixture of nonconductive material and the conductive material. The resistors also provide a difference in resistance between the conductive elements when contacted with a fluid comprising an analyte at a first concentration, than when contacted with an analyte at a second different concentration. A broad range of analytes can be detected using the sensors of the present invention. Examples of such analytes include, but are not limited to, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, dienes, alicyclic hydrocarbons, arenes, alcohols, ethers, ketones, aldehydes, carbonyls, carbanions, polynuclear aromatics, organic derivatives, biomolecules, sugars, isoprenes, isoprenoids and fatty acids. Moreover, applications for the sensors of the present invention include, but are not limited to, environmental toxicology, remediation, biomedicine, material quality control, food monitoring and agricultural monitoring

Forecasting Spanish Elections

The behavior of the individual Spanish voter has come to be rather well-understood, thanks to a growing research literature. However, no models have appeared to explain, or to forecast, national election outcomes. The presence of this research gap contrasts sharply with the extensive election forecasting work done on other leading Western democracies. Here we fill this gap. The model, developed from core political economy theory, is parsimonious but statistically robust. Further, it promises considerable prediction accuracy of Spanish general election outcomes, six months before the contest actually occurs. After presenting the model, and carrying out extensive regression diagnostics, we offer an ex ante forecast of the 2012 general election.

Mechanistic investigations of nanometer-scale lithography at liquid-covered graphite surfaces

Pulse-induced nanometer-scale lithography has been performed on graphite surfaces that were in contact with pure water or other organic liquids. Very reproducible control over the pit diameter was observed in aqueous solutions, and a well-defined voltage threshold (4.0±0.2 V) was also apparent. Near the threshold voltage, 7 Å diameter×2 Å high protrusions were formed, while larger initial pulse voltages resulted in pits of diameter>~20 Å

Flight test operations

Flight test operations concerning the Joint NASA/FAA Airborne Wind Shear Detection and Avoidance Program 1991 Flight Experiments are presented in viewgraph form and include the following: research aircraft sensor installations; wind shear reactive sensor operation; wind shear IR sensor operation; wind shear radar sensor operation; wind shear lidar sensor operation; and 1991 flight test summary