Girls and mathematics

In this dissertation I address the issues related to why girls perform badly in mathematics. I investigate whether there is any real disadvantage that may have a genetic or biological cause. I hold that while there is some evidence for this, that in fact social factors have a much greater influence on the issue. My main argument hinges on the fact that mathematics has a "male" image and that girls and women are not willing to identify themselves with the opposite sex as this might indicate some flaw in their femininity. I examine the notion of femininity in some detail and come to the conclusion that it is a limiting and power-sapping ideal constructed largely by men. My first hypothesis is that women are willing to conform to the feminine stereotype because the crossing of sex-boundaries is abhorred by our society. My second hypothesis goes some way to explaining why little attempt is being made to change the situation. Because of the Sex Discrimination Act and women's lib women believe that they have achieved equality and so feel that there is no need for action. I claim that this attitude is not only unfounded, but is dangerous because it leads to complacency. I spend one chapter discussing the attitudes of pupils and discover that stereotypes still exist and in a manner which can only be detrimental to girls' progress. Finally I attempt to consider what can be done to solve the problem by considering both specific and general solutions

Sentencing and plea bargaining : guilty pleas versus trial verdicts

In the daily work of the criminal justice process, the relationship between plea decision-making and sentencing is one of the most important. Meanwhile, in the academic and policy literatures it is one of the most controversial. This essay examines the moral arguments for and against the practice of altering a sentence as a consequence of a plea of “not guilty” or “guilty”. It also appraises the state of international empirical knowledge about the practice and raises questions for future research. It is widely believed that a defendant who pleads guilty is likely to receive a reduced sentence if s/he pleads ‘guilty’ than if s/he is found guilty, as a result of a trial, of exactly the same charges. Various terms are used to describe this practice (e.g. “Sentence Reduction”, “Guilty Plea Discount”, “Sentence Deduction”, “allowance in respect of a guilty plea”, “Trial Penalty”, et cetera.). However, as discussed below, these terms are value laden and imply different normative positions. Thus, in the interests of neutrality, this essay will generally use the term “Plea-Dependent Sentence Differential” (or “Sentence Differential” for short). The foundation for the Sentence Differential varies depending on the jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions statue or case law may permit, or even require, a Sentence Differential. In others the basis of the Sentence Differential is found in guideline schemes. In certain jurisdictions the Sentence Differential may have little formal basis and is routed in the informal practices of sentencers. However, regardless of its basis, in most criminal justice systems there is a widely held perception that there is a Sentence Differential. This essay will provide an overview of the main issues and debates resulting from the Sentence Differential. In doing so, it also raises some provocative questions and suggestions for future research, not least the pressing need for a fuller appreciation of defendants’ perspectives and decision-making

The Inconvenient Militia Clause of the Second Amendment: Why the Supreme Court Declines to Resolve the Debate over the Rights to Bear Arms

There are sound public policy reasons why gun ownership by law abiding citizens in a free society should be protected. Good public policy, however, cannot be formulated as long as there remain fundamental misconceptions about the meaning and history of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the law interpreting it. In August of 1994, an exasperated American Bar Association, finding itself unable to match the Gun Lobby\u27s publicity campaigns, pleaded for help from the legal profession to educate the American public about the meaning of the Second Amendment and the intent of the Constitutional Framers. Specifically, the ABA sought help in clarifying the fact that the United States Supreme Court and lower federal courts have consistently, uniformly held that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is related to a well regulated militia and that there are no federal constitutional decisions which preclude the regulation of firearms in private hands ... Even the American Civil Liberties Union, not an organization known to suffer perceived constitutional violations lightly, has tried valiantly, though largely in vain, to educate the American public that the Second Amendment is a collective rather than an individual right. The exasperation of the American Bar Association is understandable, and this article is a humble response to its plea

Association Between a Directly Translated Cognitive Measure of Negative Bias and Self-reported Psychiatric Symptoms

BACKGROUND: Negative interpretation biases are thought to be core symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders. However, prior work using cognitive tasks to measure such biases is largely restricted to case-control group studies, which cannot be used for inference about individuals without considerable additional validation. Moreover, very few measures are fully translational (i.e., can be used across animals and humans in treatment-development pipelines). This investigation aimed to produce the first measure of negative cognitive biases that is both translational and sensitive to individual differences, and then to determine which specific self-reported psychiatric symptoms are related to bias. METHODS: A total of 1060 (n = 990 complete) participants performed a cognitive task of negative bias along with psychiatric symptom questionnaires. We tested the hypothesis that individual levels of mood and anxiety disorder symptomatology would covary positively with negative bias on the cognitive task using a combination of computational modeling of behavior, confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Participants with higher depression symptoms (β = −.16, p = .017) who were older (β = −.11, p = .001) and had lower IQ (β = .14, p < .001) showed greater negative bias. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling suggested that no other psychiatric symptom (or transdiagnostic latent factor) covaried with task performance over and above the effect of depression, while exploratory factor analysis suggested combining depression/anxiety symptoms in a single latent factor. Generating groups using symptom cutoffs or latent mixture modeling recapitulated our prior case-control findings. CONCLUSIONS: This measure, which uniquely spans both the clinical group-to-individual and preclinical animal-to-human generalizability gaps, can be used to measure individual differences in depression vulnerability for translational treatment-development pipelines

The influence of queer theory on marriage and civil partnership in Scotland

This thesis will explore the whether queer theory has had any real influence on the law on marriage and civil partnership in Scotland. It will do so by examining the work of Michael Foucault and Judith Butler, reviewing both The History of Sexuality Volume One, and Gender Trouble to establish what queer theory has to say on gender and sexuality. Both works expose the artificiality of gender and sexuality, and in doing so, show that marriage and civil partnership are institutions created to support these artificial structures. Marriage and civil partnership are not isolated from the continuing influence of queer discourse on both gender and sexuality; however, as I will show, the influence has been contained largely to opening up privilege, both legally and socially, to those who wish to conform to structures that remain heteronormative and prescriptive

The Uses of Chiral Anomaly for Determination of the Number of Colors

The $N_c$-dependence of the vertices $PPP\gamma$, where $P$ is a pseudoscalar meson and $N_c$ is the number of colors, is analyzed with regard for the $N_c$-dependence of the quark charges. It is shown that the best processes for the determination of $N_c$ are the reactions $K\gamma \to K\pi$ and $\pi^pm\gamma\to\pi^\pm\eta$ as well as the decay \eta\ra\pi^+\pi^-\gamma. The measurement of the cross section \sigma(\pi^-\gamma\ra\pi^-\eta) at the VES facility at the IHEP agrees with the value $N_c=3$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure; accepted to Phys. Atom. Nucl., references adde