Chief Justice Leadership: A Brief Sketch of Its Landscape, Structure, and Operation

This article examines chief justice leadership of the United States Supreme Court during the judicial decision-making process and develops a model of such leadership in three distinct parts: landscape, structure, and operation. The landscape consists of five interactive stages in the judicial decision-making process: certiorari, oral argument, conference, majority opinion assignment, and opinion drafting. Structurally, three prevailing conditions on the Court create a “democratic default”: life tenure, equal vote, and free voice. In terms of operation, the office employs small-group leadership and its twin pillars of task and social leadership in conjunction with behavioral leadership and its three types of leadership (autocratic, laissez-faire, and democratic). To highlight both small-group and behavioral leadership in action, case studies on Chief Justices Marshall, Stone, and Warren are briefly described. While no one leadership style is exclusively employed, the contours of chief justice leadership are chiefly social and democratic, making these leadership forms dominant. As such, the key finding of this paper is that, in order to successfully lead the court, the chief justice must be just as good a political negotiator as a competent legal judge

Evaluation of the NAS-ILAB Matrix for Monitoring International Labor Standards: Project Report

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) engaged the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to recommend a method to monitor and evaluate labor conditions in a given country. The method focuses on 5 labor standards: freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced or compulsory labor, child labor, discrimination, and acceptable conditions of work

Singular Gaussian Measures in Detection Theory

No abstract availabl

Complex interplay of kinetic factors governs the synergistic properties of HIV-1 entry inhibitors.

The homotrimeric HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) undergoes receptor-triggered structural changes that mediate viral entry through membrane fusion. This process is inhibited by chemokine receptor antagonists (CoRAs) that block Env-receptor interactions and by fusion inhibitors (FIs) that disrupt Env conformational transitions. Synergy between CoRAs and FIs has been attributed to a CoRA-dependent decrease in the rate of viral membrane fusion that extends the lifetime of the intermediate state targeted by FIs. Here, we demonstrated that the magnitude of CoRA/FI synergy unexpectedly depends on FI-binding affinity and the stoichiometry of chemokine receptor binding to trimeric Env. For C-peptide FIs (clinically represented by enfuvirtide), synergy waned as binding strength decreased until inhibitor combinations behaved additively. Curiously, this affinity dependence on synergy was absent for 5-Helix-type FIs. We linked this complex behavior to the CoRA dependence of Env deactivation following FI binding. For both FI classes, reducing chemokine receptor levels on target cells or eliminating competent chemokine receptor-binding sites on Env trimers resulted in a loss of synergistic activity. These data imply that the stoichiometry required for CoRA/FI synergy exceeds that required for HIV-1 entry. Our analysis suggests two distinct roles for chemokine receptor binding, one to trigger formation of the FI-sensitive intermediate state and another to facilitate subsequent conformational transitions. Together, our results could explain the wide variety of previously reported activities for CoRA/FI combinations. These findings also have implications for the combined use of CoRAs and FIs in antiviral therapies and point to a multifaceted role for chemokine receptor binding in promoting HIV-1 entry

From Achievements to New Possibilities

It’s the year of Jubilation.The ACL has been in existence for fifty years now. The first meeting of the Christian Librarians’ Fellowship was held at Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) in 1956. There were only five librarians in attendance.The organization has come a long way from its humble beginnings to its present permanent headquarters in Cedarville, Ohio. I wrote an article on the 25th anniversary back in 1982. It is time to reflect on ACL’s past successes and achievements since 1982 and look to what possibilities the future holds

Characterization of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Roots Versus Root Pulling Resistance as Selection Indices for Draught Tolerance

A technique described as Root Pulling Resistance (RPR) was used to evaluate genotypic differences in root growth and development of 50 rice germplasm accessions and cultivars. Several root characteristics in rice are associated with drought tolerance and avoidance capability of plants. The RPR measurements showed a significant positive correlation with maximum root length (r=0.69), root thickness (r=0.75), branching number (r=0.75), and root dry weight (r= 0.82). Rice genotypes that had a high RPR value were identified as having longer, thicker, and denser root systems. The data indicated that high RPR measurements are strongly correlated with greater root penetration. Munji Sufaid Pak, IR52 (IR5853-1 18-5) and Saunfia or Mabla Pak 329 had a significantly greater root length, root thickness, root number, root branching and dry weight as compared to IR 36. Also, there was no correlation between plant height and RPR. Furthermore, the data demonstrated that the RPR technique is ideal for selecting superior root systems and potential drought tolerant rice germplasm and cultivars

Capacity of classes of Gaussian channels. Part I - Discrete-time

Capacity of discrete time Gaussian channel