Dancing on the Precipice: How People Reason about Threshold Problems in a Socially-Rich Real World Context

Moral psychology is largely concerned with finding moral universals through the study of descriptive ethics to understand how people make moral judgments and decisions. In this pursuit, much of moral psychology has focused primarily on the act structure of moral scenarios and little on the potentially important factors of observer identity (the identities participants bring to the study) and target identity (the identities of the characters in moral scenarios). The present studies utilized “threshold problems,” introduced by Levine et al. (2020), bringing them into a real world context that included factors of both target and observer identity. In threshold problems, a harm threshold is crossed when too many people perform a specific action, leading to bad outcomes, but a small number can perform the action with no ill effects. In two studies, White participants completed a measure of racial ingroup identification and provided judgments about the moral acceptability of a plan that could cause harm to either a majority-Black or majority-White city if the threshold was crossed. I hypothesized that, as racial self-investment increased, acceptability judgments would decrease in the White city condition, but that the same decrease would not be seen in the Black city. However, neither study revealed the hypothesized interaction

Clinton Court Is Open for Business: The Business Law Jurisprudence of Justice Stephen Breyer, The

The nomination process for the Supreme Court has taken a welcome turn towards civility under President Clinton. The Ginsburg and Breyer nominations have been notable for the lack of partisan attacks on either nominee. However, analysis of the nominees\u27 prior judicial record by the media and some observers continues to be outcome oriented rather than theory based. This single-minded attention to the ultimate winners and losers in a case creates the illusion of a particular political ideology on the part of the judge, with little true predictive value

Section 10(B) and the Vagaries of Federal Common Law: The Merits of Codifying the Private Cause of Action Under a Structuralist Approach

Few issues in the field of securities law have proved as controversial as the legitimacy and proper application of the implied private cause of action for securities fraud under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and its regulatory counterpart, Rule 10b-5. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 was expected by many observers to bring about sweeping changes in the implied private cause of action, which critics charge has been abused by overzealous litigants bringing frivolous lawsuits. In his timely article, Professor Fallone argues that most of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act\u27s changes to the implied private cause of action are merely procedural in nature and fail to address the real problem: the scope of liability for securities fraud under Section 10(b) has been rendered incomprehensible by conflicting court decisions and is no longer consistent with the overall goals of the federal securities laws. The author calls for Congress to reassert control over the content of the implied private cause of action under Section 10(b) by codifying it.Professor Fallone begins with an overview of the most recent securities legislation and an explanation of why it does little to resolve the ambiguities surrounding the implied private cause of action. He then chronicles the history of the cause of action, describing its elements as they currently exist and how they have evolved over the years. The author then points out specific problems arising from the elements of the cause of action having been left up to the courts, and how the common-law process has resulted in an interpretation of the cause of action that is inconsistent with the overall goals of the federal securities laws. Finally, Professor Fallone recommends that Congress codify the cause of action employing a structuralist approach, a method of statutory construction which emphasizes consistency with the operating principles of a statutory scheme

Wine Unwelcome: The Constitutional Contours of Wine Regulation

Wine retail shops face a dizzying labyrinth of state laws that severely restrict their ability to ship wine to out-of-state consumers. While the dormant Commerce Clause would normally strike down laws that impose restrictions on interstate commerce, wine (and alcoholic beverages) must contend with Section Two of the Twenty-first Amendment, which gives the states control over the importation and distribution of wine intending to be consumed within their borders. Court of Appeals cases interpreting Supreme Court precedent on the tension between the dormant Commerce Clause and Section Two have practically stripped the dormant Commerce Clause of any power. This Note critiques Court of Appeals decisions which have impermissibly relegated the dormant Commerce Clause to a mere afterthought. Additionally, this Note encourages courts to adopt a stronger, more onerous dormant Commerce Clause analysis – one that, in the end, is more faithful to the Supreme Court precedent they purport to obey. In doing so, courts can remove the shackles that stringent, discriminatory wine laws impose and mend an unjustifiably splintered market

Strategies for recognizing the intersection of vulnerability and complementary pathways to admission : lessons from Canada

Award date: 17 June 2022. Supervisor: Professor Claudius Wagemann, European University Institute; Professor Luigi Achilli, European University InstituteThis research aims to provide critical insights on the Canadian Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot’s (EMPP) approach to mitigating its co-creation of structural vulnerability. Migration scholars frequently point to Canadian policy mechanisms as models for international observers and government actors to learn from. Indeed, the newly implemented Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot takes promising steps toward developing the complementary pathways emphasised by the United Nations’ Global Compact on Refugees. Yet, without sufficient attention to structural vulnerability, the high level of discretion involved in complementary pathways risks creating ‘preferred’ categories of refugees. Based on interviews with Canadian government practitioners, refugee leaders, civil society representatives, academics, and legal experts, this article verifies the relevance of three key factors that shape institutional approaches to structural vulnerability in the design of complementary pathways. The findings illustrated herein yield insights pertinent to the design of all future economic-oriented complementary pathways for admission

The Use of Different Measurement Tools Including Quantitative Ultrasonography to Assess Tissue Properties of Breast Cancer-Related Stage 2 Lymphedema: An Observational Study

Breast cancer-related lymphedema is a growing concern for patients and clinicians as it is chronic and leads to debilitating physical and social effects. The condition characterized by a swelling in the arm and hand is accompanied by numerous changes including fibrosis, adipose tissue deposits and fluid accumulation that are not easily detectible in clinical practice. There is no standardized affordable method that is used to objectively detect and assess the underlying tissue changes. Patients are staged based on subjective palpation and circumferential measures. The aim of this project was to obtain a better understanding of the muscle, fat and skin changes that occur in the lymphedematous limb. A total of 20 women with unilateral stage 2 breast cancer related lymphedema as well as 20 healthy control women were recruited to participate. They underwent a DXA body composition scan, a Perometer arm volume determination as well as circumferential arm measurements along 6 pre-determined landmarks, and handgrip strength measures. Of the 20 patients, 7 were randomly selected to collect muscle, fat and skin strain values along the same 6 landmarks through ultrasound elastography. This study suggested that the onset of lymphedema may be localized in the mid-forearm spreading proximally and raised questions regarding simultaneous development of lymphedematous fluid in the unaffected arm. Furthermore, results showed that ultrasound elastography is a tool that can be used to assess elastic tissue properties in a safe and time-efficient manner and can provide details on the pathology, thus helping clinicians determine more detailed staging of the lymphedema and the best treatment alternative for their patients

Love, Language, and Linear Algebra: Linguistic Modeling of Personality and Mate Preference

This study utilized Latent Semantic Analysis to determine whether similarities in personality predicted similarities in responses to a romantic writing prompt (Landauer & Dumais, 1997). From participants’ writing samples, we calculated thematic cosines (a measure of relatedness) between each male and female participant. Participants also completed the Big Five Personality Questionnaire Short Form (Morizet, 2014). Extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were related to cosines, which suggested small-medium relationships from personality traits to written responses. This relationship was consistent with previous studies; therefore, Latent Semantic Analysis may be useful in quantifying mate preference, especially when alongside traditional survey methods. We conclude with a discussion of the compatibility of ordinal measures (survey data) and continuous measures in examining complex phenomena in the Behavioral Sciences

Epidemiology of the Antibiotic Resistance of Helicobacter pylori

BACKGROUND: The rate of Helicobacter pylori resistance to antibiotics determines the cure rate of treatment regimens containing such antibiotics. AIMS: To review the literature to determine the rates of H pylori resistance to metronidazole and clarithromycin in Canada, and whether these rates vary in different regions of Canada