Lower Courts and Constitutional Comparativism

The issue of constitutional comparativism has been a topic of significant commentary in recent years. However, there is one aspect of this subject that has been almost completely ignored by scholars: the reception, or lack thereof, of constitutional comparativism by state and lower federal courts. While the Supreme Court\u27s enthusiasm for constitutional comparativism has waxed and now waned, lower state and federal courts have remained resolutely agnostic about this new movement. This is of tremendous practical significance because over ninety-nine percent of all cases are resolved by lower state and federal courts. Accordingly, if the lower courts eschew constitutional comparativism, then this constitutes the rejection of a comparative interpretive methodology in virtually all cases. This article examines this issue in consideration of the related opinions of two leading constitutional law scholars, David Fontana (who favors the use of comparative material in lower courts) and Vicki Jackson (who opposes it)

A Survey and Evaluation of High Energy Liquid Chemical Propulsion Systems

This report presents the results of a study to develop a procedure for evaluating liquid propellants in order (a) to select the most appropriate propellant (from among those under development) for each of several applications on each of the various missions in the NASA program, or (b) to select new propellants (from among those being proposed) for initiation or continuation of research and development. The analysis begins with a consideration of requirements--either for the specific application or for the various classes of applications. The known characteristics of the propellant or propellants to be evaluated are then put into a convenient form for evaluation. The next step is to determine whether or not there are requirements that simply cannot be met by the propellant. If the propellant passes this test, an optimum vehicle configuration using the propellant (and meeting all requirements) is estimated. (The configuration should be optimized with respect to the total resource consumption for all aspects of the mission, including R&D, production, logistics, and operation.) The total resource consumption for this configuration is then compared with that for similar configurations using other propellants (and meeting all requirements equally well). If all factors have been properly taken into account, this comparison of resource consumption will complete the evaluation. Such an evaluation may be performed several times, in increasing detail and with correspondingly increasing accuracy, as an R&D program proceeds, and the accuracy of the data as well as the cost of the next step in the program increase. The procedure is superior to those in common use in that it minimizes both the amount of analytical work and the number of points at which subjective value judgments are made

Time-resolved optical gating based on dispersive propagation: a new method to characterize optical pulses

We introduce the technique of time-resolved optical gating (TROG) based on dispersive propagation (DP), a new noninterferometric method for characterizing ultrashort optical pulses in amplitude and phase without the need for a short optical gating pulse. TROG is similar to frequency-resolved optical gating except that the role of time and frequency is interchanged. For the DP-TROG geometry, we show that measurements of the autocorrelation trace of the pulse after propagation through a medium with variable dispersion together with a single measurement of its intensity spectrum contain sufficient information to reconstruct the pulse in amplitude and phase. Pulse reconstruction for this DP-TROG geometry works very well even for the case of a nonlinearly chirped double pulse. Compared with other methods, DP-TROG does not introduce an ambiguity in the direction of time for the pulse. Due to its simplicity and improved sensitivity, DP-TROG is expected to be useful in characterizing low-energy pulses

One-Sided Projections on C*-algebras

In [BEZ] the notion of a complete one-sided M-ideal for an operator space X was introduced as a generalization of Alfsen and Effros' notion of an M-ideal for a Banach space [AE72]. In particular, various equivalent formulations of complete one-sided M-projections were given. In this paper, some sharper equivalent formulations are given in the special situation that $X = \mathcal{A}$, a $C^*$-algebra (in which case the complete left M-projections are simply left multiplication on $\mathcal{A}$ by a fixed orthogonal projection in $\mathcal{A}$ or its multiplier algebra). The proof of the first equivalence makes use of a technique which is of interest in its own right--a way of ``solving'' multi-linear equations in von Neumann algebras. This technique is also applied to show that preduals of von Neumann algebras have no nontrivial complete one-sided M-ideals. In addition, we show that in a $C^*$-algebra, the intersection of finitely many complete one-sided M-summands need not be a complete one-sided M-summand, unlike the classical situation

Efficient evaluation of decoherence rates in complex Josephson circuits

A complete analysis of the decoherence properties of a Josephson junction qubit is presented. The qubit is of the flux type and consists of two large loops forming a gradiometer and one small loop, and three Josephson junctions. The contributions to relaxation (T_1) and dephasing (T_\phi) arising from two different control circuits, one coupled to the small loop and one coupled to a large loop, is computed. We use a complete, quantitative description of the inductances and capacitances of the circuit. Including two stray capacitances makes the quantum mechanical modeling of the system five dimensional. We develop a general Born-Oppenheimer approximation to reduce the effective dimensionality in the calculation to one. We explore T_1 and T_\phi along an optimal line in the space of applied fluxes; along this "S line" we see significant and rapidly varying contributions to the decoherence parameters, primarily from the circuit coupling to the large loop.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures; v2: minor revisio

Use of axonal projection patterns for the homologisation of cerebral nerves in Opisthobranchia, Mollusca and Gastropoda

Introduction: Gastropoda are guided by several sensory organs in the head region, referred to as cephalic sensory organs (CSOs). These CSOs are innervated by distinct nerves. This study proposes a unified terminology for the cerebral nerves and the categories of CSOs and then investigates the neuroanatomy and cellular innervation patterns of these cerebral nerves, in order to homologise them. The homologisation of the cerebral nerves in conjunction with other data, e.g. ontogenetic development or functional morphology, may then provide insights into the homology of the CSOs themselves. Results: Nickel-lysine axonal tracing (“backfilling”) was used to stain the somata projecting into specific nerves in representatives of opisthobranch Gastropoda. Tracing patterns revealed the occurrence, size and relative position of somata and their axons and enabled these somata to be mapped to specific cell clusters. Assignment of cells to clusters followed a conservative approach based primarily on relative location of the cells. Each of the four investigated cerebral nerves could be uniquely identified due to a characteristic set of soma clusters projecting into the respective nerves via their axonal pathways. Conclusions: As the described tracing patterns are highly conserved morphological characters, they can be used to homologise nerves within the investigated group of gastropods. The combination of adequate number of replicates and a comparative approach allows us to provide preliminary hypotheses on homologies for the cerebral nerves. Based on the hypotheses regarding cerebral nerve homology together with further data on ultrastructure and immunohistochemistry of CSOs published elsewhere, we can propose preliminary hypotheses regarding homology for the CSOs of the Opisthobranchia themselves

Provenance history of a Late Triassic-Jurassic Gondwana margin forearc basin, Murihiku Terrane, North Island, New Zealand: petrographic and geochemical constraints

The Murihiku Terrane in the North Island was a forearc basin adjacent to a volcanic arc along the eastern margin of Gondwana during the Mesozoic. The rocks that infill the basin are mainly volcaniclastic sandstones and mudstones, often turbiditic, with sparse shellbeds, rhyolitic tuffs, carbonaceous sandstones, plant beds, concretionary horizons, and rare thick granitoid-rich conglomerates. Petrographic studies of the rock fragments in the sandstones show that andesites are the dominant lithic type, but there is a wide range of other lithologies, including dacites, rhyolites, ignimbrites, granitoids, quartzofeldspathic mica schists, rare amphibolites, and reworked mudstones and sandstones. The sandstones are texturally and mineralogically immature and suggest deposition relatively close to a source of high relief, undergoing physical rather than chemical weathering in cool- to cold-temperate conditions. Geochemical analyses of 67 whole-rock volcaniclastic sandstones and siltstones indicate that they were derived from an active and dissected volcanic arc in a convergent margin setting built upon relatively thin continental crust. Modal petrographic data and whole-rock geochemistry both confirm that there were systematic variations with time in the composition of clastic material being supplied to the basin. From the Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic, there was a decrease in silicic volcanic material, plutonics, and metamorphics, and an increase in the supply of andesitic detritus. This was followed in the Late Jurassic by a broader range of volcanic detritus, varying from basaltic andesite to rhyolite, which may have been caused by progressive extension of the volcanic arc and thinning of the crust, a precursor to the breakup of Gondwana in the Early-Middle Cretaceous. Comparison with the Southland segment of the Murihiku Terrane in the South Island suggests that there were significant along-arc source variations, with relatively less silicic but greater andesitic and continental crust contributions in the North Island than in Southland. This may be analogous to the modern Taupo-Kermadec arc where there is a south-north along-arc transition from a continental to an oceanic arc

A survey of elementary school banking in New England

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit