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Criminalizing Difference: An Intersectional Analysis of Disability in the Criminal Justice System
No full textThis research addresses the central question: How do individuals with disabilities intersect with the criminal justice system, and what systemic factors contribute to their overrepresentation and victimization? Despite over 61 million Americans having disabilities, there exists a significant gap in comprehensive scholarship examining disability-criminal justice intersections, particularly regarding how people with intellectual and developmental disabilities experience unique vulnerabilities as both offenders and victims. This study contributes to disability studies and criminology by providing a comprehensive intersectional analysis examining how disability compounds with race and gender to create compounded marginalization. This study conducted a comprehensive literature review, analyzing government statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Crime Victimization Survey, alongside peer-reviewed research, to examine prevalence rates, victimization patterns, police interactions, and systemic barriers. The methodology involved synthesizing quantitative data on incarceration and victimization rates, examining historical developments from deinstitutionalization through contemporary practices, and identifying pipeline mechanisms that funnel individuals with disabilities into criminal justice involvement. Findings reveal that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are dramatically overrepresented in correctional facilities, with 20% in state prisons and 31% in county jails compared to 1% in the general population. They face significantly higher victimization rates, comprising one-third to one-half of police violence fatalities, and experience intersectional vulnerabilities, with 55% of Black men with disabilities arrested by age 28. The research concludes that systemic issues, rather than individual deficits, drive these intersections, supporting the social model of disability and demonstrating the urgent need for policy reform and improved community supports
Real-Time Production of High-Resolution, Gap-Free, 3-Hourly AOD over South Korea: A Machine Learning Approach Using Model Forecasts, Satellite Products, and Air Quality Data
No full textAerosol optical depth (AOD) is essential for air quality monitoring and climate research. However, satellite-based retrievals suffer from cloud-related data gaps, and reanalysis products are limited by coarse spatial resolution and substantial production latency. This study develops a real-time, gap-free, high-resolution (1.5 km) AOD retrieval system for South Korea. The system integrates Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) forecasts, high-resolution meteorological fields, and ground-based air quality observations within a machine learning framework. Three models with varying training periods were systematically evaluated using cross-validation and independent validation with 2024 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data. The optimal model, trained on 2015–2023 data, achieved a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.075 and a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.841 during the 2024 independent validation, significantly outperforming the original CAMS forecast. The system demonstrated robust and consistent performance across varying land cover types, seasons, and AOD conditions, from clean to highly polluted. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis confirmed that the product successfully captures physically meaningful spatiotemporal patterns, including transboundary pollution transport, regional emission gradients, and topographic effects. Providing real-time, gap-free, 3-hourly daytime AOD, the proposed model overcomes the limitations of cloud-induced gaps in satellite data and the latency and coarseness of reanalysis products. This enables robust operational monitoring and aerosol research across the Korean Peninsula
Free Probability Theory Over the Scaled Hyperbolic Numbers
No full textIn this paper, we introduce a notion of free probability over the scaled hyperbolic numbers. Scaled hypercomplex numbers {Dt} t∈R are constructed as sub-structures of scaled hypercomplex numbers {Ht} t∈R under the scales (or, the moments) of the set R of real numbers.We show that if t \u3c 0, then the classical free probability theory covers our free probability on {Dt} t\u3c 0; if t \u3e 0, then our free probability on {Dt} t\u3e0 is represented by the free probability over the classical hyperbolic numbers D = D1; and if t = 0, then the free probability on D0 is actually over the dual numbers D = D0. Since the usual free probability theory is over C, we here concentrate on establishing our free probability theory on D, or that on D. Our approaches are motivated by the Speicher’s combinatorial free probability. As applications, the Dt-free-probabilistic versions of semicircular elements and circular elements are considered
Temporal and Generational Changes in Depression Among Young American Adults
No full textThe prevalence of depression among young American adults has risen significantly over the past two decades, but the mechanisms that underlie the population-level changes in depressive symptoms severity remain unclear. We used data from the 2005–2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and hierarchical age–period–cohort (HAPC) analysis to examine developmental (i.e., age), life stage (i.e., period), and generational (i.e., cohort) distribution of depressive symptoms among American adults aged 20–30 years old over an 18-year period. Our model results indicate that the probability of either mild, moderate, or severe depression increased among young adult females and males between 2005 and 2023 due to a positive age, period, and cohort effect. Specifically, when we consider the historical context (i.e., period-specific changes) and the generational shift (i.e., birth cohort membership), the youngest women and men have the highest probability of either mild or moderate depression, but the probability of severe depression increases among the individuals of both sexes with each consecutive year of age. Policy makers must develop population-level depression prevention strategies that focus on age and sex differences in illness symptoms severity
Two-year Follow-up of Gait and Postural Control Following Initiation of Recombinant Human Tripeptidyl Intracerebroventricular Enzyme Replacement Therapy in Two Atypical CLN2 Patients
Get PDFNeuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2 (CLN2) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorder leading to premature mortality. Ambulatory CLN2 patients typically receive standard of care treatment through biweekly intracerebroventricular (ICV) enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) involving recombinant human tripeptidyl peptidase 1, known as cerliponase alfa (Brineura®, Biomarin Pharmaceuticals). This study longitudinally assessed the impact of ICV cerliponase alfa ERT on gait, and postural control across a two-year span in two siblings diagnosed with atypical CLN2 disease. Both participants, ID01 (18 years and 8 months old at enrollment) and ID02 (13 years and 3 months old at enrollment), exhibited symptomatic characteristics which were studied longitudinally over three years. Their evaluations assessed postural sway variability, potential for slips and trips, gait metrics, sit-to-stand durations, scores from the sensory organization test (SOT), and gross motor function measure (GMFM) scores. Findings indicated a decline in postural complexity and stability in the medial-lateral (ML) axis, a reduction in toe clearance, and an augmented risk of stumbling for the participants. Over the two-year period of ERT, both siblings exhibited a progressive decline in walking velocity, characterized by reductions in step length and prolonged gait cycle time. The elder sibling demonstrated a notable increase in double support duration, indicative of heightened reliance on proprioceptive input to maintain stability during ambulation. Additionally, sit-to-stand times lengthened for siblings, further reflecting declines in motor function. Despite these challenges, SOT scores showed improvement after two years of ERT, suggesting some preservation of sensory integration. These findings in SOT scores indicate that cerliponase alfa treatment in patients with atypical CLN2 disease may confer benefits in postural stability, lower extremity strength, and ankle stiffness. However, declines in more complex motor functions, including sit-to-stand performance and postural complexity, persist, underscoring the progressive nature of the disease despite ongoing therapeutic intervention
“These Are not Ordinary Criminals!” The First War Crimes Trial at the People\u27s Tribunal and Its Implications in Post-Holocaust Romania
Get PDFThis article examines the neglected war crimes trials of Holocaust perpetrators that took place at the People\u27s Tribunal in early postwar Romania, focusing especially on the first trial (the “Macici group”). The article shows that in spite of the political interferences by the new pro-communist regime and the USSR, the Macici group trial in particular, and the first war crimes trials in general, were not Stalinist show trials or fake trials and they sentenced real war criminals and accurately captured Romania\u27s participation in the Holocaust. Unlike the Antonescu group trial – that indicted the former pro-Nazi dictator and his closest collaborators – the first war crimes trial was not a typical political trial. In general, it respected the rule of law of the era. Resembling the cases of other trials of Nazi perpetrators and collaborators in postwar Europe, the Romanian perpetrators invoked superior orders as their main line of defense. In spite of the public perception and the communist regime\u27s propaganda, the primary sources show that the People\u27s Tribunal proved rather lenient and inefficient. Additionally, these trials had an important political-social role in postwar Romania and helped the communist regime discredit political adversaries, purge the judiciary, gain legitimacy, and increase its control of local society
TDP43 Autoregulation Gives Rise to Dominant Negative Isoforms That are Tightly Controlled by Transcriptional and Post-translational Mechanisms
Get PDFThe nuclear RNA-binding protein TDP43 is integrally involved in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Previous studies uncovered N-terminal TDP43 isoforms that are predominantly cytosolic in localization, prone to aggregation, and enriched in susceptible spinal motor neurons. In healthy cells, however, these shortened (s)TDP43 isoforms are difficult to detect in comparison to full-length (fl)TDP43, raising questions regarding their origin and selective regulation. Here, we show that sTDP43 is created as a by-product of TDP43 autoregulation and cleared by nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD). sTDP43-encoding transcripts that escape NMD are rapidly degraded post-translationally via the proteasome and macroautophagy. Circumventing these regulatory mechanisms by overexpressing sTDP43 results in neurodegeneration via N-terminal oligomerization and impairment of flTDP43 splicing activity, in addition to RNA-binding-dependent gain-of-function toxicity. Collectively, these studies highlight endogenous mechanisms that tightly regulate sTDP43 expression and underscore the consequences of aberrant sTDP43 accumulation in disease
Providential Rescuers or Collaborationist Traitors? Depictions of Romania’s Jewish Center (Centrala Evreilor) and Its Leaders in Jewish Diaries, 1942-1944
Get PDFDuring the Second World War, Nazi authorities appointed \u27Jewish Councils\u27 (Judenräte) to help with the administration of the non- ghettoized and ghettoized Jewish communities in regions occupied by Germany or in the German sphere of influence. Ghettoization was envisaged as an intermediary (and convenient) stage before the implementation of a \u27final solution\u27 to the so-called Jewish Question. During and especially after the war, many Jews criticized members of the Judenräte, the ghetto police, and prisoner functionaries as Nazi collaborators and traitors. After the defeat of Nazism, some of the surviving “Jewish Council” members were attacked, marginalized, or prosecuted for their wartime conduct in criminal and/or honor courts.1 Busy with the work of reconstruction, postwar societies across Europe and Israel celebrated the heroic models of human behavior under Nazi rule embodied by partisans, ghetto fighters, and other armed resistors. Consequently, little attention was paid to the diversity of the aims and positions of Jewish functionaries during the controversial cooperation-collaboration of \u27Jewish Councils\u27 with German occupation authorities.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/history_books/1049/thumbnail.jp
Digital Inequalities and U.S. Undergraduate Outcomes Over the First Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic necessitated major and rapid changes to undergraduate student learning conditions, but the longer-term consequences of those changes have yet to be fully understood. We assess how digital inequality—defined as challenges in accessing or maintaining a broadband internet connection and functional digital devices—affected undergraduates’ advancement toward on-time graduation over the first two years of the pandemic (2020-2022). We utilize survey data from a representative sample of 1,106 undergraduates at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, a public, 4-year university located in New Jersey, USA. Respondents were undergraduates who had been enrolled in full-time student status throughout the first two years of the pandemic. We examine how digital inequality and other sociodemographic factors affected their persistence in full-time student status toward on-time graduation using structural equation modeling. Results show that students with inadequate or inconsistent internet and digital devices developed less remote learning proficiency than their better-connected peers. They were more likely to report having taken incomplete grades in specific courses and/or to have extended their time to graduation. We discuss the implications of these findings for developing digital components to campus emergency planning and for efforts to ensure more equitable learning experiences for undergraduate students in non-emergency periods in the aftermath of the pandemic
Variation in Thermal Tolerance Plasticity and the Costs of Heat Exposure in the Estuarine Sea Hare, \u3cem\u3ePhyllaplysia taylori\u3c/em\u3e
Get PDFClimate change is increasing average temperatures and the frequency and intensity of thermal extremes in coastal marine environments. Organisms in coastal marine habitats are accustomed to environmental fluctuations and possess physiological plasticity that may be advantageous in response to increased occurrence of extremes. To examine whether such plasticity is locally adapted to environmental conditions, we investigated the relationship between genetic diversity and thermal tolerance plasticity in 11 populations of the direct-developing intertidal sea hare, Phyllaplysia taylori, on the western coast of the United States. Using whole-organism metrics of muscle function and metabolic rate and a ddRADseq genomic approach, we were unable to identify correlations between heat tolerance and underlying genetics on a population or individual level. P. taylori from all locations consistently exhibited critical thermal maxima (CTmax) above habitat temperatures (CTmax ranged from 24 to 35°C, average = 30.1 ± 0.2°C; average habitat temperature across habitats ranged from 12 to 20°C, average = 17 ± 2.7°C). We found little evidence for genetic distinctions between populations and high overall genetic diversity, suggesting more gene flow across long distances than was expected from their direct development life history strategy. The breadth of acclimation capacity we observed (11°C) was substantially wider than that reported for other poikilothermic taxa in the literature and did not follow a latitudinal cline. Our findings suggest that high plasticity of thermal tolerance exists across all populations and genetic panmixia is occurring despite life history limitations; thus, heat tolerance traits may not be under positive selection in P. taylori