Oklahoma City University

About: Oklahoma City University is a education organization based out in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Supreme court & Comparative law. The organization has 240 authors who have published 421 publications receiving 6923 citations.

Free Speech, Occupational Speech, and Psychotherapy

Abstract: Psychotherapy, said one of its earliest clients, Anna O, is a “talking cure.” It banishes or lessens mental illness and suffering not with medicine or surgery, but with words. This aspect of psychotherapy raises an interesting set of First Amendment questions. Is verbal communication between a therapist and her client protected by the First Amendment even though it is part of a healing process, or does government have the same authority to restrict this speech-based healing method as it does to restrict the use of pharmaceuticals or medical equipment? Must it show that therapists’ statements about human psychology are false or harmful to the client? Or may it constitutionally bar even truthful therapist-client communications that raise little risk of harm to the client’s physical or mental health, on the grounds that such verbal treatments promote values or behaviors at odds with those of the profession or of the larger society?These questions are challenging for First Amendment law largely because talk therapy is the kind of activity that straddles an important boundary line in First Amendment law and theory. As the Supreme Court noted in Lawrence v. Texas, the Constitution assumes that there will be certain “spaces” where “the State” is not a “dominant presence” and where sovereignty belongs to each individual, not those who exercise collective political power. Among such spaces is the First Amendment-secured realm of “thought, belief, [and] expression.” 539 U.S. 558, 562 (2003). This constitutional line drawn by the Court in Lawrence mirrors that described by John Locke in A Letter Concerning Toleration: Locke argued that while state power extends to “civil interests” such as protection of “life, liberty, health” and other “outward” concerns, it does not extend to the “care of the soul,” which remains under the control of the individual himself. The challenge presented by psychotherapy, I argue in this article, is that it falls partly within and partly outside this constitutional shielded sphere of mental and expressive autonomy. On the one hand, if there is any activity that belongs in the realm of constitutionally protected “thought, belief, [and] expression” it the self-exploration that individuals engage in as they try to understand their inner lives – whether it occurs in a private meditation or diary entry, or in a psychotherapist’s office. When we use talk therapy, in part, to shape (or reshape) our conception of the good, or the perspective we should take on particular life events, the state should not be permitted to forcibly substitute its values for ours. On the other hand, while government is not supposed to interfere with our choices about what to say or think, or about what values to hold, it is charged with protecting our health and safety, and, in psychotherapy, such health and safety interests are very often at stake – for example, when individuals rely on therapists to make accurate diagnoses of possible mental illnesses (or rule them out), and suggest the proper treatment such conditions. The central question about talk therapy’s First Amendment status then is what kind of First Amendment regime can best reconcile these two conflicting demands – to keep government interference out of the way we understand and shape our mental life through conversation, while letting it into medical practices with significant stakes for our mental health. How, in other words, can First Amendment law simultaneously allow the state to regulate the aspects of psychotherapy that are its business, while keeping it out of those aspects that are in the sphere of individual autonomy? This is also a question that is key to the debate about the First Amendment status of other “occupational speech” that occurs when we seek verbal guidance from other experts.

The command economy as an adaptive structure

Abstract: We open with a discussion of the Parsonian solution to the ‘problem of order’ in human societies, emphasising the functional significance of ‘adaptive structures’ in that solution. Adaptive structu...

Verb-subject word order in Albanian English: Verb-subject word order in Albanian English

Abstract: This paper examines some verb–subject constructions which were found in a number of articles in English published in Albanian newspapers and magazines. These inverse-order constructions are in contrast with the fixed subject–verb word order of English. Based on (the preverbal) sentence-initial element, three main groups of verb–subject constructions have been identified in the English texts of the Albanian periodicals: the ones preceded by (a) a topicalized adverbial, prepositional object, or subject complement, (b) the introductory it, and (c) the dummy subject there. The data show that these verb–subject constructions are used to render the discourse function of focus, i.e. new information in discourse. The presence of these constructions in Albanian English provides support for the complementary hypothesis on languages in contact, which highlights the competing influences of both the substrate (L1) and the superstrate (L2) languages. It is suggested that the frequent use of verb–subject word order of Albanian to render focus and the saliency of it and there constructions in English may have contributed to the emergence of these types of construction in Albanian English.

Human Rights and Taxation of Menstrual Hygiene Products in an Unequal World

Abstract: This book chapter, written in connection with the New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice Conference on "Human Rights and Tax in an Unequal World," argues that taxation, gender, and human rights are all linked. The authors use the lens of the "tampon tax" – sales, VAT and similar taxes imposed on menstrual hygiene products – to explain the relationship between and among affordable menstrual hygiene products and the human rights to be free from discrimination, to sanitation, to education, to dignity, and to work. The chapter refers to examples from India and Kenya to illustrate the importance of access to both affordable menstrual hygiene products and private, hygienic sanitation facilities. Some state and local governments in the United States have taken actions to facilitate access to menstrual hygiene products, including elimination of all sales taxes and the provision of free products in public schools, jails and homeless shelters. In the United States, private plaintiffs have also brought class action law suits challenging the sales tax on menstrual hygiene products. Although no similar case has come before the European Court of Human Rights or the European Court of Justice, both of those courts have recognized the links among gender, taxation, and human rights. Several European cases might be helpful precedents for a future legal challenge. Public attention to this issue remains important, and the tampon tax is part of much needed gender-focused tax reform.

Modeling Yield of Self-Healing Carbon Nanotubes/Silicon-Nanowire FET-based Nanoarray

Abstract: This paper presents a study on the yield of a carbon-nanotube/nanowire-based nanoarray with a focus on a novel property, namely, the self-healing capability, and its impact on the yield improvement. Chemical and fabrication process of nanotube/nanowires for the self-healing capability has been exercised along with the utilization of redundancy. However, no work has adequately addressed the yield issues with synergistic effect of the defect/failure-tolerance by redundancy and self-healing taken into proper account. Also, this work effectively and efficiently addresses the architectural impact on the yield along with the yield improvement processes. Based on the proposed yield model, a set of parametric simulation results is presented to demonstrate the synergistic impact of the conventional redundancy-based defect/failure-tolerance and the self-healing capability on the yield in the context of the unique architecture of the carbon-nanotube/nanowire-based nanoarray.