Discrimination Reversal Research Articles

The longitudinal behavioral effects of acute exposure to galactic cosmic radiation in female C57BL/6J mice: Implications for deep space missions, female crews, and potential antioxidant countermeasures.

Galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) is an unavoidable risk to astronauts that may affect mission success. Male rodents exposed to 33-beam-GCR (33-GCR) show short-term cognitive deficits but reports on female rodents and long-term assessment are lacking. We asked: What are the longitudinal behavioral effects of 33-GCR on female mice? Also, can an antioxidant/anti-inflammatory compound (CDDO-EA) mitigate the impact of 33-GCR? Mature (6-month-old) C57BL/6J female mice received CDDO-EA (400 μg/g of food) or a control diet (vehicle, Veh) for 5 days and Sham-irradiation (IRR) or whole-body 33-GCR (0.75Gy) on the 4th day. Three-months post-IRR, mice underwent two touchscreen-platform tests: (1) location discrimination reversal (tests behavior pattern separation and cognitive flexibility, abilities reliant on the dentate gyrus) and (2) stimulus-response learning/extinction. Mice then underwent arena-based behavior tests (e.g. open field, 3-chamber social interaction). At the experiment's end (14.25-month post-IRR), an index relevant to neurogenesis was quantified (doublecortin-immunoreactive [DCX+] dentate gyrus immature neurons). Female mice exposed to Veh/Sham vs. Veh/33-GCR had similar pattern separation (% correct to 1st reversal). There were two effects of diet: CDDO-EA/Sham and CDDO-EA/33-GCR mice had better pattern separation vs. their respective control groups (Veh/Sham, Veh/33-GCR), and CDDO-EA/33-GCR mice had better cognitive flexibility (reversal number) vs. Veh/33-GCR mice. One radiation effect/CDDO-EA countereffect also emerged: Veh/33-GCR mice had slower stimulus-response learning (days to completion) vs. all other groups, including CDDO-EA/33-GCR mice. In general, all mice showed normal anxiety-like behavior, exploration, and habituation to novel environments. There was also a change relevant to neurogenesis: Veh/33-GCR mice had fewer DCX+ dentate gyrus immature neurons vs. Veh/Sham mice. Our study implies space radiation is a risk to a female crew's longitudinal mission-relevant cognitive processes and CDDO-EA is a potential dietary countermeasure for space-radiation CNS risks.

Learning competence of the temperate facultative cleaner wrasse Thalassoma pavo (Labridae).

Cleaner fishes remove parasites from other fishes called "clients," thereby contributing to a healthier ecosystem. Although the behavior and learning abilities of dedicated and tropical cleaner fishes have been broadly studied, a limited number of studies investigated the behavior of facultative and temperate cleaner fishes and, to the best of our knowledge, none focused on their cognitive abilities. Here, we tested the learning abilities of a species of temperate facultative cleaner, the ornate wrasse Thalassoma pavo in laboratory conditions, based on two problems. These two problems, or tasks, are relevant in two different contexts: the first one, deemed as mutualistically relevant, the cue-based discrimination task, and the second one, the spatial-based discrimination task, which is relevant in a non-cleaning context, when fish navigate through their environment to find food and return to their territories. We found that T. pavo individuals were able to solve these two tasks but excelled at the spatial task rather than with the cue discrimination. The same individuals were also challenged to learn the reverse protocol of these tasks and were again most successful in learning the reverse spatial discrimination problem, but not the cue. Contrary to the dedicated cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus, this temperate facultative cleaner wrasse is slower to learn mutualistic relevant problems but competent in solving spatially derived problems. This may be due to the specific demands of their socio-ecological environment, with facultative cleaners having a greater component of non-mutualistic skills (spatial component), which prepares them to search for alternative food sources if necessary (e.g., feeding on the substrate) or even to expand territories more easily and less prepared to deal with mutualistic exchanges compared to dedicated cleaners that specialize to become increasingly socially competent.

Cognitive performance as a behavioral phenotype associated with cocaine self-administration in female and male socially housed monkeys

Considerable research has suggested that certain cognitive domains may contribute to cocaine misuse. However, there are gaps in the literature regarding whether cognitive performance before drug exposure predicts susceptibility to cocaine self-administration and how cognitive performance relates to future cocaine intake. Thus, the present study aimed to examine cognitive performance, as measured using automated CANTAB cognitive battery, prior to and following acquisition of cocaine self-administration under a concurrent drug vs. food choice procedure in female and male socially housed cynomolgus macaques. The cognitive battery consisted of measures of associative learning (stimulus and compound discrimination tasks), behavioral flexibility (intradimensional and extradimensional tasks), and behavioral inhibition (stimulus discrimination reversal, SDR, and extra-dimensional reversal tasks). After assessing cognitive performance, monkeys were trained to self-administer cocaine (saline, 0.01–0.1 mg/kg/injection) under a concurrent cocaine vs. food schedule of reinforcement. After a history of cocaine self-administration across 3-4 years, the cognitive battery was re-assessed and compared with sensitivity to cocaine reinforcement. Results showed drug-naïve monkeys that were less accurate on the SDR task, measuring behavioral inhibition, were more sensitive to cocaine reinforcement under the concurrent cocaine vs. food choice procedure. Furthermore, following chronic cocaine self-administration, cocaine intake was a negative predictor of accuracy on the SDR behavioral inhibition task. After cocaine maintenance, monkeys with higher cocaine intakes required more trials to complete the SDR behavioral inhibition task and made more incorrect responses during these trials. No sex or social rank differences were noted. Overall, these findings suggest that cognitive performance may influence vulnerability to cocaine misuse. Also, chronic cocaine may decrease levels of behavioral inhibition as measured via the SDR task in both females and males.

Leveraging Tokenism or “Pulling Up the Ladder”: Phenomenology of Black Faculty/Student Experiences at HWCUs

ABSTRACT The topic of affirmative action has been a subject of intense debate, with both proponents and opponents offering compelling arguments. Justice Clarence Thomas, an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, has consistently expressed strong reservations about affirmative-action policies, viewing them as a form of reverse discrimination that may “hinder the principles of meritocracy and equal treatment under the law.” However, it is crucial to examine the personalized experiences and consider the nuances, such as underrepresentation and microaggressions, that surround affirmative action. This study utilizes a symbolic interactionist and phenomenological approach that pulls from the individualized/collective experiences of Black students/faculty at historically White colleges and universities (HWCUs) and examines their sociocultural experiences on campus. Findings from this study highlight the continuing discriminative practices and “peer to peer” interactions that Black students/faculty must navigate at HWCUs and the strategies utilized to circumvent mistreatment and institutional adversities. Data from this study provide more context for the ongoing conversation pertaining to affirmative action, “peer to peer,” and institutional discrimination that Black students and faculty experience at HWCUs. In this article, I examine the concept of “leveraging tokenism,” a strategy that Black students and faculty utilize to circumvent underrepresentation and racial microaggressions.

Increasing accessibility in language education – the SCALED project

This paper aims to familiarise the readers with the motivations and pedagogical principles behind the outcomes of the ‘SCALED – Supporting Content and Language Learning Across Diversity’ project and with the outcomes themselves. These include an open online course for initial teacher training and continuing professional development of language teachers, accompanied by a methodological guide and a report on good practices in inclusive language education and inclusive foreign language teacher training. The SCALED project addresses the needs of both the academic and school communities, aiding educa- tors in proactively eliminating existing and potential barriers to language learning. It incorporates empirically validated models and approaches, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the integration of indi- vidual accommodations and adjustments in learning and assessment conditions. The project seeks to advance fairness and counter discrimination and marginalization by fostering inclusive practices in teacher training and language education via enhanced accessibility. Accessible language learning environments can empower individuals with diverse needs, including special educational needs, and enable them to unleash their abilities and potential. Accessibility constitutes a leading theme that transpires in all SCALED course modules and materials, from accessible instruction and assessment, through accessible and usable digital language materials (docu- ments and multimedia) and online learning platforms to accessible and supportive language learning environ- ments (e.g. assistive technology) for learners with special educational needs resulting from dyslexia, ADHD, autism, blindness and visual impairments, and diverse cultural and language backgrounds.

Gestational choline supplementation ameliorates T-maze reversal learning deficits induced by first trimester binge alcohol exposure in weanling lambs

In rodent models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), cognitive deficits are implicated in impaired T-maze spatial reversal learning. Rat studies have indicated supplemental administration of choline during the developmental period of alcohol exposure can ameliorate spatial reversal deficits. This study tested whether beneficial effects of prenatal choline supplementation could be confirmed in a sheep model of binge exposure in the first trimester equivalent. Two hypotheses were tested: 1) alcohol exposure would produce deficits in reversal of a T-maze position discrimination; and 2) gestational dietary supplementation of choline would ameliorate those deficits. Mated ewes were assigned to one of seven groups—a normal control (NC) group or one of six infusion treatment groups: saline control (SC; isotonic saline), saline control plus choline (SC-CH; isotonic saline plus choline, 10 mg/kg administered orally throughout each day of gestation), binge alcohol (BA; 1.75 g/kg alcohol per infusion day), binge alcohol plus choline (BA-CH; 1.75 g/kg/day alcohol plus choline), heavy binge alcohol (HBA; 2.5 g/kg/day alcohol), or heavy binge alcohol plus choline (HBA-CH; 2.5 g/kg/day alcohol plus choline). The alcohol infusions modeled a weekend binge drinking pattern over the first trimester-equivalent (gestational day 4-41). T-maze training began at 12 weeks of age, with daily sessions occurring 5 days/week. Lambs were given five days of habituation training, followed by five days of position discrimination training (3 trials per daily session, intertrial interval of 3 hours, reinforced side randomly assigned across subjects). Lambs were then given 10 days of training on the reversal task. There was no difference among groups during acquisition. Alcohol impaired reversal learning, and choline supplementation mitigated these deficits in the HBA-CH group. These results suggest that maternal dietary choline supplementation can ameliorate or prevent some impairments of executive function in a sheep model of FASD.

Reverse Discrimination: An Opportunity to Modernize and Improve Employment Discrimination Law

Reverse Discrimination: An Opportunity to Modernize and Improve Employment Discrimination Law

The Post-Racial Deception of the Roberts Court

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard/UNC (SFFA) is a post-racial deception unmoored from precedent and societal reality. SFFA deceives the polity and signals an all out assault on anti-discrimination law. To preserve its institutional legitimacy, the Roberts Court promotes doctrinal and conceptual distortions—post-racial deceptions of cognizable injuries advanced through reverse discrimination claims of white plaintiffs; racial proxy claims of discrimination proffered by Asian-Americans; and the fairness rationale of the Court’s circular post-racial edict that “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion discards the anti-subordination principle of the Fourteenth Amendment and replaces it with a post-racial anti-differentiation principle: “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” Expanding the circularity of Chief Justice Roberts’s post-racialism even further, Justice Thomas’s concurrence offers an ostensibly originalist reinterpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment that erases the race-conscious history of the Reconstruction Amendments and reframes it as the codification of the Declaration of Independence. Rejecting this post-racial deception, Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, in dissent, foreground the anti-subordination principle as the essential doctrinal core of the Fourteenth Amendment and offer a rebuke of the Court’s facile post-racialism with a comprehensive discussion of systemic racism, structural inequality, and the present-day effects of past discrimination. The Court’s post-racial constitutionalism is a post-racial deception which must be discredited and rejected if we are to ever achieve the multi-racial democracy promised by the Second Founding.

Theory of Reverse Discrimination and its Operationalization in the Legal System of Pakistan

Theory of Reverse Discrimination and its Operationalization in the Legal System of Pakistan

Eye understand: Physiological measures as novel predictors of adaptive learning in horses

Striatal dopamine is a neurotransmitter that marks reward and mediates reward learning. Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate (SEBR) reflects striatal dopamine activity and could offer a novel, proxy measure of learning performance. Additionally, arousal affects performance in a range of cognitive tasks, but there is less evidence for the relationship between baseline arousal and learning. This study investigated whether SEBR predicts learning performance in an equine model. Further, it investigated novel physiological predictors of learning performance (eye temperature and heart rate variability). Nineteen horses completed a two-choice discrimination reversal learning (RL) task. Performance was measured using a Performance Index. SEBR and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) were measured at rest (home stable) and during RL. Infrared Thermography of eye temperature (IRT) was measured immediately before and after RL. SEBR did not change in response to RL despite being thought to reflect striatal dopamine activity. HRV was higher during RL than at rest though was not statistically significant (p = 0.06). Additionally, eye temperature decreased significantly during trials (left eye: p = 0.002; right eye: p = 0.05). These results indicate lower arousal in response to training, possibly similar to a ‘flow state’ in humans. Results of a negative binomial GLM revealed that SEBR was not associated with performance, however, positive predictors of learning performance included resting HRV (p = 0.009), HRV during the task (p = 0.002), and left eye temperature change (p < 0.0001). The association between left eye temperature and learning performance is consistent with lateralised blood flow to the left-brain hemisphere (responsible for learning targeted responses) and thought to be the first observation of this phenomenon during learning. Lower arousal may facilitate left-hemisphere dominance, creating the cognitive space to respond adaptively in RL. Left hemispheric dominance controls parasympathetic activity, potentially explaining the interactions observed here. Results suggest arousal both in the home and training environment may have important impacts on learning.

Atypical responses of job candidates in chatbot job interviews and their possible triggers

Recruiters have observed increased verbal abuse and other non-standard behavior in chatbot job interviews. However, current knowledge about such behavior, which we term atypical responses, is limited. The purpose of this research is to explore and classify the atypical responses of job candidates and explain what triggers these atypical responses in two studies. Study 1 identified atypical candidate responses in chatbot job interviews by applying content analysis to transcripts of authentic job interviews (N = 6583). A multi-stage process classifies atypical responses into six categories: testing the chatbot's capabilities, verbal abuse, testing the chatbot's reactions, further conversation, sex offers, and reverse discrimination. Study 2 tested the triggers of atypical reactions in fictitious chatbot job interviews. Several triggers proved to induce atypical reactions, e.g., lower company attractiveness leads to testing of the chatbot's capabilities and reactions, and additional stress and negative well-being induce responses containing insults.

Affirmative Action: The Problem and the Solution

Affirmative action was created in the 1960s as a way to address the problem of discrimination and unfair treatment faced by under-represented groups. However, since the implementation of this policy, debates and controversies have always been one of the key issues that societies pay close attention to. Some argue that some of the most immediate problems that need to be addressed are that of reverse discrimination and the debate between meritocracy and equal opportunity, suggesting that focusing only on diversity may have undermined the principle of meritocracy, at the same time creating a new type of discrimination towards those with low socioeconomic status. Looking through the history and understanding the rationale and implementation of affirmative action, discover the impact these two problems have on education and employment, as well as try to seek potential changes to minimize the negative impact of affirmative action by looking into the possibilities of socioeconomic-based and holistic-based policies.

Enhancing ion mobility spectrometry performance through a programmable ion swarm shaping method based on Bradbury-Nielsen gates

The ion gate is a critical element in drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) as it directly influences the resolving power and sensitivity of the system. However, the conventional Bradbury-Nielsen gate (BNG) often leads to deformation of the ion swarm shape, resulting in reduced resolving power and significant discrimination effects. To address these limitations, we propose a novel method that incorporates a cutting phase following the gate opening. This approach effectively reduces trailing edge deformation, resulting in a maximum resolving power of over 100 and increased signal intensity. Additionally, this method maintains high resolving power even during longer gate opening times. Remarkably, this method not only significantly reduces the mobility discrimination effect but also enables the achievement of reverse discrimination by adjusting the duration of the cutting phase. Consequently, it demonstrates the potential to selectively amplify the peak height of target ions. Our method offers straightforward implementation across all IMS systems utilizing the BNG, thereby significantly improving system performance.

The impact of field of study on the gender wage gap: evidence from the first job offer out of college

ABSTRACT Using a sample of recently graduated college students from South Korea, we estimate the effects of the between-majors and within-major gender wage gap. We use a recentered influence function to decompose the wage differential between majors and find that women face a higher rate of return to the field of study. In addition, women tend to select their program of study with the intention of optimizing their earnings potential relative to men. In calculating the within-major gender wage gap, we control for selectivity into a field of study extending the current methodology to a multinomial logit setting. We test our model using a sample of new graduates from South Korea. We consider six college majors. The within-major wage differential ranged from 8.2% for natural science graduates to 17% for social science graduates. After selection is accounted for, the gender wage gap becomes smaller in humanities graduates but increases in natural science and medicine graduates. Decomposing the selection correction term into explained and unexplained factors eliminates discrimination in medicine and points to reverse discrimination in natural science.

Ellen Messer-Davidow. The Making of Reverse Discrimination: How DeFunis and Bakke Bleached Racism from Equal Protection.

Ellen Messer-Davidow. <i>The Making of Reverse Discrimination: How DeFunis and Bakke Bleached Racism from Equal Protection</i>.

Loss of Cognitive Flexibility Practice Effects in Female Rats Exposed to Simulated Space Radiation.

During the planned missions to Mars, astronauts will be faced with many potential health hazards including prolonged exposure to space radiation. Ground-based studies have shown that exposure to space radiation impairs the performance of male rats in cognitive flexibility tasks which involve processes that are essential to rapidly and efficiently adapting to different situations. However, there is presently a paucity of information on the effects of space radiation on cognitive flexibility in female rodents. This study has determined the impact that exposure to a low (10 cGy) dose of ions from the simplified 5-ion galactic cosmic ray simulation [https://www.bnl.gov/nsrl/userguide/SimGCRSim.php (07/2023)] (GCRSim) beam or 250 MeV/n 4He ions has on the ability of female Wistar rats to perform in constrained [attentional set shifting (ATSET)] and unconstrained cognitive flexibility (UCFlex) tasks. Female rats exposed to GCRSim exhibited multiple decrements in ATSET performance. Firstly, GCRSim exposure impaired performance in the compound discrimination (CD) stage of the ATSET task. While the ability of rats to identify the rewarded cue was not compromised, the time the rats required to do so significantly increased. Secondly, both 4He and GCRSim exposure reduced the ability of rats to reach criterion in the compound discrimination reversal (CDR) stage. Approximately 20% of the irradiated rats were unable to complete the CDR task; furthermore, the irradiated rats that did reach criterion took more attempts to do so than did the sham-treated animals. Radiation exposure also altered the magnitude and/or nature of practice effects. A comparison of performance metrics from the pre-screen and post-exposure ATSET task revealed that while the sham-treated rats completed the post-exposure CD stage of the ATSET task in 30% less time than for completion of the pre-screen ATSET task, the irradiated rats took 30-50% longer to do so. Similarly, while sham-treated rats completed the CDR stage in ∼10% fewer attempts in the post-exposure task compared to the pre-screen task, in contrast, the 4He- and GCRSim-exposed cohorts took more (∼2-fold) attempts to reach criterion in the post-exposure task than in the pre-screen task. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that female rats are susceptible to radiation-induced loss of performance in the constrained ATSET cognitive flexibility task. Moreover, exposure to radiation leads to multiple performance decrements, including loss of practice effects, an increase in anterograde interference and reduced ability or unwillingness to switch attention. Should similar effects occur in humans, astronauts may have a compromised ability to perform complex tasks.

Causing or Preventing (Reverse) Discrimination When Transposing EU Free-Movement Rules in the European Economic Area: A First Categorization of the Approaches Adopted by National Legislators

Causing or Preventing (Reverse) Discrimination When Transposing EU Free-Movement Rules in the European Economic Area: A First Categorization of the Approaches Adopted by National Legislators

Critical race pedagogy at a crossroads: accusations of reverse discrimination against international non-White faculty in the Trump era and beyond

ABSTRACT The authors aim to illustrate the vernacular notion of reverse discrimination in higher education in the Trump era and beyond. While mapping out how a Whiteness affect morphs from White fragility to victimhood, the study uses Critical Race Theory to examine the discourse of reverse discrimination in a predominately White institution. The authors interrogate accusations of reverse discrimination against international non-White faculty, examining them as attempts to sustain White supremacy. Deploying an autoethnographic approach to critically untangling our racially charged experiences, the study engages in dialogue with critical race educators in support of a liberatory potential in education.

Behavioral pattern separation and cognitive flexibility are enhanced in a mouse model of increased lateral entorhinal cortex-dentate gyrus circuit activity.

Behavioral pattern separation and cognitive flexibility are essential cognitive abilities that are disrupted in many brain disorders. A better understanding of the neural circuitry involved in these abilities will open paths to treatment. In humans and mice, discrimination and adaptation rely on the integrity of the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) which receives glutamatergic input from the entorhinal cortex (EC), including the lateral EC (LEC). An inducible increase of EC-DG circuit activity improves simple hippocampal-dependent associative learning and increases DG neurogenesis. Here, we asked if the activity of LEC fan cells that directly project to the DG (LEC → DG neurons) regulates the relatively more complex hippocampal-dependent abilities of behavioral pattern separation or cognitive flexibility. C57BL/6J male mice received bilateral LEC infusions of a virus expressing shRNA TRIP8b, an auxiliary protein of an HCN channel or a control virus (SCR shRNA). Prior work shows that 4 weeks post-surgery, TRIP8b mice have more DG neurogenesis and greater activity of LEC → DG neurons compared to SCR shRNA mice. Here, 4 weeks post-surgery, the mice underwent testing for behavioral pattern separation and reversal learning (touchscreen-based location discrimination reversal [LDR]) and innate fear of open spaces (elevated plus maze [EPM]) followed by quantification of new DG neurons (doublecortin-immunoreactive cells [DCX+] cells). There was no effect of treatment (SCR shRNA vs. TRIP8b) on performance during general touchscreen training, LDR training, or the 1st days of LDR testing. However, in the last days of LDR testing, the TRIP8b shRNA mice had improved pattern separation (reached the first reversal more quickly and had more accurate discrimination) compared to the SCR shRNA mice, specifically when the load on pattern separation was high (lit squares close together or "small separation"). The TRIP8b shRNA mice were also more cognitively flexible (achieved more reversals) compared to the SCR shRNA mice in the last days of LDR testing. Supporting a specific influence on cognitive behavior, the SCR shRNA and TRIP8b shRNA mice did not differ in total distance traveled or in time spent in the closed arms of the EPM. Supporting an inducible increase in LEC-DG activity, DG neurogenesis was increased. These data indicate that the TRIP8b shRNA mice had better pattern separation and reversal learning and more neurogenesis compared to the SCR shRNA mice. This study advances fundamental and translational neuroscience knowledge relevant to two cognitive functions critical for adaptation and survival-behavioral pattern separation and cognitive flexibility-and suggests that the activity of LEC → DG neurons merits exploration as a therapeutic target to normalize dysfunctional DG behavioral output.

Bans, sanctions, and dog-whistles: a review of anti-critical race theory initiatives adopted in the United States since 2020

ABSTRACT Labelled as racist, criticized for promoting racial divisions, and accused of indoctrinating vulnerable young people, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has, in recent years, become, a cause célèbre in the conservative movement, across both the Trumpist contingent and the Republican mainstream. We argue that, inscribing itself in a long tradition of dog-whistles, the anti-CRT panic is predicated on the idea that the contemporary American society is one devoid of systemic forms of racial discrimination and that by deviating from this premise, a form of reverse discrimination targeting Whites is becoming, in effect, systemic. Using document analysis, this article examines how the anti-CRT rhetoric has translated into institutionalized forms that prohibit the use of alleged CRT practices in educational contexts (K-12 level and colleges) and public service. In this sense, we review a swath of anti-CRT initiatives that were passed between 2021 and 2022 in 15 state legislatures across the US. These bills sought to determine how issues pertaining to race, racism, and discrimination are addressed. We find that this was achieved through a multi-pronged approach that focused on: (1) defining sets of prohibited concepts; (2) creating mechanisms to detect perceived CRT-offenses; and (3) dispensing penalties and sanctions against potential transgressors.