A Child-Centered Response to the Elkins Family Law Task Force

In Elkins v. Superior Court, 163 P.3d 160 (Cal. 2007), California’s Supreme Court asked the Judicial Council to form a task force to make recommendations to increase “access to justice” in family court, because it was concerned about rules, policies, and procedures that put self-represented litigants at an unfair disadvantage in parentageand dissolution cases. Neither the task force’s report in 2010 nor the legislation that the report inspired the same year addresses children’s due process rights, even though children ordinarily have no access to justice. This Article shows that due process sometimes requires the trial court to appoint counsel for children to obtain the information the court needs to address children’s interests. This Article also explains why trial courts should not construe the new Elkins laws to impose new and unique restrictions on children’s lawyers, and proposes new legislation and court rules to clarify children’s due process rights and minors’ counsel’s ethical duties when custody is at issue in family court

A Child-Centered Response to the Elkins Family Law Task Force

In Elkins v. Superior Court, 163 P.3d 160 (Cal. 2007), California’s Supreme Court asked the Judicial Council to form a task force to make recommendations to increase “access to justice” in family court, because it was concerned about rules, policies, and procedures that put self-represented litigants at an unfair disadvantage in parentageand dissolution cases. Neither the task force’s report in 2010 nor the legislation that the report inspired the same year addresses children’s due process rights, even though children ordinarily have no access to justice. This Article shows that due process sometimes requires the trial court to appoint counsel for children to obtain the information the court needs to address children’s interests. This Article also explains why trial courts should not construe the new Elkins laws to impose new and unique restrictions on children’s lawyers, and proposes new legislation and court rules to clarify children’s due process rights and minors’ counsel’s ethical duties when custody is at issue in family court

2016 Alcohol Environmental Survey Report

During the month of September 2016, the Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS) located 216 establishments that sell alcoholic beverages in the east and west areas of Orange County, Florida. Our survey team operated within the boundaries of east and west Orange County, as established by Orange County Government (orangecountyfl.net). During the month of September 2016, the Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS) located 216 establishments that sell alcoholic beverages in the east and west areas of Orange County, Florida. Our survey team operated within the boundaries of east and west Orange County, as established by Orange County Government (orangecountyfl.net)

2016 Tobacco Environmental Survey Report

During the month of September 2016, the Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS) located 83 establishments that sell tobacco products in the west and south areas of Orange County, Florida. Our survey team operated within the boundaries of south and west Orange County, as established by the Orange County Government (orangecountyfl.net)

Facilitators and barriers to the successful implementation of pediatric antibacterial drug trials: Findings from CTTI's survey of investigators.

An urgent need exists to develop new antibacterial drugs for children. We conducted research with investigators of pediatric antibacterial drug trials to identify facilitators and barriers in the conduct of these trials. Seventy-three investigators completed an online survey assessing the importance of 15 facilitators (grouped in 5 topical categories) and the severity of 36 barriers (grouped in 6 topical categories) to implementing pediatric antibacterial drug trials. Analysis focused on the identification of key factors that facilitate the successful implementation of pediatric antibacterial drug trials and the key barriers to implementation. Almost all investigators identified two factors as very important facilitators: having site personnel for enrollment and having adequate funding. Other top factors were related to staffing. Among the barriers, factors related to parent concerns and consent were prominent, particularly obtaining parental consent when there was disagreement between parents, concerns about the number of blood draws, and concerns about the number of invasive procedures. Having overly narrow eligibility criteria was also identified as a major barrier. The survey findings suggest three areas in which to focus efforts to help facilitate ongoing drug development: (1) improving engagement with parents of children who may be eligible to enroll in a pediatric antibacterial drug trial, (2) broadening inclusion criteria to allow more participants to enroll, and (3) ensuring adequate staffing and establishing sustainable financial strategies, such as funding pediatric trial networks. The pediatric antibacterial drug trials enterprise is likely to benefit from focused efforts by all stakeholders to remove barriers and enhance facilitation

Variables in the Southern Polar Region Evryscope 2016 Dataset

The regions around the celestial poles offer the ability to find and characterize long-term variables from ground-based observatories. We used multi-year Evryscope data to search for high-amplitude (~5% or greater) variable objects among 160,000 bright stars (Mv < 14.5) near the South Celestial Pole. We developed a machine learning based spectral classifier to identify eclipse and transit candidates with M-dwarf or K-dwarf host stars - and potential low-mass secondary stars or gas giant planets. The large amplitude transit signals from low-mass companions of smaller dwarf host stars lessens the photometric precision and systematics removal requirements necessary for detection, and increases the discoveries from long-term observations with modest light curve precision. The Evryscope is a robotic telescope array that observes the Southern sky continuously at 2-minute cadence, searching for stellar variability, transients, transits around exotic stars and other observationally challenging astrophysical variables. In this study, covering all stars 9 < Mv < 14.5, in declinations -75 to -90 deg, we recover 346 known variables and discover 303 new variables, including 168 eclipsing binaries. We characterize the discoveries and provide the amplitudes, periods, and variability type. A 1.7 Jupiter radius planet candidate with a late K-dwarf primary was found and the transit signal was verified with the PROMPT telescope network. Further followup revealed this object to be a likely grazing eclipsing binary system with nearly identical primary and secondary K5 stars. Radial velocity measurements from the Goodman Spectrograph on the 4.1 meter SOAR telescope of the likely-lowest-mass targets reveal that six of the eclipsing binary discoveries are low-mass (.06 - .37 solar mass) secondaries with K-dwarf primaries, strong candidates for precision mass-radius measurements.Comment: 32 pages, 17 figures, accepted to PAS

Evidence for the characterisation of the C-H …∏ interaction as a weak hydrogen bond: toluene and chlorobenzene solvates of 2,3,7,8-tetraphenyl-1,9,10-anthyridine

The crystal structures of the toluene and chlorobenzene solvates of 2,3,7,8-tetraphenyl-1,9,10-anthyridine are nearly identical save for differences in the mode of solvent inclusion; these differences have an important bearing on the nature of the C-H … ∏ interactions in these structures

Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Uranus from the Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer: 2. Determination of the Mean Composition of the Upper Troposphere and Stratosphere

Mid-infrared spectral observations Uranus acquired with the Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope are used to determine the abundances of C2H2, C2H6, CH3C2H, C4H2, CO2, and tentatively CH3 on Uranus at the time of the 2007 equinox. For vertically uniform eddy diffusion coefficients in the range 2200-2600 cm2 s-1, photochemical models that reproduce the observed methane emission also predict C2H6 profiles that compare well with emission in the 11.6-12.5 micron wavelength region, where the nu9 band of C2H6 is prominent. Our nominal model with a uniform eddy diffusion coefficient Kzz = 2430 cm2 sec-1 and a CH4 tropopause mole fraction of 1.6x10-5 provides a good fit to other hydrocarbon emission features, such as those of C2H2 and C4H2, but the model profile for CH3C2H must be scaled by a factor of 0.43, suggesting that improvements are needed in the chemical reaction mechanism for C3Hx species. The nominal model is consistent with a CH3D/CH4 ratio of 3.0+-0.2x10-4. From the best-fit scaling of these photochemical-model profiles, we derive column abundances above the 10-mbar level of 4.5+01.1/-0.8 x 10+19 molecule-cm-2 for CH4, 6.2 +- 1.0 x 10+16 molecule-cm-2 for C2H2 (with a value 24% higher from a different longitudinal sampling), 3.1 +- 0.3 x 10+16 molecule-cm-2 for C2H6, 8.6 +- 2.6 x 10+13 molecule-cm-2 for CH3C2H, 1.8 +- 0.3 x 10+13 molecule-cm-2 for C4H2, and 1.7 +- 0.4 x 10+13 molecule-cm-2 for CO2 on Uranus. Our results have implications with respect to the influx rate of exogenic oxygen species and the production rate of stratospheric hazes on Uranus, as well as the C4H2 vapor pressure over C4H2 ice at low temperatures

A Long Baseline Laser Strainmeter for the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain

This Scientific Investigation Plan (SIP), for work under the second Department of Energy/University and Community College System of Nevada (DOE/UCCSN) Cooperative Agreement (10/01/03), DEFC28- 04RW12232, is intended to cover the laser strainmeter operation and monitoring task being conducted by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), under the oversight of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory of the University of Nevada-Reno (NSL/UNR). UCSD has carried out the design, engineering, and installation of the east-west laser strainmeter (LSM) currently in place in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) at Yucca Mountain

A conserved filamentous assembly underlies the structure of the meiotic chromosome axis.

The meiotic chromosome axis plays key roles in meiotic chromosome organization and recombination, yet the underlying protein components of this structure are highly diverged. Here, we show that 'axis core proteins' from budding yeast (Red1), mammals (SYCP2/SYCP3), and plants (ASY3/ASY4) are evolutionarily related and play equivalent roles in chromosome axis assembly. We first identify 'closure motifs' in each complex that recruit meiotic HORMADs, the master regulators of meiotic recombination. We next find that axis core proteins form homotetrameric (Red1) or heterotetrameric (SYCP2:SYCP3 and ASY3:ASY4) coiled-coil assemblies that further oligomerize into micron-length filaments. Thus, the meiotic chromosome axis core in fungi, mammals, and plants shares a common molecular architecture, and likely also plays conserved roles in meiotic chromosome axis assembly and recombination control