Yes, We Were Wrong;No, We Will Not Make It Right: The Seventh Circuit Denies Post-Conviction Relief from an Undisputed Sentencing Error Because It Occurred in the Post- Booker, Advisory Guidelines Era

Federal courts disfavor granting collateral relief from final criminal judgments. This mentality is premised on a need for finality in the criminal process; the idea that, at some point, a criminal case must come to an end. Post-conviction relief is available, however, where an error in the trial court causes a miscarriage of justice that must be remedied to preserve the integrity of the criminal justice system. For example, the Seventh Circuit has granted post-conviction relief where the sentencing court miscalculated the defendant\u27s prison sentence by misapplying the career offender-sentencing enhancement under the then-binding Federal Sentencing Guidelines. However, the court has declined to extend this holding to allow similar relief where the defendant was sentenced under the merely advisory Sentencing Guidelines. According to the Seventh Circuit, this sentencing error is less serious where the judge is not bound to impose a sentence within the miscalculated sentencing range, and does not give rise to a miscarriage of justice that can be remedied through post-conviction relief. In Peugh v. United States, the Supreme Court held that a misapplication of advisory Sentencing Guidelines could violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution. Despite the Court\u27s recognition that, while the advisory Guidelines are no longer binding on sentencing judges, the Guidelines still achieve binding legal effect, the Seventh Circuit, in Hawkins v. United States, declined to alter its stance regarding the availability of post-conviction relief from sentencing errors under the advisory Sentencing Guidelines. This Comment argues for a different result

Implementing Natural Infrastructure in the Upper Mississippi River Basin: Lessons from Iowa

The Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB) suffers from poor water quality due to high nutrient runoff from the over-application of fertilizers in industrial agriculture and the increasing frequency of flooding (America’s Watershed Initiative, 2020). A promising solution to address these issues is construction of natural infrastructure, such as restored wetlands, that reduce both flood risk and nutrient pollution. The state of Iowa in particular has struggled with increasing flooding and nitrogen pollution, and shows great potential for the benefits of natural infrastructure. However, implementing natural infrastructure in Iowa - and the region more broadly - has been slow due to knowledge gaps, policy conflicts, and institutional barriers. In order to fill knowledge gaps and explore barriers, the central questions of this project are: how can natural infrastructure implementation be improved and how can natural infrastructure benefit socially vulnerable communities? To answer these questions, the project has five specific objectives: (1) evaluate the potential for hydric soil proxies to help identify key locations for natural infrastructure interventions, (2) evaluate the flooding and nitrogen pollution exposure of socially vulnerable communities in Iowa, (3) understand the social and political conditions for successful natural infrastructure implementation in Iowa, (4) identify policy opportunities for expanding natural infrastructure in Iowa, and (5) propose priorities for future natural infrastructure research and advocacy.Ph.D.School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167381/1/Final Report_ImplementingNIinUMRB_P08EDF.pd

The effects of laryngeal mask airway passage simulation training on the acquisition of undergraduate clinical skills: a randomised controlled trial

Background\ud Effective use of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) requires learning proper insertion technique in normal patients undergoing routine surgical procedures. However, there is a move towards simulation training for learning practical clinical skills, such as LMA placement. The evidence linking different amounts of mannequin simulation training to the undergraduate clinical skill of LMA placement in real patients is limited. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness in vivo of two LMA placement simulation courses of different durations. \ud \ud Methods\ud Medical students (n = 126) enrolled in a randomised controlled trial. Seventy-eight of these students completed the trial. The control group (n = 38) received brief mannequin training while the intervention group (n = 40) received additional more intensive mannequin training as part of which they repeated LMA insertion until they were proficient. The anaesthetists supervising LMA placements in real patients rated the participants' performance on assessment forms. Participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire. \ud \ud Results\ud Additional mannequin training was not associated with improved performance (37% of intervention participants received an overall placement rating of > 3/5 on their first patient compared to 48% of the control group, $X^2$ = 0.81, p = 0.37). The agreement between the participants and their instructors in terms of LMA placement success rates was poor to fair. Participants reported that mannequins were poor at mimicking reality. \ud \ud Conclusions\ud The results suggest that the value of extended mannequin simulation training in the case of LMA placement is limited. Educators considering simulation for the training of practical skills should reflect on the extent to which the in vitro simulation mimics the skill required and the degree of difficulty of the procedure. \ud \u

Chemo-hormone therapy of non-well-differentiated endocrine tumours from different anatomic sites with cisplatinum, etoposide and slow release lanreotide formulation

We report the results of a phase II trial in patients with metastatic endocrine tumours from different sites, which aimed to evaluate the anti-tumour activity and toxicity of a cisplatinum and etoposide regimen administered in combination with the somatostatin agonist lanreotide given in slow release formulation. Between January 1999 and November 2003, 27 patients with histological diagnoses of endocrine tumours with different degrees of differentiation, excluding well differentiated carcinoid neoplasms, received intravenous (i.v.) administration of cisplatinum (30 mg m−2) and etoposide (100 mg m−2) on days 1–3 and intramuscular administration of 60 mg lanreotide on day 1, in a 21-day cycle. All of the patients were evaluable for toxicity and response. The treatment was very well tolerated as no grade 4 toxicity was observed. Four patients achieved a complete response, six a partial response, 12 experienced disease stabilisation and five disease progression. The average time to progression and to survival were 9 and 24 months respectively. These results suggest that this chemo-hormone therapy regimen is well tolerated and active in patients with non-well differentiated endocrine tumours

The Speech that Justified the American Involvement in World War II

This study utilizes the three classic persuasive appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) to identify the effectiveness of the rhetorical strategies President Roosevelt uses in his \u27Day of Infamy\u27 speech