Forced Marriage and the Granting of Asylum: A Reason to Hope After Gao v. Gonzales

This note addresses the significance of Gao v. Gonzales through the analysis of the development of asylum gender laws in the United States. The analysis includes a brief history of asylum law in the United States and the issues the courts have addressed concerning gender and asylum law. The note concludes with an analysis of the Gao decision and the potential consequences of the decision

Are There Opportunities to Enter Production Agriculture Today?

Most persons would not be surprised that the average age of Nebraska farmers is increasing. In 1982 there were approximately 1.5 farmers under age 35 for every farmer over age 65. In 1997 the relationship of younger farmers to older farmers had reversed. The latest Nebraska census of agriculture indicates there are about 2.5 farmers over age 65 for every farmer under 35. Approximately 41% of the land and farm machinery in Nebraska ($14 billion) is owned by those 55 years of age or older. That age group owns approximately 46% of Nebraska’s cow herds as well as about 27% of the breeding hogs. The vacuum created by the retirement of these Nebraska producers is going to be filled by someone. Will it be by existing producers who will continue to get bigger? Or, is there potential to bring new farmers/ranchers into agriculture

Start-Up Strategies for Beginning Farmers

Preliminary information from the U.S. 2002 Agricultural Census has recently been released. The chart groups U.S. census data for Nebraska farmers into three categories: under 34 years of age, 35 to 64 and over 65. The data indicates a 20 year trend of fewer farmers, older farmers and very few beginning farmers. A farmer is defined, for purposes of this census, as anyone producing or selling at least $1,000 of agricultural commodities annually. The average age of Nebraska farmers continues to rise. The average age in 1982 was 48.5 compared to 53.9 in 2002. The increase in average age is due to both an increase in the over 65 age group (8,777 in 1982 to 12,203* in 2002), as well as a decrease in the under 34 age group (13,436 in 1982 to 3,782* in 2002). Even with adjusting for the new calculation method adopted for the year 2002, which if applied to the 1997 census would have resulted in computing an additional 3,085 Nebraska farmers, the total number of farmers in the state also continues to decline. The adjusted number of younger farmers in the age group of 34 and under in the year 2002 is less than one-third the number in that category 20 years ago. There are obvious barriers to beginners such as high capital investment costs, narrowing profit margins and increased cost of family living. But are there strategies that can assist beginners that want to return to agriculture

Transient analysis using conical shell elements

The use of the NASTRAN conical shell element in static, eigenvalue, and direct transient analyses is demonstrated. The results of a NASTRAN static solution of an externally pressurized ring-stiffened cylinder agree well with a theoretical discontinuity analysis. Good agreement is also obtained between the NASTRAN direct transient response of a uniform cylinder to a dynamic end load and one-dimensional solutions obtained using a method of characteristics stress wave code and a standing wave solution. Finally, a NASTRAN eigenvalue analysis is performed on a hydroballistic model idealized with conical shell elements

Feedbacks between ice and ocean dynamics at the West Antarctic Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in future global warming scenarios

The ice flow at the margins of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is moderated by large ice shelves. Their buttressing effect substantially controls the mass balance of the WAIS and thus its contribution to sea level rise. The stability of these ice shelves results from the balance of mass gain by accumulation and ice flow from the adjacent ice sheet and mass loss by calving and basal melting due to the ocean heat flux. Recent results of ocean circulation models indicate that warm circumpolar water of the Southern Ocean may override the submarine slope front of the Antarctic Continent and boost basal ice shelf melting. In particular, ocean simulations for several of the IPCC's future climate scenarios demonstrate the redirection of a warm coastal current into the Filchner Trough and underneath the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf within the next decades. In this study, we couple the finite elements ocean circulation model FESOM and the three-dimensional thermomechanical ice flow model RIMBAY to investigate the complex interactions between ocean and ice dynamics at the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. We focus on the impact of a changing ice shelf cavity on ocean dynamics as well as the feedback of the resulting sub-shelf melting rates on the ice shelf geometry and implications for the dynamics of the adjacent marine-based Westantarctic Ice Sheet. Our simulations reveal the high sensitivity of grounding line migration to ice-ocean interactions within the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and emphasize the importance of coupled model studies for realistic assessments of the Antarctic mass balance in future global warming scenarios