Chicano/Mexican Culture as a Rational Instrument in the Human Sciences

The use of culture as an analytical category by social scientists presents an opportunity to examine how professional discursive formations are used to make empirical assertions. The social fact of culture is neither uniform nor unitary. Traditionally, culture has been thought of as a product of disciplinary research, not necessarily a variable for empirical study. When culture is used as a tool or instrument of scientific methodology, it loses its fluid nature as a disciplinary discourse. In this essay, I examine the specific discussion of the epidemiologic health paradox that states that the Chicano/Mexican immigrant culture serves as a protective factor against many maladies that afflict other U.S. populations. Since the 1970s, this discussion of culture as a protective factor provides an interesting exposition of the uses of culture by empirical scholars

Making Rights Real: Effectuating the Due Process Rights of Particularly Vulnerable Immigrants in Removal Proceedings Through Administrative Mechanisms

Immigration removal proceedings provide insufficient due process protections to certain immigrants. Vulnerable immigrants who cannot adequately represent themselves are expected to do so even if they cannot afford an attorney or qualified Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) representative. This Note argues that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) can and should pass regulations that safeguard particularly vulnerable immigrants’ due process rights. These regulations should instruct immigration judges (IJ) to affirmatively determine whether due process requires that a qualified legal representative—either an attorney or BIA representative—advocate for a particularly vulnerable immigrant in a removal proceeding before an IJ decides the case on its merits. The rules would constitute an administrative framework that safeguards immigrants’ due process rights. This proposed administrative framework is rooted in a reading of current common and statutory law that allows the Attorney General to delegate the necessary authority to IJs to effectuate the suggested regime

Making Rights Real: Effectuating the Due Process Rights of Particularly Vulnerable Immigrants in Removal Proceedings Through Administrative Mechanisms

Immigration removal proceedings provide insufficient due process protections to certain immigrants. Vulnerable immigrants who cannot adequately represent themselves are expected to do so even if they cannot afford an attorney or qualified Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) representative. This Note argues that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) can and should pass regulations that safeguard particularly vulnerable immigrants’ due process rights. These regulations should instruct immigration judges (IJ) to affirmatively determine whether due process requires that a qualified legal representative—either an attorney or BIA representative—advocate for a particularly vulnerable immigrant in a removal proceeding before an IJ decides the case on its merits. The rules would constitute an administrative framework that safeguards immigrants’ due process rights. This proposed administrative framework is rooted in a reading of current common and statutory law that allows the Attorney General to delegate the necessary authority to IJs to effectuate the suggested regime

HOW LATINO PARENTS COPED WITH FINANCIAL CHALLENGES DURING COVID-19

This qualitative study examined how low-income Latino parents coped with financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data from this study was collected through one-on-one interviews with 14 low-income Latino parent participants who resided in Southern California. Results indicated COVID-19 caused financial strain in food, healthcare, basic needs, and financial strain in general. Results from this study also concluded that many existing government assistance programs benefited participants but had distribution and application processing flaws. This study provides future researchers and government officials some insight regarding what government assistance and local resources helped low-income Latino parents cope with their financial challenges and what could be improved in a future crisis

From top to bottom: Cell polarity in Hedgehog and Wnt trafficking.

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Spatial organization of membrane domains within cells and cells within tissues is key to the development of organisms and the maintenance of adult tissue. Cell polarization is crucial for correct cell-cell signalling, which, in turn, promotes cell differentiation and tissue patterning. However, the mechanisms linking internal cell polarity to intercellular signalling are just beginning to be unravelled. The Hedgehog (Hh) and Wnt pathways are major directors of development and their malfunction can cause severe disorders like cancer. Here we discuss parallel advances into understanding the mechanism of Hedgehog and Wnt signal dissemination and reception. We hypothesize that cell polarization of the signal-sending and signal-receiving cells is crucial for proper signal spreading and activation of the pathway and, thus, fundamental for development of multicellular organisms.SS and LB funding was provided by the University of Exeter, UK (LSI Start-up Grant awarded to SS). ACG and DSH are funded on a Young Investigator Grant (BFU2015-73609-JIN) to ACG from MINECO (Spain). DSH was also funded by a collaboration short-term EMBO fellowship. The authors would like to thank Isabel Guerrero (University of Madrid) for her respective valuable comments that helped improve the quality of the manuscript

Post-fire recovery of ecosystem carbon pools in a tropical mixed pine-hardwood forest

Aim of the study: To analyze the recovery pattern of carbon pools in terms of size and the relative contribution of each pool to total ecosystem C along a fire chronosequence of tropical mixed pine-hardwood forest.Area of the study: Las Joyas Research Station (LJRS), core zone of Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve (SMBR) in the state of Jalisco, central western Mexico.Materials and methods: Carbon stored in aboveground plant biomass, standing dead trees, downed woody debris, forest floor, fine roots and mineral soil, was compared with a nested analysis of variance (ANOVA) in post-fire stands of eight-year-old, 28- and 60-year-old stands of mixed Pinus douglasiana-hardwood forest.Main results: The total ecosystem carbon in eight-year-old stands was 50% lower than that of 60-year-old stands. Carbon content in the biomass and mineral soil increased with stand age. The carbon in the biomass recovered to the undisturbed forest in the 28 years of succession. The main C storage in the eight-year-old stands were the mineral soil (64%) and downed woody debris (18%), while in the 28- and 60-year-old stands, live tree biomass and mineral soil were the two largest components of the total C pool (43% and 46%, respectively).Research highlights: We found a significant effect of high-severity fire events on ecosystem C storage and a shift in carbon distribution. The relatively fast recovery of C in ecosystem biomass suggests that mixed Pinus douglasiana hardwood forest possess functional traits that confer resilience to severe fire events.Key words: chronosequence; carbon dynamics; mineral soil; Pinus douglasiana; fire effects.Abbreviations used: LJRS, Las Joyas Research Station; DBH, diameter at breast height; DL, duff layer; LL, litter layer; DWD, downed woody debris; ANOVA, analysis of variance; CO2, carbon dioxide; SMBR, Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve; C, carbon. AGV, above ground vegetation

Multi-Fuel Driven Janus Micromotors

Here the first example of a chemically powered micromotor that harvests its energy from the reactions of three different fuels is presented. The new Al/Pd Janus microspheres—prepared by depositing a Pd layer on one side of Al microparticles—are propelled efficiently by the thrust of hydrogen bubbles generated from different reactions of Al in strong acidic and alkaline environments, and by an oxygen bubble thrust produced at their partial Pd coating in hydrogen peroxide media. High speeds and long lifetimes of 200 μm s^(−1) and 8 min are achieved in strong alkaline media and acidic media, respectively. The ability to autonomously adapt to the presence of a new fuel (surrounding environment), without compromising the propulsion behavior is illustrated. These data also represent the first example of a chemically powered micromotor that propels autonomously and efficiently in alkaline environments (pH > 11) without additional fuels. The ability to use multiple fuel sources to power the same micromotor offers a broader scope of operation and considerable promise for diverse applications of micromotors in different chemical environments

Multi-Fuel Driven Janus Micromotors

Here the first example of a chemically powered micromotor that harvests its energy from the reactions of three different fuels is presented. The new Al/Pd Janus microspheres—prepared by depositing a Pd layer on one side of Al microparticles—are propelled efficiently by the thrust of hydrogen bubbles generated from different reactions of Al in strong acidic and alkaline environments, and by an oxygen bubble thrust produced at their partial Pd coating in hydrogen peroxide media. High speeds and long lifetimes of 200 μm s^(−1) and 8 min are achieved in strong alkaline media and acidic media, respectively. The ability to autonomously adapt to the presence of a new fuel (surrounding environment), without compromising the propulsion behavior is illustrated. These data also represent the first example of a chemically powered micromotor that propels autonomously and efficiently in alkaline environments (pH > 11) without additional fuels. The ability to use multiple fuel sources to power the same micromotor offers a broader scope of operation and considerable promise for diverse applications of micromotors in different chemical environments

Artificial Enzyme-Powered Microfish for Water-Quality Testing

We present a novel micromotor-based strategy for water-quality testing based on changes in the propulsion behavior of artificial biocatalytic microswimmers in the presence of aquatic pollutants. The new micromotor toxicity testing concept mimics live-fish water testing and relies on the toxin-induced inhibition of the enzyme catalase, responsible for the biocatalytic bubble propulsion of tubular microengines. The locomotion and survival of the artificial microfish are thus impaired by exposure to a broad range of contaminants, that lead to distinct time-dependent irreversible losses in the catalase activity, and hence of the propulsion behavior. Such use of enzyme-powered biocompatible polymeric (PEDOT)/Au-catalase tubular microengine offers highly sensitive direct optical visualization of changes in the swimming behavior in the presence of common contaminants and hence to a direct real-time assessment of the water quality. Quantitative data on the adverse effects of the various toxins upon the swimming behavior of the enzyme-powered artificial swimmer are obtained by estimating common ecotoxicological parameters, including the EC_(50) (exposure concentration causing 50% attenuation of the microfish locomotion) and the swimmer survival time (lifetime expectancy). Such novel use of artificial microfish addresses major standardization and reproducibility problems as well as ethical concerns associated with live-fish toxicity assays and hence offers an attractive alternative to the common use of aquatic organisms for water-quality testing