Unauthorized Immigrants and Their U.S.-Born Children

Analyzes data on the number, age distribution, fertility, and family structure of legal and unauthorized immigrants and the percentage of their children among all U.S. children and of the U.S.-born and foreign-born among their children

Marrying Out: One-in-Seven New U.S. Marriages Is Interracial or Interethnic

Examines trends in and attitudes toward marriages between different races/ethnicities since 1980, including rates of intermarriage by race/ethnicity, gender, region, education, and age. Considers factors behind the trends, including immigration patterns

Law at the Speed of Dial Up: The Need for a Clear Standard for Employee Use of Employer-Provided Email Systems That Will Withstand Changing Technology

In 2007, the National Labor Relations Board adopted two clear rules concerning employee use of employer-provided email in Guard Publishing Co.: First, the Board held that employers were not required to allow employees to use employer-provided email to engage in protected activity pursuant to section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act; second, the Board held that if an employer allowed employees to use its email system for non-work purposes, it could still lawfully adopt and enforce nondiscriminatory rules that restricted otherwise protected activity. In 2014, the Board reversed this precedent in Purple Communications, Inc., and held that employees have a presumptive right to use an employer’s email system to engage in protected activity on non-working time if they are provided access to email for work-related purposes. This article analyzes the conflicting guidance provided by Guard Publishing Co. and Purple Communications, Inc. against the broader context of prior precedent concerning employer property rights. By highlighting numerous unanswered questions left open by the Board’s analysis in Purple Communications, Inc., this article advocates for the Board to reevaluate its position on employee use of company technology resources, including email, and to adopt a new framework that can readily and predictably be applied to new and developing technologies

Do Lawyers Matter? The Effect of Legal Representation in Civil Disputes

With declining law school enrollments, rising rates of pro se litigation, increasing competition from international lawyers and other professionals, and disparaging assessments from the Supreme Court, the legal profession is under increasing attack. Recent research suggesting that legal representation does not benefit clients has further fueled an existential anxiety in the profession. Are lawyers needed and do they matter? In this Article, we review the existing empirical research on the effect of legal representation on civil dispute outcomes. Although the pattern of results has complexities, across a wide range of substantive areas of law (housing, governmental benefits, family law, employment law, small claims, tax, bankruptcy, and torts), professional legal representation is associated with better outcomes for litigants. Only in juvenile court (and perhaps in cases involving claims to government benefits) is the benefit of representation unclear

STR-923: FATIGUE OF STUD SHEAR CONNECTORS IN STEEL-PRECAST COMPOSITE BRIDGES

Modular bridge systems consisting of precast concrete deck panels connected to steel girders are becoming increasingly popular due to their rapid construction and optimal material utilization. The shear connection is a critical element of the system, having significant impacts on construction time, economic and environmental cost, structural integrity, and durability. Today welded shear studs are by far the most common type of shear connection. In steel-precast composite bridges, the studs are commonly grouped together so that the precast deck panels can be affixed to the girders by providing full depth “shear pockets” filled with grout. A laboratory beam testing program is underway at the University of Waterloo to investigate the effect of cyclic loading on stud shear connectors in cast-in-place and precast bridge girders. The program consists of twelve beam specimens, uniquely tested using a variable amplitude load history simulating Canadian highway truck traffic. In addition to yielding valuable S-N (stress plotted vs. the number of cycles until fatigue failure) data, initial test results provide evidence of the benefits of redundancy in the structural system and the value of beam tests over push-out tests. Calculating connector stresses in a composite beam is made complicated by interfacial slip and neutral axis migration. The end goal of this research is to provide Canadian bridge designers and erectors with improved design and construction recommendations in order to improve the efficiency and economy of this structural system for rapid bridge replacement projects

Atmospheric Contributors to Heavy Rainfall Events in the Arkansas-Red River Basin

This study analyzed the top 1% 24-hour rainfall events from 1994 to 2013 at eight climatological sites that represent the east to west precipitation gradient across the Arkansas-Red River Basin in North America. A total of 131 cases were identified and subsequently classified on the synoptic-scale, mesoscale, and local-scale to compile a climatological analysis of these extreme, heavy rainfall events based on atmospheric forcings. For each location, the prominent midtropospheric pattern, mesoscale feature, and predetermined thermodynamic variables were used to classify each 1% rainfall event. Individual events were then compared with other cases throughout the basin. The most profound results were that the magnitudes of the thermodynamic variables such as convective available potential energy and precipitable water values were poor predictors of the amount of rainfall produced in these extreme events. Further, the mesoscale forcings had more of an impact during the warm season and for the westernmost locations, whereas synoptic forcings were extremely prevalent during the cold season at the easternmost locations in the basin. The implications of this research are aimed at improving the forecasting of heavy precipitation at individual weather forecasts offices within the basin through the identified patterns at various scales

Isoform-specific subcellular localization and function of protein kinase A identified by mosaic imaging of mouse brain.

Protein kinase A (PKA) plays critical roles in neuronal function that are mediated by different regulatory (R) subunits. Deficiency in either the RIβ or the RIIβ subunit results in distinct neuronal phenotypes. Although RIβ contributes to synaptic plasticity, it is the least studied isoform. Using isoform-specific antibodies, we generated high-resolution large-scale immunohistochemical mosaic images of mouse brain that provided global views of several brain regions, including the hippocampus and cerebellum. The isoforms concentrate in discrete brain regions, and we were able to zoom-in to show distinct patterns of subcellular localization. RIβ is enriched in dendrites and co-localizes with MAP2, whereas RIIβ is concentrated in axons. Using correlated light and electron microscopy, we confirmed the mitochondrial and nuclear localization of RIβ in cultured neurons. To show the functional significance of nuclear localization, we demonstrated that downregulation of RIβ, but not of RIIβ, decreased CREB phosphorylation. Our study reveals how PKA isoform specificity is defined by precise localization

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation improves exercise capacity and health-related quality of life in people with atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised and non-randomised trials

Objective: The aim of this study was to undertake a contemporary review of the impact of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) targeted at patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: We conducted searches of PubMED, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library of Controlled Trials (up until 30 November 2017) using key terms related to exercise-based CR and AF. Randomised and non-randomised controlled trials were included if they compared the effects of an exercise-based CR intervention to a no exercise or usual care control group. Meta-analyses of outcomes were conducted where appropriate. Results: The nine randomised trials included 959 (483 exercise-based CR vs 476 controls) patients with various types of AF. Compared with control, pooled analysis showed no difference in all-cause mortality (risk ratio (RR) 1.08, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.53, p=0.64) following exercise-based CR. However, there were improvements in health-related quality of life (mean SF-36 mental component score (MCS): 4.00, 95% CI 0.26 to 7.74; p=0.04 and mean SF-36 physical component score: 1.82, 95% CI 0.06 to 3.59; p=0.04) and exercise capacity (mean peak VO2: 1.59 ml/kg/min, 95% CI 0.11 to 3.08; p=0.04; mean 6 min walk test: 46.9 m, 95% CI 26.4 to 67.4; p<0.001) with exercise-based CR. Improvements were also seen in AF symptom burden and markers of cardiac function. Conclusions: Exercise capacity, cardiac function, symptom burden and health-related quality of life were improved with exercise-based CR in the short term (up to 6 months) targeted at patients with AF. However, high-quality multicentre randomised trials are needed to clarify the impact of exercise-based CR on key patient and health system outcomes (including health-related quality of life, mortality, hospitalisation and costs) and how these effects may vary across AF subtypes