Peruta v. County of San Diego: An Individual Right to Self-Defense Outside the Home and the Application of Strict Scrutiny to Second Amendment Challenges

This Note will begin by examining the majority’s analysis in Heller. The Heller case, through historical interpretation, analyzed the language of the Second Amendment and settled a long-held dispute about the meaning of its actual language. This same historical analysis was also significant in the Supreme Court’s examination of McDonald, which affirmatively applied the Second Amendment to the States. Peruta used the same methodology as Heller and McDonald. Next, this Note will argue that, based on the historical analysis in Heller, McDonald, and Peruta, courts addressing the Second Amendment should apply strict scrutiny review to the legal challenges of the Second Amendment

Chromatographic and Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Bradykinin Related Arginyl Peptides and Other Studies

Dimethylpyrimidylornithyl-N-trifluoroethyl-O-TBDMS (DMPO-N-TFE-O-TBDMS) polyaminoalcohol derivatives of arginyl peptides were evaluated for their utility in peptide analysis by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). These derivatives were hydrolytically stable and sufficiently volatile for capillary GC-MS analysis of low nanomole amounts of peptides as large as RPPGF. Complete amino acid sequence information was generated under electron impact ionization conditions, including several ions diagnostic for arginine residues, with molecular weight information imparted by the [M-15]+ and [M-57]+ pair of ions characteristic of TBDMS derivatives. Analysis of the sequential intermediate derivatives by FAB-MS facilitated optimization of problematic derivatization steps. As little as 20 picomoles of peptide could be detected by capillary GC-MS-selected ion monitoring, but problems with the reproducibility of the diborane reduction reaction limited its utility for quantitative applications. DMPO-N,O-di-TBDMS polyaminoalcohol derivatives were found to provide similar structural information, with similar reproducibility problems at low levels. A procedure for selectively extracting arginyl peptides using immobilized phenylboronic acid columns exhibited limited binding with numerous co-extracted contaminants, and was judged to be impractical for biological samples. A reverse phase ion pairing liquid chromatographic procedure employing alternating ion pairing reagents successfully isolated 25-35 nanomole amounts of RPP, RPPG and RPPGF from spiked human urine. None of these peptides were detected at this level in unspiked urine. Further studies focused on developing sensitive and reliable means of analyzing RPPGF as the DMPO-N-trifluoroacetyl-O-methyl ester derivative by direct insertion probe MS, thus avoiding the problematic diborane reduction reaction. Under electron impact ionization conditions, this derivative generated an unusually intense molecular ion suitable for low and high resolution selected ion monitoring. Molecular specificity was obtained by employing collisionally activated dissociation linked field selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry, monitoring the formation of a specific fragment ion from the molecular ion in the first field free region of a double focusing mass spectrometer. With low level samples, the products at each stage of the derivatization were purified by reverse or normal phase HPLC. A 12 nanomole sample of RPPGF isolated from spiked human urine was successfully analyzed and definitively identified by these methods

The Ginsburg Group: Technology: How to Stay out of Court

For professionals in higher education, it is our responsibility to stay on top of the ever changing landscape of technology at our colleges and universities. In order to provide the best and most convenient services, it is our objective to continue to expand the walls of higher education into the global boundaries of technology. For the purpose of this paper, the Ginsburg Group has focused on five different areas regarding the use of technology. In these areas, the information provided is our thoughts and best advice in how institutions of higher learning can avoid the courtroom. The following pages will dive into information on a wide variety of topics that the Ginsburg Group felt was important in discussing “How to Stay Out of Court.” Each chapter presented will contain information regarding the topic and then will finish with reference for that chapter. The five chapters we broke the information down to are: &#; Chapter One: FERPA &#; Chapter Two: Electronic Communication &#; Chapter Three: Plagiarism &#; Chapter Four: Electronic Content &#; Chapter Five: Outsourced Technology As a group, it is important to note that we are students in a Counseling and Student Affairs course who are putting our best attempt forward in regards to the law. The information we are providing in the pages to follow are the culmination of a semester of information received in our Counseling and Student Affairs course that is titled “Parameters of Law/Student Affairs.” When it comes down the specifics of each area, it is always smart to consult your university attorney. Thanks for taking time to read our information on “How to Stay Out of Court.” Sincerely, The Ginsburg Group Jennifer Ballard, Lee Maglinger, Alisha Orosz, Mandy Skinner, Kevin Thoma

Aerobic Capacity and Postprandial Flow Mediated Dilation

The consumption of a high-fat meal induces transient vascular dysfunction. Aerobic exercise enhances vascular function in healthy individuals. Our purpose was to determine if different levels of aerobic capacity impact vascular function, as measured by flow mediated dilation, following a high-fat meal. Flow mediated dilation of the brachial artery was determined before, two- and four-hours postprandial a high-fat meal in young males classified as highly trained (n = 10; VO2max = 74.6 ± 5.2 ml·kg·min-1) or moderately active (n = 10; VO2max = 47.3 ± 7.1 ml·kg·min-1). Flow mediated dilation was reduced at two- (p \u3c 0.001) and four-hours (p \u3c 0.001) compared to baseline for both groups but was not different between groups at any time point (p = 0.108). Triglycerides and insulin increased at two- (p \u3c 0.001) and four-hours (p \u3c 0.05) in both groups. LDL-C was reduced at four-hours (p = 0.05) in highly trained subjects, and two- and four-hours (p ≤ 0.01) in moderately active subjects. HDL-C decreased at two- (p = 0.024) and four-hours (p = 0.014) in both groups. Glucose increased at two-hours postprandial for both groups (p = 0.003). Our results indicate that a high-fat meal results in reduced endothelium-dependent vasodilation in highly trained and moderately active individuals with no difference between groups. Thus, high aerobic capacity does not protect against transient reductions in vascular function after the ingestion of a single high-fat meal compared to individuals who are moderately active

Increasing Student Success through a Cocktail of Cognitive Interventions

We extended a series of interventions developed in modern cognitive psychology to a group of students who had been academically dismissed and were at high risk to not complete college. Students learned how to respond adaptively to academic failure, how to embrace challenge, how to set realistic goals, and how to persist until their goals are achieved. The interventions were delivered within a sophomore seminar course. Within the class, students learned about, considered and practiced aspects of growth mindset, goal orientation, grit, stereotype threat, and belongingness. Before beginning the class, the 68 students had a mean cumulative GPA of 1.45, a course completion rate of 60%, and it was expected that over half would drop out of college within the next year. Following the intervention, students earned a mean semester GPA of 2.39, a course completion rate of 73%, 72% were retained for the next semester, and 58% were still enrolled one year later. These findings provide support for the benefits of these techniques used together to afford student success in a population of students that have previously struggled academically.

Toward the Ultrasonic Sensing of Organic Carbon in Seagrass-Bearing Sediments

Ten percent of all organic carbon (Corg) absorbed by the ocean each year is stored in seagrass-bearing sediments. The preservation of these carbon stores is considered a vital method to mitigate climate change. Seagrass-bearing sediments have been correlated with sediment geophysical properties yet have not been related to sediment acoustic properties. For this purpose, sediment cores were collected from a Thalassia testudinum seagrass meadow in South Texas, USA, where geophysical, acoustical, and Corg properties were measured. It is hypothesized that when deposits of Corg adsorb onto mineral surfaces and are stored in pore spaces, compliant layers between grain contacts and the formation of an organic-rich suspension reduce sediment stiffness. Results from this seagrass meadow demonstrated a strong correlation between sediment P wave modulus and Corg and show promise toward the development of an in situ ultrasonic sediment probe to more rapidly quantify and monitor seagrass carbon stores

Application of acoustical remote sensing techniques for ecosystem monitoring of a seagrass meadow

Seagrasses provide a multitude of ecosystem services and serve as important organic carbon stores. However, seagrass habitats are declining worldwide, threatened by global climate change and regional shifts in water quality. Acoustical methods have been applied to assess changes in oxygen production of seagrass meadows since sound propagation is sensitive to the presence of bubbles, which exist both within the plant tissue and freely floating the water as byproducts of photosynthesis. This work applies acoustic remote sensing techniques to characterize two different regions of a seagrass meadow: a densely vegetated meadow of Thalassia testudinum and a sandy region sparsely populated by isolated stands of T. testudinum. A Bayesian approach is applied to estimate the posterior probability distributions of the unknown model parameters. The sensitivity of sound to the void fraction of gas present in the seagrass meadow was established by the narrow marginal probability distributions that provided distinct estimates of the void fraction between the two sites. The absolute values of the estimated void fractions are biased by limitations in the forward model, which does not capture the full complexity of the seagrass environment. Nevertheless, the results demonstrate the potential use of acoustical methods to remotely sense seagrass health and density