Restorative Justice: Isolation to Empowerment in the Campus Rape Adjudication Process

Violence against women is a serious problem on colleges and university campuses in the United States today. This review finds that the current system of adjudication of campus sexual assaults is hostile and irresponsive to the needs of the victims and fails to protect or include the community in redressing the harm. This article highlights the state of sexual assaults on colleges and university campuses today and reviews the campus adjudication system under the standards of Title IX. In light of these findings, this article introduces restorative justice as an alternative form of justice to reform the adjudicatory process in campus sexual assault cases while complying with the mandates of Title IX. Restorative justice refers to a non-traditional approach to crime and justice intended to repair the harm to victims, hold offenders accountable, and restore safety to victims, relationships and communities (Umbreit & Armour, 2010). To the extent that the present quasi-judicial system of adjudication of campus sexual assaults routinely fails victims and the community, the author argues that restorative justice can be an approach used to respond to sexual assault on campus

Space Biology Meets Astrobiology: Critical Synergies and Concerns

The broad fields of space biology and astrobiology share much in common in terms of science questions, approaches, and goals. However, historical circumstances and funding agency practices have frequently resulted in a wide separation between the two related areas. Is this a good thing? We believe that it is not, and that much is to be gained in each field from sharing ideas, resources, and perhaps projects between investigators traditionally working in one discipline or the other. Some of the strengths that the Space Biology community offers include sophistication and experience in flying experiments on space missions. In turn, Astrobiology has focused heavily on ground-based and field research. Challenging physical and chemical conditions experienced in space and on other planets partially overlap, and much can be gleaned from the body of work of each community along these topical lines. A combination of these areas of expertise and experience could result in major advances to all involved. When possible, avoiding having to reinvent methods or approaches already used by a sister community can result in greater efficiencies of resource use. We will discuss some case studies where we believe there are significant overlaps including adaptation to a variety of environmental stresses, extremophiles as potential flight organisms, microfluidics as applied to planetary environment simulations, and others

β2microglobulin mRNA expression levels are prognostic for lymph node metastasis in colorectal cancer patients

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most common non-cutaneous malignancy in the United States and the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death. One of the most important determinants of CRC survival is lymph node metastasis. To determine whether molecular markers might be prognostic for lymph node metastases, we measured by quantitative real-time RT–PCR the expression levels of 15 cancer-associated genes in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary tissues derived from stage I–IV CRC patients with (n=20) and without (n=18) nodal metastases. Using the mean of the 15 genes as an internal reference control, we observed that low expression of β2microglobulin (B2M) was a strong prognostic indicator of lymph node metastases (area under the curve (AUC)=0.85; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.69–0.94). We also observed that the expression ratio of B2M/Spint2 had the highest prognostic accuracy (AUC=0.87; 95% CI=0.71–0.96) of all potential two-gene combinations. Expression values of Spint2 correlated with the mean of the entire gene set at an R2 value of 0.97, providing evidence that Spint2 serves not as an independent prognostic gene, but rather as a reliable reference control gene. These studies are the first to demonstrate a prognostic role of B2M at the mRNA level and suggest that low B2M expression levels might be useful for identifying patients with lymph node metastasis and/or poor survival

Women in the Judicial System

Women have been members of the legal profession for over a century. In recent years, the legal profession has undergone significant changes, with rapidly rising numbers of women entering the legal profession (ABA, 2011). Today, women comprise about one-third of the total number of law students in the country and constitute almost 30% of the profession (ABA, 2011). Women have made far more advances in the legal profession than in other criminal justice fields (Van Wormer & Bartollas, 2013). Despite the significant progress of women in the law, however, a legacy of discrimination and gender bias remains. For underneath this façade of progress and seeming equality, women continue to experience discrimination in compensation, responsibilities, and advancement (ABA, 2011). This chapter will trace the historical integration of women in the legal profession and survey current issues of gender inequities

Developing a User Interface for the Live 3D Mapping of Wildfires

Our project aimed to help our sponsor, Simtable LLC, bring real-time visual communication to fire personnel. Simtable LLC is developing a software called LiveTexture, which will collect imagery of wildfires from several sources and generate a three dimensional (3D) model of the situation. The technology will enable firefighters to view and annotate 3D maps and exchange information in real time. We researched the limitations of current wildfire management communications systems, and interviewed wildfire response personnel to determine the functions their jobs require. The end result of our project included non-functional mock-up user interfaces that visually outlined how users will interact with LiveTexture to more efficiently reach their goals

Superconductivity above 130 K in the Hg-Pb-Ba-Ca-Cu-O system

High volume fractions of the n=2 and n=3 members of a cuprate system of general formula Hg1-xPbxBa2Can-1CunO2n-2+ (with an average value of x at 0.33) have been synthesized via a relatively facile process using low oxygen pressures. For as-synthesized n=3 (Hg,Pb-1:2:2:3) bulk superconducting critical temperatures (Tc) of up to 133 K have been observed. For n=2 (Hg,Pb-1:2:1:2), which is obtained with some rare-earth-ion substitution at the calcium site, Tc is 125 K after annealing in a reducing atmosphere. High-resolution lattice imaging coupled with structural simulations show that the Pb ions go into the Hg layer, leading to a chemical pressure-induced compositional modulation in this plane. Strong flux pinning and an irreversibility field of 1 T at 80 K are observed for Hg,Pb-1:2:2:3

THE INFLUENCE OF A DAILY NUTRITION SUPPLEMENT ON BLOOD TRIGLYCERIDES AND CHOLESTEROL IN HEALTHY ADULTS

High triglycerides and cholesterol levels in the blood are often the first warning sign of an increased risk for heart disease and stroke. It is recommended by the American Heart Association that triglyceride (TG) levels be kept ≤100 mg/dL, while total cholesterol (TC) levels should be ≤200 mg/dL. In populations at greater risk for heart disease these guidelines are especially important. The easiest way to address high TC and TG levels in the blood is through nutritional interventions. PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the regular consumption of a nutrition supplement, which contains a proprietary blend of vitamins and minerals designed to decrease the TG and TC in the blood, would influence fasting blood lipid measures in healthy adults. METHODS: 47 college students were recruited and randomly assigned to either the Treatment (n=24; 13 women: (MeanSD) 224 yrs., 23.71.8 kg/; 11 men: 22 3 yrs., 25.74.7 kg/) or Control groups (n=23) 10 women: 202 yrs., 23.52.8 kg/; 13 men: 22 3 yrs., 25.14.2 kg/). Both groups consumed 6 capsules per day (2 capsules 3 times daily) during the 8-week double blind, placebo controlled testing phase, which included 5 lab visits (baseline + every two weeks thereafter). During each lab visit, body mass was measured along with fasting fingertip blood samples collected and measured for TC, low density lipoproteins (LDL), high density lipoproteins (HDL), TG, and blood glucose (BG). Data were analyzed using a two-factor (Group x Time) RMANOVA and Sheffe’s post-hoc (0.05 alpha). RESULTS: Measures of TC (Mean182.05.6 to 160.5 5.2 mg/dL) and LDL (103.84.1 to 81.83.3 mg/dL) decreased significantly (P\u3c0.05) for the Treatment group with no changes for the Control group. There was a non-significant decrease in TG for the Treatment group, while the Control group significantly increased (81.26.1 to 103.29.4 mg/dL; P\u3e0.05). Lastly, there was a significant decrease in body mass for the Treatment group (76.23.6 to 72.32.7 kg; P\u3c0.05), while the Control group experienced no changes. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, these results indicate that resting blood triglycerides and cholesterol levels in young healthy adults benefited from daily consumption of the supplement. The Treatment group’s decrease in body mass may reflect a secondary effect to increase daily physical activity energy expenditure. Therefore, this supplement could be an effective non-prescription preventative treatment for populations at greater risk for heart disease