Top Executives Forgoing Their Salaries in the Face Of COVID-19: A Benevolent Act or Deceitful Trick?

As financial hardship hits us all in the wake of COVID-19, affluent executives of top companies have announced relinquishment of their 2020 salaries. While appearing to be to sharing the financial suffering with their lower employees, Lauren Sullivan dives into the question of how much these executives are really “sacrificing.”https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lawjournalonline/1047/thumbnail.jp

The Epic Struggle for Dolphin-Safe Tuna

In May 2012, the World Trade Organization (WTO) struck down the United States\u27 dolphin-safe tuna labeling standard as a barrier to trade that is prohibited by the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT). The analysis in the US-Tuna II report questions the validity of standardized eco-labels enforced by WTO Member States, which are an increasingly popular means to achieve environmental and consumer protection. This Note considers the merits of state-backed eco-labeling schemes, the implications of the US-Tuna II report for the WTO\u27s approach to nontrade interests, and potential accommodations within the current WTO framework for eco-labels. It ultimately suggests that WTO dispute resolution bodies depart from US-Tuna II; instead of rejecting environmental legislation that has any discriminatory effect upon trade, future decisions should concentrate upon whether the statute is intended to serve a protectionist purpose. It also suggests that the WTO consider awarding monetary aid to ease developing nations\u27 financial or technological burdens in complying with upheld regulations

Colloidal and truly dissolved metal(loid)s in wastewater lagoons and their removal with floating treatment wetlands

Climate change is predicted to cause continuing declines in late-season streamflow, thus increasing the relative contribution of wastewater effluent to surface water flows. Wastewater effluent represents a critical point source of metal and metalloid contamination to aquatic ecosystems and wastewater lagoons are the most common wastewater treatment system in the rural United States. Although the fraction of total wastewater metals and metalloids in dissolved forms (defined here asnm) likely drives the potential for negative effects on receiving waters, this broad operational definition lumps truly dissolved solutes (nm) with small colloids and nanomaterials (1-450 nm; hereafter colloids). This size distinction may be important as colloidal particles and truly dissolved solutes differ in their interactions with aquatic organisms and likely would require different strategies for their removal from wastewater. One potential tool for improving metal(loid) removal in wastewater lagoons is floating treatment wetlands, which consist of hydroponically grown plants on floating mats. This study examined the distribution of metal(loid)s between truly dissolved and small colloidal size fractions in six wastewater lagoon systems. Additionally, the efficacy of floating treatment wetlands in removing metal(loid)s and influencing the distribution of contaminants among truly dissolved and small colloidal size ranges was examined. In this survey of six lagoons, it was found that iron, lead, copper, manganese, and zinc were most abundant as small colloidal particles while aluminum, arsenic, and chromium were found mostly as truly dissolved solutes. The floating treatment wetlands were especially effective at removing those metal(loid)s that were abundant in colloidal forms, suggesting a potential role for floating treatment wetlands in enhancing wastewater lagoon efficiency for some metal(loid) contaminants

Nutrition ABCs for Healthy Families

This pamphlet informs the audience of basic nutrition principles for maintaining a healthy weight using healthy diet patterns and increased activity recommendations. It encourages healthful eating, regular activity and utilizing resources as a part of a healthy family lifestylehttps://dune.une.edu/an_studedres/1186/thumbnail.jp

If You Build It, What Will Come? Assessing the Avian Response to Wetland Restoration in the Mississippi River Bird’s Foot Delta Through Multiple Measures of Density and Biodiversity

Multiple wetland restoration and enhancement techniques are used in Louisiana to combat land loss and provide habitat for waterbirds. We investigated the avian response to three wetland restoration techniques in the Lower Mississippi Bird’s Foot Delta to determine if the different habitat types resulted in differences in the value of edge habitat. Species richness, guild richness, total bird density, bird density by foraging guild, and bird abundance relative to distance from the marsh edge was compared among (i) crevasse splays, a type of sediment diversion which allow the river to build new wetlands, (ii), beneficial use of dredged material marshes, where heavy equipment to create new wetlands from sediments dredged from navigation channels, (iii) marsh terraces, where lighter equipment is used to create strips of edge habitat from sediments dredged from the restoration site, (iv) old edge marshes, representing pre-restoration conditions at degrading marshes, and (v) open water sites. Seasonal bird counts and vegetation surveys were conducted from March 2013 to October 2014 at plots within the Pass a Loutre State Wildlife Management Area and Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, USA. We found bird abundance and diversity differs among the five habitat types during some times of the year, with habitat type and season often having a significant affect on the composition of the avian community. There was a significant relationship between habitat types and environmental factors (p=0.002), and a significant relationship between foraging guilds and environmental factors (p=0.002). Habitat type functions as a useful predictor of guild richness, but alone is not a perfect substitute for environmental variables when identifying the source of all variation in avian community composition. All habitat types studied provided habitat for birds, but were not utilized by all species or foraging guilds equally. We found that old edge marshes supported similar species richness as restored marshes during summer and winter (p\u3c0.05) and open water supported the highest bird density in winter and spring (p\u3c0.05). Any marsh habitat type, however, can be expected to support greater guild and species richness than open water areas during all seasons, but not greater bird density

Missing Persons’ Report! Where are the Transgender Characters in Children’s Picture Books?

When ruminating on the factors that impact early childhood education, one invariably reflects on the topic of how curriculum represents (or fails to represent) issues of gender, specifically with regard to how gender is portrayed within the selection of classroom picture books. In such ruminations, many questions emerge regarding the specific role reading curriculum plays as it relates to gender

Cultural Expression Through Art

Our project’s goal is to work towards greater cultural awareness within the Missoula community by focusing on educating children about culture through art. Cultural education has been slow to be implemented in schools, although it is increasing in importance as diversity in the Missoula community and the rest of the U.S. continues to increase. Cultural awareness is a broad term that covers multiple aspects of awareness: empathy, competence, safety, and intelligence. Learning cultural awareness begins at a young age, so we designed a hands-on learning experience directed at students in grades 4 through 6. We decided to use art as a way to connect students to culture in an engaging and memorable way. Due to COVID-19, we created a virtual learning experience using materials that students could easily find at home or any store. Our website contains an introductory lesson on what culture is as well as other lessons led by educators who volunteered to partner with us. Educators provided an art tutorial video as well as a lesson about the culture behind the art project. We partnered with a local nonprofit, The Flagship Program, to offer the website to a small group of students in order to test our website’s functionality and obtain feedback from educators and their students about the material and areas for improvement. By encouraging cultural awareness at young ages, we can support students in developing cross-cultural skills that will foster future global awareness and communication skills. Art itself is a cultural activity that fosters growth, inclusivity, and innovation. By looking at art forms originating in different cultures, our project shows one of the many ways that cultural education can be incorporated into classrooms

Developing a Research Agenda for Adult Palliative Care: A Modified Delphi Study

Background: Little is known about research priorities in adult palliative care. Identifying research priorities for adult palliative care will help in increasing research quality and translation. Objective: The aim was to identify the views of health professionals' research priorities in adult palliative care that lead to development of a palliative care research agenda in Australia. Design: A modified three-round Delphi survey. Setting/Subjects: Palliative care researchers and clinicians in Australia were invited to participate. Results: A total of 25 panelists completed round 1, 14 completed round 2, and 13 completed round 3. Round 1 resulted in 90 research priorities in 13 categories. Round 2 showed consensus agreement on 19/90 research priorities. Round 3 resulted in the top 10 research priorities of the 19 achieving consensus in round 2. Panelists agreed that research is needed on the transition to palliative care; improving communication about prognosis; increasing access to palliative care for indigenous communities, people who wish to remain at home, and people in aged care; addressing family caregivers' needs; promoting patients' and families' decision making; improving cross-cultural aspects of palliative care; determining the effects of assisted dying legislation; and improving bereavement care in rural, remote, and Aboriginal populations. Conclusions: The expert panelists identified the top 10 research priorities for adult palliative care. These identified research priorities are the most urgent topics requiring attention to increase the quality of life of patients requiring palliative care and their family members