Why Deporting Immigrants for “Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude” is Now Unconstitutional

In the best of times, immigrants should only be deported according to the rule of law and not by the whim of executive branch officials. Now, it is imperative. Yet the statute authorizing removal of immigrants for “crimes involving moral turpitude” invites officials to base their prosecutorial choices on political or personal views. As a result, defense attorneys advising their clients on the immigration consequences of pleas have no basis for prediction. Although the Supreme Court long ago rejected the argument that the “moral turpitude” clause was void for vagueness, one of the Court’s most recent decisions now makes that conclusion unsupportable. The notion that due process permits officials to banish legal permanent residents based on “moral turpitude,” which never comported with common sense, is now legally incorrect

Why Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others: Metabolic Correlates of Human Attraction in AEDES AEGYPTI

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are the principal vectors of two major infectious diseases that plague the developing world today: dengue fever and chikungunya, with dengue fever alone resulting in ~400 million total yearly infections, and ~24,000 deaths (Bhatt et al., 2013). Understanding the biology behind Ae. aegypti attraction to humans is critical for developing novel strategies to combat these diseases. Yet, even the basic act of how mosquitoes choose one human host over another is poorly understood. Many previous studies on differential attraction have focused on small, homogenous subject populations and addressed a single hypothesis. We took the opposite strategy and studied a large, diverse 150-subject cohort, capturing a multitude of variables that may be involved in host selection. Importantly, our study examined the previously unexplored possibility that mosquito preference may be correlated with differences blood metabolites between subjects. We developed the uniport olfactometer as a method for discriminating subject attraction. Within our study population we distinguished three clusters of subjects who were differentially attractive to mosquitoes. We performed metabolic profiling with subject plasma samples and acquired relative concentrations of 613 different metabolites. We also collected information pertaining to 41 other variables including demographic information, self-reported lifestyle factors, self-reported reaction to mosquito bites, vital signs, blood type, a complete blood count panel, and clinical blood analysis. Using a variety of statistical methods for feature selection, we narrowed this list of variables and arrived at two preliminary models for mosquito attraction. These models explain 24.1% of subject variation in mosquito attraction, and approximately 19.7% of this explanatory power is due to blood metabolites alone. Metabolites within the amino acid superpathway, and specifically the histidine subpathway were negatively correlated with mosquito attraction. Conversely, molecules within the lipid metabolism superpathway, specifically long chain fatty acids and monoacylglycerols, were positively correlated with mosquito attraction. This is the first study to correlate human blood metabolomic components with selective attraction of mosquitoes to hosts. Our work establishes a framework to study the causality of these correlates, and determine the mechanisms underlying their effect on mosquito choice

Normal

This poem reflects on various conversations from a parent's perspective when someone uses the word "normal" to describe a child who has a disability

Qualitative Study of Collaboration Between Independent Reading Specialists and Elementary Classroom Teachers

Abstract The failure of educators to meet the needs of elementary students who require separated, differentiated, and intensive reading interventions (Tier 3) has been attributed to the scarcity of administrative resources and a lack of effective collaboration between reading specialists and classroom teachers. Experts opine that common barriers to effective collegial collaboration between institutional reading specialists, who are employed by the school, and classroom teachers include: an unsupportive school culture, the classroom teachers’ fear of losing pedagogical autonomy, the absence of mutual trust and interdependence between the reading specialists and their students’ classroom teachers, and the inability of reading specialists and classroom teachers to resolve interprofessional conflicts. These perceived barriers are heighted when engaged independent reading specialists, who are not employed by the school, attempt to collaborate with unengaged classroom teachers of their students for the purpose of coherent lesson planning. The findings of this qualitative case study revealed five recommendations for practical application that enable independent reading specialists to more effectively collaborate with their struggling readers’ elementary school classroom teachers and also support the readers’ classroom curriculum. Successful collaboration between independent reading specialists and classroom teachers is essential to improving the academic achievement of struggling readers who depend on effective Tier 3 reading intervention. Keywords: reading specialist, elementary education teacher, collaboration, conflict resolution, leadershi

Competitive Edge Teaching: A Comparison of Differentiated Reading Instruction in the K-3 Elementary Classroom to the Sports Psychology Behind High School Athletic Coaching Methods

This study explored the similarities between the philosophies and techniques used by select high school athletic coaches and select elementary reading teachers. The study shows parallels between the psychology behind coaching methodology within high school athletics and differentiated instruction within the elementary reading classroom. The purpose of this research was to develop a pathway to influence the increased implementation of differentiated instruction in elementary schools by determining and highlighting these parallels. The design of the study is a triangular analysis of interview questions conducted in a face-to-face interview format, document analysis, and surveys to show the parallels between the planning and implementation approaches. The data gathered from these measures generated patterns and identified strong parallels of structure between instructional delivery in the two areas. We learned that with a better focus on aligning prioritization within these parallels, school leaders have the opportunity to shed new light on differentiated instruction, grounded in the UDL model, to better promote and foster student success in the classrooms. Perception is reality, and it is the goal that this study provides a positive perception of differentiated instruction

Mid-infrared wavelength- and frequency-modulation spectroscopy with a pump-modulated singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator

We describe the implementation of the wavelength- and frequency-modulation spectroscopy techniques using a singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a fiber-amplified diode laser. Frequency modulation of the diode laser was transferred to the OPO¿s mid-infrared idler output, avoiding the need for external modulation devices. This approach thus provides a means of implementing these important techniques with powerful, widely tunable, mid-infrared sources while retaining the simple, flexible modulation properties of diode lasers

Lubricant degradation, transport and the effect of extended oil drain intervals on piston assembly tribology

There are ever increasing demands on lubricant manufacturers to meet governmental legislation and customer needs by improving fuel economy, engine durability and exhaust system compatibility as shown by the introduction of GF4 and move towards GF5 specification oils. This has created an ever increasing need to understand how oil degrades in an engine and how this degraded oil affects piston assembly tribology. This review conference paper will give an overview of a collaborative project that has been undertaken to further enhance the understanding of how lubricant degrades in an operating engine, its transport through the engine and effect upon piston assembly tribology

Extraction and tribological investigation of top piston ring zone oil from a gasoline engine

With tightening emission regulations, increased expected fuel economy, and longer drain intervals impacting on lubricant formulation, greater understanding of how oil degrades in an automotive engine is becoming ever more important. Equally significant is the effect that this degraded lubricant has on the tribological operation of the engine, particularly its overall internal friction and component wear. In a previous paper, four tests to degrade oil in a single cylinder engine were reported [1]. These tests were set up such that the lubricating oil was degraded in the ring pack before returning to the sump, where it was sampled and chemical and rheological analysis undertaken. This paper reports the extension of this work using the same Hydra engine and describes how oil has additionally been extracted from the rear of the top piston ring during engine operation. This extracted oil has then been subjected to similar analysis as the sump oil samples in the previous tests, along with additional analysis to look at the tribological properties of the oil using tribometers. The results clearly show significant differences in the rheological, tribological, and chemical properties of the fresh oil and used sump oil samples when compared with the top ring zone (TRZ) oil samples, particularly the effect of load on the levels of volatiles present in the TRZ samples and their effect on traction and friction coefficient values during tribological testing