From Identification to Durable Solution: Analysis of the Resettlement of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors to the United States and Recommendations for Best Interest Determinations

Internationally, not much is known about unaccompanied refugee children who are identified for third country resettlement and who they are as a group. As the largest resettlement country, the United States resettles more unaccompanied children than any other nation and much can be learned from this group of children's cases. Sharing this information with the international community could inform policies and programs related to the identification of displaced children in need of durable solutions.This USCCB/MRS staff report is intended to assist with educating the international audience about the population of unaccompanied refugee minors identified for refugee resettlement to the United States. It builds upon and compares results from a previous USCCB report. Drawing upon our professional experience with best interest assessments and determinations for unaccompanied/separated children, we also include in this report concrete suggestions regarding best interest determinations in refugee settings. Our hope is that sharing this information will be a helpful tool for those in the international community who are charged with or have the capacity to provide a voice of protection for vulnerable refugee children.For refugee minors unable to resettle with family members or other appropriate caregivers, the United States Refugee Program provides specialized foster care services through the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) program network. The URM programs are designed to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate foster care and supportive services to refugee children and youth. They originated in the 1980s in response to the needs of unaccompanied refugee children arriving from Southeast Asia; since then, the programs have received almost 13,000 children from countries all over the world. Placement into the URM programs is offered by two national voluntary agencies: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS), both of which receive approximately equal numbers of URMs each year.The majority of unaccompanied refugee minors who enter the URM programs are identified overseas by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff, nongovernmental organizations and others. Currently most children who are referred for resettlement into a URM program have had their needs evaluated through a process called a Best Interest Determination (BID). The UNHCR Guidelines on Determining the Best Interests of the Child (2008) states that, "Resettlement to a country other than that of the parents can be in the best interest of the child, if family reunification is neither possible in the place of residence of the parents (for instance, due to safety considerations) nor in the country of asylum, and the child faces serious protection risks which cannot be addressed in the environment of the country of asylum." Often a BID is conducted in an effort to identify a durable solution -- including voluntary repatriation, local integration, and resettlement -- for the child.When a child is referred to USCCB or LIRS for resettlement, a BID is included in the referral documentation. These BIDS are invaluable in understanding the child's history and in making decisions about the best placement option in the U.S. for the child.In 2010, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) conducted an evaluation of Best Interest Determinations for most of the unaccompanied refugee minors who were resettled by USCCB between October 1, 2007 and March 31, 2009. Among the recommendations in that report was the need for greater efforts to identify children in urban settings, the need to conduct BIDs promptly and to be alert to the possibility of trafficking in refugee settings. This report looks at the BIDs and other pre-arrival case information for all of the URMs resettled by USCCB from January 2010 through March 2011. We found some changes from the last report and some areas where we believe there is room for improvement

It's the Mind-Set That Matters: The Role of Construal Level and Message Framing in Influencing Consumer Efficacy and Conservation Behaviors

across three studies, this research elucidates when loss- versus gainframed messages are most effective in influencing consumer recycling by examining the moderating role of whether a more concrete or abstract mind-set is activated. First, in a field study, the authors demonstrate that loss frames are more efficacious when paired with low-level, concrete mind-sets, whereas gain frames are more effective when paired with high-level, abstract mind-sets. this is an important, substantive finding that persisted over a significant time span. in addition, in two additional laboratory studies, they find further evidence for this matching hypothesis, in which a pairing of loss- (gain-) framed messages that activates more concrete (abstract) mind-sets leads to enhanced processing fluency, increased efficacy, and, as a result, more positive recycling intentions. the findings have implications for marketers, consumers, and society as a whole

Photon Sieve Design and Fabrication for Imaging Characteristics Using UAV Flight

The Photon Sieve (PS) team at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) began receiving support for the development and characterization of PS devices through the NASA Internal Research & Development Program (IRAD) in 2015. The project involves ascertaining the imaging characteristics of various PS devices. These devices hold the potential to significantly reduce mission costs and improve imaging quality by replacing traditional reflector telescopes. The photon sieve essentially acts as a lens to diffract light to a concentrated point on the focal plane like a Fresnel Zone Plate (FZP). PSs have the potential to focus light to a very small spot which is not limited by the width of the outermost zone as for the FZP and offers a promising solution for high resolution imaging. In the fields of astronomy, remote sensing, and other applications that require imaging of distant objects both on the ground and in the sky, it is often necessary to perform post-process filtering in order to separate noise signals that arise from multiple scattering events near the collection optic. The PS exhibits a novel filtering technique that rejects the unwanted noise without the need for time consuming post processing of the images. This project leverages key Langley resources to design, manufacture, and characterize a series of photon sieve specimens. After a prototype was developed and characterized in the Langley ISO5 optical cleanroom and laboratory, outside testing was conducted via the capture of images of the moon by using a telescopic setup. This next goal of the project is to design and develop a telescope and image capture system as a drone-based instrument payload. The vehicle utilized for the initial demonstration was a NASA hive model 1200 XE-8 research Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), capable of handling a 20-pound maximum payload with a 25-minute flight time. This NASA Technical Memorandum (NASA-TM) introduces preliminary results obtained using a PS-based imaging system on the UAV. The next version of the telescope structure will be designed around diffractive optical components and commercially available camera electronics to create a lightweight payload

Espectroelectroquímica de fotocatalizadores supramoleculares para reducción de co2

La reducción electrocatalítica de CO2 usando complejos de rutenio polipiridilo, Ruα y Ruβ, se estudió por voltamperometría en dimetilformamida DMF con 1M H2O. El primer proceso de reducción para Ruα y Ruβ en DMF: H2O muestra reversibilidad en su respuesta voltamétrica. Los potenciales redox de las ondas son -0.64 V (α) y -0.60 V (β) (vs Ag/AgCl). La corriente de la onda catódica para Ruα y Ruβ se incrementa con la adición de CO2 a la solución lo que indica reducción catalítica de CO2 en -0.60 V y -0.57 V respectivamente. La presencia de un sitio reactivo de nitrógeno en el ligando ptpb (4,5,9,11,14 -pentaaza-benzo(α o β)-trifenileno) facilita la formación de un intermediario tipo carbamato. Se describen reflectancias diferenciales, R/R vs. potencial en N2 y CO2, a 575 y 564 nm empleadas para seguir la formación de las especies radicales monoreducidas Ruα•- and Ruβ•-A combination of electro and spectroelectrochemistry have been used to study the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 in the presence of ruthenium polypyridyl, Ru and Ruβ, complexes. Measurements were conducted in DMF:H2O. The first redox processes for Ruα and Ruβ show reversible voltammetric waves at -0.64 V and -0.60 V vs Ag/AgCl respectively. A clear increase in the cathodic wave of both Ruα and Ruβ occurs when CO2 is added to the solution pointing to a catalytic wave of the CO2 reduction at -0.60 V and -0.57 V respectively. The presence of a reactive nitrogen site on the ptpb (4,5,9,11,14 -pentaaza-benzo(α o β) -triphenylene) (either α or β) ligand facilitates the formation of a CO2 carbamate-type intermediate. Differential reflectance, R/R, vs. potential profiles in N2 and CO2 solutions show the consumption of the complex radical anion in the presence of CO2. R/R /potential curves are shown at 575 and 564 nm to track the electrochemical evolution of monoreduced Ruα •- and Ruβ •- radicals respectivelyFil: Franco Pachon, Yeimi Milena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Tacconi, Norma. University Of Texas; Estados UnidosFil: MacDonnell, Frederick M.. University Of Texas; Estados UnidosFil: Lezna, Reynaldo Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; Argentin

Climate Quality Broadband and Narrowband Solar Reflected Radiance Calibration Between Sensors in Orbit

vAs the potential impacts of global climate change become more clear [1], the need to determine the accuracy of climate prediction over decade-to-century time scales has become an urgent and critical challenge. The most critical tests of climate model predictions will occur using observations of decadal changes in climate forcing, response, and feedback variables. Many of these key climate variables are observed by remotely sensing the global distribution of reflected solar spectral and broadband radiance. These "reflected solar" variables include aerosols, clouds, radiative fluxes, snow, ice, vegetation, ocean color, and land cover. Achieving sufficient satellite instrument accuracy, stability, and overlap to rigorously observe decadal change signals has proven very difficult in most cases and has not yet been achieved in others [2]. One of the earliest efforts to make climate quality observations was for Earth Radiation Budget: Nimbus 6/7 in the late 1970s, ERBE in the 1980s/90s, and CERES in 2000s are examples of the most complete global records. The recent CERES data products have carried out the most extensive intercomparisons because if the need to merge data from up to 11 instruments (CERES, MODIS, geostationary imagers) on 7 spacecraft (Terra, Aqua, and 5 geostationary) for any given month. In order to achieve climate calibration for cloud feedbacks, the radiative effect of clear-sky, all-sky, and cloud radiative effect must all be made with very high stability and accuracy. For shortwave solar reflected flux, even the 1% CERES broadband absolute accuracy (1-sigma confidence bound) is not sufficient to allow gaps in the radiation record for decadal climate change. Typical absolute accuracy for the best narrowband sensors like SeaWiFS, MISR, and MODIS range from 2 to 4% (1-sigma). IPCC greenhouse gas radiative forcing is approx. 0.6 W/sq m per decade or 0.6% of the global mean shortwave reflected flux, so that a 50% cloud feedback would change the global reflected flux by approx. 0.3 W/sq m or 0.3% per decade in broadband SW calibration change. Recent results comparing CERES reflected flux changes with MODIS, MISR, and SeaWiFS narrowband changes concluded that only SeaWiFS and CERES were approaching sufficient stability in calibration for decadal climate change [3]. Results using deep convective clouds in the optically thick limit as a stability target may prove very effective for improving past data sets like ISCCP. Results for intercalibration of geostationary imagers to CERES using an entire month of regional nearly coincident data demonstrates new approaches to constraining the calibration of current geostationary imagers. The new Decadal Survey Mission CLARREO is examining future approaches to a "NIST-in-Orbit" approach of very high absolute accuracy reference radiometers that cover the full solar and infrared spectrum at high spectral resolution but at low spatial resolution. Sampling studies have shown that a precessing CLARREO mission could calibrate other geo and leo reflected solar radiation and thermal infrared sensors

The Jury Vetting Cases: New Insights on Jury Trials in Criminal Cases?

In this paper the author discusses the Supreme Court of Canada’s decisions in the jury vetting cases of R. v. Yumnu, R. v. Emms and R. v. Davey. The author suggests that while the Supreme Court’s ruling goes a long way toward eliminating the concerns associated with jury vetting, there is a disconnect between the Court’s description of the jury selection process and how counsel tend to think about jury selection in criminal trials. While counsel are limited in their ability to influence the jury selection process, the Court might nevertheless have considered whether a full ban on jury vetting was needed to combat the risk — both real and perceived — that the Crown might act unethically during the jury selection process. The paper also examines whether the Court’s comments about the essential and inalienable features of the jury contribute to our understanding of the right to trial by jury enshrined in section 11(f) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

An Historical Snapshot of the Relevance of Pregnancy for Lesbian Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been taken up with respect to heterosexual couplesfor several decades and strategies to address/support this have been integrated into health and social service programs and support. Pregnancy is one factor that has been associated with IPV. Nevertheless, despite the increasing attention to the lesbian babyboom from the mid-’70s in North America and affirmation of the diverse families who comprise communities and increasingly visible programming and services to meet the diverse needs of lesbians, less visible has been lesbian IPV and particularly in relation to motherhood, pregnancy or postpartum. This paper reports on an examination of scholarly literature on lesbian IPV and lesbian mothering undertaken in 2003 that suggested the limited visibility of childbearing in relation to lesbian IPV had implications for research and programming in a Canadian context. Ashistorical research, this inquiry aimed to be congruent with an advocacy stance, one that was accountable to lesbian communities The findings are situated in the current landscape of research and resources for childbearing lesbians given the uneven support for lesbian mothering and mothering-focused lesbian IPV