Sex, But Not the City: Adult-Entertainment Zoning, the First Amendment, and Residential and Rural Municipalities

Adult entertainment\u27s status as protected First Amendment speech has resulted in a confusing series of U.S. Supreme Court cases evaluating the zoning of adult businesses. Cases discussing the requirement that municipalities provide alternative avenues of communication for adult businesses have raised many questions as to how rural and residential municipalities may satisfy this obligation. This Note identifies three solutions that would help frame this inquiry. First, state or county legislative bodies should adopt countywide or statewide location restricdons on adult businesses. Second, courts should employ a regional analysis of the alternative avenues requirement when evaluating adult entertainment zoning restrictions. Third, courts should undertake a supply-and-demand analysis when assessing what constitutes sufficient alternative avenues of communication, Adoption of these solutions would help to ensure that the First Amendment obligations of rural and residential municipalities reflect the unique burdens of such municipalities while maintaining appropriate protection for free speech

Improving physical activity maintenance following an exercise program for cancer survivors: a pragmatic hybrid randomized controlled trial

2020 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Purpose: Supervised exercise programs can help cancer survivors increase physical activity (PA), but maintaining PA following program completion is challenging. Randomized controlled trials have shown that adding behavior change counseling to supervised exercise can improve PA maintenance in cancer survivors, however, translating this work to real-world settings remains a challenge. This study examined (1) the feasibility and acceptability of implementing six, evidence-based PA behavior change counseling (PABCC) sessions into BfitBwell, an existing exercise program for cancer survivors, and (2) the effects of PABCC on post-program self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and on PA, 3-months following program completion. Methods: Cancer survivors enrolled in BfitBwell were randomized to receive (1) the current BfitBwell program, or (2) BfitBwell plus six PABCC sessions. Feasibility was assessed by participant representativeness, process fidelity, time and cost to adapt and deliver the PABCC sessions, and a focus group with BfitBwell staff. Acceptability was based on reasons for declining participation, adherence, and participant satisfaction. Barriers self-efficacy, exercise self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and PA were assessed via validated questionnaires at baseline, post-program, and 3-month follow-up (PA only). Quantitative feasibility and acceptability data were summarized using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Paired sample t-tests examined within group changes in self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Change in minutes of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was calculated by subtracting MVPA at post-program from 3-month follow up, and the percent of participants meeting PA guidelines was calculated. Results: Out of (N=33) who enrolled, N=13 completed the post-program assessment, and N=9 completed the 3-month follow-up exercise questionnaire. Based on the staff focus group and study evaluation questionnaire, PABCC was well accepted and the idea of incorporating a behavior change component into BfitBwell was well supported by program staff. However, due to low enrollment rates (35%), reasons for declining participation such as "unable to make class time", and the staff time associated with delivering PABCC sessions, implementation of the sessions in their current form may not be feasible. There was no significant change in self-efficacy or outcome expectation measures from baseline to post-program. Minutes of MVPA tended to decline from post-intervention to three-month follow-up in both BfitBwell + PABCC (-81.7 ± 240.6) and control (-45.0 ± 63.7), however PA response was highly variable. Additional research to explore alternative PABCC delivery strategies such as virtual delivery modalities or a condensed PABCC format in the context of existing exercise programs is needed. Further, a study with a larger sample size is needed to confirm the effectiveness of adding PABCC to BfitBwell on PA maintenance

Confidential Employees: A Recommendation for Uniformity

In NLRB v. Hendricks County Rural Electric Membership Corp., the Court held that there is a reasonable basis in law for the Board\u27s use of the \u27labor nexus test. At the same time, the Court declined to address the issue of whether the limited implied exclusion is also proper. This Note will address that open question by tracing the legislative, administrative and judicial treatment of confidential employees. The mode of analysis will be chronological, commencing with the passage of the Act. The analysis will detail the development of the labor nexus standard and the limited implied exclusion and will examine the different treatment afforded confidential employees by the Board and the courts in light of Hendricks. Finally, this Note will recommend that all confidential employees, determined to be so by a uniform standard, be treated uniformly

Against Global Governance in the WTO

This essay argues that the World Trade Organization should not become a forum for global governance in non-trade matters. It responds to those, like Professor Andrew Guzman, who believe that the WTO\u27s success suggests that the organization should be transformed into a forum for cross-issue regulatory bargains among member nations on issues, ranging from the environment to human rights, that are not easily resolved in existing international fora. We show that the current focus of the WTO - the reduction of barriers to international trade and the resulting promotion of private contracts - does not require the organization to face the agency problems inherent in regulatory structures. By contrast, global regulatory deals, even more than domestic legislation, may serve as vehicles for interest-group transfers. We also explain how the WTO\u27s rigorous enforcement mechanism might actually inhibit cross-issue bargaining among member nations. Substantive regulatory bargains would necessarily increase the discretion exercised by WTO dispute settlement tribunals. This increased discretion would entail a lack of predictability that could well be intolerable for WTO members, particularly developing countries. We end by arguing that the WTO can best contribute to the long-run improvement of regulatory standards by deepening its commitment to reducing barriers that prevent trade among the nations of the world

Against Global Governance in the WTO

This essay argues that the World Trade Organization should not become a forum for global governance in non-trade matters. It responds to those, like Professor Andrew Guzman, who believe that the WTO\u27s success suggests that the organization should be transformed into a forum for cross-issue regulatory bargains among member nations on issues, ranging from the environment to human rights, that are not easily resolved in existing international fora. We show that the current focus of the WTO - the reduction of barriers to international trade and the resulting promotion of private contracts - does not require the organization to face the agency problems inherent in regulatory structures. By contrast, global regulatory deals, even more than domestic legislation, may serve as vehicles for interest-group transfers. We also explain how the WTO\u27s rigorous enforcement mechanism might actually inhibit cross-issue bargaining among member nations. Substantive regulatory bargains would necessarily increase the discretion exercised by WTO dispute settlement tribunals. This increased discretion would entail a lack of predictability that could well be intolerable for WTO members, particularly developing countries. We end by arguing that the WTO can best contribute to the long-run improvement of regulatory standards by deepening its commitment to reducing barriers that prevent trade among the nations of the world

The World Trade Constitution

Conventional wisdom holds that the World Trade Organization (WTO) necessarily poses a threat to sovereignty and representative government within its member nations. Professors McGinnis and Movsesian refute this view. They argue that the WTO can be understood as a constitutive structure that, by reducing the power of protectionist interest groups, can simultaneously promote international trade and domestic democracy. Indeed, in promoting both free trade and accountable government, the WTO reflects many of the insights that inform our own Madisonian Constitution. Professors McGinnis and Movsesian reject recent proposals to grant the WTO regulatory authority, endorsing instead the WTO\u27s limited adjudicative power as the better means to resolve the difficult problem of covert protectionism. They develop a series of procedure-oriented tests that would permit WTO tribunals to invalidate covert protectionism without supplanting national judgments on labor, environmental, health, and safety policies. Finally, they demonstrate that the WTO\u27s emerging approach to the problem of covert protectionism largely comports with the democracy-reinforcing jurisprudence they recommend, and they offer some suggestions for reforms that would help prevent the organization from going astray in the future

Against Global Governance in the WTO

In Global Governance and the WTO, Professor Andrew Guzman has done an impressive job of articulating a vision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that many international lawyers share. In this vision, the WTO\u27s mission should be expanded beyond its present task of facilitating tariff reductions and preventing covert protectionism. Rather, the WTO should take on substantive authority in a wide variety of non-trade areas, including the environment, labor, human rights, and public health. Unlike many people who share this vision, Guzman takes the time to describe how it might best be accomplished. He advocates specialized WTO departments and periodic Mega-Rounds in which members make cross-issue regulatory bargains. Unless members agreed otherwise, these regulatory bargains would be subject to the WTO\u27s Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). The availability of the dispute settlement system is a major element of Guzman\u27s proposal. Guzman argues that the mechanism could serve as an important credibility-enhancing device that would encourage members to make beneficial cross-issue bargains. While Guzman believes that members should be free to avoid the application of the DSU to their new bargains if they wish, the unavailability of the mechanism as an enforcement device would rob Guzman\u27s proposal of much of its force. In the absence of the DSU, one might as well seek out international fora other than the WTO for the harmonization of global rules. As its title suggests, Guzman\u27s article is ultimately a call for world government by the WTO. In this necessarily brief response, we describe some of the more important theoretical and practical problems that Guzman\u27s proposal presents. First, in Part II, we address the matter of cross-issue bargaining in the WTO. While cross-issue bargaining can create gains for parties to a contract, substantive regulatory deals may be vehicles for amoral wealth transfers among interest groups. Unlike the present WTO, which works to minimize the influence of one particular form of interest group—protectionists—the transformed organization would facilitate agreements that empower special interests. In Part III, we discuss the potential of the dispute settlement system as a credibility-enhancing device. We demonstrate why the dispute settlement system might actually discourage cross-issue bargains by vesting extraordinary discretion in WTO tribunals. This discretion would entail an intolerable lack of predictability for WTO members, particularly given the sensitivity of the matters involved. We explain why developing countries would be especially chary of signing on to such a regime, and show how extending the dispute settlement system to cover a variety of non-trade issues might upset the sensitive dynamic in which exporters work to assure national compliance with WTO obligations. Finally, in our conclusion, we briefly address another possible model for the future of the WTO, one that we have previously described at length. Rather than transform itself into a global government—a World Trade, Economic, Environment, Human Rights, Labor, and Public Health Organization—the WTO should stick to its limited but important role: reducing barriers to trade among nations

An Innovative Approach for Community Engagement: Using an Audience Response System

Community-based participatory research methods allow for community engagement in the effort to reduce cancer health disparities. Community engagement involves health professionals becoming a part of the community in order to build trust, learn from the community and empower them to reduce disparities through their own initiatives and ideas. Audience Response Systems (ARS) are an innovative and engaging way to involve the community and obtain data for research purposes using keypads to report results via power point. The use of ARS within communities is very limited and serves to widen the disparity gap by not delivering new advances in medical knowledge and technology among all population groups. ARS was implemented at a community town hall event sponsored by a National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Exploratory Center of Excellence, the Center for Equal Health. Participants appreciated being able to see how everyone else answered and felt included in the research process. ARS is beneficial because the community can answer truthfully and provides instant research results. Additionally, researchers can collect large amounts of data quickly, in a non-threatening way while tracking individual responses anonymously. Audience Response Systems proved to be an effective tool for successfully accomplishing community-based participatory research

BLAST: improvements for better sequence analysis

Basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) is a sequence similarity search program. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) maintains a BLAST server with a home page at . We report here on recent enhancements to the results produced by the BLAST server at the NCBI. These include features to highlight mismatches between similar sequences, show where the query was masked for low-complexity sequence, and integrate information about the database sequences from the NCBI Entrez system into the BLAST display. Changes to how the database sequences are fetched have also improved the speed of the report generator

Pressure ulcer related pain in community populations: a prevalence survey.

BACKGROUND: Pressure ulcers are costly to the healthcare provider and can have a major impact on patient's quality of life. One of the most distressing symptoms reported is pain. There is very little published data on the prevalence and details of pain experienced by patients with pressure ulcers, particularly in community populations. The study was conducted in two community NHS sites in the North of England. METHODS: The aim was to estimate the prevalence of pressure area related pain within a community population. We also explored the type and severity of the pain and its association with pressure ulcer classification. A cross-sectional survey was performed of community nurses caseloads to identify adult patients with pressure ulcers and associated pain. Consenting patients then had a full pain assessment and verification of pressure ulcer grade. RESULTS: A total of 287 patients were identified with pressure ulcers (0.51 per 1000 adult population). Of the 176 patients who were asked, 133 (75.6%) reported pain. 37 patients consented to a detailed pain assessment. Painful pressure ulcers of all grades and on nearly all body sites were identified. Pain intensity was not related to number or severity of pressure ulcer. Both inflammatory and neuropathic pain were reported at all body sites however the proportion of neuropathic pain was greater in pressure ulcers on lower limbs. CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified the extent and type of pain suffered by community patients with pressure ulcers and indicates the need for systematic and regular pain assessment and treatment