Asylum Claims Based on Persecution on Account of Religion: Women Persecuted Under Shari\u27ah Law

Asylum has been denied to Muslim women fleeing persecution under shari\\u27ah law in some countries because they failed to link the persecution to one of the enumerated grounds: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. These women often face extreme persecution including strict proscriptions on dress, behavior, work and educational opportunities and ability to marry and divorce. Trying to fit into the rigid refugee definition, many female asylum seekers have sought to fit their claim within the membership in a social group or political opinion category. This has been met with limited success. Muslim women fleeing persecution under Shari\\u27ah law, however, may also seek asylum based upon persecution on account of religion. This paper will explore how women suffering persecution under Shari\\u27ah law may use the religious persecution category to assert a claim for asylum. Section II will start by looking at modern U.S. refugee law and the legal obstacles that applicants must overcome in order the receive asylum. Section III will focus on religious persecution and previous claims to asylum brought by Muslim women. In section IV I will examine the development of Shari\\u27ah law and explain how a claim of religious persecution can be asserted for actions conducted under certain codified laws. Finally, in section V, I will focus on specific examples of Shari\\u27ah-based persecution in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan and discuss how a claim of asylum may be asserted in those circumstances

FDA Regulation of Health and Fitness Equipment

As new "quasi-medical" devices continue to push the bounds of the FDCA definition of a medical device and with growing popular support for using the FDA to regulate previously off-limit products such as tobacco, the FDA may very well broaden its regulatory scope into the health and fitness industry. By focusing on the specific example of the scuba industry, this paper will examine first, whether the FDA has the authority to regulate athletic equipment as medical devices. Part two will explore the plausible reasons for why the FDA in the past has chosen not to regulate athletic equipment and whether those rationales still make good sense. Part three will discuss whether the scuba industry can serve as an example for other sectors of the health and fitness industry that seek to avoid FDA regulation

Calcium supplemental usage and potential health issues sssociated with the rate of usage in Las Vegas, NV

Calcium is a very important nutrient and as such, it is very important that all humans consume sufficient amounts. However, some calcium supplements have been known to contain small quantities of lead. This research project used a retrospective approach to explore the trade-off between the benefits of calcium vs. the potential lead exposure amongst people who are taking these supplements. A survey consisting of 10 questions was used to try to assess the rate of consumption of specific types of calcium supplements. This research project obtained lead levels in calcium supplements from previous research and applied that data into this research project using the assumption that the levels were consistent to currents levels of lead in calcium supplements. The Mann-Whitney and Chi-Square tests were used to analyze the data, since it was determined that the continuous variables in the data were non-normal and the other variables were categorical. Significance was determined for α\u3c.05. It was found that women consume more milligrams of calcium per day when compared to men and they also as have a higher exposure to lead as a result. The research also found that there is a positive association between age and the length of time a person has been consuming calcium supplements

Effects of Heregulin on Muscle: A Biochemical and Histological Analysis

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the most common inherited X-linked genetic disease affecting 1 in 5000 boys, results from a dysfunctional dystrophin protein encoded by the DMD gene. Dystrophin interacts with protein complexes linking the extracellular matrix to the cytoskeleton of muscle fibers. Without dystrophin functioning properly, sarcolemmal membrane stabilization is compromised during the mechanical rigors involved with muscle contraction leading to progressive muscular dystrophy. Heregulin/neuregulin-1 (HRG), a member of the epidermal growth factor family has been shown to induce neuromuscular junction (NMJ) gene expression in vitro and improve skeletal muscle function in dystrophic mice. However, it is unclear if the HRG effects were due to proliferation, cell survival, differentiation, or stimulation of NMJ formation to improve excitation-contractile coupling. To identify a mechanism of action, HRG effects were investigated through in vitro and in vivo experiments: characterization of downstream signaling, observation of the effects on acetylcholine receptor clustering in vitro, and observation of NMJ morphology in vivo. In this study we show through Western blots and electrochemiluminesence assays that AKT and ERK were activated by HRG, but downstream effects were not clear. HRG decreased laminin-induced AChR clusters in a dose dependent manner in vitro, resulting in the possible reorganization of AChRs. In vivo, HRG was found to partially restore NMJ formation and increase axonal and muscle integration in the NMJ. This study provides evidence that a mechanism of action for the positive effects of HRG on the dystrophic phenotype in mdx mice are due to a reorganization of AChRs and an improvement in NMJ formation, potentially improving excitation contraction coupling

Regeneration in the Pilidium

Ability to regenerate is found in many groups of metazoans but the majority of research is focused on adults from just a few taxa, such as planarians and hydra (Agata and Inoue, 2012; Bely et al., 2014). Increasing the diversity of study organisms and life stages can reveal new and interesting aspects of regeneration mechanisms. This study focuses on regeneration of the nemertean pilidium larva. The planktotrophic pilidium of Maculaura alaskensis provides a unique model in which to observe several components of the regeneration process. Here I have documented a timeline for regeneration and have begun to evaluate the cells responsible for regenerative success. This study has revealed the interplay between regeneration and degeneration, a tradeoff between larval and juvenile structures, as well as the important relationship between global versus local signaling in proliferation and differentiation responses

Stuck Between ‘the Rock’ and a Hard Place: Re-imagining Rural Newfoundland Feminine Subjectivities Beyond the Global Imaginary and Rural Crisis

There has been a growing body of research exploring the mobility experiences of rural youth as they migrate in search of work, education and leisure. In this paper we contribute to this body of knowledge by examining the mobility experiences of young women (16-24 years) living on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, Canada. In contrast to dominant constructions of rural crisis that position out of the way places as in decline, dying or dead, we argue that the young women in our study articulated complex, affective relations to place. In so doing they negotiated localized histories, prevailing social relations, broader discursive constructions and embodied affective connections in forging their emplaced feminine subjectivities. We argue that foregrounding the complex and at times contradictory relationships that the young women articulated with their rural homes is an important step in prying open dominant albeit constraining constructions of the rural, thereby allowing for alternative and more inhabitable imaginings of out of the way places

Re-Inscribing Gender Relations through Employment-Related Geographical Mobility: The Case of Newfoundland Youth in Resource Extraction

Despite the popular representation of the masculine hero migrant (Ni Laoire, 2001), rural youth scholars have found that young men are more likely to stay on in their communities, while young women tend to be more mobile, leaving for education and better employment opportunities elsewhere (Corbett, 2007b; Lowe, 2015). Taking a spatialized approach (Farrugia, Smyth & Harrison, 2014), we contribute to and extend the rural youth studies scholarship on gender, mobilities and place by considering the case of young Newfoundlanders’ geographical mobilities in relation to male-dominated resource extraction industries. We draw on findings from two SSHRC-funded research projects, the Rural Youth and Recovery project, a subcomponent of the Community-University Research for Recovery Alliance (CURRA) and the Youth, Apprenticeship and Mobility project, a subcomponent of the On the Move Partnershi We argue that the spatial coding of gender relations in rural Newfoundland makes certain kinds of mobilities more intelligible and possible for young men, while constraining women’s. In other words, gender relations of rural places are “stretched out” (Farrugia et al., 2014) across space through the mobility practices of young men and women in relation to work in skilled trades and resource extraction industries. These “stretched out” gender relations are reproduced by the organisation of a sector that relies on a mobile workforce free from care and domestic work and familiar with manual work

Detection of radio emission from stars via proper-motion searches

We present a method for identifying radio stellar sources using their proper-motion. We demonstrate this method using the FIRST, VLASS, RACS-low and RACS-mid radio surveys, and astrometric information from Gaia Data Release 3. We find eight stellar radio sources using this method, two of which have not previously been identified in the literature as radio stars. We determine that this method probes distances of ~90pc when we use FIRST and RACS-mid, and ~250pc when we use FIRST and VLASS. We investigate the time baselines required by current and future radio sky surveys to detect the eight sources we found, with the SKA (6.7 GHz) requiring <3 years between observations to find all eight sources. We also identify nine previously known and 43 candidate variable radio stellar sources that are detected in FIRST (1.4 GHz) but are not detected in RACS-mid (1.37 GHz). This shows that many stellar radio sources are variable, and that surveys with multiple epochs can detect a more complete sample of stellar radio sources.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in PAS

The ‘Facebook\u27 Effect: College Students\u27 Perceptions of Online Discussions in the Age of Social Networking

Despite the growing prominence of Facebook in the lives of college students, few studies have investigated the potential of these innovative web-based communication tools for engaging students in academic discussions. This study used a pre-test, post-test design in two introductory-level courses at a large public university to compare students’ (n = 107) perceptions of, attitudes toward, and perceived learning associated with two different online discussion tools: the Facebook group forum and a university-sponsored online tool. Although pre-course surveys indicated that few students enjoyed online discussions, postcourse analysis revealed significant changes in students’ opinions regarding the value and functionality of web-based discussion forums, with Facebook as their clear preference. Students who participated in Facebook discussions enjoyed the site’s familiarity, navigability, and aesthetically appealing interface. Facebook users also reported that they were able to become better acquainted with classmates, felt like valued participants in the course, and learned more course material. This study suggests that, if used appropriately, Facebook may help to increase college student engagement in certain learning contexts by cultivating classroom community and stimulating intellectual discourse

Degradation of mangrove tissues by arboreal termites (\u3cem\u3eNasutitermes acajutlae\u3c/em\u3e) and their role in the mangrove C cycle (Puerto Rico): Chemical characterization and organic matter provenance using bulk δ\u3csup\u3e13\u3c/sup\u3eC, C/N, alkaline CuO oxidation‐GC/MS, and solid‐state \u3csup\u3e13\u3c/sup\u3eC NMR

Arboreal termites are wood decaying organisms that play an important role in the first stages of C cycling in mangrove systems. The chemical composition of Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans, and Laguncularia racemosa leaf, stem, and pneumatophore tissues as well as associated sediments was compared to that of nests of the termite Nasutitermes acajutlae. Nests gave δ13C values of −26.1 to −27.2‰ (±0.1) and C/N of 43.3 (±2.0) to 98.6 (±16.2) which were similar to all stem and pneumatophores but distinct from mangrove leaves or sediments. Organic matter processed by termites yielded lignin phenol concentrations (Λ, lambda) that were 2–4 times higher than stem or pneumatophores and 10–20 times higher than that of leaves or sediments, suggesting that the nests were more resistant to biodegradation than the mangrove vegetation source. 13C NMR revealed that polysaccharide content of mangrove tissues (50–69% C) was higher than that of the nests (46–51% C). Conversely, lignin accounted for 16.2–19.6% C of nest material, a threefold increase relative to living mangrove tissues; a similar increase in aromatic methoxyl content was also observed in the nests. Lipids (aliphatic and paraffinic moieties) were also important but rather variable chemical components of all three mangrove species, representing between 13.5 and 28.3% of the C content. Termite nests contained 3.14 Mg C ha−1 which represents approximately 2% of above ground C storage in mangroves, a value that is likely to increase upon burial due to their refractory chemical composition