The Limits of Pro Se Assistance in Immigration Proceedings: Discussion of NWIRP v. Sessions

This Article discusses issues regarding assistance of pro se litigants in the context of immigration law. In particular, Part II of this Article highlights programs such as the Legal Orientation Program (LOP) and Immigration Court Helpdesk (ICH) that attempt to alleviate some of the inherent difficulties non-citizen detainees face in immigration proceedings. Part III of this Article focuses on a 2008 Regulation by the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), which calls for discipline against attorneys that engage in a pattern or practice of failing to enter a Notice of Appearance when engaged in practice or preparation. Lastly, Part IV of this Article discusses a recent case brought by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) against the EOIR, the potential impact of this case on similar programs offering assistance to pro se immigrants, and recent developments in the litigation

The Digital Age: Reminder and Confirmation Preference in Blood Donation

Introduction: It is widely accepted that individuals are more likely to comply and follow through with responsibilities when reminded and asked to confirm their commitments. With the American Red Cross’ access to fast and affordable communication and this notion in mind, there is potential to develop new recruitment strategies and better methods of ensuring blood donation commitments. In particular, understanding modes of communication with the donor population can have significant implications: avoiding loss of follow up, improving donor experience, and ensuring appropriate use of resources and staff; therefore, the American Red Cross is interested in understanding demographic differences among those who prefer different modes of communication for blood donor appointment reminders and confirmations.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1223/thumbnail.jp

Summer habitat use and movements of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in Canadian agro-ecosystems

Resource selection informs understanding of a species’ ecology and is especially pertinent for invasive species. Since introduced to Canada, wild pigs (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1978) remain understudied despite recognized negative impacts on native and agricultural systems globally. Elsewhere in North America, pigs typically use forests and forage in agricultural crops. We hypothesized Canadian wild pigs would behave similarly, and using GPS locations from 15 individuals, we examined diel and seasonal resource selection and movement in the Canadian prairie region. Forests were predominately selected during the day, while corn (Zea mays L.), oilseeds, and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were predominately selected at night. Forests and corn were consistently selected throughout the growing season.Wetlands and forests showed greater use rates than other habitats, with evident trade-offs as crop use increased with the timing of maturation. Activity was consistent with foraging in growing crops. Results indicate diel patterns were likely a function of short-term needs to avoid daytime anthropogenic risk, while seasonal patterns demonstrate how habitats that fill multiple functional roles——food, cover, and thermoregulation——can be optimized. Understanding selection by invasive species is an important step in understanding their potential environmental impacts in novel environments and informs their management

Social niche construction and evolutionary transitions in individuality.

Social evolution theory conventionally takes an externalist explanatory stance, treating observed cooperation as explanandum and the positive assortment of cooperative behaviour as explanans. We ask how the circumstances bringing about this positive assortment arose in the first place. Rather than merely push the explanatory problem back a step, we move from an externalist to an interactionist explanatory stance, in the spirit of Lewontin and the Niche Construction theorists. We develop a theory of 'social niche construction' in which we consider biological entities to be both the subject and object of their own social evolution. Some important cases of the evolution of cooperation have the side-effect of causing changes in the hierarchical level at which the evolutionary process acts. This is because the traits (e.g. life-history bottlenecks) that act to align the fitness interests of particles (e.g. cells) in a collective can also act to diminish the extent to which those particles are bearers of heritable fitness variance, while augmenting the extent to which collectives of such particles (e.g. multicellular organisms) are bearers of heritable fitness variance. In this way, we can explain upward transitions in the hierarchical level at which the Darwinian machine operates in terms of particle-level selection, even though the outcome of the process is a collective-level selection regime. Our theory avoids the logical and metaphysical paradoxes faced by other attempts to explain evolutionary transitions

Clarifying assumptions in age-period-cohort analyses and validating results

Background Age-period-cohort (APC) models are often used to decompose health trends into period- and cohort-based sources, but their use in epidemiology and population sciences remains contentious. Central to the contention are researchers&rsquo; failures to 1) clearly state their analytic assumptions and/or 2) thoroughly evaluate model results. These failures often produce varying conclusions across APC studies and generate confusion about APC methods. Consequently, scholarly exchanges about APC methods usually result in strong disagreements that rarely offer practical advice to users or readers of APC methods. Methods We use research guidelines to help practitioners of APC methods articulate their analytic assumptions and validate their results. To demonstrate the usefulness of the guidelines, we apply them to a 2015 American Journal of Epidemiology study about trends in black-white differences in U.S. heart disease mortality. Results The application of the guidelines highlights two important findings. On the one hand, some APC methods produce inconsistent results that are highly sensitive to researcher manipulation. On the other hand, other APC methods estimate results that are robust to researcher manipulation and consistent across APC models. Conclusions The exercise shows the simplicity and effectiveness of the guidelines in resolving disagreements over APC results. The cautious use of APC models can generate results that are consistent across methods and robust to researcher manipulation. If followed, the guidelines can likely reduce the chance of publishing variable and conflicting results across APC studies. </div

Reducing Poverty in California…Permanently

If California were to seriously commit to equalizing opportunity and reducing poverty, how might that commitment best be realized? This is of course a hypothetical question, as there is no evidence that California is poised to make such a serious commitment, nor have many other states gone much beyond the usual lip-service proclamations. There are many reasons for California’s complacency, but an important one is that most people think that poverty is intractable and that viable solutions to it simply don’t exist. When Californians know what needs to be done, they tend to go forward and get it done. When, for example, the state’s roads are in disrepair, there are rarely paralyzing debates about exactly how to go about fixing them; instead we proceed with the needed repairs as soon as the funds to do so are appropriated. The same type of sure and certain prescription might appear to be unavailable when it comes to reducing poverty. It is hard not to be overwhelmed by the cacophony of voices yielding a thick stream of narrow-gauge interventions, new evaluations, and piecemeal proposals.1 Although the research literature on poverty is indeed large and may seem confusing, recent advances have in fact been so fundamental that it is now possible to develop a science-based response to poverty. In the past, the causes of poverty were not well understood, and major interventions, such as the War on Poverty, had to be built more on hunch than science. It is an altogether different matter now. The causes of poverty are well established, and the effects of many possible policy responses to poverty are likewise well established. The simple purpose of this essay is to assemble these advances into a coherent plan that would, if implemented, reduce poverty in California substantially

Transformation of Public Relations Agencies Through Evaluation of Golin Harris’ Evolution to the G4 Model Using Public Relations Theories

The study developed a critical analysis of public relations agency Golin Harris and their new G4 Model. This analysis was conducted by an upper-level undergraduate class PR Leadership: From an Agency Perspective. The eight-member, advanced class, team-researched, compared, and contrasted the new model with their previous approach to agency functions. Using key public relations theories, this PR evolution was examined to assess just what this change means to consumers, clients, and other public relations agencies. The theories used were Speech Act Theory, Social Constructionism, Weikian, Strategic Issues Management, and Diffusion of Innovation Theory. An evaluation of the documents provided by Golin Harris which documented the changes from generalized to specialized functions within their new model were identified for analysis. These functions are clustered into four communities: catalyst (coordinator role), connectors, creative, and strategist. Findings from the research and evaluation concluded that GH has moved to a more process approach to communication (less hierarchy or management emphasis) including a leveling of titles to emphasize openness (includes designing a new building with open space for offices). This seems like a strong step in the right direction for an agency, especially to see how some of the theories are integrated into this more communicative approach