Counting the Invisible Man: Black Males and the 2010 Census

iCount was a campaign to increase the expected low participation rates of black males in the 2010 census. This briefing paper provides an overview of that effort and lessons learned that could guide strategy for increased participation in the 2020 census

Hallstrom v. Tillamook County: Interpreting the Notice Provisions of Environmental Statutes

Notice requirements of citizen suit provisions in environmental statutes require that notice of an intention to bring a lawsuit for violation of an environmental statute be given at least sixty days prior to the filing of an action. Notice of such an intention must be given to the Environmental Protection Agency, the state in which the violation occurred, and the alleged violator. In Hallstrom v. Tillamook County, the Supreme Court held that the notice requirements for citizen suit provisions of environmental statutes must be strictly interpreted. According to the author, this decision exalts form over substance and does nothing to further the purpose of providing for citizen suits. This Note examines the Hallstrom decision and purposes behind notice provisions. The author concludes that these provisions should be pragmatically interpreted, providing courts with the discretion to modify or waive the notice requirements for a citizen suit depending on the individual circumstances of an individual case

Enabling prosperity: success factors in Indigenous economic development

Public discussion about ‘closing the gap’ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians tends to focus on measures such as life expectancy, child mortality, early childhood education, literacy and numeracy, and employment.  These are, rightly, essential markers of health and well-being for all people, and for decades they have provided evidence that Australia’s health and social systems have not met the needs of Indigenous Australians. However, there is another story, one that focuses on the measures of success, as evident in the many thriving Indigenous businesses and corporations around the country.  Across Australia, there is a growing story of economic security and success, in which Indigenous Australians are creating enterprises combining sound business principles with strong cultural and social foundations for the benefit of individuals, families and communities. Urbis was commissioned by Westpac to undertake research into Indigenous business development, to provide an evidence base to support the work of the Empowered Communities group. The report, Enabling Prosperity: Success Factors in Indigenous Economic Development, suggests that these factors are much the same as for any other businesses: human capital, access to capital and markets, infrastructure, location and an authorising environment created through government policy and regulation. In practice, businesses succeed because of more than one factor, and multiple factors can strengthen the capacity of a business to grow and develop.  For instance, access to capital often relies on the development of successful partnerships, while ownership of land and resources requires human capital to realise its potential. Indigenous culture can be both a support and a resource. Individual attitude and vision are also essential ingredients in business success, while government plays an important role in ensuring the regulatory environment enables rather than hinders business efforts. Much can be learned by examining successful Indigenous businesses both in Australia and internationally. Businesses are the key driver for wealth creation, helping to provide job opportunities and improve social and economic conditions. Fostering business success, therefore, has the potential to increase employment, improve living standards, and contribute to stable and nurturing communities. Current government policy frameworks, such as the Indigenous Economic Development Strategy, are largely focused on increasing education and training and generating opportunities for private sector employment and enterprise.  This is important. Just as important is the contribution that successful community or non-profit enterprises can make in providing employment, generating business investment for growth, building partnerships and demonstrating positive role models. The Empowered Communities group is such a national initiative. Formed in 2013, the group brings together Indigenous leaders from eight communities across Australia and seeks to strengthen Indigenous individuals and communities through a range of activities (see https://empoweredcomms.wordpress.com for more information). Strategies that strengthen both individual and community business initiatives will help to ensure that more Indigenous Australians have the opportunity to live successful and productive lives.  Everyone has a contribution to make in this regard. Governments can create an enabling regulatory environment. Banks can enable access to capital. Local chambers of commerce can foster business development through support and networks for new entrepreneurs. Communities and individuals can purchase goods and services from Indigenous businesses. Building a strong and vibrant Indigenous business and social enterprise sector can then contribute to improving many of the health and social indicators, such as improving nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices, and increasing employment and education.  Efforts to improve Indigenous outcomes really are everyone’s business

Integrating Mindfulness and Character Strengths for Improved Well-Being, Stress, and Relationships: : A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice

The integration of mindfulness and character strengths is an emerging area of research and practice. The evidence-based, 8-week program, Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP) represents a unique approach in that the starting point and focus is on what is best in human beings – their character strengths. These qualities are then leveraged to improve one’s meditation practice or area of mindful living (referred to as “strong mindfulness”) and in turn, mindfulness is used as a lens for deepening awareness and use of strengths (referred to as “mindful strengths use”). While early controlled studies find MBSP to elicit well-being and reduce stress, and find it to be superior to popular mindfulness programs for different outcomes, we are not aware of any published qualitative analyses examining the MBSP participant’s experience. This study offers insights from a large international sample and extends the empirical data on MBSP, including the novel finding of benefit for building positive relationships, as well as confirming other findings such as the most common obstacles people confront in mindfulness practices. Additional areas discussed using qualitative and quantitative findings include the most beneficial mindfulness/character strengths practices, the use of inward and outward-oriented practices, cognizance of the integration of mindfulness and character strengths, and self-reported positive outcomes, including substantial benefits to stress and problem management and boosts to meaning, purpose, engagement, accomplishment, and sense of self

Using Technology Pedagogy to Enable Workforce Development, Inclusion and Diversity into the Aerospace Industry

The pool of aviation mechanics and technicians is not growing fast enough to support the projected growth in aviation. A group of stakeholders has come together with a big idea to help attract the next generation of talent. Choose Aerospace, in collaboration with Clemson University Center for Workforce Development, the Aviation Technician Education Council, labor organizations, industry employers, and educational partners including subject matter experts at Greenville Technical College, Utah Valley University, Southern Illinois University, intends to deploy an innovative and effective aviation technical curriculum into high schools across the country. A program projected to reach 10,000 students by 2027. The innovative approach brings evidence-based learning delivery modalities to the traditional classroom, including e-books, video, and augmented reality simulations. The learning platform removes barriers for schools previously unable to adopt aviation technical programs due to high barriers to entry to include, complexity of curriculum, qualification requirements of instructors, and high equipment and material cost. The online learning resource being developed and deployed will allow industry to draw upon talent pools of students who are currently found in under-represented communities, driving more diversity and inclusion into the high technology career fields found within an aerospace technical workforce. Hear from the team behind the endeavor, the strategy to gain wide-spread adoption of aviation technical curriculum, how curriculum designers approach computer-based learning for future aerospace technicians, and learning effectiveness to a new and innovative way of training

The eIF4F and eIFiso4F Complexes of Plants: An Evolutionary Perspective

Translation initiation in eukaryotes requires a number of initiation factors to recruit the assembled ribosome to mRNA. The eIF4F complex plays a key role in initiation and is a common target point for regulation of protein synthesis. Most work on the translation machinery of plants to date has focused on flowering plants, which have both the eIF4F complex (eIF4E and eIF4G) as well as the plant-specific eIFiso4F complex (eIFiso4E and eIFiso4G). The increasing availability of plant genome sequence data has made it possible to trace the evolutionary history of these two complexes in plants, leading to several interesting discoveries. eIFiso4G is conserved throughout plants, while eIFiso4E only appears with the evolution of flowering plants. The eIF4G N-terminus, which has been difficult to annotate, appears to be well conserved throughout the plant lineage and contains two motifs of unknown function. Comparison of eIFiso4G and eIF4G sequence data suggests conserved features unique to eIFiso4G and eIF4G proteins. These findings have answered some questions about the evolutionary history of the two eIF4F complexes of plants, while raising new ones