Although a Presumption Against Extraterritoriality Generally Precludes a Foreign Plaintiff from Recovering a Debtor’s Assets in a Civil RICO Claim, that Presumption Can be Overcome to Hold a Foreign Defendant Liable for a Preference Claim

(Excerpt) The civil portion of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) permits any individual “injured in his business or property by reason of a violation of the statute’s criminal provisions” to pursue a cause of action against a tort feasor. For a party to pursue a civil remedy for economic injury under the civil portion of the statute, its criminal portion must first be violated through illegal activity, such as numerous acts of mail and wire fraud. In RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community (“RJR Nabisco”), the Supreme Court held that RICO’s private right of action under 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c) does not apply extraterritorially. Because section 1964(c) of the RICO Act does not apply extraterritorially, a foreign plaintiff must allege and prove a domestic injury to its business or property. For a corporate entity, economic injury generally occurs in its principal place of business. This element may prove challenging for foreign plaintiffs with a principal place of business overseas. The first issue is whether a foreign creditor would be precluded from recovering a debtor’s assets when the debtor engages in racketeering and fraud in the transfer of assets that were or would have otherwise been part of the bankruptcy estate. If so, the second issue is whether a similar presumption against extraterritoriality of the United States Bankruptcy Code, codified under title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) can be overcome in a case involving a foreign defendant. Part I of this memorandum explores how a presumption against extraterritoriality under the civil RICO statute prevents most foreign plaintiffs from recovering a debtor’s illegally transferred assets. Part II examines how a debtor or trustee may recover a claim against a foreign defendant relating to the avoidance of preferential transfers under section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code, despite a similar presumption against extraterritoriality

Using Concurrent Operant Analyses to Predict Reinforcers to Increase Work Completion in Schools

In this study, a concurrent operant analysis (COA) was conducted for two elementary aged students in a public school to determine if the results yielded a possible reinforcer for work completion. A simultaneous treatments design was used during the COA to evaluate choice making behavior. The results of the COA indicated the student’s choice making behavior was maintained by access to tangibles, access to attention, or escape. The results were then used to create a token economy in which the student could earn their preferred reinforcer for work completion. An alternating treatments design was used to compare work completion during sessions when the preferred reinforcer as identified by the COA were available to sessions where previously occurring classroom strategies were in place. Results indicated that a COA could be done in the school setting and lead to an interpretable outcome

Developing Growth Mindset and GRIT in Preservice Teachers

Educator preparation programs are charged with developing preservice teachers ready to meet the many challenges of today\u27s classrooms. Developing a growth mindset and GRIT provides future educators with important dispositions to increase their teaching effectiveness and improve the success of their students. A growth mindset helps learners realize that intellect is not fixed but through time and effort, skills will increase. Developing GRIT (i.e., growth, resilience, integrity, and tenacity) builds the perseverance to continue until goals are reached. Developing GRIT and a growth mindset helps teachers understand that all students, even diverse learners, can be successful if provided the appropriate instruction. This article provides an example of how an educator preparation program incorporated growth mindset and GRIT in the clinical model to support learning for the preservice teachers while promoting growth mindset and GRIT in the classroom

Developing a Clinical Literacy Experience That Improves Outcomes for Students and Preservice Teachers

Improving literacy outcomes so more students graduate from high school career- and college- ready is critical in today\u27s society. There is a wealth of evidence-based practices for teachers to utilize and yet student literacy outcomes fail to improve. This article provides an example of how a clinical model literacy clinic, housed in a partner elementary school, improved learning outcomes for preservice teachers and the at-risk students they instructed. During this twice weekly, semester-long literacy clinic, the preservice teachers explicitly taught all five critical literacy components to support struggling readers with the focus on using high-leverage practices for instruction. This taught the preservice teachers both the what and how to teach struggling readers. This program supported the needs of a partner school while developing new teachers confident and prepared to meet the literacy needs of struggling readers

Distributed task rescheduling with time constraints for the optimization of total task allocations in a multirobot system

This paper considers the problem of maximizing the number of task allocations in a distributed multirobot system under strict time constraints, where other optimization objectives need also be considered. It builds upon existing distributed task allocation algorithms, extending them with a novel method for maximizing the number of task assignments. The fundamental idea is that a task assignment to a robot has a high cost if its reassignment to another robot creates a feasible time slot for unallocated tasks. Multiple reassignments among networked robots may be required to create a feasible time slot and an upper limit to this number of reassignments can be adjusted according to performance requirements. A simulated rescue scenario with task deadlines and fuel limits is used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method compared with existing methods, the consensus-based bundle algorithm and the performance impact (PI) algorithm. Starting from existing (PI-generated) solutions, results show up to a 20% increase in task allocations using the proposed method.EPSRC Grant EP/J011525/

Mendelian randomization shows a causal effect of low vitamin D on multiple sclerosis risk.

ObjectiveWe sought to estimate the causal effect of low serum 25(OH)D on multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility that is not confounded by environmental or lifestyle factors or subject to reverse causality.MethodsWe conducted mendelian randomization (MR) analyses using an instrumental variable (IV) comprising 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms found to be associated with serum 25(OH)D levels at genome-wide significance. We analyzed the effect of the IV on MS risk and both age at onset and disease severity in 2 separate populations using logistic regression models that controlled for sex, year of birth, smoking, education, genetic ancestry, body mass index at age 18-20 years or in 20s, a weighted genetic risk score for 110 known MS-associated variants, and the presence of one or more HLA-DRB1*15:01 alleles.ResultsFindings from MR analyses using the IV showed increasing levels of 25(OH)D are associated with a decreased risk of MS in both populations. In white, non-Hispanic members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California (1,056 MS cases and 9,015 controls), the odds ratio (OR) was 0.79 (p = 0.04, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64-0.99). In members of a Swedish population from the Epidemiological Investigation of Multiple Sclerosis and Genes and Environment in Multiple Sclerosis MS case-control studies (6,335 cases and 5,762 controls), the OR was 0.86 (p = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.76-0.98). A meta-analysis of the 2 populations gave a combined OR of 0.85 (p = 0.003, 95% CI: 0.76-0.94). No association was observed for age at onset or disease severity.ConclusionsThese results provide strong evidence that low serum 25(OH)D concentration is a cause of MS, independent of established risk factors

Divergent HIV and Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Surveillance, Zaire

Recent HIV infection or divergent HIV or simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) strains may be responsible for Western blot–indeterminate results on 70 serum samples from Zairian hospital employees that were reactive in an enzyme immunoassay. Using universal polymerase chain reaction HIV-1, HIV-2, and SIV primers, we detected 1 (1.4%) HIV-1 sequence. Except for 1 sample, no molecular evidence for unusual HIV- or SIV-like strains in this sampling was found

The Forum: Fall 2002

Fall 2002 journal of the Honors Program at the University of North Dakota. The issue includes stories, poems, essays and art by undergraduate students.https://commons.und.edu/und-books/1050/thumbnail.jp

Classification of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease Using Manual Motor Measures

Introduction: Manual motor problems have been reported in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the specific aspects that are affected, their neuropathology, and potential value for classification modeling is unknown. The current study examined if multiple measures of motor strength, dexterity, and speed are affected in MCI and AD, related to AD biomarkers, and are able to classify MCI or AD. Methods: Fifty-three cognitively normal (CN), 33 amnestic MCI, and 28 AD subjects completed five manual motor measures: grip force, Trail Making Test A, spiral tracing, finger tapping, and a simulated feeding task. Analyses included (1) group differences in manual performance; (2) associations between manual function and AD biomarkers (PET amyloid β, hippocampal volume, and APOE 4 alleles); and (3) group classification accuracy of manual motor function using machine learning. Results: Amnestic MCI and AD subjects exhibited slower psychomotor speed and AD subjects had weaker dominant hand grip strength than CN subjects. Performance on these measures was related to amyloid β deposition (both) and hippocampal volume (psychomotor speed only). Support vector classification well-discriminated control and AD subjects (area under the curve of 0.73 and 0.77, respectively) but poorly discriminated MCI from controls or AD. Conclusion: Grip strength and spiral tracing appear preserved, while psychomotor speed is affected in amnestic MCI and AD. The association of motor performance with amyloid β deposition and atrophy could indicate that this is due to amyloid deposition in and atrophy of motor brain regions, which generally occurs later in the disease process. The promising discriminatory abilities of manual motor measures for AD emphasize their value alongside other cognitive and motor assessment outcomes in classification and prediction models, as well as potential enrichment of outcome variables in AD clinical trials.</p

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: spatially resolving the main sequence of star formation

We present the ∼800 star formation rate maps for the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey based on H α emission maps, corrected for dust attenuation via the Balmer decrement, that are included in the SAMI Public Data Release 1. We mask out spaxels contaminated by non-stellar emission using the [O III]/H β, [N II]/H α, [S II]/H α, and [O I]/H α line ratios. Using these maps, we examine the global and resolved star-forming main sequences of SAMI galaxies as a function of morphology, environmental density, and stellar mass. Galaxies further below the star-forming main sequence are more likely to have flatter star formation profiles. Early-type galaxies split into two populations with similar stellar masses and central stellar mass surface densities. The main-sequence population has centrally concentrated star formation similar to late-type galaxies, while galaxies >3σ below the main sequence show significantly reduced star formation most strikingly in the nuclear regions. The split populations support a two-step quenching mechanism, wherein halo mass first cuts off the gas supply and remaining gas continues to form stars until the local stellar mass surface density can stabilize the reduced remaining fuel against further star formation. Across all morphologies, galaxies in denser environments show a decreased specific star formation rate from the outside in, supporting an environmental cause for quenching, such as ram-pressure stripping or galaxy interactions.Support for A.M.M. is provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through Hubble Fellowship grant #HST-HF2-51377 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. S.M.C. acknowledges the support of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT100100457). S.B. acknowledges funding support from the Australian Research Council through a Future Fellowship (FT140101166). B.C. is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT120100660). C.F. gratefully acknowledges funding provided by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects (grants DP150104329 and DP170100603). M.S.O. acknowledges the funding support from the Australian Research Council through a Future Fellowship (FT140100255). R.Mc.D. is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT150100333). N.S. acknowledges support of a University of Sydney Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. J.v.d.S. is funded under Bland-Hawthorn’s Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellowship (FL140100278)