Neutralizing the Stratagem of “Snap Removal”: A Proposed Amendment to the Judicial Code

The “Removal Jurisdiction Clarification Act” is a narrowly tailored legislative proposal designed to resolve a widespread conflict in the federal district courts over the proper interpretation of the statutory “forum-defendant” rule. The forum-defendant rule prohibits removal of a diversity case “if any of the parties in interest properly joined and served as defendants is a citizen of the [forum state].” 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2) (emphasis added). Some courts, following the “plain language” of the statute, hold that defendants can avoid the constraints of the rule by removing diversity cases to federal court when a citizen of the forum state has been joined as a defendant but has not yet been served. This stratagem has been referred to as “snap removal.” Other courts reject the stratagem. They take a “purposive” approach, typically reasoning that following the plain language “produces a result that is at clear odds with congressional intent.” Resolution of the conflict can come only from Congress. The preferable resolution is to neutralize the stratagem of snap removal by requiring district courts to remand cases to the appropriate state court if, after removal, the plaintiff timely serves one or more forum defendants and a timely motion to remand follows. That is the approach taken by the proposed legislation. The legislation also would confirm that the forum-defendant rule is not jurisdictional, endorsing the position taken by all but one of the circuits that have considered the question

Phosphorus Limitation, Uptake, and Turnover in Benthic Stream Algae

In this chapter, three different aspects of P utilization by benthic algae will be covered: (1) assessment of P limitation, (2) measurement of P uptake rates, and (3) determination of the release rate of P (expressed as the turnover rate). We note two caveats regarding this chapter. First, we focus exclusively on inorganic P; it is likely that dissolved organic phosphorus plays an important, albeit relatively undefined role, in the nutrient dynamics of freshwater algae (cf. Hwang et al., 1998; Pant et al., 2002), especially in P-limited environments (Karl and Björkman, 2015). However, treatment of this topic is beyond the scope of this chapter (but see Chapter 24). Second, although we use the term benthic algae throughout the chapter, it should be noted that the benthic algae attached to submerged substrata in streams usually exist as part of a complex assemblage variously referred to as periphyton, aufwuchs, or biofilm. This assemblage usually consists of algae, bacteria, fungi, and meiofauna (see Chapters 9e11, 14) that exist within a mucilaginous, poly- saccharide matrix (Lock et al., 1984), and each biotic group has different affinities for P. Indeed, even within a group, P uptake and cycling may be influenced by the abundance of different species and growth forms (cf. Steinman et al., 1992; Davies and Bothwell, 2012)

Effects of water level fluctuation and sediment–water nutrient exchange on phosphorus biogeochemistry in two coastal wetlands

Freshwater coastal wetlands are sensitive to drying and wetting events (DWE), associated with water level fluctuations. Prior studies have shown that DWE influence sediment–water nutrient exchange, but the fate of these nutrients has received much less attention. To address this information gap, we investigated how microbial (i.e., bacteria and phytoplankton) structure and function respond to DWE-induced release of nutrients from the sediment of mesotrophic and eutrophic coastal wetlands. Our approach was three-fold: (1) sediment from each wetland was subjected to a desiccation (2 month) and re-wetting (2 days) period in the laboratory; (2) the overlying water column from the DWE was measured for nutrient concentration; and (3) we conducted a microbial response experiment using the water from either DWE experiment (containing the nutrients released during the DWE) or with added nutrients obtained from commercially available sources (but at similar concentrations to those released from the sediments), to test the effect of nutrient concentration and source on microbes inhabiting the water column and their role in the fate of the released nutrients, in particular phosphate (Pi). In both coastal wetlands, the microbial community structure in the water column (absolute and relative abundance of different microbial groups) was modified by bacteria resuspended from the sediment after re-wetting. However, results from the microbial response experiments showed that the microbial communities did not grow following inputs of commercially available nutrients or release of sediment nutrients. In Pi amended treatments, Pi uptake rates increased but not enough to reduce Pi turnover time to values measured in the control. As a result, Pi concentration and turnover remained high. In coastal wetlands with limited hydrologic exchange, these elevated nutrients will accumulate and lead to further eutrophication. However, in open coastal wetlands, with substantial hydrologic exchange, advected nutrients may influence biological activity in the nearshore zone

Investigating prior parameter distributions in the inverse modelling of water distribution hydraulic models

PublishedJournal Article© 2014 Journal of Mechanical Engineering. All rights reserved. Inverse modelling concentrates on estimating water distribution system (WDS) model parameters that are not directly measurable, e.g. pipe roughness coefficients, which can, therefore, only be estimated by indirect approaches, i.e. inverse modelling. Estimation of the parameter and predictive uncertainty of WDS models is an essential part of the inverse modelling process. Recently, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations have gained in popularity in uncertainty analyses due to their effective and efficient exploration of posterior parameter probability density functions (pdf). A Bayesian framework is used to infer prior parameter information via a likelihood function to plausible ranges of posterior parameter pdf. Improved parameter and predictive uncertainty are achieved through the incorporation of prior pdf of parameter values and the use of a generalized likelihood function. We used three prior information sampling schemes to infer the pipe roughness coefficients of WDS models. A hypothetical case study and a real-world WDS case study were used to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of a particular selection of a prior information pdf. The results obtained show that the level of parameter identifiability (i.e. sensitivity) is an important property for prior pdf selection.We are obliged to Jasper A. Vrugt and Cajo ter Braak for providing the code of the DREAM(ZS) algorithm and graphical post-processing software

Human health risks due to consumption of chemically contaminated fishery products.

A small proportion of fishery products contaminated with appreciable amounts of potentially hazardous inorganic and organic contaminants from natural and environmental sources seem to pose the greatest potential for toxicity to consumers of fishery products in the United States. Health risks due to chemicals (e.g., modest changes in the overall risk of cancer, subtle deficits of neurological development in fetuses and children) are difficult to measure directly in people exposed to low levels. Immunocompetence may increase cancer risk. Inferences about the potential magnitude of these problems must be based on the levels of specific chemical present, observations of human populations and experimental animals exposed to relatively high doses, and theories about the likely mechanisms of action of specific intoxicants and the population distribution of sensitivity of human exposure. Lognormal distributions were found to provide good descriptions of the pattern of variation of contaminant concentrations among different species and geographic areas; this variability offers a solution for reduction of exposure through restricting harvest of aquatic animals from certain sites and by excluding certain species. Available information suggest that risks are not generally of high magnitude; nevertheless, their control will significantly improve public health.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Clustering of dendritic cells, helper T lymphocytes, and histocompatible B cells during primary antibody responses in vitro

[No abstract available

Lymphokine enhances the expression and synthesis of Ia antigen on cultured mouse peritoneal macrophages

Steinman, R.M., Nogueira, N., Witmer, M.D., Tydings, J.D., and Mellman, I.S. Lymphokine enhances the expression and synthesis of Ia antigen on cultured mouse peritoneal macrophages. J. Exp. Med. 152: 1248-1261, 1980https://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/historical-scientific-reports/1005/thumbnail.jp