372 research outputs found
When the Conditions are the Confinement: Eighth Amendment Habeas Claims During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic cast into harsher relief much that was already true about mass incarceration in the United States. It also cast into harsher relief much that was already true about the legal barriers confronting people seeking to make its conditions more humane. This Article offers a brief overview of the legal landscape as the COVID-19 crisis arose and then surveys eight prominent federal cases involving Eighth Amendment claims related to COVID-19 outbreaks at carceral facilities, most of which included significant litigation over whether they could secure release through habeas corpus. The Article then distills six key tensions from these casesâeach a potential stumbling block for courts and litigantsâand discusses their implications for future litigation and doctrine. Specifically, the Article addresses the following: (A) the relationship between habeas corpus and classic âconditions of confinementâ cases; (B) the nature of Eighth Amendment âdeliberate indifferenceâ in this context; (C) the efficacy and availability of class-wide procedures for adjudicating these kinds of claims; (D) issues involving federalism and comity and how such concerns may motivate stricter enforcement of exhaustion requirements; (E) whether temporary release in the Eighth Amendment habeas context is better conceived of as preliminary or final relief; and (F) the fraught interplay between rights and remedies. The Article concludes by suggesting potential solutions for courts and legislatures
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The epigenetic regulator ATF7ip inhibits Il2 expression, regulating Th17 responses.
T helper 17 cells (Th17) are critical for fighting infections at mucosal surfaces; however, they have also been found to contribute to the pathogenesis of multiple autoimmune diseases and have been targeted therapeutically. Due to the role of Th17 cells in autoimmune pathogenesis, it is important to understand the factors that control Th17 development. Here we identify the activating transcription factor 7 interacting protein (ATF7ip) as a critical regulator of Th17 differentiation. Mice with T cell-specific deletion of Atf7ip have impaired Th17 differentiation secondary to the aberrant overproduction of IL-2 with T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation and are resistant to colitis in vivo. ChIP-seq studies identified ATF7ip as an inhibitor of Il2 gene expression through the deposition of the repressive histone mark H3K9me3 in the Il2-Il21 intergenic region. These results demonstrate a new epigenetic pathway by which IL-2 production is constrained, and this may open up new avenues for modulating its production
Rural Superintendent Turnover in Challenging Times: A Review of the Literature
The Covid-19 pandemic has shown a light on structural problems in education. Changing conditions, policy recommendations, and pressure from local communities have caused strain among educators and administrators across the nation. For rural districts already strained by shortages of teachers and administrators, the pandemic particularly raised alarms about the potential for accelerating superintendent turnover. By examining the superintendent turnover literature through the lens of district leadership roles and critical leadership of place, this review can support research to address superintendent turnover, provide guidance for preparation programs that aim to reduce the instability of rural district leadership, and the preparation of administrators for crisis situations
Rural Superintendent Turnover in Challenging Times: A review of the literature
The Covid-19 pandemic has shown a light on structural problems in education. Changing conditions, policy recommendations, and pressure from local communities have caused strain among educators and administrators across the nation. For rural districts already strained by shortages of teachers and administrators, the pandemic particularly raised alarms about the potential for accelerating superintendent turnover. By examining the superintendent turnover literature through the lens of district leadership roles and critical leadership of place, this review can support research to address superintendent turnover, provide guidance for preparation programs that aim to reduce the instability of rural district leadership, and the preparation of administrators for crisis situations
Simulations of the Alternating Access Mechanism of the Sodium Symporter Mhp1
AbstractSodium coupled cotransporters of the five-helix inverted repeat (5HIR) superfamily use an alternating access mechanism to transport a myriad of small molecules across the cell membrane. One of the primary steps in this mechanism is the conformational transition from a state poised to bind extracellular substrates to a state that is competent to deliver substrate to the cytoplasm. Here, we construct a coarse-grained model of the 5HIR benzylhydantoin transporter Mhp1 that incorporates experimental structures of the outward- and inward-open states to investigate the mechanism of this conformational change. Using the weighted ensemble path-sampling method, we rigorously sample the outward- to inward-facing transition path ensemble. The transition path ensemble reveals a heterogeneous set of pathways connecting the two states and identifies two modes of transport: one consistent with a strict alternating access mechanism and another where decoupling of the inner and outer gates causes the transient formation of a continuous permeation pathway through the transporter. We also show that the conformational switch between the outward- and inward-open states results from rigid body motions of the hash motif relative to the substrate bundle, supporting the rocking bundle hypothesis. Finally, our methodology provides the groundwork for more chemically detailed investigations of the alternating mechanism
Petitioners\u27 Reply Memorandum in Support of Their Emergency Petetion for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
In the roughly 120 hours since Petitioners filed their emergency petition for a writ of habeas corpus, the death toll at Elkton has doubled, and the number of BOP-confirmed COVID-19 cases among prisoners has tripled. About three dozen corrections staff have tested positive for the virus, a number that has also tripled since this case was filed. Elkton now accounts for more than one-third of all prisoner deaths from COVID-19 in federal prisons nationwide, and over half of the COVID-19 deaths in Columbiana County, making it one of the deadliest places a person can live in the current pandemic. According to one source, 32 prisoners have been hospitalized, including 16 requiring ventilators. Meanwhile, Respondents âhave yet to come up with a good, sound criteria of how they are going to actually start the testingâ of prisoners, much less a plan for social distancing, release, or transfer. Two weeks after the Attorney General exhorted Respondents to âimmediately reviewâ all prisoners with COVID-19 risk factors and âimmediately transfer themâ after quarantine, a mere six of the 2,400 prisoners at Elkton, or 0.25%, have been approved.
Elkton has become an epicenter of COVID-19, and continued confinement will mean a sentence of death, permanently damaged organs, or unnecessary suffering for more residents. Respondentsâ lack of effective action constitutes deliberate indifference to serious medical need. This Court is empowered to provide a process for the necessary releasesâthe only means by which prisonersâ Eighth Amendment rights can be vindicated. The nature of that authority, under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 or alternatively 28 U.S.C. § 1331, is explained further in Section III below
Shallow Ultraviolet Transits of WD 1145+017
WD 1145+017 is a unique white dwarf system that has a heavily polluted
atmosphere, an infrared excess from a dust disk, numerous broad absorption
lines from circumstellar gas, and changing transit features, likely from
fragments of an actively disintegrating asteroid. Here, we present results from
a large photometric and spectroscopic campaign with Hubble, Keck , VLT,
Spitzer, and many other smaller telescopes from 2015 to 2018. Somewhat
surprisingly, but consistent with previous observations in the u' band, the UV
transit depths are always shallower than those in the optical. We develop a
model that can quantitatively explain the observed "bluing" and the main
findings are: I. the transiting objects, circumstellar gas, and white dwarf are
all aligned along our line of sight; II. the transiting object is blocking a
larger fraction of the circumstellar gas than of the white dwarf itself.
Because most circumstellar lines are concentrated in the UV, the UV flux
appears to be less blocked compared to the optical during a transit, leading to
a shallower UV transit. This scenario is further supported by the strong
anti-correlation between optical transit depth and circumstellar line strength.
We have yet to detect any wavelength-dependent transits caused by the
transiting material around WD 1145+017.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables, ApJ, in pres
Asymmetric Primitive-Model Electrolytes: Debye-Huckel Theory, Criticality and Energy Bounds
Debye-Huckel (DH) theory is extended to treat two-component size- and
charge-asymmetric primitive models, focussing primarily on the 1:1 additive
hard-sphere electrolyte with, say, negative ion diameters, a--, larger than the
positive ion diameters, a++. The treatment highlights the crucial importance of
the charge-unbalanced ``border zones'' around each ion into which other ions of
only one species may penetrate. Extensions of the DH approach which describe
the border zones in a physically reasonable way are exact at high and low
density, , and, furthermore, are also in substantial agreement with
recent simulation predictions for \emph{trends} in the critical parameters,
and , with increasing size asymmetry. Conversely, the simplest
linear asymmetric DH description, which fails to account for physically
expected behavior in the border zones at low , can violate a new lower bound
on the energy (which applies generally to models asymmetric in both charge and
size). Other recent theories, including those based on the mean spherical
approximation, have predicted trends in the critical parameters quite opposite
to those established by the simulations.Comment: to appear in Physical Review
New chondritic bodies identified in eight oxygen-bearing white dwarfs
We present observations and analyses of eight white dwarf stars that have
accreted rocky material from their surrounding planetary systems. The spectra
of these helium-atmosphere white dwarfs contain detectable optical lines of all
four major rock-forming elements (O, Mg, Si, Fe). This work increases the
sample of oxygen-bearing white dwarfs with parent body composition analyses by
roughly thirty-three percent. To first order, the parent bodies that have been
accreted by the eight white dwarfs are similar to those of chondritic
meteorites in relative elemental abundances and oxidation states. Seventy-five
percent of the white dwarfs in this study have observed oxygen excesses
implying volatiles in the parent bodies with abundances similar to those of
chondritic meteorites. Three white dwarfs have oxidation states that imply more
reduced material than found in CI chondrites, indicating the possible detection
of Mercury-like parent bodies, but are less constrained. These results
contribute to the recurring conclusion that extrasolar rocky bodies closely
resemble those in our solar system, and do not, as a whole, yield unusual or
unique compositions.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 7 Figures, 7 Table
Planets Around Low-Mass Stars (PALMS). I. A Substellar Companion to the Young M Dwarf 1RXS J235133.3+312720
We report the discovery of a brown dwarf companion to the young M dwarf 1RXS
J235133.3+312720 as part of a high contrast imaging search for planets around
nearby young low-mass stars with Keck-II/NIRC2 and Subaru/HiCIAO. The 2.4"
(~120 AU) pair is confirmed to be comoving from two epochs of high resolution
imaging. Follow-up low- and moderate-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of
1RXS J2351+3127 B with IRTF/SpeX and Keck-II/OSIRIS reveals a spectral type of
L0. The M2 primary star 1RXS J2351+3127 A exhibits X-ray and UV
activity levels comparable to young moving group members with ages of ~10-100
Myr. UVW kinematics based the measured radial velocity of the primary and the
system's photometric distance (50 +/- 10 pc) indicate it is likely a member of
the ~50-150 Myr AB Dor moving group. The near-infrared spectrum of 1RXS
J2351+3127 B does not exhibit obvious signs of youth, but its H-band morphology
shows subtle hints of intermediate surface gravity. The spectrum is also an
excellent match to the ~200 Myr M9 brown dwarf LP 944-20. Assuming an age of
50-150 Myr, evolutionary models imply a mass of 32 +/- 6 Mjup for the
companion, making 1RXS J2351+3127 B the second lowest-mass member of the AB Dor
moving group after the L4 companion CD-35 2722 B and one of the few benchmark
brown dwarfs known at young ages.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 24 pages, 12 figures, 4 table
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