Who Decides?: Civil Consent Jurisdiction of U.S. Magistrate Judges and Third-Party Intervention

The Federal Magistrates Act permits a U.S. magistrate judge to preside over and enter final judgment in a civil case as a district judge would if all parties to the case have consented to the magistrate judge’s jurisdiction. Parties must consent voluntarily and affirmatively—although consent can be implied from the circumstances—to protect the parties’ constitutional right to have their case heard by an Article III judge. To vindicate this right, a body of jurisprudence has developed distinguishing dispositive matters, for which a magistrate judge requires the consent of all the parties in a case to rule on the matter, and nondispositive matters, for which a magistrate judge does not require the consent of all the parties to rule on the matter. As to third-party motions to intervene, the federal courts of appeals are split: in the Second Circuit, a magistrate judge cannot rule on a third-party’s motion to intervene without its consent, while in the Seventh and Ninth Circuits, a magistrate judge can. The circuits’ different treatments of a motion to intervene before a magistrate judge creates the opportunity for litigation gamesmanship and inequities across the circuits: It is possible for litigants to use this nuance in magistrate judge civil consent-based jurisdiction to slow down litigation or to unfairly obtain additional review of their motions to intervene that they would otherwise not receive if the cases had proceeded before a district judge. This Note addresses the split between the Second Circuit and the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. It ultimately argues in favor of the Seventh and Ninth Circuits’ approach—that magistrate judges should be permitted to rule on a third-party’s motion to intervene without its consent in civil cases where the original parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge. This Note argues that doing so is within the broad statutory authorization of magistrate judge civil consent jurisdiction under the Federal Magistrates Act and that the U.S. Constitution does not bar such an interpretation. This Note also argues that the Seventh and Ninth Circuits’ jurisprudence ensures that cases proceed expediently and fairly, while avoiding gamesmanship and disincentives to magistrate judge jurisdiction

How mental health nurses can use recovery-focused care to reduce aggression in the acute mental health settings

This hybrid thesis presents a two-phase sequential exploratory mixed methods research that explored mental health nurses’ and consumers’ beliefs of how recovery-focused care can be used to reduce aggression in the acute mental health settings. The thesis is comprised of traditional thesis chapters and five peer-reviewed publications. The findings of this research provide evidence-based knowledge for mental health nurses to understand how they can translate the use of recovery-focused care clinically to reduce aggression

Mortgage Interest Deduction

Reviews the mortgage interest deduction's fiscal costs, its limitations in subsidizing homeownership, and alternatives. Analyzes the estimated effects of eliminating it, replacing it with alternative tax credits, and limiting the deduction to 28 percent

A short analysis on the stricter European regulations on tropical hardwood imports and their side effects

This paper analyses the side effects of the stricter regulation on tropical hardwood or timber imports. It considers the place of Europe within the global timber market, where Europe accounts only for a very limited share. It also explains the high selectivity of European markets, with its consequences. While tropical wooden furniture and other secondary processed products are not considered as timber here, their question is also discussed. The number of empirical studies specifically dealing with the side effects of EU regulations is limited, but the results are converging, showing that these regulations have a general adverse effect, contrary to the initial aim of promoting the sustainability of tropical timbers. These side effects are essentially to divert the trade towards countries with lower standards, and to add a burden on most of the producing countries which have already a set of comparative disadvantages for the production of legal or sustainable timber. The effects are positive on a limited number of companies which markets are very dependent of Europe. The question is then analysed from a broader perspective, replacing the effects of the EU regulations as an incidental factor compared to the increasing consumption of tropical timber by the three developing giants: Brazil, India and China.timber trade; trade regulation; environmental regulation, Europe; tropical timber; tropical hardwwod; side effect; adverse effect

Iron-based ferritin nanocore as a contrast agent

Self-assembling protein cages have been exploited as templates for nanoparticle synthesis. The ferritin molecule, a protein cage present in most living systems, stores excess soluble ferrous iron in the form of an insoluble ferric complex within its cavity. Magnetic nanocores formed by loading excess iron within an engineered ferritin from Archaeoglobus fulgidus (AfFtn-AA) were studied as a potential magnetic resonance (MR) imaging contrast agent. The self-assembly characteristics of the AfFtn-AA were investigated using dynamic light scattering technique and size exclusion chromatography. Homogeneous size distribution of the assembled nanoparticles was observed using transmission electron microscopy. The magnetic properties of iron-loaded AfFtn-AA were studied using vibrating sample magnetometry. Images obtained from a 3.0 T whole-body MRI scanner showed significant brightening of T1 images and signal loss of T2 images with increased concentrations of iron-loaded AfFtn-AA. The analysis of the MR image intensities showed extremely high R2 values (5300 mM^(−1) s^(−1)) for the iron-loaded AfFtn-AA confirming its potential as a T2 contrast agent

A short analysis on the stricter European regulations on tropical hardwood imports and their side effects

This paper analyses the side effects of the stricter regulation on tropical hardwood or timber imports. It considers the place of Europe within the global timber market, where Europe accounts only for a very limited share. It also explains the high selectivity of European markets, with its consequences. While tropical wooden furniture and other secondary processed products are not considered as timber here, their question is also discussed. The number of empirical studies specifically dealing with the side effects of EU regulations is limited, but the results are converging, showing that these regulations have a general adverse effect, contrary to the initial aim of promoting the sustainability of tropical timbers. These side effects are essentially to divert the trade towards countries with lower standards, and to add a burden on most of the producing countries which have already a set of comparative disadvantages for the production of legal or sustainable timber. The effects are positive on a limited number of companies which markets are very dependent of Europe. The question is then analysed from a broader perspective, replacing the effects of the EU regulations as an incidental factor compared to the increasing consumption of tropical timber by the three developing giants: Brazil, India and China.timber trade, trade regulation, environmental regulation, Europe, tropical timber, tropical hardwwod, side effect, adverse effect

Multi-residues analysis of pre-emergence herbicides in fluvial sediments : application to the mid-Garonne River

Contamination of man and ecosystems by pesticides has become a major environmental concern. Whereas many studies exist on contamination from agriculture, the effects of urban sources are usually omitted. Fluvial sediment is a complex matrix of pollutants but little is known of its recent herbicide content. This study proposes a method for a fast and reliable analysis of herbicides by employing the accelerated solvent extractor (ASE). The aim of the study is to show the impact of a major town (Toulouse) on the herbicide content in the river. In this study, three herbicide families (i.e. s-triazine, substituted ureas and anilides) were analysed in fluvial sediment fractions at 11 sampling sites along the mid-Garonne River and its tributaries. River water contamination by herbicides is minor, except for at three sites located in urban areas. Among the herbicidal families studied, urban and suburban areas are distinguished from rural areas and were found to be the most contaminated sites during the study period, a winter low-water event. The herbicide content of the coarse sediment fractions is about one third of that found in the fine fractions and usually ignored. The distribution of pesticide concentrations across the whole range of particle sizes was investigated to clarify the role of plant remains on the significant accumulation in the coarse fractions