Encouraging the Development of Low Bono Law Practices

For decades, the discussion about access to justice has primarily focused on the ability of low–income individuals to obtain free representation by lawyers. Lawyer representation is the “gold star” of the legal profession and advocates of legal services for the poor have fought difficult battles to ensure the most disadvantaged in our country have access to these professionals. As a result, legal aid programs and pro bono services that assist the most economically disadvantaged in our country are now common in our legal service delivery system. Despite those important efforts, only 50% of those eligible for free legal services actually receive them. Traditional access to justice platforms, while critical for offering legal assistance to a segment of the poor, have not been funded at levels that allow them to serve all those who need and qualify for their services. In lieu of lawyers, members of the legal profession have created self–help tools and substitutes for attorneys in the form of general advice hotlines, online document automation programs, and self–help law centers. If the profession correlates justice with lawyer representation, then the majority of average income Americans and a significant segment of the poor, are without it. In 2011 the United States ranked 50th out of 66 developed nations in providing accessibility to its civil justice system to its citizens. In order to address the unmet legal needs of individuals in our country, the legal profession must advance an affordable legal services agenda that includes lawyers who provide competent legal services at reduced or “low bono” rates. Increased funding to help the poor and efforts to provide greater accessibility through the use of technology are efforts that can help bridge our justice gap. However, such efforts are limited in their scope. To make additional gains into providing more access to law, we need to devote attention to a segment of our society that currently receives no support and can potentially also benefit the near poor who go in and out of poverty. According to the research of an expert on U.S. poverty, “nearly 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 60 will experience at least one year below the official poverty line during that period and 54 percent will spend a year in poverty or near poverty (below 150 percent of the poverty line).” These figures reveal that a larger segment of the population requires a legal system that understands the fluidity of poverty and their financial instability. A lower–cost legal service delivery system must exist for those priced out of free services who need lawyers to get them back into a more stable financial reality. Law practices that offer services at low bono rates offer a lawyer alternative to the more than 81.4 million households that earned less than the median income of $51,017 in 2012. Many of these individuals make less than$25 per hour but make too much to qualify for free legal services. Like the poor, Americans of average means need lawyers to advise them about legal issues that arise in their everyday lives but many of them cannot afford lawyers who charge hourly rates that exceed $300 per hour. This chapter explores the need to build the framework that encourages the development of low bono law practices. Part I helps us understand low bono and why it is a necessary component of a broader legal service delivery system. Part II discusses the challenges that lawyers face in building and maintaining low bono practices. It addresses the financial challenges of running low bono practices and identifies the necessary components for developing viable low bono business plans. Part III outlines the framework the legal profession can and should build to support low bono law practices. It addresses the assumption that an affordable legal fee necessitates a lower quality service. It calls law schools, bar associations and courts to devote resources to build the necessary infrastructure for the delivery of legal services to average means Americans. The chapter concludes with a brief reflection of why lawyers may choose to build a career as a low bono lawyer

Time-frequency analysis of the restricted three-body problem: transport and resonance transitions

A method of time-frequency analysis based on wavelets is applied to the problem of transport between different regions of the solar system, using the model of the circular restricted three-body problem in both the planar and the spatial versions of the problem.. The method is based on the extraction of instantaneous frequencies from the wavelet transform of numerical solutions. Time-varying frequencies provide a good diagnostic tool to discern chaotic trajectories from regular ones, and we can identify resonance islands that greatly affect the dynamics. Good accuracy in the calculation of time-varying frequencies allows us to determine resonance trappings of chaotic trajectories and resonance transitions. We show the relation between resonance transitions and transport in different regions of the phase space

Determining efficient temperature sets for the simulated tempering method

In statistical physics, the efficiency of tempering approaches strongly depends on ingredients such as the number of replicas $R$, reliable determination of weight factors and the set of used temperatures, ${\mathcal T}_R = \{T_1, T_2, \ldots, T_R\}$. For the simulated tempering (SP) in particular -- useful due to its generality and conceptual simplicity -- the latter aspect (closely related to the actual $R$) may be a key issue in problems displaying metastability and trapping in certain regions of the phase space. To determine ${\mathcal T}_R$'s leading to accurate thermodynamics estimates and still trying to minimize the simulation computational time, here it is considered a fixed exchange frequency scheme for the ST. From the temperature of interest $T_1$, successive $T$'s are chosen so that the exchange frequency between any adjacent pair $T_r$ and $T_{r+1}$ has a same value $f$. By varying the $f$'s and analyzing the ${\mathcal T}_R$'s through relatively inexpensive tests (e.g., time decay toward the steady regime), an optimal situation in which the simulations visit much faster and more uniformly the relevant portions of the phase space is determined. As illustrations, the proposal is applied to three lattice models, BEG, Bell-Lavis, and Potts, in the hard case of extreme first-order phase transitions, always giving very good results, even for $R=3$. Also, comparisons with other protocols (constant entropy and arithmetic progression) to choose the set ${\mathcal T}_R$ are undertaken. The fixed exchange frequency method is found to be consistently superior, specially for small $R$'s. Finally, distinct instances where the prescription could be helpful (in second-order transitions and for the parallel tempering approach) are briefly discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure

Keratinocytes from human skin respond as typical immune cells after the stimulation with _Trichophyton rubrum_

_Trichophyton rubrum_ is the main agent causing dermatophytosis (1). Keratinocytes are
considered to be the first physical barrier of defense against pathogens (2). But not
only a physical barrier. They recognize antigens through Toll like receptors (TLR) (3).
The activation of this TLR, present on the surface of the keratinocytes, induce the
expression of different pro-inflammatory cytokines, co-stimulatory molecules and
antimicrobial peptides such as [beta]-defensins (4).
The main objective of this work is to determine if lipopolysaccharides of G – bacteria
(LPS), lipotheichoic acid from G+ bacteria (LTA), and conidias, isolated from _T. rubrum_
were able to activate the expression of TLR2 and TLR6 on the cell surface of a primary
culture of human keratinocytes through Flow cytometry. Furthermore we are looking for
the presence of [beta]-defensins 1 and 2, IL-1b and IL-8 in the supernatant, of the above
mentioned culture of cells, by Western blot.
From the flow cytometry data, the preliminary results showed an important dispersion
in terms of proliferation, increase in size and granularity of keratinocytes, from primary
cultures of skin from healthy donors, stimulated 6 hours with conidias of _T. rubrum_, and
LTA, but not when non stimulated, or stimulated with LPS (Fig 1).
When keratinocytes from primary cultures of skin from healthy donors were cultivated
48 hours, it was found dispersion in terms of proliferation, increase in size and
granularity when stimulated with conidias of _T. rubrum_, and LPS but not when non
stimulated, or stimulated with LTA (Fig 2).
The keratinocytes expressed increased levels of TLR2 and TLR6 when were
stimulated with LTA and less to _T. rubrum_, in the 6 hours cultures, but this last cells still
showed increased size (Fig 3).
The Keratinocytes expressed increased levels of TLR2 in the 48 hours cultures when
were stimulated with LPS and _T. rubrum_.(Fig 4)
Besides, [beta]-defensin-2 was detected in the supernatant of cultures of keratinocytes
stimulated with LPS (Fig 5).
It can preliminary be concluded that keratinocytes from primary cultures of human skin from healthy donors, are cells that respond as typical immune cells, after stimulation
with _T. rubrum_, LTA and LPS in different conditions, and that this mechanism may be
very important, for the protection of local environment. 

References
1.- Arenas R., Dermatofitosis en México. Rev Iberoam Micol 2002; 19: 63-67.
2.- Kupper T. and Fuhlbrigge R. Immune surveillance in the skin: mechanims and clinical consecuences.
Nat Rev Immunol 2004; 4: 211-222
3.- Kôllish G., Naderi B., Voelcker V., Wallich R., Behrendt H., Ring J., Bauer S., Jacob T., Mempel M. and
Olelrt M. Various members of the Toll-Like receptor family contribute to the innate immune response of
human epidermal keratinocytes. Immunology 2005; 114: 531-541.
4.- Akira, S. and Takeda K. 2004. Toll-like Receptor Signalling. Nature Reviews Immunology 4:499-511

MEXICAN-U.S. FRESH TOMATO TRADE: AN ANALYSIS OF VOLUME, PRICES AND TRANSACTION COSTS

Tomato trade between the U.S. and Mexico has grown significantly during the past decade. Although the tariff reductions accorded under NAFTA may explain part of his increase, there are other supply and demand factors that affect trade flows. This study develops a U.S.-Mexico tomato trade model, with special focus on the interdependence between trading costs and the volume of Mexican imports. As expected, the exchange rate is a significant determinant of trading costs, but the level of tariffs was insignificant in both the trading and tomato supply equations. The shipping point price level and volume of imports also appear to affect these costs. For the import supply and demand models, there appears to be a significant share of imports that rely on previous levels of imports, rather than the expected economic factors (prices, income, and producer price index). We conclude that the structure and performance of the tomato trading market is changing, and may be more influential than tariff reductions in explaining increased trade flows.Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,