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Conversations about how to tackle climate change often fail to incorporate the perspectives of activists from the Environmental Justice Movement and the Just Transition Alliance. Ignoring voices from workers and communities that have been in the sacrifice zones of environmental contamination often leads to "false solutions" that further exacerbate both the disproportionate impacts on communities of color and the threats from climate change. In this perspective, three EJ activists provide a clarification and reminder on why and how the terms environmental justice and just transition became critical to the movement for climate justice. Policies for climate justice planning are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of service-learning and community engagement programs on the academic outcomes of undergraduate students, focusing on underrepresented students. Prior studies documented the positive impact of community engagement on students' academic engagement, sense of belonging, and persistence, especially for underrepresented students. We explore the effects of four service-learning and community engagement programs on students' persistence (GPA, credits earned, retention) and college completion at the University of Illinois Chicago. We use propensity score matching to compare outcome variables of the treatment and control groups. We found varying degrees of statistically significant academic outcomes across the four programs (trending positive overall). To complement the quantitative findings, we carried out focus groups with each program. We found that for underrepresented students, service-learning and community engagement activities, especially when mentorship is involved, offer connections with their communities that help improve their academic engagement, sense of belonging, and persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work presents phenomenological models to describe the coordination polymerization of β‐myrcene using the Ziegler–Natta catalyst system composed by neodymium versatate (NdV3), diisobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAH), and dimethyldichlorosilane. The kinetic parameters required to simulate the reactions are estimated, and the amount of DIBAH used as a chain transfer agent (CTA) is obtained by a data reconciliation strategy since it can participate in side reactions. Several experiments are performed at different conditions to evaluate the impact of key operation variables on the control of monomer conversion and average molar masses. It is shown that the initial NdV3, β‐myrcene, and DIBAH concentrations exert strong influences on the course of the polymerization. The kinetic mechanism of Coordinative Chain Transfer Polymerization (CCTP) fits well with the data of final average molar masses and monomer conversion, while the dynamic trajectories of these variables are fitted better by kinetic mechanisms of more conventional coordination polymerizations, considering site deactivation and termination by chain transfer. In all cases, the proposed models are able to predict the experimental data well after successful parameter estimation and reconciliation of CTA concentrations, indicating that the kinetic mechanism can be characterized by different kinetic regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay considers how globalized capitalism affects Latino communities in the United States and suggests implications for Latino studies. Contextualizing US Latinos within a restructured economic system and the current neoliberal policy regime provides a lens for understanding their conditions. The essay examines structural dynamics based on the logic of economic imperatives, including the inexorable pressure to accumulate capital by cutting costs and expanding markets, and highlights impacts on Latino labor, immigration, and neighborhoods. An ideological apparatus of social messaging and mechanisms of social control support these imperatives and shift the blame for poor economic conditions to Latinos themselves. Values, principles, and research-based analyses stemming from the foundations of Chicano and Puerto Rican studies can help challenge the dominant discourse and address contemporary issues facing Latino communities. The call for renewed emphasis on the political economy and on research-based solutions is intended to place the output of Latino studies scholarship into discourse and policy debates and to make Latino presence in universities true to the social movements that brought them there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the importance of the problem-solving research made by the Resource Center for Raza Planning (RCRP) on strategic engagement in school and community development. Contribution of RCRP on the political action and community improvements; Relevance of problem-solving research and policy analysis on university training; Formation and development of RCRP.

Focuses on the industrial mobilization of the SouthWest Organizing Project for environmental and economic justice in the U.S. Issues of poisoning on high technology employment at Intel Corporation; Negative impact of global restructuring; Questions of international economic integration.

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. The classical motor symptoms are preceded by a decade by nonmotor, prodromal manifestations: anosmia, autonomic dysfunction, REM-sleep behavior disorder (RBD), and loss of basal ganglia dopaminergic neurons. Chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome (22q11DS) was recently recognized as a cause of PD. Aim: to assess the presence of prodromal PD in adults with 22q11DS. Methods: Instruments according to the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder (MDS) research criteria for prodromal PD; clinical, cognitive and molecular characterization of 22q11DS. Results: We report the results on the first 20 participants: 9 males and 11 females, median age 28 years. Fifteen had the common 3Mb deletion, and 3 had the nested 1.5Mb deletion. Full-scale IQ median was 73 (range 52-96). Four patients had psychosis and were receiving antipsychotic medication. UPDRS motor score average was 9.3 (range 1-16, normal 0); four patients had olfactory scores in the anosmia range. Home polysomnograms in 9 participants showed no signs of RBD. PET-CT showed increased, symmetric 18F-PR04- MZ pre-synaptic dopamine (DAT) signaling compared to age and gender-matched controls (130% of controls in the caudate nucleus, 115% in putamen). Discussion: These initial results suggest the presence of prodromal findings. The observed increase in dopamine signaling on PET-CT may be related to haploinsufficiency of COMT, located within the deletion region and involved in dopamine metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]