Threats to Neglected Biodiversity: Conservation Success Requires More Than Charisma

Our planet is home to an incredible array of species; however, relatively few studies have compared how anthropogenic threats impact taxonomic groups over time. Our objective was to identify temporal trends in threats facing the four most speciose phyla protected by the United States Endangered Species Act: angiosperms, arthropods, chordates, and mollusks. We determined presence or absence of threats for each species in these phyla by reviewing Final Rule listing decisions. For each phylum, we evaluated whether there was a linear, quadratic, or pseudo-threshold association between year of listing and the presence of 24 anthropogenic threats. We identified temporal trends for 80% of the 96 threat-phylum combinations. We classified threats as topmost (probability of being included in a species' listing decision peaking at ≥ 0.81) and escalating (probability of being included in a listing decision increasing by ≥ 0.81 between a species' first and most recent years of listing). Angiosperms, arthropods, and mollusks each had more topmost and escalating threats than chordates. Percentages of topmost threats were 42.9% (N = 21) for mollusks, 36.4% (N = 22) for angiosperms, and 33.3% (N = 21) for arthropods. Percentages of escalating threats were 22.7% (N = 22) for angiosperms and 14.3% (N = 21) for arthropods and mollusks. In contrast, percentages of topmost and escalating threats were only 4.2% (N = 24) for chordates, this one threat being climate change. Our research suggests potential conservation successes; some overutilization and pollution threats showed only gradually increasing or declining trends for certain phyla. We identified authorized take impacting angiosperms as the sole threat-phylum combination for which the threat had been consistently decreasing since the phylum's first year of listing. Conversely, species interactions, environmental stochasticity, and demographic stochasticity threats have seen drastic increases across all phyla; we suggest conservation efforts focus on these areas of increasing concern. We also recommend that resources be allocated to phyla with numerous topmost and escalating threats, not just to chordates.

Identifying opportunities for improving the organ supply through race-stratified data

Organ procurement in the US has received attention from government officials and policymakers the last two years, culminating in CMS releasing an updated Final Rule related to organ donation this year. This regulatory change revises how organ procurement organizations (OPOs), the federal contractors tasked with managing deceased donation, are evaluated and certified/de-certified. We used 2019 data and the CMS methodology to calculate race-stratified donation data among racial/ethnic minorities across the 57 OPOs. We found that the variability in donation rates across the 57 OPOs are greater among minority populations than non-Hispanic white potential donors. Among Tier 3 OPOs, there are: a) some with low donation rates across all racial/ethnic groups; b) some with low donation rates among only certain groups, and c) some where donation rates are lowest among non-Hispanic white patients. Among low-performing OPOs, these race/ethnicity-stratified data show that under-performance in certain areas is not due to the population demographics, and identifies areas for targeted interventions to increase donation and avoid decertification

The 21 Century Cures Act and Multi-User Electronic Health Record Access: Potential Pitfalls of Information Release (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED While the Office of The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) Information Blocking Provision of the Cures Act Final Rule is an important step forward in providing patients free and unfettered access to their electronic health information (EHI), in the contexts of multi-user electronic health record (EHR) access and proxy access concerns emerged over the potential for harm in adolescent care contexts. We describe how the provision could erode the trust and the willingness of patients (both adolescent and older patients alike) to seek care. The rules’ preventing harm exception does not apply to situations where the patient is a minor and the healthcare provider wishes to restrict a parent’s or guadian’s access to the minor’s EHI to avoid violating the minor’s confidentiality and potentially harming patient-clinician trust. This may violate government-developed principles in the design and implementation of EHRs for pediatric care. Creating legally acceptable workarounds by means such as duplicate “shadow charting” will be burdensome (and prohibitive) for healthcare providers. Under the privacy exception, patients have the opportunity to request information not be shared; however, depending upon institutional practices, providers and patients may have limited awareness of this exception. Notably, the privacy exception states that providers cannot “improperly encourage or induce a patient’s request to block information”. Fearing being found in violation of the information-blocking provisions, providers may feel unable to guide patients navigating releasing their EHI in the multi-use/proxy access setting. ONC should provide more detailed guidance on their website and targeted outreach to providers and their specialty organizations who care for adolescents and other individuals affected by the Cures Act, and researchers should carefully monitor charting habits in these multi-user/proxy access situations.

Improving Stratification Procedures and Accuracy of Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) Estimates for Non-Federal Aid-System (NFAS) Roads

The 2016 safety Final Rule requires states to have access to annual average daily traffic (AADT) for all public paved roads, including non-Federal aid-system (NFAS) roads. The latter account approximately for 75% of the total roadway mileage in the country making it difficult for agencies to collect traffic data on these roads. Many agencies use stratified sampling procedures to develop default AADT estimates for uncounted segments; however, there is limited guidance and information about how to stratify the network effectively. The goal of this paper is to enhance transportation agencies’ ability to improve existing stratification schemes, design new schemes, and ultimately develop more accurate AADT estimates for NFAS roads. The paper presents the results from five pilot studies that validated and compared the performance of current, updated, and new (traditional and decision-tree-based) schemes using readily available data. According to the results, the median absolute percent error of existing AADT estimates, developed by state agencies, ranged between 71% and 120%. Updating these schemes using recent counts resulted in an AADT accuracy improvement of 25%. The best-performing schemes were developed using DTs that improved the AADT accuracy of existing schemes by 41%. Overall, having more strata and very homogenous strata is better than having fewer strata and more samples within each stratum. The analysis revealed that a key to selecting an effective scheme is to determine a critical point, beyond which creating more strata improves the AADT accuracy marginally but increases the required sample size exponentially.

Survey on Antimicrobial Drug Use Practices in California Preweaned Dairy Calves

The California (CA) dairy industry was surveyed in July 2017 to evaluate producers' knowledge and perceptions and antimicrobial drug (AMD) use in preweaned dairy calves following the implementation of the nationwide veterinary feed directive final rule (VFD) in January 2017 and prior to statewide implementation of CA Senate Bill (SB) 27 in January 2018. Together, these regulations require veterinary oversight for all uses of medically important antimicrobial drugs (MIADs) administered to livestock in CA. Survey questionnaire was mailed to 1,361 CA Grade A milk producing dairies and calf ranches across CA resulting in a 12% (169) response. Most respondents (83%) were aware of the VFD and SB 27 changes. Use of antibiotics was perceived as important (77%) in raising preweaned dairy calves and judicious use of antibiotics was ranked as the most important antimicrobial stewardship practice, amongst record keeping, observing withdrawal periods, having a valid Veterinarian-Client-Patient-Relationship (VCPR), and use of alternatives to antibiotics. Treating sick calves was the major indication for AMD use (90.5%); however, few producers reported use of antibiotics to control (12.7%) or prevent disease (11%). Neomycin sulfate, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline and sulfamethazine were the most used AMD. The respondents reported a decreased use of AMD in milk (10%) and in solid feed (5%), and discontinuation of one or more AMDs used in milk (18.6%) or in solid feed (5%) post-VFD rule implementation in 2017. Most respondents reported keeping treatment records and the information recorded included date (82%), dose (44%) and route (15%) of AMD used. A few respondents reported they had initiated use of alternatives to AMDs, such as vitamins (32.6%), minerals (25.6%), herbal remedies (11.6%) and pathogen specific antibodies (7%), post-VFD. The limited changes noted in AMD use could be attributed to the short period between the implementation of the VFD and the time of the survey. Our study outcomes identified opportunities to improve AMD use practices, including record keeping and use of AMD alternatives, and provides a baseline for future evaluation of the impact of these regulatory changes, as well as guidance for the future recommendations on best practices to promote judicious AMD use.

RATIONALITY OF ARGUMENTATION: LOGICAL RULES AND VALUES

Problem setting. During the period of expansion of the practice of argumentation in society, thanks to the media, the theory of argumentation is also actively developing. In the process of interdisciplinary research and the influence of irrationalism, the problem of rethinking the rationality of argumentation, the conditions for its rationality to preserve the civilizational orientation of the development of modern society, arises. Recent research and publications analysis. At the present stage of development of the theory of argumentation, differences in the correctness and incorrectness of argumentation and proof are investigated, various concepts of the logic of argumentation, its role in communication, the rationality of the rules in argumentation as a characteristic of human rationality are proposed. Paper objective. The aim of the study is to reveal the reasons for the rationality of argumentation by analyzing the logical rules and values, their relationship in the construction of the structure of argumentation, the differences from the evidence. Paper main body. The rules for the structural elements of argumentation are divided into: rules of the thesis, rules of arguments and rules of demonstration. Arguments as bases in the structure of argumentation are connected with the thesis of causation. The logical rules of truth of implication establish a strict relationship between cause and consequence. Based on a certain rule, it is possible to obtain one or another logical value. It is in the peculiarity of causation that the difference in the argumentation in which it is modified lies. Modified argumentation changes the implicit connections. Logical rules and values are also implicitly related. If the logical meaning of truth in the traditional and classical sense represents the highest level of reason, which is identified with the perfect form, then the different derived values (probabilities, sufficiency, etc.) are associated with different types of rationality. An essential feature of rationality is the ability to justify. Rational reasoning related to speech contexts is crucial for argumentation. Contextual coherence and communicative nature allow us to generally determine the type of rationality of such an argument as discursive rationality. Different types of justification determine different types of rationality. The difference in the logic of argumentation appears as the difference in the conditions of the antecedent in implicit relations. The effectiveness of discursive rationality depends on the strength of judgments. The open nature of the argument means that there is no final rule; the rules are intersubjective; their establishment and choice requires strong-willed efforts and reflection, the involvement of the criteria of truth. Conclusions of the research. Analysis of modern research on the theory of argumentation shows a certain expansion of the possibilities of intelligent human activity in relation to the limited model of perfect pure reason according to the rules. But argumentation in its various forms is a rational activity connected with the logical criteria of truth. In this case, a significant difference between man as an intelligent being is justified through the awareness of rational activity that occurs according to certain rules.

The Uncertain Future of the Fair Housing Act: HUD’s Recent Changes to Disparate Impact Standard

In 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published its Disparate Impact Final Rule in which it sought to formalize its longstanding interpretation of disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by setting forth a three-part burden-shifting framework. HUD subsequently revisited its disparate impact standard following the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Inclusive Communities and published a Proposed Rule on August 19, 2019. On September 24, 2020, HUD published a new Final Rule substantially altering the disparate impact standard laid out by the 2013 Rule. This Comment will analyze the similarities and differences between the disparate impact standard in the 2013 Rule and the standard set forth in the current, 2020 Rule. Additionally, given that the 2020 Rule was drafted in response to Inclusive Communities, this Comment will examine whether, and to what extent, the 2020 Rule is consistent with the Court’s ruling. Finally, this Comment will address the criticism leveled at the 2020 Rule by fair housing advocates and explore potential consequences of the new standard. Ultimately, this Comment will argue that, although the 2020 Rule finds some textual support in Inclusive Communities for several elements of its new framework, given the broad remedial purpose of the FHA, the core mission of HUD to eradicate housing discrimination, the potential, negative consequences of the new standard, and President Biden’s recent memorandum on housing discrimination, HUD should abandon the 2020 Rule and readopt the 2013 Rule.