Pretrial Risk Assessment Tool Developed for Alaska

A shorter version of this article appeared on pp. 4–8 of the Winter 2018 print edition.Beginning January 1, 2018, judicial officers, defense attorneys, and prosecuting attorneys in all Alaska courts began to receive information from a new pretrial risk assessment tool that calculates whether a defendant is at low, moderate, or high risk for failure to appear at trial or to commit another crime if the defendant is released pretrial. The tool, incorporated in Alaska’s new bail statute, aids in the judicial officer’s decision regarding pretrial bail conditions. This article looks at risk assessment tools in general and describes the development of Alaska’s pretrial risk assessment tool.History of assessment tools / Alaska’s pretrial tool / SIDEBARS / Proprietary and open risk assessment tools / Limitations and quality assessment of Alaska pretrial screening tool / Reference

Crash risk estimation and assessment tool

Currently in Australia, there are no decision support tools for traffic and transport engineers to assess the crash risk potential of proposed road projects at design level. A selection of equivalent tools already exists for traffic performance assessment, e.g. aaSIDRA or VISSIM. The Urban Crash Risk Assessment Tool (UCRAT) was developed for VicRoads by ARRB Group to promote methodical identification of future crash risks arising from proposed road infrastructure, where safety cannot be evaluated based on past crash history. The tool will assist practitioners with key design decisions to arrive at the safest and the most cost -optimal design options. This paper details the development and application of UCRAT software. This professional tool may be used to calculate an expected mean number of casualty crashes for an intersection, a road link or defined road network consisting of a number of such elements. The mean number of crashes provides a measure of risk associated with the proposed functional design and allows evaluation of alternative options. The tool is based on historical data for existing road infrastructure in metropolitan Melbourne and takes into account the influence of key design features, traffic volumes, road function and the speed environment. Crash prediction modelling and risk assessment approaches were combined to develop its unique algorithms. The tool has application in such projects as road access proposals associated with land use developments, public transport integration projects and new road corridor upgrade proposals

Penyusunan Turp Syndrome Tool Assessment

Background: TURP syndrome is one of the complications in patients with post-TURP. The prevalence of this case in the fi rst PKU Muhammadiyah Hospital of Yogyakarta mortality rate was 4.7% of the 168 action TURP. This case requires preventive action by composing one tool for early detection of TURP syndrome. Objective: Develop a tool to detect the TURP syndrome. Methods: This mixed method research method. Qualitative action research method. Samples were seven nurses and one urologist. Research from April to June 2014 The instrument is FGD guide. Test the validity of using triangulation experts. Quantitative methods with validity and reliability. The sample was 21 nurses and conducted in July 2014 questionnaire Intrumennya are signs and symptoms of TURP syndrome. Test the validity of the Pearson product moment and reliability testing using Cronbach alpha. Two of these methods implemented in RS PKU Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta I and II. Results: Qualitative methods produce 15 items signs and symptoms of TURP syndrome. Quantitative methods to test the validity of the fi fteen items that generate valid because the count is greater r table (n = 21, 5% signifi cance value of 0.433). Reliability test results of 0.930, meaning that this tool reliable. This tool categorizes into three TURP syndrome is negative, mild, moderate, and heavy. Conclusion: It has been structured tool for early detection of TURP syndrome

Preventing suicide with a new risk assessment tool

This article was originally published as 'Testing time for risk tool' in Occupational Health magazine, August 2013, pp. 20-22. Copyright @ 2013 Reed Business Information Ltd.Sussex Community NHS Trust has been trialling a suicide risk assessment tool. Andrea Richardson and Nessie Shia describe the system and look at the findings

Escrow: A large-scale web vulnerability assessment tool

The reliance on Web applications has increased rapidly over the years. At the same time, the quantity and impact of application security vulnerabilities have grown as well. Amongst these vulnerabilities, SQL Injection has been classified as the most common, dangerous and prevalent web application flaw. In this paper, we propose Escrow, a large-scale SQL Injection detection tool with an exploitation module that is light-weight, fast and platform-independent. Escrow uses a custom search implementation together with a static code analysis module to find potential target web applications. Additionally, it provides a simple to use graphical user interface (GUI) to navigate through a vulnerable remote database. Escrow is implementation-agnostic, i.e. It can perform analysis on any web application regardless of the server-side implementation (PHP, ASP, etc.). Using our tool, we discovered that it is indeed possible to identify and exploit at least 100 databases per 100 minutes, without prior knowledge of their underlying implementation. We observed that for each query sent, we can scan and detect dozens of vulnerable web applications in a short space of time, while providing a means for exploitation. Finally, we provide recommendations for developers to defend against SQL injection and emphasise the need for proactive assessment and defensive coding practices

The development of QUADAS : a tool for the quality assessment of studies of diagnostic accuracy included in systematic reviews

BACKGROUND: In the era of evidence based medicine, with systematic reviews as its cornerstone, adequate quality assessment tools should be available. There is currently a lack of a systematically developed and evaluated tool for the assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies. The aim of this project was to combine empirical evidence and expert opinion in a formal consensus method to develop a tool to be used in systematic reviews to assess the quality of primary studies of diagnostic accuracy. METHODS: We conducted a Delphi procedure to develop the quality assessment tool by refining an initial list of items. Members of the Delphi panel were experts in the area of diagnostic research. The results of three previously conducted reviews of the diagnostic literature were used to generate a list of potential items for inclusion in the tool and to provide an evidence base upon which to develop the tool. RESULTS: A total of nine experts in the field of diagnostics took part in the Delphi procedure. The Delphi procedure consisted of four rounds, after which agreement was reached on the items to be included in the tool which we have called QUADAS. The initial list of 28 items was reduced to fourteen items in the final tool. Items included covered patient spectrum, reference standard, disease progression bias, verification bias, review bias, clinical review bias, incorporation bias, test execution, study withdrawals, and indeterminate results. The QUADAS tool is presented together with guidelines for scoring each of the items included in the tool. CONCLUSIONS: This project has produced an evidence based quality assessment tool to be used in systematic reviews of diagnostic accuracy studies. Further work to determine the usability and validity of the tool continue

Sustainable economic growth within environmental limits. volume 1: guidance for the east midlands

LUC and GHK have developed a tool for setting environmental limits that local communities and other stakeholders can use. The three-step approach is based on the participation of the local community and other interested stakeholders, such as statutory agencies and businesses. It enables them to debate the use of important national, regional and local environmental assets, and the potential economic and social implications of setting environmental limits. The approach also provides a tool that can usefully support and inform other assessment requirements, such as Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environmental Assessment, Habitats Regulations Assessment and Equality Impact Assessment/Health Impact Assessment

What Does it Take to Make Discovery a Success?: A Survey of Discovery Tool Adoption, Instruction, and Evaluation Among Academic Libraries

Discovery tools have been widely adopted by academic libraries, yet little information exists that connects common practices regarding discovery tool implementation, maintenance, assessment, and staffing with conventions for research and instruction. The authors surveyed heads of reference and instruction departments in research and land-grant university libraries. The survey results revealed common practices with discovery tools among academic libraries. This study also draws connections between operational, instructional, and assessment practices and perceptions that participants have of the success of their discovery tool. Participants who indicated successful implementation of their discovery tool hailed from institutions that made significant commitments to the operations, maintenance, and acceptance of their discovery tool. Participants who indicated an unsuccessful implementation, or who were unsure about the success of their implementation, did not make lasting commitments to the technical maintenance, operations, and acceptance of their discovery tool

Uses of peer assessment in database teaching and learning

This discussion paper introduces three very different methods and contexts for the use of peer assessment in introductory database classes, each of which is supported by different learning software tools. In the first case study, at Glasgow Caledonian University, Contributing Student Pedagogy is used, where students contribute to the learning of others through the collaborative creation of a bank of self-assessment questions. This is supported by the Peerwise software tool. Secondly, at the University of Strathclyde, students undertake formative assessment of others in providing feedback on an initial element of a larger coursework assessment. A number of virtual learning environments (VLEs) are capable of supporting this method through customisable discussion fora. Finally, at the Abertay University, peer and self assessment are used in a group project to adjust the group grade for individual students. This is effected through the use of the WebPA software tool