Assessing Consistency and Fairness in Sentencing: A Comparative Study in Three States

Summarizes a study of sentencing guidelines in Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia comparing levels of predictability and judicial discretion under different guideline systems, effectiveness in limiting discriminatory disparities, and lessons learned

From farmers' fields to data fields and back: A Synthesis of Participatory Information Systems for Irrigation and other Resources: Proceedings of an International Workshop held at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Rampur, Nepal, 21-26 March 1993

Irrigation / Forestry / Natural resources / Farmer participation / Participatory rural appraisal / Rapid rural appraisal / GIS / Data collection / Databases / Field tests / Farmers' associations / Training / Water rights / Water law / Institutions / Non-governmental organizations / India / Nepal

Extreme enrichment in atmospheric 15N15N.

Molecular nitrogen (N2) comprises three-quarters of Earth's atmosphere and significant portions of other planetary atmospheres. We report a 19 per mil (‰) excess of 15N15N in air relative to a random distribution of nitrogen isotopes, an enrichment that is 10 times larger than what isotopic equilibration in the atmosphere allows. Biological experiments show that the main sources and sinks of N2 yield much smaller proportions of 15N15N in N2. Electrical discharge experiments, however, establish 15N15N excesses of up to +23‰. We argue that 15N15N accumulates in the atmosphere because of gas-phase chemistry in the thermosphere (>100 km altitude) on time scales comparable to those of biological cycling. The atmospheric 15N15N excess therefore reflects a planetary-scale balance of biogeochemical and atmospheric nitrogen chemistry, one that may also exist on other planets

Operational and Technical Updates to the Object Reentry Survival Analysis Tool

The Object Reentry Survival Analysis Tool (ORSAT) has been used in the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office for over 25 years to estimate risk due to uncontrolled reentry of spacecraft and rocket bodies. Development over the last 3 years has included: a major change to the treatment of carbon fiber- and glass fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP and GFRP, respectively); an updated atmospheric model; a new model for computing casualty area around an impacting debris object; and a newly-implemented scheme to determine the breakup altitude of a reentry object. Software also was written to automatically perform parameter sweeps in ORSAT to allow for uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis for components with borderline demisability. These updates have improved the speed and fidelity of the reentry analysis performed using ORSAT, and have allowed for improved engineering understanding by estimating the uncertainty for each components survivability. A statistical model for initial conditions captures the latitude bias in population density, a large improvement over the previous inclination-based latitude-averaged models. A sample spacecraft has been analyzed with standard techniques using ORSAT 6.2.1 and again using all the updated models; we will demonstrate the variation in the total debris casualty area and overall expectation of casualty

Incomplete Punishment Networks in Public Goods Games: Experimental Evidence

Abundant evidence suggests that high levels of contributions to public goods can be sustained through self-governed monitoring and sanctioning. This experimental study investigates the effectiveness of decentralized sanctioning institutions in alternative punishment networks. Our results show that the structure of punishment network significantly affects allocations to the public good. In addition, we observe that network configurations are more important than punishment capacities for the levels of public good provision, imposed sanctions and economic efficiency. Lastly, we show that targeted revenge is a major driver of anti-social punishment

Site-specific variation in gene expression from Symbiodinium spp. associated with offshore and inshore Porites astreoides in the lower Florida Keys is lost with bleaching and disease stress

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 12 (2017): e0173350, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173350.Scleractinian coral are experiencing unprecedented rates of mortality due to increases in sea surface temperatures in response to global climate change. Some coral species however, survive high temperature events due to a reduced susceptibility to bleaching. We investigated the relationship between bleaching susceptibility and expression of five metabolically related genes of Symbiodinium spp. from the coral Porites astreoides originating from an inshore and offshore reef in the Florida Keys. The acclimatization potential of Symbiodinium spp. to changing temperature regimes was also measured via a two-year reciprocal transplant between the sites. Offshore coral fragments displayed significantly higher expression in Symbiodinium spp. genes PCNA, SCP2, G3PDH, PCP and psaE than their inshore counterparts (p<0.05), a pattern consistent with increased bleaching susceptibility in offshore corals. Additionally, gene expression patterns in Symbiodinium spp. from site of origin were conserved throughout the two-year reciprocal transplant, indicating acclimatization did not occur within this multi-season time frame. Further, laboratory experiments were used to investigate the influence of acute high temperature (32°C for eight hours) and disease (lipopolysaccharide of Serratia marcescens) on the five metabolically related symbiont genes from the same offshore and inshore P. astreoides fragments. Gene expression did not differ between reef fragments, or as a consequence of acute exposure to heat or heat and disease, contrasting to results found in the field. Gene expression reported here indicates functional variation in populations of Symbiodinium spp. associated with P. astreoides in the Florida Keys, and is likely a result of localized adaptation. However, gene expression patterns observed in the lab imply that functional variation in zooxanthellae observed under conditions of chronic moderate stress is lost under the acute extreme conditions studied here.Funding for this research was provided by Coastal Preservation network (KBS, BHS)

Ressources cognitives et développement territorial : une analyse textuelle appliquée aux politiques locales de développement durable

International audienceThis paper focuses on how the development of a particular region consistently requires actors to share a certain level of cognitive resources. In the case studied here - the Nord Pas-de-Calais region, this cognitive proximity is built via the local policies involving sustainable development. In order to comprehend the way local communities of the region activate this resource, we used textual data treatment analyzing about thirty interviews. The results suggest that this cognitive proximity relies on two fundamentals elements: on the one hand, valuing the patrimonial infrastructures of the territory; and on the other hand, rebuilding the territorial identity of the region. Then the local policies lean both on the values that underlie these elements and on rhetorical modalities, to impulse in-depth changes that would have been more difficult to implement from the usual political levers.Cet article étudie comment un développement régional cohérent nécessite la mobilisation de ressources cognitives partagées. Dans le cas étudié - la région Nord Pas-de-Calais, cette proximité cognitive se construit via les politiques locales, sur la base du référentiel de développement durable. Pour saisir la manière dont les collectivités de la région activent cette ressource, nous avons mobilisé les outils d'analyse textuelle sur une trentaine d'entretiens auprès des acteurs publics du développement durabe. Les résultats mis en évidence suggèrent que cette proximité cognitive repose sur deux éléments fondamentaux : d'une part la mise en valeur d'un patrimoine infrastructurel territorialisé, et d'autre part la reconstruction d'une identité territoriale. Les politiques locales prennent ainsi appui sur les valeurs qui sous-tendent ces éléments ainsi que sur des modalités rhétoriques, pour impulser en profondeur une dynamique de changement, plus malaisée à mettre en œuvre partir des outils politiques habituels

Evaluating the successful implementation of evidence into practice using the PARiHS framework : theoretical and practical challenges

Background The PARiHS framework (Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services) has proved to be a useful practical and conceptual heuristic for many researchers and practitioners in framing their research or knowledge translation endeavours. However, as a conceptual framework it still remains untested and therefore its contribution to the overall development and testing of theory in the field of implementation science is largely unquantified. Discussion This being the case, the paper provides an integrated summary of our conceptual and theoretical thinking so far and introduces a typology (derived from social policy analysis) used to distinguish between the terms conceptual framework, theory and model – important definitional and conceptual issues in trying to refine theoretical and methodological approaches to knowledge translation. Secondly, the paper describes the next phase of our work, in particular concentrating on the conceptual thinking and mapping that has led to the generation of the hypothesis that the PARiHS framework is best utilised as a two-stage process: as a preliminary (diagnostic and evaluative) measure of the elements and sub-elements of evidence (E) and context (C), and then using the aggregated data from these measures to determine the most appropriate facilitation method. The exact nature of the intervention is thus determined by the specific actors in the specific context at a specific time and place. In the process of refining this next phase of our work, we have had to consider the wider issues around the use of theories to inform and shape our research activity; the ongoing challenges of developing robust and sensitive measures; facilitation as an intervention for getting research into practice; and finally to note how the current debates around evidence into practice are adopting wider notions that fit innovations more generally. Summary The paper concludes by suggesting that the future direction of the work on the PARiHS framework is to develop a two-stage diagnostic and evaluative approach, where the intervention is shaped and moulded by the information gathered about the specific situation and from participating stakeholders. In order to expedite the generation of new evidence and testing of emerging theories, we suggest the formation of an international research implementation science collaborative that can systematically collect and analyse experiences of using and testing the PARiHS framework and similar conceptual and theoretical approaches. We also recommend further refinement of the definitions around conceptual framework, theory, and model, suggesting a wider discussion that embraces multiple epistemological and ontological perspectives

Governing policy evaluation? Towards a new typology

As policy evaluation matures, thoughts are turning to its governance. However, few scholars have combined insights from the evaluation and governance literatures to shed new light on this matter. In order to address this important gap, this article develops a new typology of ways to comprehend and perhaps ultimately govern ex-post policy evaluation activities. The article then explores its validity in the context of climate policy evaluation activities, a vibrant policy area in which the demand for and practices of evaluation have grown fast, particularly in Europe. The analysis reveals that the typology usefully guides new thinking, but also highlights important gaps in our empirical knowledge of the various modes of governing policy evaluation. The article identifies a need for a new research agenda that simultaneously develops a fuller understanding of these evaluation practices and the options for governing them